SUNRISE, Fla. — The road of Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe encapsulates every thing that makes the Florida Panthers so dominant within the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The three gamers relentlessly forecheck opponents. Their offensive ability is elite, as they’re three of the highest 4 scorers in the course of the Panthers’ postseason run. They will shut down opponents, averaging 1.98 objectives towards per 60 minutes of play at 5-on-5. Due to Tkachuk and Bennett, they’re uniquely antagonistic, dishing it out and taking it, after which doling out some extra.
That mixture of attributes makes them maybe probably the most harmful line within the playoffs. They might be the top-scoring trio on any crew. Or a crew’s checking line. Or its most annoying pests.
“It is a lethal mixture, everywhere in the ice,” Florida winger Brad Marchand mentioned.
Lethal for opponents. Enjoyable for Tkachuk.
“It is enjoyable once we’re getting in on the forecheck and ending hits and enjoying of their zone and getting good scoring possibilities,” he mentioned after the Panthers’ 6-2 win in Recreation 3 towards the Hurricanes, placing them one win from a 3rd straight journey to the Stanley Cup Ultimate. “I assumed the constructing was electrical. I credit score my linemates for the way they performed, getting [the fans] going.”
By means of 15 playoff video games, this line has earned 65.4% of the shot makes an attempt when on the ice at 5-on-5 and 57% of the anticipated objectives. The trio is averaging 4.6 objectives per 60 minutes, and its 70% goals-for proportion ranks third within the playoffs amongst groups that superior previous the primary spherical.
Since Verhaeghe bounces between traces within the common season, there’s not been the chance for the followers or Panthers gamers to formally identify this line. Among the many solutions on social media — some extra cynical than others — had been “The Rat Pack,” the “Elbow Grease Line” and the “Immunity Line,” in reference to how they’re in a position to keep away from NHL self-discipline whereas enjoying on the sting.
“We’re type of a line that may do every thing,” Bennett mentioned. “Chucky likes to carry pucks down low, he likes to gradual the sport down a bit bit. Then, Carter is dashing the sport up, he is utilizing his pace, he is heavy and quick. Then, I am type of a mixture of that. It is only a line that we have discovered has been efficient within the playoffs. I like enjoying with each of these guys.”
Three elements, three gamers and all of them bringing one thing completely different to the dominance.
“The range in type is definitely a very good factor for us,” Florida coach Paul Maurice mentioned.
Sam Bennett: “Definition of a playoff participant”
Bennett, 28, was acquired by the Panthers from Calgary in April 2021. Tkachuk was with the Flames at that time. He wasn’t thrilled in regards to the commerce.
“He is all the time had the expertise. He is all the time had the work ethic. He is all the time had the chew, the jam, every thing,” Tkachuk mentioned. “I believe numerous his success has to do with alternative. He did not get the chance in Calgary that he has right here. I do not know why that’s.”
What Tkachuk has seen from Bennett in Florida is somebody he believes is “the definition of a playoff participant.” Bennett has 43 factors in 54 video games over the previous three postseasons, whereas enjoying a bodily type that has, now and again, crossed the road into unlawful and injurious.
Or as Marchand put it: “He is acquired a very good proper hook.”
Bennett appeared to sucker-punch Marchand in the course of the Panthers’ playoff collection win over the Boston Bruins in 2024. It knocked Marchand out of the collection for 2 video games and did not lead to additional self-discipline for Bennett.
On the commerce deadline in 2025, they grew to become teammates.
“I did not maintain a grudge. Once more, I understand how this sport’s performed. I performed an analogous approach,” Marchand mentioned. “It is one thing that we joke about. I can snicker it off. I joke about it on a regular basis. I joke about it greater than he does, however I positively joke about it.”
However Bennett has jokes. That is one thing Marchand did not anticipate earlier than attending to know him.
“He is not as critical of an individual as I assumed he was. Once you see him on the ice and also you see him type of across the media, he simply appeared like he was quiet and really reserved. When you get to know him, he is truly fairly vocal and actually humorous and a very good man to be round,” Marchand mentioned. “However whenever you see him on the ice, he is so intense. He does not actually chirp. You do not hear him in the course of the sport. He is all enterprise.”
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Panthers in full management after Sam Bennett’s power-play aim
Sam Bennett’s power-play tally fuels the Panthers to a three-goal lead over the Hurricanes in Recreation 1.
Marchand and Maurice praised Bennett’s pace and shot, however Marchand was particularly enamored along with his truculence.
“He brings a bodily facet to the sport that, particularly this time of 12 months, you possibly can’t have sufficient of it,” Marchand mentioned of Bennett. “These are the fellows that make a big impact on the sport, when you’ve got to concentrate on them bodily on the ice and know the place they’re at.”
Marchand would know.
Carter Verhaeghe: “Reveals up within the massive video games”
Verhaeghe, 29, signed as a free agent with the Panthers in 2020 after successful a Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay within the earlier season. He has grow to be considered one of Florida’s largest postseason heroes, enhancing when the common season ends. Over the previous 4 playoff runs for the Panthers, Verhaeghe has 11 game-winning objectives. Nobody else has greater than six.
“He is a man that actually exhibits up within the massive video games,” Bennett mentioned.
Model 1.0 of this line final season was very efficient, too; Bennett and Tkachuk skating with winger Evan Rodrigues, one of many Panthers with the strongest analytics. However Rodrigues does not have the offensive sport of Verhaeghe, who has a 0.90 points-per-game common over his previous 70 postseason video games.
Verhaeghe break up his time final postseason between Bennett’s line and skating with captain Aleksander Barkov. Maurice was comfy transferring round Verhaeghe up to now. This season, he could not discover the precise time to pair Verhaeghe with Barkov and have it stick.
“I acquired it mistaken your complete 12 months. The primary two years, I assumed I used to be actually sensible. Each time I modified it, the traces take off,” Maurice mentioned. “This 12 months, I used to be a dumbass.”
Although Maurice could not follow Barkov, Verhaeghe actually clicked with Bennett and Tkachuk within the playoffs
“I believe our line works as a result of all of us type of carry a special factor to the road. We learn off one another very well,” Verhaeghe mentioned. “Chucky makes actually good performs, so sensible, so bodily. Benny’s the identical factor, type of makes performs so quick up the center. We simply keep on pucks, prefer to be shut collectively.”
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Verhaeghe’s backhand shot finds the web for Florida
Carter Verhaeghe goes high shelf on a backhand to provide the Panthers a 1-0 lead within the first interval.
With Bennett and Tkachuk making area and making performs, Maurice sees Verhaeghe because the one who can money in on the probabilities they create.
“It is Carter’s pace and his launch, and all of their capacity to leap on damaged performs,” Maurice mentioned.
Verhaeghe is a reputation acquainted to any NHL fan who has watched the playoffs up to now few seasons. Bennett is gaining notoriety by means of memorable acts — ask a Toronto Maple Leafs fan about his collision with Anthony Stolarz — in addition to his play for Group Canada within the 4 Nations Face-Off and impending unrestricted free company, the place he is anticipated to double the typical annual worth of his contract.
However neither of them has been a visitor on “The Tonight Present.”
Matthew Tkachuk: “He is a beautiful human being”
Tkachuk is a celebrity. That was true when the Panthers traded star winger Jonathan Huberdeau and high defenseman MacKenzie Weegar for him in 2022, earlier than inking him to an eight-year, $76 million contract extension.
That was true throughout Tkachuk’s efficiency in 2023, main the Panthers in a surprising first-round upset of Boston and thru the Jap Convention playoffs earlier than struggling a damaged sternum within the Stanley Cup Ultimate towards Vegas.
That was true final postseason, when Tkachuk had 22 factors in 24 video games after which took the Stanley Cup for a swim within the Atlantic Ocean. And that was true on the 4 Nations Face-Off, when he and his brother created a sensation by dropping the gloves towards Canada.
Tkachuk and Bennett have been companions on the ice for a number of seasons, establishing a second dominant line behind Barkov’s trio.
“He and Sam have similarities. They’re fearless in how they play. After which they’re precise opposites,” Maurice mentioned. “However that is actually how they complement one another.”
Tkachuk has 14 factors in 15 video games this postseason, which tells solely a part of the story. He has been his antagonistic self on and off the ice, like when he slammed a ball towards a wall repeatedly throughout a Hurricanes information convention in Raleigh, with the media space separated from the Panthers’ exercise space solely by a curtain. And like when he slammed Carolina’s Sebastian Aho to the ice in Recreation 3 after Aho had taken out Panthers ahead Sam Reinhart with a success in Recreation 2.
“I do not actually have a look at it as intent or intimidation in any respect. It is simply sticking up for teammates,” mentioned Tkachuk, who was given a roughing penalty and a 10-minute misconduct. “We’re a household in there. It might occur to anyone, and there is in all probability 20 guys racing to be the man to stay up for a teammate like that. That is simply how our crew’s constructed. That is why we’re profitable. I do not suppose any of us can be thrilled at that play in Recreation 2.”
After the sport, the Hurricanes lamented not retaliating to the retaliation, worrying that Tkachuk would have gotten an opponent to take the bait once more.
“They’re excellent at goading you into penalties,” Carolina’s Taylor Corridor mentioned.
It is irritating, for positive. However Tkachuk has that impact on individuals. Even his coach.
“I hated Matthew after I was in Winnipeg,” mentioned Maurice, who coached the Jets from 2013 to 2022. “And you then meet him and also you go, ‘Oh my God, he is a beautiful human being.'”
Maurice shared a narrative from after Recreation 3, when one of many Panthers invited a younger fan who was battling most cancers to the locker room space along with his dad and mom. Tkachuk left the crew’s postgame celebration to say hey and chat with him.
“It is advisable to see that as a result of that is actual,” Maurice mentioned.
ON-ICE PERSONAS could be a lot completely different than these away from competitors. Maurice additionally factors to “Benny’s Buddies,” a program that Sam Bennett launched with the Humane Society of Broward County. Each time he scores a aim, it raises cash towards protecting pet adoption charges.
“They’re actually, very nice individuals. Then, the puck drops,” Maurice mentioned of his Panthers. “They’re laborious on guys. They’re. And most of that’s pushed by how they really feel about one another. They do not wish to let the opposite man down.”
Marchand mentioned that there is a duality to hockey gamers. Their actions on the ice outline them in public, within the media and reputationally across the league. However once they share a locker room, once they’re now not opponents however teammates like him and Bennett, there’s an individual you meet who’s at odds with the one on the ice.
“I believe it is simply this respect we have now for one another, understanding that what we do on the ice is our job. We’re competing for a similar aim,” Marchand mentioned. “On the finish of the day, you are prepared to do issues on the ice that are not typical of you as an individual off the ice.”
Maurice, as he does, in contrast this duality with — of all issues — shotgunning a beer in church.
“Have you ever ever shotgunned a beer? Have you ever ever been to church? Would you shotgun a beer if you happen to’re in church? No, and that does not make you a hypocrite,” he mentioned. “There is a context for all issues.”
Inside any context, Bennett, Tkachuk and Verhaeghe are one of many NHL’s most compelling trios — and an engine driving the Panthers to probably repeat as champions.