Panthers get back to their identity with veteran presence in LA as Bobrovsky stands tall and Reinhart lights the lamp, fueling a crucial road victory.
Thursday night in Los Angeles, the Florida Panthers got back to looking like the hard-working, defensive squad that they expect to be.
Coming off a frustrating 7-3 loss in Anaheim on Tuesday, Florida snapped back into focus and seemed to get better as the game went on, defeating the Los Angeles Kings 5-2 at Crypto.com Arena.
Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice walked the team through a ‘back to basics’ kind of practice on Wednesday, and while it may have taken a little while during the game in LA, the Cats showed that they can get back to playing their brand of hockey despite missing several key players.
Now we’ll have to wait and see if they can keep the good vibes rolling as their four-game western U.S. road trip continues.
Let’s get to Thursday’s takeaways:
BIG GAME FOR BOB
Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was called upon early and often during Thursday’s win, and he answered the ball time and again.
Bob finished the game with 24 saves on 26 shots on goal, and he stopped nine of the 10 high danger shots sent his way by the Kings.
It felt like most of more difficult shots he had to stop came at critical moments of the game, allowing Florida the opportunity to pull away during the third period.
“Our goaltender was really good when he had to be,” Maurice said. “The timeliness of those saves was really important.”
BIRTHDAY BOY TICKLES TWINE
Sam Reinahrt has been asked to do a little bit of everything so far this season.
Not to say that’s any different than his usual workload, but with the absence several forwards who play a variety of roles, Reinhart has done what he can to lighten the load on multiple facets of the game.
On Thursday, Reinhart scored his seventh goal of the season on what was his 30th birthday.
He’s logged goals in five of Florida’s past six games, and two of those goals – including Thursday’s in Los Angeles – were game-winners.
“He's been so good.” Maurice said. “He plays with everybody for the most part, penalty kill, power play, one of the most impactful players in our in our room. And then as a leader, he's got that great balance. He can talk to the coaches about the X's and O's because he sees things on the ice so very well, but he also will do hard things that kind of keep him connected to the players.”
STILL SEARCHING FOR CONSISTENCY
We all knew that this season was going to be a challenge for the Panthers.
Losing Sasha Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Tomas Nosek and Dmitry Kulikov for big chunks of the season left the team with an unexpected mountain to climb before the playoffs, and they’re still figuring out how to navigate the bumpy terrain.
After a bit of a wake-up call in Anaheim, Maurice and his staff figured out which elements of the team’s systems needed to be emphasized and focused on, and they were able to quickly put those wheels into motion.
The challenge for Florida will be keeping that momentum moving in their favor.
“I didn't feel that was who we are in Anaheim, and I thought today we were closer to (our game),” Maurice said. “It's not going to be perfect right now, we got some challenges, obviously, with our lineup, but once you get used to that and embrace the fact that it doesn't have to be perfect, that you got to fight for some things, and grind, I thought that was our game tonight.”
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Photo caption: Nov 6, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) defends the net as Los Angeles Kings left wing Kevin Fiala (22) handles the puck during the second period at Crypto.com Arena. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images)