FRANK VATRANO

Aleksander Barkov and the Florida Panthers have agreed on an $80 million, eight-year contract extension with an annual cap hit of $10 million.

The Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft is set to take place Wednesday, July 21 at 8 p.m. ET.

The Florida Panthers entrusted their season to a rookie goalie making his playoff debut.

There used to be a thing called the Governor’s Cup, a trophy presented to whichever team won the annual regular season series between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

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.

After every Panthers win this season, and there have been quite a few, the players are basking in their postgame glory by listening to...

Vatrano’s second goal was an empty-netter at 18:38 of the third after he was stopped on a penalty shot earlier in the period.

Florida moved into a three-way tie for first place with Tampa Bay and Carolina, each holding 58 points.

A linesman breaks up an altercation between Frank Vatrano of the Florida Panthers with Connor Murphy and Nikita Zadorov of the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on March 23, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. CHICAGO – Kevin Lankinen made 33 saves, Patrick Kane had two assists and the Chicago Blackhawks stopped a four-game slide by holding off the Florida Panthers for a 3-2 win. Dominik Kubalik, Pius Suter and Carl Soderberg scored for Chicago in the opener of a six-game homestand. It was the Blackhawks’ first victory against the Panthers in five games this season. Anton Stralman and Alex Wennberg scored for the Panthers, who lost for the third time in four games.

Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers is congratulated by Radko Gudas after beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 in a shootout at Nationwide Arena on January 26, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio. COLUMBUS, Ohio – Frank Vatrano scored 2:48 into overtime, Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves and the Florida Panthers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 to sweep a two-game series. The Panthers scored three straight goals in the third period to erase a 4-1 deficit before Vatrano tipped in a rebounded shot from Jonathan Huberdeau to win it. Patric Hornqvist, Ryan Lomberg, Owen Tippett and Aleksander Barkov also scored for the Panthers, who have won four of five. Columbus has lost three straight and six of eight.

Frank Vatrano of the Florida Panthers looks to pass the puck while being defended by Mark Pysyk of the Dallas Stars at the BB&T Center on February 22, 2021 in Sunrise, Florida. SUNRISE, Fla. – Frank Vatrano scored the go-ahead goal with 3:10 remaining and the Florida Panthers stunned the Dallas Stars 3-2 with a late comeback. Aleksander Barkov and Anton Stralman also scored in the final 6 1/2 minutes as the Panthers overcame a 2-0 deficit. Rookie netminder Jake Oettinger stopped 32 shots. Florida scored three times in 3:11 after a nine-minute delay to repair a section of the boards.

Frank Vatrano looks out from the net as Goaltender Chris Driedger of the Florida Panthers stops a shot by the Chicago Blackhawks at the BB&T Center on January 17, 2021 in Sunrise, Florida. SUNRISE, Fla. – Givani Smith had a goal and an assist as Detroit Red Wings won for the first time in nine games, beating the Florida Panthers 4-1. Marc Staal scored for the first time with Detroit, Robby Fabbri and Vladislav Namestnikov added goals and Troy Stecher had two assists. Alex Wennberg scored for the Panthers, and goalie Chris Driedger made 35 saves. Florida became the last NHL team to lose in regulation this season.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Most teams don’t get a bye week when the season is less than a few days old, but most teams aren’t the Florida Panthers. Now, at the two-week mark of the young campaign, the Panthers have played a whopping two games, with the last one coming seven days ago. Since opening training camp on Jan. 3, head coach Joel Quenneville has held 16 days of practice, all at the BB&T Center. Starting Tuesday in Columbus, the Cats will play four road games over the next six days. “I think that’s the part that everybody is more excited about than anything, that they were playing again,” Quenneville said.

TORONTO, ONT Jordan Eberle scored twice, including the go-ahead goal, and the New York Islanders rallied to a 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers and take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five NHL preliminary round playoff series on Tuesday. The Islanders particularly took advantage of the Panthers' undisciplined play by scoring twice on seven power-play chances. Weve got to play with some composure in those pivotal moments, said Panthers first-year coach and three-time Stanley Cup champion Joel Quenneville. Florida is making its first playoff appearance since 2016, when the Panthers were eliminated by the Islanders in six games. Set up in the left circle, Eberle patiently waited for defenseman Brady Keeper to go down and attempt to block the shot.

PITTSBURGH – Mike Hoffman had a goal and an assist, rookie Chris Driedger stopped 31 shots and the Florida Panthers ended an eight-game losing streak on Pittsburgh ice with a 4-1 victory over the Penguins on Sunday night. Florida bounced back from a loss to Buffalo on Saturday by winning in Pittsburgh for the first time since Jan. 20, 2014. Simon skated through the neutral zone, drew two Panthers and passed to McCann, who ripped one by Driedger to pull the Penguins even. And for the first time in a long time for Florida in Pittsburgh, the Panthers didn't give it back. Driedger and the defense did the rest to give Florida just its second victory in Pittsburgh since 2009.

Evgenii Dadonov of the Florida Panthers celebrates his goal against the New York Rangers on November 10, 2019. NEW YORK - Vincent Trocheck recorded the shootout winner, and the Florida Panthers beat the New York Rangers 6-5 on Sunday. Kakko gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead when he converted on the man advantage at 7:31 of the second period. First, Barkov tied the game when his wrist shot zipped past Lundqvist at 18:13. The Panthers captain made a nifty deke as Jesper Fast overskated the play, allowing Barkov to release the wrist shot.

SUNRISE, Fla. - Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist to lift the Florida Panthers to a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night. Denis Malgin had a goal and an assist, and Noel Acciari, and Frank Vatrano also scored goals for the Panthers. Leading 2-1, Huberdeau stretched the Panthers lead to 3-1 when he deflected a shot from Anton Stralman with 6:18 left in the third. The Penguins closed to 3-2 on Hornqvist's goal.with 5:35 left, but Vatrano's empty-net goal with 1:03 left made the score 4-2. Panthers: Visit the Calgary Flames on ThursdayCopyright 2019 The Associated Press.