Sam Reinhart collects second hat trick of the season
Jonathan Huberdeau collected four assists to shatter his Florida Panthers single-season record during an up-and-down 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at FLA Live Arena.
Huberdeau tops the NHL in both points (82) and assists (64). That’s two more assists than he amassed during the 2018-19 season with 24 games left on the schedule.
Sam Reinhart notched his second hat trick of the season, and Carter Verhaeghe lit the lamp twice to hit the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career. The suddenly en fuego Verhaeghe has racked up four goals this week by scoring in each of the last three games.
Anthony Duclair’s power-play goal 6:59 into the third period snuffed out the Flyers comeback bid after Florida poured in four in the first only to see Philadelphia rally back in the second on goals from James van Riemsdyk, Cam Atkinson and Travis Konecny.
The goal was The Duke’s 24th of the campaign, establishing a new career-high for the 26-year-old speedster. Duclair produced a power-play goal for the fourth consecutive game, matching Evgenii Dadonov’s club record.
Reinhart scored twice on the power-play in the opening frame and got his third of the night into an empty-net with 2:06 remaining.
While Huberdeau had four primary assists, defenseman Aaron Ekblad piled up a career-best four helpers (all secondaries) in one game to establish a new career-high in that category. Ekblad is now up to 39 assists, three better than the 36 he posted in 2019-20. He became the third defenseman in club history to get four assists in one game, joining Bryan McCabe and Brian Campbell.
The Cats, winners of five straight, gave their fans what they came to see, an explosive parting gift with the next seven games coming on the road. Florida opened up a five-point lead on the Tampa Bay Lightning, who lost in Calgary, and also gained a point on the third place Toronto Maple Leafs, who were upset at home in overtime by the Arizona Coyotes. Quite a night.
Lift & Drag
- Florida reached 40 wins (40-13-5) in their 58th game played, the fewest games required to hit the forty mark in franchise history. The team’s 148 goals on home ice in 2021-22 is the most goals scored at home in one season, surpassing the old record of 144 set in 2006-07.
- The Cats went a perfect 3-for-3 on the power play and are 12-for-25 (48 percent) over their past six contests. They scored at least two PPGs in five of those six games.
- Aleksander Barkov finished with two assists to post his fourth straight multi-point game. Barkov has amassed 10 points (1G/9A) over that span.
- Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves to earned his 30th victory and league-leading 19th home win of the season (19-3-0). Carter Hart stopped 31 of 36 shots faced in the loss.
- Kevin Hayes, Derick Brassard, Claude Giroux, Cam York and Rasmus Ristolainen collected assists for the Flyers.
- New defenseman Petteri Lindbohm made his Panthers debut, skating in an NHL game for the first time since 2016-17. Lindbohm played 12:14, dished three hits, blocked two shots and fought Travis Konecny.
- For more on the last leg of Florida’s season sweep of Philadelphia, bring it to Broad Street Hockey.
Video Recap (NHL.com)