Trevor Zegras returns, but the Ducks lose to Florida

Sam Reinhart snapped a three-game goal drought and the Florida Panthers beat the Ducks 5-2 on Tuesday night at Honda Center.

Trevor Zegras returned to the lineup after missing 22 games because of surgery to repair torn meniscus in his right knee. Zegras was injured late in the first period against Vegas on Dec. 4. He was the left wing and paired on the second line with Leo Carlsson and Alex Killorn.

Frank Vatrano and Mason McTavish scored for the Ducks, who lost their fourth straight and are 1-5-2 over their past eight games. Lukas Dostal stopped 24 shots.

Carter Verhaeghe had a goal and assist for the Panthers, who picked up a point in their 10th straight game against the Ducks.

Evan Rodrigues, Sam Bennett and Uvis Balinskis added goals. Mackie Samoskevich and Tomas Nosek each had two assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves.

Reinhart got his 28th goal of the season at 8:58 of the first period, when he got the pass from Matthew Tkachuk and put a backhand past Dostal to tie it at 1-1. The goal tied Reinhart with Toronto’s William Nylander for second in the league.

Verhaeghe stole the puck from defenseman Jacob Trouba behind the Ducks’ goal before putting it into the upper right corner of the net to extend the Panthers’ lead to 3-1 with 1:11 remaining in the first period. Florida has scored three times in the first period four times this season which trails only Tampa Bay and Ottawa (both five).

Troy Terry assisted on Vatrano’s goal in the first period. It was Terry’s 265th career point and surpassed Adam Henrique and Scott Niedermayer for 10th on the franchise scoring list.

Bobrovsky is 5-0 with a 2.36 goals-against average and .922 save percentage against the Ducks since joining Florida prior to the 2019-20 season.

The Panthers face the Kings on Wednesday. The Ducks host Pittsburgh on Thursday.