Panthers' Forward Scores Another Series-Clinching Point

Florida Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe has a nose for the hockey puck. That nose has a penchant for scoring series-clinching goals like the one he rifled to the top-shelf Wednesday night in Raleigh against the Carolina Hurricanes.

That goal was the game-winner. It broke a 3-3 tie in the third period, and propelled the Panthers to a 5-3 victory and a series-clinching win. The team will now advance and play for the Stanley Cup for the third season in a row. The Panthers won the Cup last season 4 games to 3 over the Edmonton OIlers. The two teams will face off Wednesday night in Alberta to kick off the series.

This was the third time in his career he has scored a series-clinching goal. The NHL record for most series-clinching goals is four, and is shared by Max Pacioretty and Arturi Leknonen according to the Panthers' website.

Nicknamed "Swaggy" by his teammates, Verhaeghe certainly picked the right time to show off his swag. Aside from the three series-clinching goals, he has 12 game-winning goals in the playoffs. The next closest set of players have six.

"He has the nose for the right areas and a great shot," said fellow Panthers star Matthew Tchachuk. "It wasn't as easy of a shot as it maybe looked, soft left foot going backwards and putting it top shelf. A great goal, huge goal, and Eastern Conference winning goal, so a pretty big deal there."

The Panthers were down 2-0 to the Hurricanes and rallied to tie the game and then take the lead at 3-2. The Hurricanes then tied the game before Verhaeghe's heroics.

The goal showed how versatile the forward is and how well he can manipulate his stick to score a goal from a difficult angle. The shot went above Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen's stick and glove, and hit the upper middle portion of the net.

Surprisingly, Verhaeghe was left all alone as Aleksander Barkov drew three defensemen to him at the point and he slid the puck across the crease to Verhaeghe who drilled it home.

"Barky is so strong on the puck and Reino (Sam Reinhart) made a good play at the blue line to get the puck to Barky there and I kind of let him do his thing." Verhaeghe said after the game. "He took on one guy and then two guys and then gave the puck to me with a pretty open net. An unbelievable play by Barky at a critical time."