Panthers defeat Canadiens 4-3 in a shootout as Sam Reinhart scores 2 goals to reach 40 goals.

Sunshine, Florida (AP) – The Florida Panthers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in a shootout on Thursday night, with Sam Reinhart scoring twice and becoming the fourth player in the history of the team to reach 40 goals.

With his two goals, Reinhart ended an eight-game goal drought. He also reached the milestone with his second goal, which tied the score at three, at 13:05 in the third period.

Reinhart was unable to score for Florida in the shootout, and Jesse Ylonen and Nick Suzuki of Montreal were also unable to score before Aleksander Barkov and Anton Lundell of the Panthers sealed the victory.

For the Panthers, who are now the second team in the NHL to reach the 40-win mark after the New York Rangers, Barkov also scored in regulation.

The Canadiens scored goals in regulation through Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Alex Newhook, and Suzuki. 32 saves were made by Samuel Montembeault.

After Minnesota defeated Florida 6-4 on January 19, the Canadiens became the first team to score more than two goals against the Panthers.

Martin St. Louis, the coach of Montreal, stated, “That Florida team is one of the best teams in the league.” “We’re not as advanced as they are, but there’s a lot to learn about their game, so we’re trying to take things from any team in the league that performs at a higher level than we do right now. However, I felt that tonight we matched them fairly well.

Florida was tied for its record of not giving up more than two goals in 14 games.