Carter Verhaeghe hat trick leads Panthers rally in win over Islanders

Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald on Feb 2, 2025

Published in Hockey

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MIAMI — Carter Verhaeghe seemed due for a game like this. He has had so many shots on goal, so many scoring chances, for going on a month and a half that didn’t result in goals. Call it being snake-bitten. Call it an unlucky run.

Regardless of the phrase of choice, Verhaeghe had his moment on Sunday.

Verhaeghe recorded his fourth career hat trick to lead the Florida Panthers to a 6-3 win over the New York Islanders at Amerant Bank Arena.

It was Verhaeghe’s fourth career hat trick and first since April 1, 2023, when he scored four goals against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“It was nice,” Verhaeghe said. “I’ve been shooting a lot lately. To get a couple feels pretty good.”

For some context on Verhaeghe’s recent run: He had just three total goals over a 21-game stretch dating back to Dec. 18 prior to his hat trick on Sunday. In that span, the speedy, sharpshooting winger had a team-leading 75 scoring chances, according to the advanced hockey statistics website Natural Stat Trick, as well as 61 shots on goal.

That changed quickly on Sunday as he scored twice in the opening period.

He opened scoring 39 seconds into regulation with a backhanded shot that beat Islanders goaltender Jakub Skarek high. He doubled the lead with 7:08 left in the period when he cashed in a wrist shot on a rebound from defenseman Gustav Forsling.

Verhaeghe then sealed his hat trick with a power-play goal with 9:19 left in regulation to push Florida’s lead to 5-3.

“Really good for a shooter like that,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “Confidence is everything. Sometimes, I don’t even know if you’re off but it’s just not going for you. We felt his game was trending in the right directions. ... He’s got it cooking now.”

Sam Reinhart, Evan Rodrigues and Matthew Tkachuk also scored for Florida (32-19-3), which won all three games on this homestand and has won seven of its past 10 overall. Spencer Knight stopped 31 of 34 shots he faced.

The Islanders (24-21-7), who had a seven-game win streak snapped, scored three consecutive goals in the second period to take a 3-2 lead with 5:09 left in the middle frame.

That lead lasted all of three minutes.

Rodrigues tied the game with 2:08 left in the second period for his sixth goal in his past 12 games and then Reinhart gave the Panthers the lead again by scoring his 31st goal of the season with 51 seconds left in the frame.

Tkachuk capped scoring with an empty-net goal with 1:39 left to play.

Dmitry Kulikov celebration

The Panthers held a pregame celebration for defenseman Dmitry Kulikov to recognize him playing in 1,000 career NHL games. Kulikov hit the milestone on Wednesday.

The ceremony included a two-and-a-half minute video with highlights of Kulikov’s career while he stood on the ice with his wife and kids before Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito presented Kulikov with a silver stick.

Kulikov is just the 405th player and 138th defenseman in the NHL’s 108-season history to hit the milestone.

Adam Boqvist returns

Defenseman Adam Boqvist made his return to Sunrise three days after being waived by the Panthers.

Boqvist signed a one-year deal with the Panthers this offseason with an opportunity to be part of the team’s third defense pairing and potentially get time on the power play. He only played in 18 games and was a healthy scratch in his final 11 games with Florida and 21 of his final 26 overall.

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