‘They trust me here.’ With expanded role, Panthers’ Verhaeghe ready to face former team
Carter Verhaeghe sat and took a moment to reflect. A year ago, he was a fourth-line player for the Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. Now, he’s in the earliest stages of the next chapter of his still-burgeoning NHL career with the Florida Panthers.
There’s no Stanley Cup for his new team yet.
But he’s getting plenty of chances early to prove he’s a valuable piece to be part of a deep playoff run.
“I have definitely gotten a ton of opportunity here,” Verhaeghe said last week after picking up a goal and an assist in the Panthers’ 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators. “It seems like they trust me here.”
Past will meet present for Verhaeghe on Thursday when the Panthers (7-1-2) and the Lightning (9-1-1) play three times during the next five days. The games on Thursday and Saturday are at the BB&T Center with 7 p.m. scheduled starts. Monday’s game will be a 7 p.m. start at Tampa’s Amalie Arena.
“A lot of familiar faces on the other team, a lot of good friends,” Verhaeghe said. “It’s going to be kind of weird, but I’m looking forward to it.”
The mixed emotions are understandable. Verhaeghe, 25, broke into the NHL with Tampa Bay last season even though he had a limited role on a stacked Lightning roster. Among those who played in at least 25 games, he averaged a team-low nine minutes and 22 seconds of ice time per game. Despite that, he still managed to score nine goals and tally another four assists in 52 regular-season games. He also dished out a pair of assists during the Lightning’s playoff run and was on the ice for three of six games Stanley Cup Finals games.
“Last year, we obviously had such a great team and won the Stanley Cup,” Verhaeghe said. “For me, I am just trying to get better every year. There are a ton of great players to learn from there and I had a different role in Tampa. I just tried to learn everything I could there. I am trying to use the tools I learned there.”
Those tools and Verhaeghe’s aggressive nature on the ice allowed him to break in as the left wing on Florida’s top forward line with center Aleksander Barkov and right wing Anthony Duclair.
And he’s been one of their more consistent players. Verhaeghe is tied with Patric Hornqvist for the team lead with six goals and is the only player on the team with multiple game-winning goals through the first 10 games of the season.
All six of Verhaeghe’s goals have been at even strength, with five of the six coming in five-on-five situations. His 23 scoring chances created at full strength are the second-most on the team behind only Barkov.
“I didn’t think he’d be on our top line. I didn’t think we’d be getting that type of production, to be totally honest,” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. “At the same time, we liked the ingredients that he did bring to our team with quickness and perseverance. It’s almost like he’s got a relentless attitude around the puck.”
A ‘measuring stick’
Verhaeghe individually and the Panthers collectively are now set to face their biggest test in the early going of the season in these three games against the Lightning.
“They’re the measuring stick of the league,” defenseman Keith Yandle said.
Tampa Bay is on a six-game winning streak — all in regulation — and has outscored its opponents by a combined 27-9 score in that span.
The Lightning are allowing the least amount of goals per game (1.82), are scoring the second-most goals per game (3.82) and rank among the top-10 in the NHL in penalty kills (eighth, 84.6 percent) and power-play efficiency (ninth, 25 percent).
Running it back
Quenneville said there is a “good chance” they use the same lineup from Tuesday’s win over Detroit when they host Tampa on Thursday.
That includes having Sergei Bobrovsky back in net after his best start of the season.
Bobrovsky stopped 31 of 32 shots he faced against the Red Wings on Tuesday, including the final 30 after giving up a goal 3:31 into the game.
Bobrovsky is now 4-0-1 on the season despite shaky overall statistics (3.07 goals against average, .899 save percentage). His active streak of picking up points in five consecutive starts is the second-longest season-opening point streak by a goaltender in Panthers history behind John Vanbiesbrouck, who opened the 1996-97 season with a 6-0-3 record.
This story was originally published February 10, 2021 at 12:48 PM.
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