"He's been unbelievable, scoring those big goals for us," Panthers forward Noel Acciari said of Verhaeghe following this morning's skate. "He's flying up and down the ice. When he gets the puck on his stick, something good is going to happen. He's got the hot stick right now."
With the Panthers missing a pair of key players in Aleksander Barkov and Patric Hornqvist - both of whom could return to the lineup by this weekend - Verhaeghe potted a pair of goals to help the team extend its winning streak to three games with a 4-1 win over Detroit on Tuesday.
Breaking out during his first season with the Panthers, Verhaeghe, who won a Stanley Cup with the Lightning as a rookie in 2019-20, ranks third on the team in scoring with 30 points, while also sitting tied for ninth in the league in goals (17), including a whopping 15 at even-strength.
"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."
Following up a three-game losing streak with a three-game winning streak, the Panthers are not only in the thick of the playoff picture, but also fighting for a division title. With a record of 23-9-4, they are currently tied with the Lightning (24-9-2) for the most points (50) in the Central Division.
In addition to Verhaeghe's scoring surge, another reason for Florida's recent success has been the exceptional goaltending tandem of Sergei Bobrovsky and Chris Driedger. During the month of March, both netminders were on top of their game between the pipes. Bobrovsky went 8-3-0 with a .914 save percentage, while Driedger owned a 2-2-1 record with a .924 save percentage.
Following a 35-save performance from Bobrovsky during Tuesday's win, Driedger will slide back into the crease against the Red Wings tonight. In three starts against the boys from the Motor City this season, he's gone 2-1-0 with a 2.35 goals-against average and .933 save percentage.
"We're happy with the tandem right now," Quenneville said. "Both guys are going in the net and we're getting really solid goaltending night in, night out. Guys are feeding off that in front of them. I think that helps the confidence of our defensemen and the play in our own end."
In the cellar of the Central Division with a record of 12-21-4, the Red Wings had their two-game winning streak snapped in Tuesday's loss. Overall, they've dropped four of their last six games. In that slump, they've been outscored 23-9, including being on the wrong end of two shutouts.
Picking up an assist on Filipa Zadina's second-period score against the Panthers his last time out, defenseman Filip Hronek leads Detroit in scoring with 21 points (two goals, 19 assists). In second, Dylan Larkin has 19 points, including posting one goal and five assists against Florida.
"It's as bad as we've played defensively in a while," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill told reporters after losing to the Panthers, who are 5-2-0 against Detroit this season. "We weren't at our best. We had a bunch of guys that played their 'B' and 'C' games. We need everybody on their 'A' game every night."
After backstopping the Red Wings to back-to-back wins over the Blue Jackets, Calvin Pickard was pulled from Tuesday's loss after surrendering three goals on eight shots. Coming into the game in relief, Thomas Greiss made 24 saves on 25 shots and could get the nod in net tonight.
Appearing in a team-high 22 games this season, Greiss has gone 2-14-4 with a .888 save percentage, while Pickard, who has been filling in for injured netminder Jonathan Bernier, has gone 2-1-0 with a .879 save percentage - a number the Panthers scorers helped tank a bit.
Regardless of who's in net, Verhaeghe could be poised for another big game.
"There's a lot of games, so you get a lot of puck touches and you are kind of feeling confident with the puck," Verhaeghe said. "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."
