Sunday Florida Hockey Rundown: Panthers, Lightning Notch Road Wins

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — 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.”

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 3-2on 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.

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.

(Canadian Press)

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Anthony Cirelli scored 59 seconds into overtime on a two-man breakaway to give Tampa Bay a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 on Sunday night, extending the Lightning’s points streak to seven games.

Cirelli and Brandon Hagel had a clear path to the net after Mason McTavish’s pass to Alex Killorn went off a skate. Cirelli got the loose puck and moved into the offensive zone and passed back to Hagel, who sent it back to Cirelli, who beat Lukas Dostal on the short side.

“It was a great backcheck there by (Nick) Perbix and Hagel. I saw Hagel out of the corner of my eye. Thought I’d give it to him and make him make a play, and it was fortunate to go in,” said Cirelli about his fourth career regular-season OT goal.

Anthony Duclair and Luke Glendening also scored for the Lighting, who have the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Jonas Johansson made 30 saves.

Ross Johnston and Pavel Mintyukov scored for Anaheim. Dostal stopped 25 shots.

“Tampa is at the end of a road trip. They played last night. So it’s an opportunity for us to get a point or two,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “I thought we were skating, but I thought our puck management was poor throughout most of the game until the third period.”

Duclair has points in all seven games since being acquired from Florida. He tied Ottawa’s Chris Tierney for the second-longest points streak to begin a tenure with a franchise among all active players. Alex Ovechkin tops the list with points in each of his first eight games with the Capitals in 2005-06.

“Since the trade deadline we’ve really turned the corner. Duclair and (defenseman Matt) Dumba have come in and really given our team a little life,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “Special teams have been great and the goaltending has been excellent and its added up to some points for us in the last few weeks here.

Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov, who leads the NHL in scoring with 123 points, saw his 13-game point streak snapped. The Lightning forward had five goals and 29 points during the run, which was tied with Edmonton’s Connor McDavid for the league’s longest this season.

Johnston scored his first goal in nearly two years with 6:11 left in the first period when he rushed to the net and tipped in Jakob Silfverberg’s pass. It snapped a 74-game NHL drought, with his last one coming when he was with the New York Islanders.

Duclair evened it 7:50 into the second when he put in a rebound. It was Duclair’s fifth goal and ninth point with the Lightning.

Glendening put the Lightning up 2-1 late in the second period with a backhander into an open net after Dostal went down to stop Austin Watston’s shot.

Mintyukov became the first Ducks defenseman in 18 games to score when he put in a wrist shot 2:36 into the third while the Ducks were on a three-on-two rush.

UP NEXT

Lightning: Host Boston on Wednesday night.

Ducks: At Seattle on Tuesday night.

(Associated Press)