Florida evened the NHL Eastern Conference final series wins against the Rangers after Sam Reinhart scored the winning goal in overtime from Barkov’s tasty foreplay.
Kamilla Rajander,
Jaakko Servo
The Florida Panthers tied the wins in the final series of the NHL Eastern Conference against the New York Rangers.
Florida got the upper hand at the beginning of the first overtime, when the Rangers team returned for the first time since February Blake Wheeler was penalized for hooking the Florida captain who was passing through Alexander Barkov.
Wheeler’s cooldown only took a good 10 seconds, when Sam Reinhart hit the puck into the net with superior strength from Barkov’s quick and insightful pass. Reinhart’s goal was also the fastest goal in Florida club history in the overtime of the playoffs.
When the panther jerseys win at home, it has become a habit that the plastic rats also fly onto the ice. So too today, after Reinhart scored the deciding goal of the match in favor of Florida.
The rat story goes back to 1995, when the then captain of the Panthers Scott Mellanby saw a live rat in his team’s locker room and hit the rodent against the wall with a play equipment. That night, Mellanby scored two goals using the same bat he used to score the rat. It resulted in the goalkeeper John Vandiesbrouck said after the game that Mellanby had done a “rat trick”.
– Great to be on the right side again, goalscorer Reinhart said in an interview with the team referring to the previous two overtime wins by the Rangers.
The actual playing time ended with a score of 2–2. The Rangers took the lead in the first half of the first period by Vincent Trocheck with a man-of-the-match goal by Anton Lundell suffering from two minutes from a high stick.
A little before the middle of the second period, the home team leveled up by Sam Bennett on the finish line. Barely four minutes after the equalizer, the Panthers took the lead when Carter Verhaeghe steered the puck into the goal with an upper hand from Barkov’s pass.
The lead lasted until the fourth minute of the third period, until Alexis Lafreniere brought guests to levels.
Florida’s 28-year-old Finnish captain Barkov has now scored 17 power points (6+11) in 15 playoff games.
Rangers’ Finnish gambler Kaapo Kako with seven tackles was the hardest working in the match in that area.
Home team with Panthers goal Sergei Bobrovsky made 37 saves. Opposite Rangers Igor Šestjorkin blocked 21 shots.
The match series is now at 2–2. The teams will meet in the fifth match of the series, Finnish time, early Friday morning in New York.
Scorers of the NHL playoff round from page 235 of Teletext.