RECAP: Reinhart scores twice as Panthers rally to defeat Devils

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers knew the floodgates were bound to open.
Coming from behind to secure a huge two points, the Panthers scored three goals within a span of 2:30 in the third period of a 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils at FLA Live Arena on Saturday.
At the time of this writing, the Panthers trail the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins by just a single point for the two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference.

"This is the most fun time to play," said Panthers forward Sam Reinhart, who potted a pair of goals in the win. "The atmosphere tonight, you could sense it right from the start. The fans know what position we're in. We're enjoying the battle. It was nice to get that [win] on home ice."
Flying from the moment the puck dropped, the Panthers were clicking in the first period. They pressured every puck carrier, disrupted every passing lane and generated offense from all over the ice. And even though they didn't score, they led 12-4 in scoring chances after 20 minutes.
"We probably were as good structurally and execution-wise in the first period as we've been all year," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. "That was a [heck] of a first period."
Despite being on the penalty kill, the Devils opened the scoring early in the second when Nico Hischier beat Sergei Bobrovsky on a 2-on-1 rush for a shorthanded goal to make it 1-0 at 2:16.
Moments after Bobrovsky sprawled out to save the puck from crossing the goal line, Jesper Boqvist, noticing the goaltender had lost his paddle in the process, took advantage of the chaos around he crease and fired a shot into the twine to extend New Jersey's lead to 2-0 at 7:43.
Finally breaking through after a lot of bad luck through two periods, the Panthers got on the board when Brandon Montour's point shot hit off Marc Staal and sent the puck right onto the stick of Aleksander Barkov for a key goal to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 6:14 of the third period.
On the power play soon after, Reinhart tied the game when he deftly re-directed a shot from Montour past Akira Schmid to make it 2-2 at 7:54 and push his goal streak to four games.
With momentum on their side, Tkachuk put the Panthers on top when he collected a slick dish from Carter Verhaeghe before roofing a backhand shot into the cage to make it 3-2 at 8:44.

"When we get the momentum we've got to keep it as long as possible because we seem to thrive off it," said Tkachuk, who leads Florida in goals (32), assists (60) and points (92). "We all love playing here. Momentum was big for us. The fans were great. They got loud in the third."
Helping keep the Devils at bay, Bobrovsky stopped all 12 shots he faced in the third period -- including making two saves with his mask -- before Reinhart put the game away with an empty-netter that extended Florida's lead to 4-2 with just 21 seconds remaining in regulation.
Getting hot at the right time, the Panthers are 5-0-1 over their last six games.
"You're not going to win every game," Maurice said. "That can't be your standard, but you can play hard and play well. That's our standard in every game. We like where our game's at. We're playing hard and playing smart. We have four lines that can play and contribute."

CATS QUOTES

"The first one relaxed the entire bench. You look up, there's 13 minutes on the clock, and you're going, 'OK, it's on now.'" - Paul Maurice on Aleksander Barkov's goal in the third period
"We build on the energy of the building, the energy after we score. We're not out. We score one, it's still close, we keep putting pressure on them. Then, obviously, the ball keepings falling, and then we get another one. The building gets loud. We feed off the crowd and feed off each other." - Brandon Montour on Florida's scoring surge in the third period

CATS NOTES

• Aleksander Barkov is now tied for first on the franchise's all-time points list with 613 points.
  - Brandon Montour's 58 points are the second-most by a defenseman in franchise history.
  - Radko Gudas dished out a team-leading seven hits.
  - Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 29 of 30 shots at even strength.
  - Florida led 18-10 in high-danger shot attempts, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Panthers (35-27-7) will kick off a back-to-back set on the road with a matchup against the Detroit Red Wings (30-29-9) at Little Caesars Arena on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.