Sam Reinhart Leads Panthers to Stanley Cup With Scoring Feat Not Seen in a Century

The star center put Florida on his back.
Sam Reinhart celebrates a goal against the Oilers.
Sam Reinhart celebrates a goal against the Oilers. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

When the Florida Panthers' stars had to deliver Tuesday, they delivered—with one in particular achieving immortality.

Panthers center Sam Reinhart scored four goals in Florida's 5–1 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, allowing his team to take home hockey's top prize for the second straight year. That made him, per Sportsnet in Canada, the first player to score four goals in a Stanley Cup Final game since Montreal Canadiens right wing Maurice Richard put four past the Boston Bruins in 1957.

Even more amazingly, however, Reinhart became the first to score four goals in a Stanley Cup clincher since 1922. It was Toronto St. Patricks right wing Babe Dye who sealed the deal that year against the Ottawa Senators with four goals in Game 5.

Every player to score four goals in a Stanley Cup Final game, in fact, is in the Hall of Fame.

Reinhart is still only 29, but if he wants to end his career in Toronto, back-to-back Cups with a four-goal clincher isn't a bad place to start.


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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .