Carter Verhaeghe’s natural hat trick helps Panthers rout Kraken

Carter Verhaeghe scored a natural hat trick as the Florida Panthers made NHL history in an 8-3 rout of the visiting Seattle Kraken on Saturday.

The Panthers became the first team to ever have players turn natural hat tricks -- three consecutive goals by one player -- in three straight games after Brady Tkachuk achieved the feat in the team's previous two outings.

Sam Bennett also tallied three times, Niko Mikkola and Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist apiece, Matthew Tkachuk had three helpers and younger brother Brady Tkachuk added two for the Panthers, who won their third in a row. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves.

Shane Wright, Frederick Gaudreau and Ryker Evans scored for Seattle, which completed a five-game trip with a 3-1-1 record. Berkly Catton and Kaapo Kakko had two assists apiece and Joey Daccord stopped 29 of 37 shots.

Verhaeghe snapped a 1-1 tie at 17:56 of the first period. The puck squirted free after a battle along the left wing boards and came straight to Verhaeghe just inside the left faceoff dot. He put a one-timer over Daccord's shoulder and into the far upper corner of the net.

Verhaeghe tallied again at 19:07 on the power play. The Tkachuks won the puck along the right wing boards and Brady got control in the corner. He took a stride toward the net before firing a pass across the top of the crease to a wide-open Verhaeghe, who lifted the puck over Daccord as the goalie moved from post to post.

Verhaeghe scored his third at 6:02 of the second period. Mikkola was stopped on a wraparound attempt but Verhaeghe got the rebound just outside the left post and slid the puck past the downed Daccord to make it 4-1.

The Kraken played without defenseman Brandon Montour, who suffered a lower-body injury in a 4-3 overtime loss Thursday against Tampa Bay. Montour was a member of the Panthers' Stanley Cup-winning team in 2023-24.

Mikkola and Bennett tallied to increase the margin to 6-1 at the 13:13 mark of the second period.