SUNRISE, Fla. — Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett turned Amerant Bank Arena into a finishing clinic Saturday, each scoring three times as the Florida Panthers skated away with an 8-3 win over the Seattle Kraken.
Verhaeghe’s three-goal burst was a natural hat trick, and it extended an extraordinary Florida run. Brady Tkachuk had posted natural hat tricks in each of the Panthers’ previous two outings, making Florida the first club in NHL history to produce a natural hat trick in three consecutive games. It was also the first time the Panthers had two hat-trick scorers in one game.
The Panthers have now won three in a row and moved to 5-2-2. Seattle, which arrived after going 3-0-1 in its previous four games, fell to 5-3-1 while closing a 3-1-1 road trip.
Florida breaks the game open
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Bennett opened the scoring 1:05 into the first period, swatting home the rebound from Matthew Tkachuk’s shot for his first goal of the season.
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Shane Wright answered at 4:54, converting Berkly Catton’s feed to tie the game for Seattle.
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Verhaeghe swung the first period Florida’s way with goals at 17:56 and 19:07. His second came on the power play and sent the Panthers to the intermission holding a 3-1 advantage.
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At 6:02 of the second, Verhaeghe completed the natural hat trick at the left post after Niko Mikkola’s wraparound try. Mikkola then scored himself 40 seconds later, beating Joey Daccord with a wrist shot from above the left face-off circle for a 5-1 lead.
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Bennett finished off a cross-ice pass from Brady Tkachuk at 13:13 of the second. Frederick Gaudreau gave Seattle a late response, driving the net and sending a low shot past Jacob Markstrom at 19:05.
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Sam Reinhart restored Florida’s five-goal cushion on a third-period power play at 2:25. Matthew Tkachuk found him with a no-look pass across the zone, and Reinhart buried a one-timer from the high slot.
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Ryker Evans scored from the point at 3:49 to make it 7-3, but Bennett closed the book at 11:14. Uvis Balinskis set him up in the left circle for a one-timer and Bennett’s hat trick.
Hat-trick history keeps growing
Florida is the first NHL team in more than a century to record at least four hat tricks before its 10th game of a season. The Toronto St. Patricks last managed that feat, recording five in 1922-23.
The Panthers also became only the second team in the last 105 years with four or more hat tricks across a three-game span or shorter. The Quebec Nordiques had five over two games from Feb. 20-22, 1981.
“Sometimes they just come like that,” Verhaeghe said. “It’s pretty good to get a couple, get on the board, especially on the power play. It feels good.”
Bennett had been waiting for his first goal of the campaign before breaking through in emphatic fashion. “You’re going to have games where things don’t seem to go in, and other nights, it seems like everything goes your way,” he said. “You just have to stick with it.”
Florida coach Paul Maurice saw a group finding rhythm at speed. “The speed of our offensive game is coming together,” Maurice said. “Now, you’re starting to see some chemistry form with different players. I liked the pace we played at.”
Maurice said Bennett had generated quality looks in Florida’s previous game without being rewarded. “He’s a smart player and he knew, with the guys on his wings, it would just be a matter of time,” Maurice said. “I thought he did a good job staying patient and doing all the right things. We got rewarded.”
Notebook
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Mikkola finished with a goal and an assist, while Reinhart also posted one goal and one assist.
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Matthew Tkachuk had three assists and Brady Tkachuk contributed two. The brothers have combined on a goal in three straight games, the first brother pairing to do so since Daniel and Henrik Sedin did it for Vancouver during a five-game stretch in 2018.
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Matthew Tkachuk’s point streak reached eight games, with 14 points on three goals and 11 assists. Through nine games, he has 10 assists, joining Aleksander Barkov as the only Panthers to reach that mark in their first 10 games of a season. Barkov did it in seven games in 2024-25.
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Tkachuk collided with Bennett early in the third, returned for one shift later in the period, then did not play over the final 8:46. Maurice called the decision precautionary and said Tkachuk was expected back at practice Monday.
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Bennett’s third goal gave him 400 career NHL points. He has 191 goals and 209 assists in 776 games.
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Seth Jones picked up an assist, stretching his point streak to four games with nine assists in that stretch.
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Markstrom stopped 20 shots for Florida. Daccord made 29 saves for Seattle.
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Catton and Kaapo Kakko each recorded two assists for the Kraken.
Seattle turns toward Detroit
Seattle coach Lane Lambert said his club was beaten across the board, though he did not lose sight of the broader road trip result.
“We got beat in every area,” Lambert said. “What did I need to see? A lot more everything. Tonight was not good, but the trip was good. Seven out of 10 points? We’ll move on.”
Wright pointed to Florida’s late first-period surge and its quick second-period push as the sequence that drained the Kraken. “Just not our night,” he said. “They obviously were a much better team. We just have to get home and regroup.”
Gaudreau said Seattle gave up too many high-danger looks while Florida made the most of its chances. “It’s a game you never want to happen,” he said.
The Kraken return home for a key Tuesday meeting with the Detroit Red Wings. Lambert said that matchup becomes Seattle’s immediate focus.
