Reinhart scores twice in third, Panthers hold off Ducks

ANAHEIM --Sam Reinhart scored his first two goals of the season for the Florida Panthers in the third period of a 5-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Sunday.

Brandon Montour had a goal and three assists, Carter Verhaeghe had a goal and an assist, and Spencer Knight made 32 saves for the Panthers (7-5-1), who were coming off a 5-4 loss at the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
"It was nice to finish the road trip and salvage it a little bit (2-2-0)," Reinhart said. "Carry some momentum back home."
Ryan Strome had a goal and an assist, Adam Henrique and Isac Lundestrom scored, and John Gibson made 43 saves for the Ducks (4-8-1), who were also playing the second of a back to back following a 5-4 shootout win at the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
Anaheim remains the only NHL team without a win in regulation this season.
"It's a choice that you're not going to take that route of being good or mediocre," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. "Just coming in and having a good day, that's not good enough when you're at where we're at. You have to come in and win today."

Reinhart, who turned 27 on Sunday, put Florida in front 3-2 at 2:55 of the third period when he got to a loose puck in front of the crease and shot over a prone Gibson.
Sam Bennett extended the lead to 4-2 at 8:10, tapping in a centering pass from Eetu Luostarinen during a 4-on-4.
Lundestrom converted a short-handed penalty shot with 1:14 left to get the Ducks back to within 4-3, but Reinhart scored into an empty net during the same power play with one second remaining for the 5-3 final.
"[Reinhart] gets some confidence and a couple goals on his birthday," Florida coach Paul Maurice said.

The Panthers had two power plays 20 seconds apart midway through the first period, and Verhaeghe was credited with the goal on the second to make it 1-0 at 11:31 after Montour's one-timer from the point deflected in off him.
The goal was Verhaeghe's fourth in the past three games.
"It's definitely big for our group to get a couple (of power-play goals) tonight," Bennett said.

Montour made it 2-0 at 2:51 of the second period when he scored on a turnaround shot through traffic.
Henrique tipped in a shot from Strome from along the left boards to cut it to 2-1 at 8:00.
Anaheim then scored 27 seconds later to tie it 2-2 when the puck slid through the top of the crease to Strome, who shot past Knight's outstretched right pad from low in the left circle.
"We've been able to score, it's just a matter of, you have to be able to play in their zone more," Strome said. "You can point to defensive systems and this and that, but I think we have gotten better defensively."

Forward Matthew Tkachuk, who leads the Panthers with 17 points (five goals, 12 assists), was serving the first of a two-game suspension for high-sticking Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick in the final minute of the loss on Saturday.
"We will have adversity over the course of the year," Maurice said. "[Tkachuk has] been a great performer for us, great producer for us, and a fantastic player for us. We're going to miss him, but now we got to pick up the slack"
NOTES: Panthers forward Patric Hornqvist missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury. .... Panthers forward Aleksi Heponiemi, who was recalled from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Saturday, had the primary assist on Montour's goal in his season debut. ... Verhaeghe has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past seven games. ... Ducks forward Troy Terry had the secondary assist on Strome's goal to extend his point streak to five games (one goal, eight assists). ... Anaheim has allowed at least four goals in 11 of its 13 games this season.