SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe recorded a natural hat trick and Sam Bennett scored his first three goals of the season as the Florida Panthers beat the Seattle Kraken 8-3 on Saturday night.
The Panthers became the first team in NHL history with natural hat tricks in three straight games. Brady Tkachuk had one in each of the previous two, against Columbus on Tuesday and Vancouver on Thursday. Florida is also only the third team in 30 years to record a hat trick, of any kind, in three consecutive games.
Verhaeghe scored twice in the final 1:11 of the first period and added another goal with 13:58 left in the second, pushing Florida’s lead to 4-1. Bennett opened the scoring 1:05 into the game and found the net again in the second and third periods. Niko Mikkola and Sam Reinhart also scored for Florida, and Matthew Tkachuk had three assists.
Freddy Gaudreau, Shane Wright and Ryker Evans scored for Seattle. Former Panthers forward Mackie Samoskevich returned to Florida after signing with the Kraken this offseason. Florida traded him to Seattle in June.
The Panthers have four hat tricks this season, all in the last three games, which matches their total from the last three regular seasons combined. Seattle visits Detroit on Tuesday, and Florida plays at Ottawa on Wednesday.
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