Even in loss, Panthers’ Sam Reinhart did ’freakishly good things’ in Game 5 vs Bruins

Sam Reinhart missed the majority of the third period in the Florida Panthers’ Game 4 win against the Boston Bruins on Sunday. He took a puck to the face and was “bleeding a bucket on the way off” the ice, as Panthers coach Paul Maurice described it.

But after getting some cosmetic work done, Reinhart missed no time and didn’t miss a beat in Game 5.

“I don’t think a lip has slowed anybody down,” Reinhart said.

The 28-year-old forward was one of the highlights for the Panthers in a 2-1 loss to the Bruins on Tuesday. He scored Florida’s only goal on a wrist shot from the slot early in the second period after the Panthers generated some chaos in front of the Bruins’ net.

Reinhart had a game-high eight shots on goal and 10 scoring chances on Tuesday. He nearly tied the game in the dying seconds before ultimately getting denied by Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman.

“Just a wonderful blend of all the hard things that the game of hockey demands, and then just some incredible hand skills,” Maurice said. “He really showed off both in traffic. Not a perimeter player; his hand skills were incredible. He doesn’t cheat the game, either. Defensively, so good. And not just for the win, but you’d like one or two of those [chances] to go for him because then people would have talked about the game that he had more. ... Sam Reinhart did some freakishly good things, some high-end stuff in tonight’s game. It didn’t quite go, so he won’t get recognized for it, but I think we see that a fair amount.”

Now, this is nothing new with Reinhart. He finished second in the NHL with 57 goals in the regular season and has already scored another five so far in the playoffs. The 62 combined goals are the most in a single season (when factoring in both the regular season and the playoffs) in franchise history.

Maurice talks goaltender interference

For a second consecutive game in this series, one of the critical goals was disputed but ultimately stood as originally called.

In Game 4 on Sunday, the Bruins challenged Sam Bennett’s game-tying goal early in the third period for goaltender interference and the NHL situation room upheld the original call. Aleksander Barkov scored the game-winning goal about four minutes later.

In Game 5 on Tuesday, Florida challenged Charlie McAvoy’s go-ahead goal against Sergei Bobrovsky in the second period for goaltender interference to no avail.

“I thought there was just enough of a bump,” Maurice said. “There’s a difference between the clean shot and the rebound shot. Those are two different situations. It was a clean shot and I thought him being in the crease keeping Bob from setting is enough.

“I also don’t mind if I’m wrong taking it between the eyes on something like that because I still need to be involved.”

This and that

▪ The Panthers did not allow a power-play goal for the fifth time over their past six games. Florida has killed off 16 of 17 penalties in that span.

▪ Florida is now 3-1 in games this postseason decided by one goal.

▪ The Panthers are the only team to have three players with at least five goals in the playoffs. Carter Verhaeghe has six goals, while Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov each have five.