Carter Verhaeghe scored for the third straight game since he and his wife welcomed their first child into the world as his Florida Panthers defeated the visiting New York Islanders 4-1 on Sunday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Verhaeghe has four goals in those three games, and forward Sam Reinhart and defensemen Uvis Balinskis and Seth Jones had Florida’s other tallies on Sunday.
In a battle between backup goalies, Florida’s Daniil Tarasov earned the win, making 20 saves.
Florida has won two straight games after having dropped four in a row.
The Islanders, who had their three-game winning streak broken, got a goal from Mathew Barzal. Defenseman Matthew Schaefer, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, had an assist, and goalie David Rittich made 26 saves.
Florida opened the scoring with 7:46 remaining in the first. Mackie Samoskevich (primary) and A.J. Greer earned assists for their forechecking behind the Islanders’ net. Balkinskis then shot from beyond the left circle, and the puck went in off the right post.
The Panthers scored again with 12:55 left in the second as Panthers defenseman Jeff Petry poked a loose puck away from Schaefer. The puck went right to Verhaeghe, who scored from the slot.
New York cut its deficit to 2-1 on Barzal’s goal with 10:57 left in the second. This time, Schaefer made the winning play, dishing to Barzal, who scored on a backhander that bounced in off the body of Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling.
It was the second straight game that the Panthers allowed a goal that caromed in off of Forsling.
Florida extended its lead to 3-1 on the goal by Jones with 6:03 left in the third. Anton Lundell stick-handled through New York’s defense before dishing to Jones, who performed a toe drag before beating Rittich to the near side.
Then, with 2:54 left, Reinhart clinched the win with his empty-net goal.
Up next, the Panthers will start a four-game road trip that will start with Utah on Wednesday and continue on with clashes against Colorado, Dallas and Tampa Bay.
New York will start a three-game homestand against Vegas on Tuesday and continue on to host Anaheim and Tampa Bay.
