Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots while Matthew Tkachuk added a goal for the Panthers, who took the best-of-seven series 4-2.
The Panthers beat Edmonton in seven games in last year’s Stanley Cup final after squandering a 3-0 series lead.
They became the first team to defeat the same foe in the final two years in a row, since Montreal beat Boston in 1977 and 1978.
The Oilers, seeking their sixth crown overall, have not won the Cup since 1990.
Edmonton selected Stuart Skinner as the starting goaltender after using Calvin Pickard in a 5-2 game-five loss on Saturday.
Just 4:36 into the game, Reinhart stole the puck from Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard at the blue line, evaded defender Mattias Ekholm and beat Skinner one-on-one to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.
Tkachuk, named to the 2026 US Olympic squad, made it 2-0 for the Panthers just 47 seconds before the end of the first period, taking a pass from Finnish left wing Eetu Luostarinen and firing the puck past Skinner.
Reinhart made it 3-0 with 2:29 remaining in the second period when Skinner surrendered a rebound off a Carter Verhaeghe’s shot and Florida’s Aleksander Barkov fired a shot that Reinhart deflected into the net.
Fans began chanting, “We want the Cup” in the third period as the precious final minutes ran out on Edmonton.
The Oilers pulled Skinner in favour of an extra attacker in desperation and Reinhart made them pay, netting his third goal into an empty net with 6:34 remaining and his fourth also into an unprotected net with 5:05 remaining.
Vasily Podkolzin scored for Edmonton with 4:42 remaining to avert a shutout. (AFP)
