After completing a perfect three-game homestand, the Florida Panthers are now heading out on the road to face the Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin on Tuesday night in a matchup of division leaders.
Carter Verhaeghe has been a key player for the Panthers in their last two games. He scored a goal and added an assist in a 5-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday and followed that up with his fourth career hat trick in a 6-3 victory over the New York Islanders on Sunday.
“It was nice. I have been shooting it a lot lately, so it feels good to have a couple go in,” Verhaeghe said. He also assisted on Matthew Tkachuk’s empty-net goal against the Islanders.
Florida’s head coach Paul Maurice praised Verhaeghe, saying, “We felt his game is trending in the right way. He’s got it cooking now.”
Other key players like Sam Reinhart, captain Aleksander Barkov, and Tkachuk are also performing well for the Panthers. Reinhart has scored in two consecutive games, bringing his team-leading goal total to 31. He’s also added four assists during his current three-game point streak.
Tkachuk, who contributed an assist on Sunday, has accumulated nine points (four goals, five assists) in his last five games.
Barkov set up three goals in the win over New York, bringing his assist total to a team-high 35 on the season. He has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in his last five games.
Verhaeghe had a hand in defenseman Niko Mikkola’s goal in a 4-1 loss to Washington back on November 25. That game ended with the Capitals cruising to victory in Sunrise, Florida, with Lars Eller scoring twice and Jakob Chychrun adding a goal and two assists.
Florida Panthers (NHL)Now, Washington, which leads the Metropolitan Division, comes into Tuesday’s game having lost two straight 5-4 overtime games, with three losses in their last four contests (1-1-2). The Capitals did extend their home point streak to 13 games (9-0-4) with a loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
Head coach Spencer Carbery was encouraged despite the loss, saying, “To get that game tied and to score four against that team and that goaltender (two-time Vezina Trophy recipient Connor Hellebuyck), there’s positives that we’ll take out of that game.”
However, Carbery noted missed opportunities, adding, “I just thought we could’ve done a better job in a lot of different scenarios to win that hockey game in regulation, and we just didn’t. And right to the end — we make a silly mental mistake in overtime and let (Josh) Morrissey beat us off the wall, which, that’s uncharacteristic. That’s not us.”
Ovechkin continued his strong play by scoring his team-leading 24th goal of the season in the loss to Winnipeg, which was his second goal in as many games. The three-time Hart Trophy winner now has 877 career goals, leaving him 18 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record.
