Sam Reinhart (700 career points) caps night with highlight goal

Sam Reinhart swerved the puck past three Blues defenders and beat outstretched goalie Joel Hofer to put the cherry on top of the Panthers' 4-1 victory on Saturday night.

The late unassisted goal -- Reinhart's team-leading 12th -- was the third in three games for Reinhart, who notched two points in the game. That gives him 21 points in 21 games -- an average of a point per game for Florida (12-7-2)

But his biggest accolade came earlier in the game. With an assist on Brady Tkachuk’s opening goal, Reinhart hit the 700-point mark for his career.

"Well, his hands," said coach Paul Maurice when asked what impressed him most about Reinhart's play in the road victory in St. Louis. But immediately, Maurice shifted his praise to speak on Reinhart's presence on the bench -- especially without Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand.

"He's a great leader for us," Maurice said. "He's been more and more and more vocal, especially with Barkov being out on the bench. Other players rely on him, and coaches do too. We ask him a lot of questions."

Barkov might return as early as Tuesday's home game against Edmonton, setting up another potential showdown between the Panthers captain and the red-hot Connor McDavid, on record-breaking pace.

At the start of the 2026–27 season, Reinhart, Barkov and Brady Tkachuk made up the first line for the Panthers. When Barkov got injured in the second game of the season, Reinhart moved to center and Maurice tried several combinations and moved players around to supplement the offense without Barkov and Marchand. Marchand also hopes to return to game action before the end of November.

Consistent Force

But one thing Maurice hasn't had to worry about is the production from Reinhart. Playing on the second line with Carter Verhaeghe and Lars Eller, Reinhart has nine assists to go along with his 12 goals (one goal ahead of Brady for the team lead). Reinhart also paces all Panthers forwards with time on ice at 19:14 per game (only defensemen Seth Jones, Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling have more TOI).

Reinhart has 9 goals, 8 assists, and a plus-minus of +4 in 19 career regular-season games against Sunday night's opponent, the Dallas Stars (11-6-2). Puck drop is 8 p.m.

Also notable from Saturday's win, Radko Gudas played in his 900th NHL game — No. 218 in two different stints with the Panthers. Matthew Tkachuk also assisted on Brady’s first goal, giving him a point in seven straight games and nine out of 10.

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