CARTER VERHAEGHE

The Florida Panthers found what made them the NHL's best regular-season team just in time to win the franchise's first playoff series in 26 years.

Carter Verhaeghe scored the overtime winner to send the Panthers to the second round by beating the Washington Capitals 4-3 in Game 6.

The Pittsburgh Penguins may have to try and close out the New York Rangers without captain Sidney Crosby.

Carter Verhaeghe set a Florida postseason record with a five-point night and the Florida Panthers escaped a three-goal deficit to beat the Washington Capitals 5-3 and take a 3-2 lead in an Eastern Conference first-round series.

Though one first round series has finished in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, another could end on Wednesday night, as the New York Rangers look to get back in their series with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Atlantic Division(WC2) Washington Capitals vs. (1) Florida Panthers (Series tied 2-2)The Capitals looked poised to take the series over on Monday after a convincing victory this past Saturday. Yet, they were able to take the lead in the third period thanks to Evgeny Kuznetsov’s second of the series. Watch the NHL Playoffs on FuboTV (7-day free trial)WESTERN CONFERENCEPacific Division(WC1) Dallas Stars vs. (1) Calgary Flames (Series tied 2-2)In a series that continues to stay tight, and at the same time very exciting, the Flames and Stars return to Calgary with the series down to a best-of-three. The Rick Bowness’ coached Stars need to find that stalwart method that held the Flames to just three goals through the first three games of the series.

Sam Reinhart tied it late in regulation, Carter Verhaeghe scored his second of the game in overtime and the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 in Game 4 to tie the first-round series.

Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe each had a goal and an assist, and the Florida Panthers topped the Washington Capitals 5-1 on Thursday night to even their Eastern Conference first-round series at a game apiece.

Anthony Duclair scored twice, Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and four assists, and the Florida Panthers romped to a 9-3 rout of the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Florida Panthers have matched the best 11-game start in NHL history.

Alex Killorn scored a pair of second-period goals and the Tampa Bay Lightning rebounded from its first postseason loss to rout the Florida Panthers 6-2 and take a commanding 3-1 lead in the first-round Central Division playoff matchup.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots, Steven Stamkos and Ondrej Palat had first-period goals and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Florida Panthers 3-1 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their Central Division first-round playoff series.

Brayden Point scored two late goals, including the game-winner with 1:14 left in the third period, to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Florida Panthers 5-4 to take Game 1 of their playoff series.

Chris Driedger stopped 30 shots to record his third shutout of the season, Juho Lammikko scored a short-handed goal, and the Florida Panthers secured home-ice advantage for the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the regular season finale for both clubs.

Alex Wennberg scored the winning goal in overtime and the Florida Panthers beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2.

The Red Wings have lost six consecutive road games. “It’s as bad as we’ve played defensively in a while,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “It took us too long to get into this game tonight,” Red Wings center Dylan Larkin said. Verhaeghe’s second goal, a wraparound that went airborne and in at 12:11 of the second, stretched the Panthers lead to 4-1. Red Wings: Jonathan Bernier: day to day (lower body), Bobby Ryan: day to day (upper body), Marc Staal: day to day (upper body).

Florida’s 6-1-2 start through nine games is the second-best in franchise history, topped only by the 6-0-3 record to open the 1996-97 season. “We've been consistent in most games," Florida coach Joel Quenneville said. Starting poorly, however, has pretty much snuffed out some Panthers seasons before they even started. The five Florida teams that went to the playoffs — 1995-96, 1996-97, 1999-2000, 2011-12 and 2015-16 — averaged 12 standings points through the season’s first nine games. There’s obviously a long way to go, but the Panthers finally have the start they wanted.

Patric Hornqvist, Aaron Ekblad, and Carter Verhaeghe scored and the Florida Panthers held off the Detroit Red Wings for a 3-2 win Sunday night. Anthony Mantha scored with 1:48 remaining to pull the Red Wings within a goal after Detroit pulled Thomas Greiss to add an extra skater. “Getting off to a good start enhances that attitude.”Greiss stopped 27 shots for the Red Wings, who have dropped six straight. The Panthers outshot the Red Wings 17-9 in the second period as they took control. The Red Wings play the Lighting on the road Wednesday night.

DETROIT, MICHIGAN - JANUARY 30: Dylan Larkin #71 of the Detroit Red Wings skates against the Florida Panthers at Little Caesars Arena on January 30, 2021 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)DETROIT – Patric Hornqvist, Aaron Ekblad and Carter Verhaeghe scored and the Florida Panthers held off the Detroit Red Wings for a 3-2 win Sunday night. “Getting off to a good start enhances that attitude.”Greiss stopped 27 shots for the Red Wings, who have dropped six straight. The Panthers outshot the Red Wings 17-9 in the second period as they took control. The Red Wings play the Lighting on the road Wednesday night.

The triumph of winning the NHL championship in a bubble was certainly no less sweet for the Tampa Bay Lightning. He played 964 regular-season and 137 playoff games to get to this point, losing in the final twice before. Tampa Bay had Point and No. Coach Jon Cooper thought the attitude needed to change from wanting to beat every opponent 9-0 because that’s not realistic in playoff hockey. ... Alexander Volkov made his NHL playoff debut for Tampa Bay, which also saw Patrick Maroon become just the eighth player to win the Cup in back-to-back seasons with different teams (St. Louis).

DETROIT (AP) Robby Fabbri scored the winning goal in a shootout to lift the Detroit Red Wings over Tampa Bay 5-4 on Sunday, snapping a 16-game losing streak against the Lightning in the regular season. We didnt make too many errors, but the ones we did were pretty glaring, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. The Red Wings tied it at 2 with 14.3 seconds left in the period. But the Red Wings were able to get through regulation and overtime without allowing another goal. Tampa Bay was without F Steven Stamkos (core muscle) and D Victor Hedman (lower body).