40 goals for Sam Reinhart: How the Florida Panthers’ All-Star got to the milestone

At this point in the season, the Florida Panthers’ focus is on team success over individual milestones.

But for more than two weeks, Sam Reinhart tried to minimize the pressure he put on himself as he sat one goal away from his latest big milestone only to come up empty game after game.

“You feel it for sure,” Reinhart said.

On Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens, after failing to score for a season-high seven consecutive games, Reinhart was finally able to exhale.

Reinhart scored his 40th goal of the season second-period power-play goal on a feed from Matthew Tkachuk behind the net — a pass-and-shoot combination that has worked so many times this season.

For good measure, Reinhart scored a game-tying shorthanded goal with 6:55 left in regulation that allowed the Panthers to get the game to overtime and eventually win in a shootout.

“It’s felt like a long time coming,” Reinhart said, “so it’s nice to get back on the scoresheet.”

Prior to scoring on Thursday, Reinhart’s most recent goal came on Feb. 10 in Florida’s win over the Colorado Avalanche. He had 17 shots on goal over that seven-game scoring drought.

“He’s back,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I thought in that gap, there were chances that didn’t quite go. Maybe last year, you’d start worrying about it. I wasn’t even remotely worried about it. He looked like he was right back on it after it went in to get him to 40. That’s a huge milestone. It’s incredibly difficult and there are just very few men in the history of the game that get to the 40-goal mark. It’s a huge accomplishment. He’s earned it.”

Here’s a by-the-numbers look at Reinhart’s journey to 40 goals and the significance behind the mark.

▪ 4: Reinhart is one of four players in franchise history to score 40 goals in a season.

Pavel Bure was the first in Panthers history, scoring 58 in the 1999-2000 season and then upping the franchise’s single-season record with 59 in the 2000-01 season.

It would take until last season for another Panthers player to hit the 40-goal plateau … and two players accomplished the feat that year. Carter Verhaeghe led the team with 42 goals and Matthew Tkachuk had 40 of his own as well, making Florida one of four teams with multiple players who scored 40 goals that season (the Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers were the others).

“It’s remarkable,” teammate Sam Bennett said of Reinhart. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a player that hot. It seems like every time he touches the puck, there’s a chance to score — like a really good chance. It’s awesome to watch.”

▪ 60: Reinhart scored his 40th goal in his 60th game this season.

Of the five 40-goal seasons in franchise history, Reinhart got to the mark in the second-fewest games. Bure scored his 40th goal in the 1999-2000 season in Game 48.

As for the other three, Bure needed 61 games in the 2000-2001 season to get to 40 goals, while Verhaeghe needed 76 games and Tkachuk 77 in the 2022-23 season.

“Just the way he plays, it’s not at all about the goal scoring,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “He does all the right things on the ice. He hasn’t cheated once this year. He’s always on the right side of the puck, and that’s even more impressive.”

▪ 23: Of Reinhart’s 40 goals, 23 have been scored on the power play.

The mark is already a franchise record, breaking the previous mark of 19 initially set by Scott Mellanby in the 1995-96 season and matched by Bure in the 2000-01 campaign.

The question now becomes how close will Reinhart get to the NHL record of 34, set by Tim Kerr in the 1985-86 season.

“I’m getting a pretty good view from right behind him,” said defenseman Brandon Montour, who is on the top power-play unit with Reinhart along with Tkachuk, Verhaeghe and Barkov. “I can see [the goal] coming or I can see the play coming. I’m happy for him. He works extremely hard and he deserves everything he’s getting.”

Another fun fact: Each of Reinhart’s past 14 goals have been scored on special teams (11 on the power play, three shorthanded). During that stretch, he set an NHL record by scoring a special teams goal in eight consecutive games. His 27 total special-teams goals (including four shorthanded goals) are also a franchise record.

Reinhart’s five total shorthanded goals this season are also one shy of the Panthers’ franchise record of six set by Tom Fitzgerald in the 1995-96 season.

▪ Nine: Nine of Reinhart’s goals are game-winning goals.

That’s tied for the NHL lead this season with Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson. It is also tied for the second-most in a season in Panthers history with Olli Jokinen, who also had nine game-winning goals in the 2005-06 season. Bure has the franchise mark, with 14 in the 1999-2000 season.

▪ Eight: Reinhart has eight multi-goal games this season.

Through games played Thursday, Reinhart was one of six players to have at least eight multi-goal games this season.

The others: Toronto’s Auston Matthews (15), Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (10), Vancouver’s Brock Boeser (nine), Boston’s David Pastrnak (eight) and Vegas’ Jonathan Marchessault (eight).