Florida’s Sam Reinhart, right, celebrates with goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and defenseman Aaron Ekblad after scoring in overtime to beat the New York Rangers 3-2 Tuesday in Sunrise, Fla. Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

SUNRISE, Fla. — Sam Reinhart scored a power-play goal 1:12 into overtime, and the Florida Panthers topped the New York Rangers 3-2 to even the Eastern Conference Final at two games apiece.

It was the third straight OT game in the series — and the first time Florida got a win in those matchups.

Blake Wheeler, playing his first game for the Rangers since mid-February, was called for hooking Aleksander Barkov 59 seconds into the extra session. And it didn’t take long for the Panthers to cash in, with Barkov setting up Reinhart in front.

Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe also scored for Florida, which got 21 saves — and an assist — from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière scored for the Rangers, and Igor Shesterkin stopped 37 shots.

Game 5 is Thursday in New York, where the teams split the opening two matchups in this series. Game 6 will be Saturday in Sunrise, and the Prince of Wales Trophy — awarded to the East champs — will be in attendance that night.

Bennett got Florida on the board midway through the second period, on a second effort. His first shot got past Shesterkin, but not into the net — and Bennett, who followed the shot, managed to get to the puck before anyone else. He knocked it off the back of the goalie’s skate and barely across the goal line.
And 3 1/2 minutes later, Florida had the lead on a pinball goal by Verhaeghe.

Matthew Tkachuk centered the puck from the right corner, and it deflected off Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren’s stick. Airborne, it bounced off Shesterkin, then off Lindgren’s upper body — and Verhaeghe, with more of a baseball swing than anything else, batted it out of the air for a 2-1 Florida edge.

Including playoffs, over the last two seasons, Florida entered Tuesday with an NHL-best record of 81-2-6 in games where it led after 40 minutes.

Lafrenière didn’t care. A neat spin move from Adam Fox got him the puck on the left side of the crease and he tapped it home with 16:32 left for his third goal in the last two games.

NOTES

SHARKS: The San Jose Sharks signed prized prospect Will Smith to a three-year entry-level contract after one stellar season at Boston College.

The 19-year-old Smith led the nation with 71 points and 46 assists as a freshman and was tied for sixth in the country with 25 goals in 41 games. He had the most points in a season for a BC player since Johnny Gaudreau had 80 in 2013-14.

Smith was picked fourth overall in last year’s draft and felt he is ready to move on from college and attempt to play in the NHL.

“To be honest personally, I think it was time to take that next step,” Smith said. “Obviously it’s the best league in the world. You’re getting the best players every single night, night in and night out. I think that’s something that factored into wanting to make the next step.”

Smith is a key part of San Jose’s youth movement that the Sharks hope will help the team get back into contention after posting the worst record in the NHL the previous five seasons.

Smith is expected to team with projected No. 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini to lead the rebuild for San Jose.

The Sharks won the draft lottery and are planning to take the Hobey Baker Award winner first overall next month. Celebrini had 64 points in 38 games for Boston University last season and ranked second in Division I behind Smith by averaging 1.68 points per game.

KRAKEN: New coach Dan Bylsma said current Coachella Valley assistant coach Jessica Campbell could be a candidate for a similar position with the NHL club.

Bylsma has been the head coach at Coachella Valley for the past two seasons with Campbell as one of his assistants. Bylsma said Campbell and fellow Coachella Valley assistant Stu Bickell will be among a group in consideration for a role with the Kraken.

Bylsma said he intends to speak with current Seattle assistants Jay Leach and Dave Lowery about their possible futures with the team, but there are also talks about coaches that could be brought in from the outside.

BLUE JACKETS: The Columbus Blue Jackets named Don Waddell as their general manager and president of hockey operations, bringing in an experienced NHL executive to try to help turn around the franchise.

Waddell joins the club days after stepping down as GM of the Carolina Hurricanes with his contract set to expire. His move to Columbus also coincides with John Davidson shifting into an advisory role after running the front office for 10 of the past 12 years.

The Hurricanes reached the playoffs and won at least one series in each of Waddell’s six seasons in charge. The Blue Jackets have missed the playoffs in each of the past four seasons and have made three different coaching hires during that time.

Waddell, 65, has a Stanley Cup ring from 1998 when he was assistant GM of the Detroit Red Wings. He became the first GM of the expansion Atlanta Thrashers and spent more than a decade in that job before scouting for the Pittsburgh Penguins, then going to Carolina as president.

DEVILS: Driving past the Prudential Center for a news conference at which he would be introduced at the New Jersey Devils’ coach, Sheldon Keefe noticed a statue of Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur in front of the building.

It was an instant reminder that the expectations of coaching the Devils in the New York City metropolitan area are no different than what was expected in Toronto for the Maple Leafs.

Winning a Stanley Cup is all that matters, and that’s the goal Keefe will bring next season when he takes over another young and talented team that fell short of expectations this past season.

The Devils have won the Cup three times in 1995, 2000 and 2003, with Brodeur in goal all three times. They have only gotten back to the Cup Final once (2012) and since then have made the playoffs twice in 2018 and 2023.

“I know what the expectations are here and what the potential is,” said Keefe, who noted several times that he viewed this job as a fresh start. “To challenge for playoff position in the playoffs and also win the Stanley Cup. Those are the expectations. That’s why I’ve come.”

Keefe led the Auston Matthews-led Maple Leafs to the playoffs in all five of his seasons but only got past the first round once. This past season ended with a first-round loss to Boston in overtime of Game 7.

Keefe was fired less than a week later. After that announcement, Keefe filmed a video for the fans, giving closure for his time in Toronto.