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The Florida Panthers are dominating the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 2 of the 2025 Eastern Conference finals on Thursday night. However, it has not been an entirely smooth ride for the reigning Stanley Cup champions, with one of their key players leaving the game with an apparent injury.
Panthers forward Sam Reinhart exited the game in the first period after absorbing a hit from Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho.
Reinhart was trying to bring the puck into the offensive zone while Florida was on the man advantage when he suddenly got checked by Aho.
Reinhart later left the ice and went to the locker room before the Panthers announced that he wouldn’t return to the contest due to a lower-body injury.
“Sam Reinhart (lower body) will not return tonight,” Florida shared in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Reinhart has been among the most productive players on the ice for the Panthers, including in the 2025 postseason. He entered Game 2 of the Hurricanes series with 11 points on the strength of four goals and seven assists through 13 games. During the 2024-25 NHL regular season, Reinhart paced Florida with 81 points on 39 goals and 42 helpers across 79 games.
Reinhart has yet to record a point in the Eastern Conference finals, but the Panthers are doing just fine even without getting production from the former first-round pick by the Buffalo Sabres.
In Game 2, the Panthers scored three goals right away in the first period from Gustav Forsling, Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett, who also scored in the second period to extend Florida's lead to 4-0.
The Panthers crushed Carolina in Game 1 last Tuesday via a score of 5-2.
The hope for Reinhart and the Panthers is that his injury isn't serious enough to force him to miss games.
Game 3 of the series will take place on Saturday at home for Florida, so there will be time for Reinhart to recover.
