SUNRISE \u2014 Cole Reinhardt may be one of many new faces on the Florida Panthers, but he is not one of the youngsters who was just elevated from the AHL, playing his first NHL games. <\/p>\n
At 26, Reinhardt (not to be confused with Panthers\u2019 leading scorer Sam Reinhart) has been a pro for six seasons, having NHL experience with Ottawa and Vegas albeit mainly in their farm system. <\/p>\n
Prior to being claimed off waivers at the deadline on March 6 for depth<\/a> \u2014 with the assumption, at the time, Florida was moving pending free agent A.J. Greer \u2014 Reinhardt had 62 NHL games under his belt.<\/p>\n He had a grand total of four goals.<\/p>\n Reinhardt had two goals in Florida\u2019s 3-2 win over the New York Rangers<\/a> on Monday, including the game winner with 1:50 left to spoil Jonathan Quick\u2019s final NHL game<\/a>.<\/p>\n With a goal in each of his previous two games, Reinhardt\u2019s output in the past three games matched his entire career to date. <\/p>\n Add an earlier goal against Edmonton in his third game as a Panther and you can consider this a career year in just 14 games.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Reinhardt had three goals in 44 games with Vegas this season prior to coming to Florida.<\/p>\n Tuesday was his first multi-goal NHL game.<\/p>\n His 16:03 of ice time was his highest as a Panther.<\/p>\n With 13 regulars again missing last night against the Rangers, coach Paul Maurice had to do another magic act with his lines. <\/p>\n Greer and Tomas Nosek were moved up to the first and third lines respectively. <\/p>\n The youngsters and bottom sixers were interspersed on the top three lines.<\/p>\n The fourth line consisted of Reinhardt, Luke Kunin, and Vinnie Hinostroza. Kunin and Hinostroza both assisted on Reinhardt\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n After the game, Reinhardt was looking back \u2014 and ahead. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a new chapter in my career and there\u2019s a little success happening right now,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cI try to run with it. Just try to play the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike some of the other newcomers, Reinhardt\u2019s contract \u2014 which was signed with Vegas last summer, is a one-way and is through next season at a team friendly $812,500. \u00a0<\/p>\n Reinhardt knows, however, that come training camp once the regulars are back, he will have to prove himself all over again.<\/p>\n So far, he has done everything he can to put himself in a good spot moving forward.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s in the back of your head,\u2019\u2019 Reinhardt said. \u201cYou want to make a good impression when you come in. Try to play the right way and be in the lineup for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n Maurice has made it a point of giving newcomers ample opportunity to make an impression. <\/p>\n He has had no hesitancy to put them on the ice in key situations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of these guys come in, play a fourth-line role, scratch-and-claw to get to the National Hockey League. So, we just felt they deserve to be on the ice. So we ran those guys hard at the end and good for Reinhardt to score his second. It paid off for him. \u2026 <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s hard on pucks. He moves well. He\u2019s not afraid to get into the corners first. He\u2019s got a good release. He\u2019s got a good shot\u2026He certainly stood out.\u201d<\/p>\n Tomorrow is another day. <\/p>\n With Detroit in town and neither team in the postseason, it will be another showcase for those hoping to stick in the NHL.<\/p>\n For Reinhardt, he just hopes this is the start of a beautiful relationship.<\/p>\n With Greer having a career-year himself and, being a free agent, he may just cash in somewhere else next season.<\/p>\n Reinhardt may just replace him on this team after all.<\/p>\n ON DECK: GAME No. 82<\/p>\n DETROIT RED WINGS at FLORIDA PANTHERS \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SUNRISE \u2014 Cole Reinhardt may be one of many new faces on the Florida Panthers, but he is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[103491,99294,28,30,29,16995,16996],"class_list":{"0":"post-231124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-aj-greer","9":"tag-cole-reinhardt","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-florida-panthers","14":"tag-new-york-rangers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}