As the players in Canada’s jerseys stood in one room, everyone saw the two players that would’ve never been together– Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid and Florida Panthers’ Sam Reinhart. But when it’s one goal at the end of the line? McDavid believes, “It’s easier than you would think.” Still, that was the 4 Nations Face-Off. It was about Canada and not professional rivalries. It wasn’t about Reinhart breaking McDavid’s hope to lift the Stanley Cup just back in June. That time, even the Panthers star titled the 28-year-old as “The best player in the world,” wanting to work together and “how I can help him, how I can utilize his speed.”

Seven months down the line, they were back together. Only this time, they were in their NHL jerseys with chips on their shoulders, with the rivalry face back on. It was time for Reinhart to repeat what he and his team did in the 2023-24 Stanley Cup Championship. For McDavid, it was time to avenge the loss the Oilers faced. And despite all his tries, the hockey phenom failed once again as the Cats lifted the Cup once again. But when it came to praises, Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk was quite clear– “When you have a player that good and that talented, he’s (McDavid) going to win (the Stanley Cup) one day. Wherever it is.” However, Panthers’ history-maker Sam Reinhart doesn’t seem to place his soon-to-be Olympics teammate on too high a pedestal; not in this particular instance at least.

The Panthers are making rounds, celebrating their unbelievable win. And if after months of hard work, some partying isn’t part of the festivities, then what is? But maybe Reinhart took it too far with his alcohol consumption, or maybe he was just more interested in thinking about how “they are having fun” than what his arch-nemesis. So when the Panthers’ captain, Aleksander Barkov, went live on his Instagram during the Cats’ Stanley Cup-victory party in Miami, the question did come up. And let’s just say it wasn’t exactly a sweet message as his “Stuff like that is cool to see” comment from 4 Nations Face-Off time.

In a post by lundybridge on X from June 19, Sam Reinhart’s somewhat incoherent comment on the Edmonton forward can be heard. The X post shared the OG Instagram live video by Barkov. In the video, Reinhart has finally parted ways with his beard, but his dislike for the Oilers star seems to have remained as deep-rooted as it was during the two teams’ clash on the ice. The person behind the camera asked Barkov, “What do you feel about Connor McDavid?” in hopes of getting some tea out. But all he got was: “Shut the f*ck up!” Defeated, even the questioning person said, “That’s how I feel about him.”

Reinhart didn’t hesitate to blurt out with a smirk. But with the post-win celebrations clearly raging on, it’s hard to attribute any real malice to his words. After all, he has praised his 4 Nations Face-Off teammate multiple times before. Back then, he openly spoke about McDavid, “His speed speaks for itself. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get there, so there was not much I picked up from that standpoint. But to be able to see that first-hand, we always joke that even stepping on the ice for practice, he’s going faster than anyone two seconds from being on the ice. Faster than I’ve ever gone in my life. Stuff like that is cool to see.

“You also appreciate the level of work that he puts in to be able to do that on a daily basis, and just the competitive level he has, that’s pretty neat to see as well”

Sam Reinhart and his teammates have been on an alcohol-fueled victory bash for days ever since they became back-to-back Stanley Cup winners. WPLG’s Will Manso also took to X to share how Reinhart has been going off the charts with some truly elaborate celebrations to mark the Panthers’ incredible season coming to an end.

In Manso’s social media update, Reinhart scaled a pole at the E11even nightclub to get his hands on Barkov’s Florida jersey. While Reinhart does get some help from the people around him, his own determination and aspiration to claim is captain’s memorabilia is surely commendable. After all, Reinhart has a lot of personal achievements to celebrate along with the team’s Stanley Cup triumph.

Sam Reinhart’s claim to fame gets bolstered

By scoring four goals in Game 6 of the 2025 Finals, Sam Reinhart blitzed into the history books in stellar fashion. “Reinhart’s four goals tied the record for most in a Stanley Cup Final game, and he became the second player in NHL history with four goals in a Stanley Cup-clinching win. He also had the first four-goal game and hat trick in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Panthers history,” the official NHL website reveals how the Panthers’ star could easily go down as a legend in South Florida.

But it wasn’t just this year that Reinhart made an impact in the series-deciding game. It was from Reinhart’s stick that the Panthers found their winning goal in 2024 as well. Referring to that, Coach Maurice could hardly contain his admiration for his star. “He scored a game-winner in Game 7 last year and he banged in four. Nobody’s going to say whether there was a goalie in the net and nobody’s going to care. He just scored four goals,” the veteran coach said.

However, many would argue that it was poor decision-making on the Oilers’ part that failed to contain the offensive power that is Sam Reinhart. But could his incredible performance in Game 6 and throughout the entire postseason seat Reinhart in the same row as the hockey prodigy known as Connor McDavid? What do you think? Tell us!