Panthers’ Sam Reinhart knocked out of Game 2 vs Hurricanes after hit by Aho
Florida Panthers star winger Sam Reinhart left the team’s 5-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final with a lower-body injury after taking a hit by Sebastian Aho late in the first period.
He did not return to the game. Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Reinhart will be evaluated Friday, with a formal update coming before Game 3 on Saturday.
The hit came with just over five minutes left in the first period as Reinhart was entering the offensive zone on the power play. Aho checked Reinhart low, and Reinhart went tumbling down.
Reinhart entered Thursday with four goals and 11 points this postseason. He led the team in the regular season with 39 goals and 81 points.
“You can’t really replace that guy,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “He does everything.”
But the Panthers did their best to do so for two periods.
Maurice rotated his fourth-line forwards — Tomas Nosek, A.J. Greer and Jonah Gadjovich — at Reinhart’s spot as the right wing on Florida’s top line with Evan Rodrigues at left wing and Barkov at center. Carter Verhaeghe also took some shifts with the top line, with Nosek and Greer moving into Verhaeghe’s spot on the second line when that happened.
“You hate to see a guy go out,” Greer said, “but it’s the way you adapt to certain situations. As a fourth-line guy, if you get minutes up top, you’re not trying to change anything. You’re trying to just stick to the way you play to the best of your abilities. I thought we did that really well. We’re not trying to open the game up. We’re just trying to really just do our best in the things that we excel at.”
This story was originally published May 22, 2025 at 9:16 PM.
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