Carter Verhaeghe scores four goals in a NHL game

Carter Verhaeghe (Twitter)

Florida Panthers center Carter Verhaeghe of Toronto, Ontario became the fifth hockey player this season and first Canadian to score more than three goals in a National Hockey League game. He accomplished the feat by scoring four goals in a 7-0 Panthers win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. For Verhaeghe, it was his third career NHL hat trick.

Verhaeghe put the Panthers up 2-0 at 17:29 of the first period from Gustav Forsling and Aleksander Barkov. He then put the Panthers up 3-0 at the 18 second mark of the second period on an all-Canadian goal from Aaron Ekblad of Windsor, Ontario and Anthony Duclair of Pointe-Claire, Quebec. Then at 6:34 of the middle frame, Verhaeghe put the Panthers up 4-0 on a second all-Canadian goal from Brandon Montour of Brantford, Ontario and Duclair. Verhaeghe then put Florida up 6-0 on a third period goal from Duclair and Barkov at 11:18 of the third period.

The Panthers had three Canadians with a multi-point game. The others were Sam Reinhart of West Vancouver, British Columbia (one goal and two assists) and Canadian Olympic gold medalist Eric Staal of Thunder Bay, Ontario (one goal and one assist). Staal won the gold medal for Canada at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. The other Panthers goal scorer was another Canadian, Nick Cousins of Belleville, Ontario.

In 2022-23, Verhaeghe has 40 goals and 30 assists for 70 points in 76 games. He is a +14 with 44 penalty minutes, 13 power-play points, two game-winning goals, 263 shots on goal, 18 faceoff wins, 29 blocked shots, 28 hits, 32 takeaways and 52 giveaways. Verhaeghe has career-highs in goals, power-play points, points, shots on goal, and blocked shots. Verhaeghe’s game-winning goals came in a 5-1 Panthers win over the Seattle Kraken on December 3 and in a 4-3 Panthers win over the Anaheim Ducks on February 20.

Verhaeghe’s first NHL hat trick came on January 7, 2020 in a 9-2 Tampa Bay Lightning win over the Vancouver Canucks. He then scored thrice in a 4-3 Panthers win over the Dallas Stars on March 27, 2021. The four other players who have scored more than three goals in a game this season are Tage Thompson of the Buffalo Sabres, Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe of the Los Angeles Kings, and Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers.

With the win, the Panthers improved to a record of 39 wins, 31 regulation losses and seven losses in extra time. With 85 points, they are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, and have one more point than the ninth place Pittsburgh Penguins.

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