SUNRISE, FLORIDA – MARCH 10: Carter Verhaeghe #23 of the Florida Panthers celebrates a goal against the Detroit Red Wings during the third period at Amerant Bank Arena on March 10, 2026 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Tomas Diniz Santos/Getty Images)
Tomas Diniz Santos
Getty Images
The euphoria was evident as soon as the shot went off Carter Verhaeghe’s stick as he skated into the slot. His wrister whizzed past John Gibson with 14.1 seconds left for his second goal in the final 90 seconds of regulation to seal the Florida Panthers’ 4-3, come-from-behind victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night.
“Winning games is fun,” Verhaeghe said.
Especially when winning has been hard to come by. The Panthers’ season has been marred by injuries and players running on fumes in the aftermath of three consecutive runs to the Stanley Cup Final, including winning it all each of the past two years. The effects of that have particularly shown as of late, with the Panthers dropping nine of 11 dating to Jan. 27 — including four of five since returning from the Olympic break — before beating the Red Wings in back-to-back games on Friday in Detroit and Tuesday in Sunrise.
That elongated losing stretch has all but knocked the Panthers out of the playoffs.
But it hasn’t knocked out the team’s fight.
“We’ve got one job, and it’s not to figure out where we finish in the standings; it’s just to handle your day,’’ Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “The best that we can do is to come in and have respect for the game and have respect for each other — and you hope for a miracle.
“We still have to be pros, and we almost have to honor the Florida Panther game. That is what we’re trying to do and be respectful about it.”
They’re also being respectful about the team’s long-term health.
That’s why star winger Sam Reinhart, the team’s leader in goals (28), assists (31) and points (59), didn’t play on Tuesday. That’s why veteran forward Brad Marchand is likely done for the season (a decision on that will be made likely by the end of the week, Maurice said). That’s why other top players will have their minutes monitored the rest of the way.
Because Florida had so many key players out for extended periods this season — captain Aleksander Barkov hasn’t played, star winger Matthew Tkachuk missed 47 games, top defenseman Seth Jones has missed the past 24 games, Dmitry Kulikov missed 57 games, Tomas Nosek missed 60 games — the Panthers pushed some of their other players to career highs in ice time.
The impact of that extra time is starting to hit players who have seen that uptick in playing time.
Neither Verhaeghe nor defenseman Uvis Balinskis practiced Wednesday. Verhaeghe “tightened up in the game” against Detroit and came to the practice facility “a little stiffer” on Wednesday, Maurice said. Balinskis had a flare up from a lower-body injury that occurred on Feb. 27 against Buffalo when he blocked a shot.
Both of those players, plus possibly one other, are game-time decisions for Florida’s home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.
“These are all now soft tissue [injuries] — back spasms, pulls, tightness, all that kind of stuff we’re dealing with,” Maurice said. “These rest days right now are really important. We’re trying to get a guy back to 100 [percent] so we don’t have to deal with it for five weeks, but that’s what we’re dealing with.”
That means extended opportunities are in store for players who normally fill depth roles. Maurice will do his best to roll all four forward lines as evenly as possible and give players new opportunities on special teams if the chances arise.
For example, Jesper Boqvist and Luke Kunin — two members of the Panthers’ fourth line — were Florida’s primary penalty killers on Tuesday, with Tomas Nosek and A.J. Greer being the second-most used forward pair when playing a man down. That allowed Maurice to ease up on minutes for Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Sam Bennett.
“We used the whole bench,” Maurice said.
And make no mistake about it: Whoever is on the ice is going to give maximum effort. That was evident on Tuesday, even with Florida as far back as it is in the standings — the Panthers (32-29-3, 67 points) are 11 points behind the Boston Bruins (36-22-6, 78 points) for the Eastern Conference’s final wild card spot. They played until the end, even after blowing a early lead and being down a goal going into the final minutes before Verhaeghe scored twice in the final 90 seconds.
“It’s a culture thing,” defenseman Gustav Forsling said. “We can’t lose that.”
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Miami Herald
Jordan McPherson covers the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Panthers for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and covered the Gators athletic program for five years before joining the Herald staff in December 2017.