CARTER VERHAEGHE

The Florida Panthers found what made them the NHL's best regular-season team just in time to win the franchise's first playoff series in 26 years.

The Pittsburgh Penguins may have to try and close out the New York Rangers without captain Sidney Crosby.

Carter Verhaeghe set a Florida postseason record with a five-point night and the Florida Panthers escaped a three-goal deficit to beat the Washington Capitals 5-3 and take a 3-2 lead in an Eastern Conference first-round series.

Sam Reinhart tied it late in regulation, Carter Verhaeghe scored his second of the game in overtime and the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 in Game 4 to tie the first-round series.

Carter Verhaeghe scored twice and Spencer Knight stopped 27 shots for his second career shutout as the Florida Panthers beat the Ottawa Senators 4-0.

Sam Reinhart scored his 19th goal, Aaron Ekblad his 15th and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 32 shots.

Anthony Duclair scored twice, Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and four assists, and the Florida Panthers romped to a 9-3 rout of the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.

Rookie Anton Lundell opened the scoring for Florida, which improved to 19-7-4 on the season.

Carter Verhaeghe scored his second goal of the night 1:37 into overtime, and the Florida Panthers rallied from two goals down late in the third period to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 on Thursday night.

This year’s offseason moves have put the Panthers in prime position to take the next step in working towards championship hopes. “I think that the players are proud to be Panthers,” Zito said of the team’s new culture going into the new year. Despite the strides the Panthers made in the regular season, Zito is adamant about performing in the sport’s biggest stage. The Panthers officially signed Knight to the roster with a three-year entry-level contract towards the end of last season. However, the burning question that dominated the offseason was the extension status for the Panthers’ superstar forward and captain, Aleksander Barkov.

In addition to locking up gritty scoring forward Sam Bennett to a long-term contract, the Panthers also signed young defensemen Noah Juulsen and Lucas Carlsson to one-year, two-way deals on Monday.

Alex Killorn scored a pair of second-period goals and the Tampa Bay Lightning rebounded from its first postseason loss to rout the Florida Panthers 6-2 and take a commanding 3-1 lead in the first-round Central Division playoff matchup.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots, Steven Stamkos and Ondrej Palat had first-period goals and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Florida Panthers 3-1 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their Central Division first-round playoff series.

Brayden Point scored two late goals, including the game-winner with 1:14 left in the third period, to lift the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning over the Florida Panthers 5-4 to take Game 1 of their playoff series.

Chris Driedger stopped 30 shots to record his third shutout of the season, Juho Lammikko scored a short-handed goal, and the Florida Panthers secured home-ice advantage for the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the regular season finale for both clubs.

Carter Verhaeghe of the Florida Panthers celebrates his first of two goals against the Detroit Red Wings at the BB&T Center on March 30, 2021 in Sunrise, Florida. SUNRISE, Fla. – Carter Verhaeghe scored two goals to lift the Florida Panthers over the Detroit Red Wings 4-1. Brett Connolly scored his 100th NHL goal and Jonathan Huberdeau also scored a goal for the Panthers, who have won three straight. Filip Zadina scored for the Red Wings. The Red Wings have lost six consecutive road games.

Florida’s 6-1-2 start through nine games is the second-best in franchise history, topped only by the 6-0-3 record to open the 1996-97 season. “We've been consistent in most games," Florida coach Joel Quenneville said. Starting poorly, however, has pretty much snuffed out some Panthers seasons before they even started. The five Florida teams that went to the playoffs — 1995-96, 1996-97, 1999-2000, 2011-12 and 2015-16 — averaged 12 standings points through the season’s first nine games. There’s obviously a long way to go, but the Panthers finally have the start they wanted.

Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers gets into position in front of Goaltender Collin Delia of the Chicago Blackhawks at the BB&T Center on January 17, 2021 in Sunrise, Florida. The NHL announced on Wednesday that it was postponing Carolina Hurricanes games through Saturday, Jan. 23 due to five players being placed on the league’s COVID protocol absence list. Carolina was scheduled to play the Florida Panthers on Thursday and Saturday. Those games will now be moved to later dates, further condensing a Panthers schedule that has already had two earlier postponed games squeezed in. “It was an exciting game,” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said afterwards.

A lot of guys had good nights and some guys were alright.”“I liked the tempo of the game,” Quenneville continued. Putting it all together, that consistency is something that I really think he’s improving at. Sure, some rust may have shown during the scrimmage, but that’s to be expected during training camp. It felt good, and luckily a couple went in.”Said Q: “I think he’s coming on in training camp. Said Q: “They’ll be pushing one another right now as we get closer to the first game, but Monty certainly helped himself tonight with a real good game.

SUNRISE, Fla. – Episode 25 of the Chirping the Cats podcast is all about the handful of new additions made by the Florida Panthers during the first week of free agency. We hear from new Panthers players Markus Nutivaara, Radko Gudas, Carter Verhaeghe, Alexander Wennberg and Vinny Hinostroza, as well as general manager Bill Zito, as they talk about the process of a crazy offseason that landed each of them in South Florida. SUBSCRIBE TO THE CTC PODCAST - iOS | Android1:20 Markus Nutivaara4:35 Radko Gudas9:05 Carter Verhaeghe13:05 Alexander Wennberg18:35 Vinny Hinostroza

SUNRISE, Fla. – The first six hours of the NHL’s free agency signing period were quite busy for the Florida Panthers. When the signing period opened at noon on Friday, Zito was one of the first GM’s to make a move. He’s a leader, he plays the game the right way, (and he’s) a very smart defender. We’re thrilled to have those guys on board.”Do you think teams are taking a cue from Tampa Bay after they were swept by Columbus in 2019 and adding some toughness to their skill? I think he’s ready to do that, and I think he’s excited.”Do you expect to add any goaltending depth?