5 Takeaways: Verhaeghe Scores a Pair as Panthers Cruise Past Red Wings

SUNRISE, Fla. - I'm starting to understand why they call him "Swaggy."
A cool customer, Carter Verhaeghe once again let his play do the talking on the ice as he potted a pair of goals to lift the Panthers to a 4-1 win over the Red Wings at BB&T Center on Tuesday.
In the absence of Aleksander Barkov, Verhaeghe has scored five goals in his last three games.

"I just think he really does add a lot of dimensions to our team and the line that he's playing on because he does have purpose and he does have real good speed," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said of Verhaeghe, who's in the first year of a two-year deal. "He plays well without the puck positionally and anticipates well offensively off that. He's had a heck of a year so far."
Getting off on the right foot, the Panthers opened the scoring just 17 seconds after puck drop tonight. Surrounded by Red Wings, Mason Marchment managed to poke the puck toward the front of the net, where Jonathan Huberdeau beat Calvin Pickard from in close to make it 1-0.
Doubling the lead later in the opening stanza, Verhaeghe picked up his team-leading 16th goal of the season when he collected a backhand dish from Anthony Duclair, cut through a pair of Detroit defenders and lifted a shot into the top of the cage to put Florida on top 2-0 at 11:27.
Putting a bow on an incredibly strong opening 20 minutes for the Panthers, Brett Connolly then capped off the early scoring spree by tipping in a long shot from Gustav Forsling into the net to make it 3-0 at 12:25. Following that goal, the Red Wings replaced Pickard with Thomas Greiss.
"We had a great start, a lot of pace with good puck movement," Quenneville said.
Sent to a pair of power plays in the second period, the Red Wings finally broke through and got on the board when Filip Zadina received a pass from Dylan Larkin and ripped a shot from the right circle past Sergei Bobrovsky on the man advantage to trim Detroit's deficit to 3-1 at 7:29.
Unfortunately, with the last few seconds ticking down in the middle frame, the Panthers lost yet another key player to an injury when Duclair crashed into the end boards after Greiss made a dangerous play by lunging out a bit too aggressively and tripping him while he was at top speed.
Per Quenneville, Duclair (upper body) is expected to be out of the lineup for 7-10 days.
In the third period, Bobrovsky turned aside all eight shots he faced to finish with 35 saves and backstop the Panthers to their third consecutive win. At the other end of the ice, Greiss made 24 saves, while Pickard stopped five of eight shots before he was replaced in the second period.
At the time of this writing, Florida (23-9-4) is tied for the most points in the Central Division.
"It's some adversity for us to overcome, to get together and be strong," Bobrovsky said of the Panthers' ability to battle through a recent string of injuries up and down the lineup. "I thought the guys did a great job tonight again. We had a great start, up 3-1. Then we had some good composure. It's a great, great win. We'll keep building."
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday's win in Sunrise…

1. UNDER A MINUTE

I still don't know how Marchment managed to get the puck out of this pileup.
With three Red Wings in orbit around him as he skated toward the end boards, Marchment, with one mighty flick of the wrist, sent the rubber toward the front of the net to Huberdeau, who then slipped a shot through Pickard's five-hole to give Florida a 1-0 lead at 19:43 of the first period.

"Huby scoring early certainly helped," Quenneville said.
Already leading the Panthers in scoring with 41 points (14 goals, 27 assists), Huberdeau has now touched the twine three times over his last two outings. Seemingly always finding a way onto the scoresheet, the 27-year-old has posted 28 points in 31 career games against Detroit.

2. VERHAE-GOALS

Even without Barkov, Verhaeghe hasn't slowed down.
In fact, somehow, he's managed to speed up.
Further upping his career-high total, the 25-year-old registered his team-leading 16th goal of the season when he collected a pass from Duclair and, despite being surrounded by Red Wings, cut into the slot and lifted a shot over Pickard's blocker to make it 2-0 at 11:27 of the first period.

Not done there, the man they call "Swaggy" was back again later in the game.
Carrying the puck behind Detroit's net, Verhaeghe attempted to tuck home a wrap-around, but instead rolled the rubber straight up and over Greiss. With the puck in mid-air, a defender then accidently tapped it into the net to increase Florida's lead to 4-1 at 12:11 of the second period.

"There's a lot of games, so you get a lot of puck touches and you are kind of feeling confident with the puck," said Verhaeghe, who ranks ninth in the league with 17 goals at the time of this writing. "We're on a three-game win streak here, which is nice. After a three-game losing streak, it shows the resiliency of our team, for sure."
An exceptional driver of possession, Verhaeghe finished with a 64.71 CF% against the Red Wings tonight, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. When he was deployed on the ice at 5-on-5, the Panthers owned strong advantages in both shots on goal (14-8) and shot attempts (22-12).
Over his last 12 games, Verhaeghe has recorded a whopping nine goals.

3. ONE HUNDRED

Connolly is heading home with a milestone puck in his pocket tonight.
Digging his skates into the ice right in front of Pickard, Connolly tipped a long shot from Forsling into the back of the twine to give the Panthers an imposing 3-0 lead at 12:25 of the first period. With that timely tip, the 28-year-old winger earned the 100th goal of his NHL career.

"It was good," Connolly said. "It was good to see one go in the net. I had some chances the last couple games, but the team's playing well. It's good to see the guys step up with losing key players and guys filing in and playing a really good hockey game tonight… It's good to chip in."
Of those 100 goals, 21 have comes with the Panthers, including 19 during the 2019-20 season.
"I know I can put it together," said Connolly, who is hoping to heat up a bit during the home stretch." It's just a matter of doing that. I feel like I can help the team. I feel like if I can get my game going [like it was] during the first half of last season, I can be a difference maker."

4. BOB-ROB-SKY

Bobrovsky continues to put together one solid showing after another.
Improving to 13-5-2, the 32-year-old stopped 35 of the 36 shots that came his way tonight, including making six saves while shorthanded. At his best when it mattered the most, he also went a perfect 11-for-11 on shots from high-danger areas, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
"Bob had some big, big saves there on the penalty kill, three huge saves on one," Quenneville said. "He was excellent all game long."
Of all his saves tonight, his biggest - and there was more a than few to choose from - likely came in the second period when he laid out to rob Adam Erne of what looked to be a surefire goal with his right pad to keep the Panthers on top 4-1 and deflate Detroit's comeback attempt.

"I'm trying to track it, and then I obviously didn't receive the puck," Bobrovsky said of the sequence. "Then I saw that it was right in the middle. It's kind one of those desperation saves. I'm obviously happy to make that one."

5. ACCIARI GETS THE "A"

With Aaron Ekblad out of action, the Cats were also left with a void in their leadership group.
Enter Noel Acciari. Named one of the team's alternate captains prior to puck drop, the hard-nosed forward sported a well-deserved "A" on his sweater tonight against the Red Wings for the first time this season.

Known for his selfless play and non-stop engine, Acciari has posted 10 points - including netting his third-career hat trick earlier this month - to go along with 61 hits and 43 blocks.
"He just does the right things all the time on the ice," Connolly said of Acciari. "He's one of those guys who everybody loves. It's been awesome to play with him and get to know him the last couple years… He puts his body on the line and plays those hard minutes that only a certain amount of people can. He relishes in that role, and it's not an easy role. We appreciate him more than he knows. He deserves to have that 'A' on his jersey."
In tonight's win, Acciari produced four hits, two blocks and two takeaways.