George Richards, FHN Publisher
SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers have been getting some fantastic offensive contributions from some secondary sources lately — but they have also been getting production from guys they need to count on such as Sam Reinhart.
After a slow start to his first season in Florida, Reinhart has been on fire of late.
Over his past three games, Reinhart has scored three goals with three assists in wins against the Capitals, Blues and his former Buffalo Sabres teammates.
That does not even count the shootout winner he scored Saturday against the Blues.
Yeah, it has been a good couple of days for Sam Reinhart and the Panthers.
Florida has been shooting the puck at an unbelievable rate over its past three wins at home, something which started with the 27-shot third period in the comeback win against the Capitals on Tuesday night.
Of Florida’s 147 shots on goal in the past three games, Reinhart has 11.
The Panthers have also taken a total of 227 shot attempts — which takes into account shots on goal, missed and blocked shots — with Reinhart accounting for 17.
”We feel like we’re at our best when we are coming in waves,” Reinhart said. “We all want to play the same sort of game. Guys are starting to feel comfortable with that, find their roles. It’s a fun way to play when you have that many guys who can contribute.”
When Florida traded with Buffalo for Reinhart at the draft in July, the Panthers were getting a high-end forward fresh off tying his career-high in goals in a shortened season.
In six of his first seven full-time NHL seasons, Reinhart had scored over 20 goals.
Last season, he got 25 despite playing on a last place team and only getting 54 games.
Only it seemed to take Reinhart a little while to get going in Florida.
“It’s always hard to change teams and I think he’s a real cerebral player,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said before Reinhart faced his old team and had a goal with three assists.
“I think it’s hard to find chemistry with guys, it’s hard to know where you fit and with the success we had last year, he’s just trying to find his way and it gets a little difficult.
“I think he’s done a great job. We move him all over the place, we’re still trying to figure him out a little bit too, but every line he goes on, he generates offense one way or another.”
Reinhart’s first season here did not start the way he or the Panthers would have hoped.
After the first few games of playing on the top line with Sasha Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe, he was slid down after not registering a point.
Before this current run of scoring four goals with seven points in five games, Reinhart had been limited to three goals and 11 points in his first 19.
Reinhart is currently on pace to score 23 goals this season; before scoring four in his past five, he was on track for 13.
“We have talked about it before. He has been real good for us wherever we have played him,” Brunette said on Saturday.
“We are trying to find spots for him and he’s trying to get used to us. It’s always tough for a new player coming in. He has real good chemistry with his line right now and they are playing at a high level. We’re feeling really good about his game right now.”