PHILADELPHIA – Sam Reinhart scored two goals to reach 50 on the season, Brandon Montour added three assists and the Florida Panthers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night.
“Very cool,” Reinhart said. “It’s obviously a number I never really thought about.”
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Vladimir Tarasenko and Carter Verhaeghe also scored for the Panthers, who tied Boston with 97 points atop the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division. Florida will host the Bruins on Tuesday night.
Bobby Brink scored for the Flyers.
“I thought we played really well,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “We can build off the whole game.”
Both teams were playing the second games of a back-to-back and used their backup goalies. Philadelphia defeated Boston 3-2 on Saturday while the Panthers lost 4-3 in a shootout at the Rangers. Anthony Stolarz made 32 saves for the Panthers while Philadelphia’s Felix Sandstrom allowed three goals on 14 shots.
“(Stolarz) was outstanding,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.
The Flyers are playing without starting goalie Carter Hart, who took a leave of absence from the team in January.
Court documents show that Hart is one of five players from Canada’s 2018 world junior team who has been charged with sexual assault in connection to an incident alleged to have happened on June 19, 2018, in London, Ontario. Michael McLeod and Cal Foote of the New Jersey Devils, Dillon Dube of the Calgary Flames and former NHL player Alex Formenton also are facing charges.
Asked about Sandstrom’s performance, Tortorella threw his hands up, stared down the questioner and then abruptly departed the postgame podium without saying a word.
The Panthers, who entered leading the East and third in the NHL with a plus-55 goal differential, scored the lone goals in the first and second periods to take a 2-0 lead into the third.
Reinhart put Florida on the board with his first of the day 10:34 into the first, breaking free in the slot and shooting a wrister off Sandstrom and into the net. He reached his milestone tally with 1:12 remaining into an empty net. Reinhart entered third in the NHL in goals, trailing Toronto’s Auston Matthews by 10. He also had an assist.
“Such a rare thing in a player’s career,” Maurice said of Reinhart’s milestone. “That puts you in elite class. There are very few people’s names who score 50 that you don’t know. They’re superstars. We’re just so fortunate to have him.”
The Panthers went in front 2-0 just 55 seconds into the second with a power-play tally when Tarasenko beat Sandstrom from the circle.
“I need to be able to step up to keep us in it,” Sandstrom said. “I’m not too happy about today. It was one of those days of why and how did that happen. I just got to be more detailed and make sure I probably track them better.”
Stolarz stood tall in the second when Philadelphia made a strong push to get on the board. The Panthers goalie also got some good fortune, as Philadelphia center Sean Couturier beat him with a backhander that went off the crossbar.
UP NEXT
Panthers: Host Bruins on Tuesday night.
Flyers: At Rangers on Tuesday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl