Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett each recorded hat tricks to lead the Florida Panthers past the Seattle Kraken 8-3 at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday. Bennett scored his first goal of the season just 1:05 into the contest to give Florida the early advantage, but Seattle answered quickly when Shane Wright tipped in a shot at 4:54 to tie the game at 1-1.
Verhaeghe broke the tie late in the opening period and sparked a run of five unanswered Florida goals. He beat Seattle with a slap shot at 17:56 and followed with a wrist shot on the power play at 19:07. Verhaeghe then completed his hat trick at 6:02 of the second period with another wrist shot. Niko Mikkola added an unassisted snap shot 40 seconds later for his first goal of the season, and Bennett extended the margin to 6-1 with a snap shot at 13:13. Frederick Gaudreau briefly halted the surge with a wrist shot for Seattle at 19:05.
Florida resumed the scoring early in the third period when Sam Reinhart converted a power-play slap shot at 2:25. Ryker Evans scored his first goal of the season with a slap shot for Seattle at 3:49, but Bennett answered at 11:14 with a snap shot to complete his three-goal game and secure the 8-3 result.
Special teams and offensive volume favored the Panthers throughout the night. Florida converted 2 of 3 power-play opportunities and put 37 shots on goal, while holding the Kraken scoreless on 4 power-play chances with 23 shots. Jacob Markstrom earned the win in net for Florida by stopping 20 shots. Joey Daccord took the loss for Seattle after making 29 saves on 37 shots against.
Matthew Tkachuk contributed three assists to join Verhaeghe and Bennett with three-point performances for the Panthers. Florida improved to 5-2-2 on the season and has won three consecutive games. The Kraken dropped to 5-3-1 and are winless in two straight games.
The Panthers will visit the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday, October 21, at 7:30 PM ET. The Kraken return home to host the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, October 20, at 9:40 PM ET.
