Colby Guy
SUNRISE — Sam Reinhart is off to a blistering start to the 2023-24 season with the Florida Panthers.
Reinhart’s go-ahead goal against the San Jose Sharks Tuesday night pulled him into a tie for second in the NHL in goals with Auston Matthews — his seventh of the year.
He goes into Saturday’s game against Seattle riding a five-game goal streak.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had [a hot streak] at the start of the year,” Reinhart said on Tuesday.
The start to this season has been a far cry from his first two in Sunrise as he had just two goals in 18 games during those two Octobers.
Multiple factors helped Reinhart get going right away.
For one, the Panthers’ short offseason following a run to the Stanley Cup Final forced him to change how he prepared for the new season.
“A shorter summer was a little different for me, personally, trying to get back,” Reinhart told Florida Hockey Now.
“Unfortunately, early in my career, I was used to a lot of long summers and I tried to use that to my advantage at a young age. So it’s a little bit different. Less time in the gym, more time doing something less strenuous but more power-based.”
He is one of a few Panthers who came into training camp a much faster skater.
“He has continued to improve himself every year,” coach Paul Maurice said. “He worked incredibly hard this summer in order to be one of our fittest athletes. And you can tell. He’s got the legs. He’s driving.”
Florida captain Sasha Barkov also notably slimmed down and his speed has been apparent early on.
And it has helped the two all-around offensive threats click together quickly.
“We have always read the game off of each other pretty well,” Reinhart said. “I think when you speed things up, we have been real successful.”
The Panthers have tried to put Reinhart and Barkov together at the start of the season on two separate occasions.
While the two created a lot of scoring chances and played well on both ends of the ice, it never translated to points.
“When we played together last year, we were playing great hockey,” Reinhart said. “We had a lot of looks, we were just snake-bitten.”
This summer, Florida finally found the perfect linemate for the duo via free agency.
Evan Rodrigues, who the Panthers inked to a three-year, $12 million deal in July, has six assists and eight points on the season.
“I think we’ve been able to get down the ice and when we don’t have a play, we haven’t really been forcing much,” Rodrigues said.
“We just dump the puck in and Reino and Barky are such big bodies that they’re great on the forecheck and they get in there quick too. I think we’re doing a really good job of supporting each other and staying tight with each other, winning those little battles once we have the puck, and letting our offense take over.
“It’s worked out so far.”
Reinhart and Rodrigues spent five seasons together on the Buffalo Sabres, so they were very familiar with each other from the start.
They briefly played on a line together with current Vegas star Jack Eichel before the Sabres split them apart after a few games.
Reinhart knew what Rodrigues could offer then and advocated to keep that line together at the time.
He then pushed for the Panthers to sign his ex-teammate after his tours as a first-line winger next to superstar centers Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon.
“He has always thought the game so well,” Reinhart said. “He’s had some opportunities since leaving and he has taken advantage of them so well.”
As much as Rodrigues evolved from a speedy-yet-chippy bottom-six winger on Buffalo to a bonafide goal scorer, Reinhart has seen some improvements to his game since he arrived in Sunrise in 2021.
He scored 30 goals for the first time in his career in each of his two seasons as a Panther and hit a career-high in points with 82 in his first.
“He’s just such a smart player and he always seems to be in the open areas of the ice,” Rodrigues said.
“It makes the game really easy for me. If I can shake a guy, I know he’s going to be open and that’s what I’ve been trying to do. Make that first move, get a step on a guy and find him. And it’s worked out so far.”
The player Rodrigues sees in Florida is a similar build to what he saw in Buffalo.
Reinhart was doing similar things on the ice when he put up 20 goals in five of his six seasons with the Sabres.
He has just built on that further while taking on a role as a penalty killer and a leader on a competitive Panthers team.
“This is always the player he’s been,” Rodrigues said. “He has always been that smart, ‘makes the right play’ type of player. I think his knack for the net is just showing even more since he’s gotten to Florida. He’s on the penalty kill, power play, first line. He does it all.”