Carter Verhaeghe scored a natural hat trick as the Florida Panthers made NHL history in an 8-3 rout of the visiting Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
The Panthers became the first team in NHL history to record natural hat tricks — three consecutive goals by one player — in three straight games. Brady Tkachuk accomplished the feat in Florida’s previous two outings.
Sam Bennett also tallied three times, while Niko Mikkola and Sam Reinhart each had a goal and an assist. Matthew Tkachuk had three helpers, and younger brother Brady Tkachuk added two for the Panthers, who won their third in a row. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves.
Shane Wright, Frederick Gaudreau and Ryker Evans scored for Seattle, which finished a five-game trip with a 3-1-1 record. Berkly Catton and Kaapo Kakko each had two assists and Joey Daccord stopped 29 of 37 shots.
Bennett opened the scoring at 1:05 of the first period before Wright tied it at 4:54.
Verhaeghe snapped a 1-1 tie at 17:56 of the first. The puck squirted free after a battle along the left wing boards and came straight to Verhaeghe just inside the left faceoff dot. He put a one-timer over Daccord’s shoulder and into the far upper corner of the net.
Verhaeghe tallied again at 19:07 on the power play. The Tkachuks won the puck along the right wing boards and Brady got control in the corner. He took a stride toward the net before firing a pass across the top of the crease to a wide-open Verhaeghe, who lifted the puck over Daccord as the goalie moved from post to post.
Verhaeghe scored his third at 6:02 of the second period. Mikkola was stopped on a wraparound attempt but Verhaeghe secured the rebound just outside the left post and slid the puck past the downed Daccord to make it 4-1.
The Kraken played without defenseman Brandon Montour, who sustained a lower-body injury Thursday in a 4-3 overtime loss to Tampa Bay. Montour was a member of the Panthers’ Stanley Cup-winning team in 2023-24.
Mikkola scored just 40 seconds after Verhaeghe completed his hat trick, and Bennett added his second goal at 13:13 of the second period to extend Florida’s lead to 6-1.
Gaudreau scored for Seattle with 55 seconds remaining in the second period, but Reinhart answered with a power-play goal at 2:25 of the third. Evans cut the deficit to 7-3 at 3:49 before Bennett completed his hat trick at 11:14 to close the scoring.
–Field Level Media
