Takeaways from Panthers 4-3 win over Blackhawks

SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers picked up their fourth-straight win Sunday afternoon, defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 at Amerant Bank Arena. 

Florida is now 6-1 on home ice this season, improving their overall record to 9-4-1.

Here’s this afternoon’s takeaways.

Sam Reinhart can’t stop scoring

Florida’s leading scorer Sam Reinhart continued his dominant start to the season on Sunday.

The Panthers forward finished the day with four points (2 goals, 2 assists) — tying his career-high. He also extended his point-streak to four games. 

After Sunday’s game, the 28-year-old has 21 points in 16 games, pushing him into the top-10 in league wide scoring.

“He’s incredible,” Sam Bennett said when asked about Reinhart. “He’s one of those guys that have really stepped up and he’s part of the reason why our team is doing so well right now.”

The first-star of the game honors evidently went to Reinhart.

Connor Bedard makes his presence felt in the Sunshine State

The hockey world knew this summer’s first-overall pick Connor Bedard was a special talent. 

In Chicago’s previous game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Bedard had a breakout game, picking up four points en route to a 5-3 win. 

After a quick trip down from Tampa to Sunrise, Bedard gave fans in attendance another performance worthy of the first-overall pick.

Despite the loss, Bedard scored twice for the Blackhawks, further extending his lead in rookie scoring to 13 points in as many games. 

“He’s got an unbelievable release, his ability to change angles,” Paul Maurice said about Bedard. “The goals that he scored against us were not great angle goals, but they’re still really good shots… he’s going to score an awful lot of those.”

Bedard has 9 goals on the season.

Panthers score on the power play, twice

When Florida gets an opportunity to go on the powerplay, it hasn’t always been a successful man-advantage this season. Entering Sunday’s game, the Panthers were near the bottom of the league on power-play, scoring just five goals (12.5 percent) in 13 games.

The Panthers went to the power play four times on Sunday and they walked away with their most successful outing this season, scoring twice. 

Sam Reinhart scored Florida’s first power play goal 11:54 into the first period, his fourth on the man-advantage this season. 

Carter Verhaeghe would score the other power play goal and eventual game winner 2:44 into the third period.

With the final score coming down to just one goal, the multi-goal performance on special teams ended up being the difference for the Panthers today. This was the first game all season where the Panthers scored more than once on the power play. 

Sam Bennett returns for his first ‘full game’

The Panthers have been getting results this season and they’ve done it while missing a few of their key players.

Florida was without Sam Bennett for the first seven games of the season as he was dealing with a lower-body injury. 

He made his season debut on Oct. 30 against the Boston Bruins, but only ended up playing eight minutes, as he had to leave the game with a lower-body injury. 

“You never want to be out, especially when I thought I was going to be back playing again,” Bennett said on Sunday. “It was tough there for a while  but I was able to rehab and come back a lot quicker than I was expecting. Happy to be feeling good now.”

In his return to the lineup, Bennett played 16:51 in what was his first full game of the season. 

GAME NOTES

Florida will be on the road for their next three games as they head to California for a west coast trip against the Sharks, Kings and Ducks. 

Their next home game will be Monday, Nov. 20 against the Edmonton Oilers.