Florida Panthers
Verhaeghe Hat Trick Helps Florida Panthers End Islanders Streak

SUNRISE — Early on, it looked like the Florida Panthers were going to ease their way to a nice win against the beat up — yet flaming hot — New York Islanders.
The Islanders were not only down two more regulars after they got hurt Saturday in Tampa but were rolling out a goalie making his NHL debut.
The Panthers opened the scoring 39 seconds in and had a two-goal lead going into the second, but the Islanders’ resiliency was on full display. The red-hot Islanders, who are still well down in the standings, are giving NHL oddsmakers trouble. It helps to snag the Fanatics Sportsbook promo.
Florida ended up having to rally, but it did just that and ended New York’s seven-game winning streak with a 6-3 win.
Carter Verhaeghe finished with his fourth career hat trick; Sam Reinhart, Sasha Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, and Gus Forsling had multi-point nights.
Spencer Knight gave up three straight goals in the third but ended with 29 saves.
NOTES: ISLANDERS @ PANTHERS
- The Panthers honored Dmitry Kulikov for his 1,000th NHL game which he played in Wednesday against the Kings. Kulikov was joined on the ice by his family and Bill Zito gave him his silver stick. All Florida players wore Kulikov’s No. 7 in warmup.
- Mackie Samoskevich missed his second straight game.
- Reinhart tied Pavel Bure with his 152nd goal for the fifth most in franchise history. The list is topped by Barkov (278).
HOW THEY SCORED
- Panthers 1, Islanders 0 (0:39 1st): Carter Verhaeghe backhands a shot off a feed from Sam Reinhart and beats Jakub Skarek on the second NHL shot he faced.
- Panthers 2, Islanders 0 (12:52 1st): It’s Verhaeghe, again, but this time he follows up a fat rebound off a Gus Forsling shot.
- Panthers 2, Islanders 1 (3:10 2nd): Kyle MacLean is in front of the net and finds a loose puck off a point shot from Tony DeAngelo.
- Islanders 2, Panthers 2 (10:00 2nd): Jean-Gabriel Pageau picks a loose puck off the skate of Spencer Knight from the right post.
- Islanders 3, Panthers 2 (14:51 2nd): Moments after he was stopped on a breakaway coming out of the box, Marc Gatcomb deflects a shot from Adam Pelech.
- Panthers 3, Islanders 3 (17:52 2nd): Evan Rodrigues gets his second goal in as many days, picking up a rebound off a shot from Anton Lundell and working his way around Skarek and sweeping the puck home.
- Panthers 4, Islanders 3 (19:09 2nd): Reinhart gets a rush going — and finishes it off courtesy of a slick feed from Forsling.
- Panthers 5, Islanders 3 (10:41 3rd PP): Verhaeghe got some hats thrown his way after he one-timed a feed from Matthew Tkachuk.
- Panthers 6, Islanders 3 (18:21 3rd EN): Tkachuk ices it.
FHN’S 3 STARS OF THE GAME
- 1. Carter Verhaeghe, Florida
- 2. Sasha Barkov, Florida
- 3. Sam Reinhart, Florida
ON DECK: GAME No. 55
FLORIDA PANTHERS at WASHINGTON CAPITALS
- When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Capital One Arena, Washington
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
- Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
- Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- This Season (Capitals Lead 1-0) — At Washington: Tuesday; March 22. At Florida: Capitals 4 Panthers 1 (Nov. 25).
- Last Season: Panthers won 3-0
- All-time Regular Season Series: Washington leads 67-48-13, 9 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers: Thursday at St. Louis Blues, 8 p.m.

Carter, finally getting some goals! Let’s hope they keep coming now