Sam Reinhart scored on the power play early in overtime to give the Florida Panthers a 3-2 victory and even the Eastern Conference Final series at two games apiece.
It was the fastest goal from the start of an overtime period in Panthers franchise playoff history. The previous benchmark was 1:51, scored by Matthew Tkachuk (Game 2 of 2023 CF).
Vincent Trochek opened the scoring with a goal in the first period and is now one point shy of 20 in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He would be the second-fastest player in franchise history to reach 20 in a postseason behind Brian Leetch (12 GP in 1994).
The Panthers answered back with two goals from Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe in the second period. Verhaeghe (3-3—6 in 4 GP) now has the second-most points by a Panthers player in a conference finals, behind only Dave Lowry against the Penguins in 1996 (3-4—7 in 7 GP).
The Rangers tied the game in the third period with a goal from Alexei Lafreniere and became the fifth player in franchise history with seven goals in a postseason before age 23, joining Alex Kovalev in 1994 (9-12—21 in 23 GP), Filip Chytil in 2022 (7-2—9 in 20 GP), Don Maloney in 1979 (7-13—20 in 18 GP) and Don Murdoch in 1979 (7-5—12 in 18 GP).
News and Notes
Game 4 was Sergei Bobrovsky’s 17th career overtime playoff win. That moves him past Martin Brodeur and Billy Smith for the fourth most in NHL history.
Trocheck has points in 10 of 13 playoff games and multiple points in eight contests. His eight multi-point playoff games are the second most in franchise history in a single playoff year behind Leetch (9 GP in 1994) and rank second in the NHL this year.
Trocheck’s seven goals rank tied for fifth in the NHL while his 18 points rank tied for fourth. Earlier in the postseason, he tied a franchise record (Cecil Dillon in 1933) for the longest postseason goal streak with five and established a Rangers record with four consecutive playoff games with a power play goal.
With his assist on the Verhaeghe goal, Tkachuk (5-14—19 in 15 GP) is one point away from joining Craig Janney (1990-91), Kevin Stevens (1991-92), Mike Modano (1999-00), Patrick Kane (2014-15), Phil Kessel (2016-17) and Jake Guentzel (2017-18) as the only U.S.-born players to record 20 or more points in consecutive postseasons.
The two teams will meet again on Thursday, May 30, at Madison Square Garden.
