The Florida Panthers are one win away from hoisting the 2024 Stanley Cup. On Thursday, the Panthers took a commanding three games to none lead in the Stanley Cup Final with a 4-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. In the Panthers win, one Canadian had a multi-point game, and two Canadians scored.
The Panthers player who had a multi-point game was Sam Reinhart of West Vancouver, British Columbia. Reinhart opened the scoring from Gustav Forsling and Aleksander Barkov with one minute and two seconds left in the first period. Sam Bennett of Holland Landing, Ontario then put the Panthers up 3-1 with six minutes and three seconds left in the second period from former Calgary Flame Matt Tkachuk. Bennett also played for the Flames. Then on the Panthers’s game-winning goal, Reinhart got a secondary assist on Barkov’s game-winning goal. Evan Rodrigues of Toronto, Ontario got the other assist. At the time, the Panthers went up 4-1 at 15:31 of the second period.
In the playoffs, Reinhart has nine goals and six assists for 15 points in 20 games. He is a +3, with 12 penalty minutes, four power-play goals, one game-winning goal, 70 shots on goal, 70 faceoff wins, 27 blocked shots, 47 hits, 11 takeaways, and eight giveaways. Reinhart’s game-winning goal came in game four of the Eastern Conference Finals in overtime, in a 3-2 Panthers win over the New York Rangers. Reinhart scored on the power-play from Brandon Montour of Brantford, Ontario and captain Barkov.
Bennett has seven goals and six assists for 13 points in 15 games. He is a +3 with 10 penalty minutes, one power-play goal, one game-winning goal, 32 shots on goal, 35 faceoff wins, two blocked shots, 73 hits, seven takeaways, and eight giveaways.
Bennett’s power-play goal came in game four of the Eastern Conference Semi-Final, a 3-2 Panthers win over the Boston Bruins. Bennett scored from Rodrigues and Anton Lundell at 3:41 of the third period. At the time, he tied the game at two. Bennett’s game-winning goal came in game five of the Eastern Conference Final, a 3-2 Panthers win over the New York Rangers. Bennett scored an unassisted marker into an empty net which put the Panthers up 3-1 with one minute and 52 seconds left in the third period. Bennett’s blocked shots came in the Panthers’s 3-0 win over the Rangers in game one of the Eastern Conference Final, and in game six of the Eastern Conference Final, a 2-1 Panthers win over the Rangers.
