Reinhardt's clutch goals sealed a nail-biting 3-2 victory for the Panthers, downing the Rangers with a late game-winner.
The Florida Panthers picked up an exciting victory on Monday night at Amerant Bank Arena.
Hosting the New York Rangers, Florida jumped out to a 2-0 lead before picking up a late game-winner, skating to a 3-2 win in their second-to-last game of the season.
The home team got things started on a rush play that originated in their own end.
Cole Reinhardt sped over Florida’s blue line and fed the puck to Tobias Bjornfot in the neutral zone, and he tipped the puck to Vinnie Hinostroza entering the Rangers defensive end.
Hinostroza quickly fed the puck back to Bjornfot, who sent a backhand on Jonathan Quick that was stopped, but Reinhardt was driving to the net and popped the loose puck into the net with 10:25 left in the opening frame.
Just under two minutes later, Mackie Samoskvich blocked a point shot by Braden Schneider and sped down the ice on a breakaway.
Samoskevich fired a quick shot over Quick’s glove and into the top of the net, scoring for the sixth time in his past nine games to give Florida a 2-0 lead.
New York got on the scoreboard with 4:41 to go in the first period, beating a screened Daniil Tarasov with a long wrist shot that came directly off a Rangers offensive zone faceoff win.
It wasn’t until late in the second period, but New York eventually got the score back to even.
Rushing the puck into Florida’s zone, a shot by Adam Fox was stopped by Tarasov, but the rebound went off the goaltender’s pad and directly into the path of Gabe Perrault’s skate.
The deflection went behind Tarasov and into the net before he could react, sending the game into the third period knotted at two.
That’s how the score remained until late in the third period, when Reinhardt one-timed a pass by Luke Kunin over Quick’s glove with 1:50 left, putting the Cats up 3-2.
On to the final game of the season.
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Photo caption: Apr 13, 2026; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers left wing Cole Reinhardt (29) celebrates with teammates after scoring against the New York Rangers during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)