Panthers’ Sam Reinhart to miss Game 3 with lower-body injury

The Florida Panthers will be without their top goal scorer in Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, as centre Sam Reinhart will miss the game due to a lower-body injury.

Reinhart sustained the injury late in the first period of Game 2 after a hit with Sebastian Aho sent him hard onto the ice. He was seen in pain on the bench before eventually going to the dressing room, with the Panthers announcing before the second period that he wouldn’t be returning to the game.

If Reinhart’s absence had an impact on the Panthers, it wasn’t really noticed in the game. They already found themselves up 3-0 in the game at the time of his departure, and then scored two more goals to finish the game with a 5-0 score to go up 2-0 in their Eastern Conference Final series against the Hurricanes.

With Reinhart out, centre Jesper Boqvist will be entering the lineup in his place, although whereabouts in the lineup has yet to be confirmed. Boqvist has 1 goal and 1 assist for 2 points in 9 games for the Panthers in the playoffs thus far, as well as 12 goals and 11 assists for 23 points in 78 games in the regular season.

It also is not confirmed who will be playing in Reinhart’s spot on the top line alongside Aleksander Barkov and Evan Rodrigues, as well as in his roles on the top power play unit and second penalty kill unit.

Even if it didn’t affect the result in Game 2, losing Reinhart will be a big blow to the Panthers lineup, as he’s one of the best two-way players in the game right now. He currently only has 4 goals and 7 assists for 11 points in 14 games in the playoffs, but is coming off a regular season that saw him put up 39 goals and 42 assists for 81 points in 79 games and finish as a finalist for the Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the league.

The Panthers will look to put a stranglehold on the Eastern Conference Final by going up 3-0 in the series when they host Game 3 in Florida against the Hurricanes on Saturday at 8 p.m. EST.