Carter Verhaeghe, Alex Lyon fuel Florida's third straight win
Don’t look now but the Florida Panthers are back in a playoff spot.
Florida has reeled off three straight wins at an immensely important time, capped off by Saturday’s 7-0 trouncing of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Carter Verhaeghe paced the Panthers with four goals, giving him a whopping 40 on the season.
He had gone six straight games without a goal, so clearly the man they call Swaggy was due to break out.
"I have no idea, sometimes you just shoot it and it goes in," he said after the game. "I had a couple really good passes from guys, a couple open nets and shot the puck in the net. It was pretty good."
Also deserving of some credit in Saturday’s win is goaltender Alex Lyon.
He made 21 saves to win his third straight start while also earning his first NHL shutout.
There may not have a lot of shots for Lyon to turn aside, but of the ones he did have to stop, several were high-end saves that keep the Blue Jackets off the board.
The win was also a timely one for Florida.
Both the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders lost on Saturday.
That means entering Sunday, the Panthers sit in the second Wild Card spot. They are two points behind the Islanders for the first Wild Card spot and one point ahead of Pittsburgh.
The Panthers and Islanders have five games remaining while the Penguins have six.
Both the Isles and Pens are in action Sunday, finishing off their own respective back-to-back sets. The Islanders travel to Carolina while Pittsburgh hosts the Flyers.
FIRST PERIOD
Florida’s top line was excellent early in the period, as was the bottom line of Givani Smith, Nick Cousins and Colin White.
The only chances for Columbus were quick, usually one and done rushes off turnovers or quick transitions.
The first shot for the Blue Jackets didn’t come until more than seven minutes into the game, an easy blocker save by Lyon on Emil Bemstrom.
Panthers captain Sasha Barkov drew the first penalty of the game with his usual frustrating puck-on-a-stick routine. Rookie Tim Berni couldn’t keep up as Barkov did his thing, leading to tripping call.
Sam Reinhart would cash in on the man advantage, keeping his latest hot streak alive and well.
Barkov was along the side boards and took a quick pass from Brandon Montour, redirecting the puck to Matthew Tkachuk below the goal line. Tkachuk then popped the puck to Reinhart in the slot.
Verhaeghe got his first goal of the game at the 17:29 mark of the first period and it came directly off an offensive zone draw.
Barkov won the puck back to Gus Forsling, who carried it down the boards as Verhaeghe cut down the slot toward the back post.
Forsling found Verhaeghe with a perfect cross-ice pass, giving Florida a 2-0 lead they would take into the intermission.
SECOND PERIOD
Verhaeghe got things started just 18 seconds into the period. Anthony Duclair dug out the puck from behind the net and sent it to Aaron Ekblad at the point.
Ekblad one-timed the puck on Blue Jackets goalie Michael Hutchinson and Verhaeghe was Johnny on the spot when the rebound came his way.
Just over six minutes later Verhaeghe would complete the hat trick, and it was another goal that came right off a faceoff.
Four Panthers players touched the puck in the span of a few seconds, with Verhaeghe finishing off the play as Barkov provided a screen in front of the goaltender.
Florida continued to pepper Hutchinson but the 4-0 lead would hold strong through the first 40 minutes.
THIRD PERIOD
The Panthers would put the hammer down in the final frame, outscoring Columbus 3-0 on goals by Cousins, Eric Staal and another by Verhaeghe.
It was a full 60 minute effort from the Panthers, who finished out their final extended road trip of the season with three straight wins.
GAME NOTES
- Verhaeghe is just the second Panthers player to log 40 goals in a season. Pavel Bure did it twice, in the 1999-2000 season and the following year in 2000-2001, when he scored 58 and 59 goals, respectively.
- A reminder that Verhaeghe is in the first season of a three-year deal that has an AAV of $4.1 million.
- The Panthers scored a power play goal for the third straight game, all wins.
- Florida also went a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. They have killed off nine out of ten opposing power plays during their three-game winning streak.
- Since the second week of March, Reinhart has been scalding hot. Over his last 12 games, Reinhart has eight goals and nine assists. He’s got seven points during Florida’s three-game winning streak.
- More Reinhart: He has 31 power play goals during his two seasons with the Panthers, the most any Florida player has put up over a two-year span.
- Florida’s top line of Verhaeghe, Barkov and Duclair combined for ten points in Columbus. Barkov and Duclair had three assists apiece.