The Florida Panthers continued their historic scoring surge on Saturday night, defeating the Seattle Kraken 8-3 at the Amalie Arena. Carter Verhaeghe recorded a natural hat trick – the first in NHL history to occur in three straight games – while Sam Bennett notched his first three‑goal performance of the season.

Historic back‑to‑back hat tricks

With Verhaeghe’s three goals (two in the first period, one late in the second) and Bennett’s three‑goal effort (opening the scoring at 1:05 and adding goals in the second and third periods), Florida became the first team ever to post natural hat tricks in three consecutive contests. The streak follows Brady Tkachuk’s natural hat tricks in wins over Columbus on Tuesday and Vancouver on Thursday.

Florida also joins an exclusive group as only the third team in the past 30 years to record a hat trick of any type in three straight games. The Panthers have now logged four hat tricks in just three games, matching the total they accumulated over the previous three regular seasons combined.

Additional scoring contributions

Beyond the headline‑making performances, the Panthers received strong support from Niko Mikkola and Sam Reinhart, each adding a goal, while Matthew Tkachuk supplied three assists. Seattle’s goals came from Freddy Gaudreau, Shane Wright and Ryker Evans, with Kaapo Kakko and Berkly Catton each recording two assists for the Kraken.

Former Panther returns with the Kraken

Former Florida forward Mackie Samoskevich made his return to Amalie Arena as a Kraken player. Samoskevich, who scored 27 goals in 156 games during his three‑year stint with the Panthers and earned his name on the Stanley Cup when Florida won the 2025 championship, was traded to Seattle in June for two draft picks. One of those picks helped complete the Panthers’ trade with Ottawa for Brady Tkachuk.

Since joining Seattle, Samoskevich has contributed three goals and an assist in the Kraken’s first seven games.

Upcoming schedule

The Kraken will host Detroit on Tuesday, while the Panthers travel to Ottawa on Wednesday for the next chapter of their playoff push.

Florida fans can follow the Panthers’ historic run through local sports outlets and the team’s official channels as the club aims to build on its record‑setting performance.

Original reporting: WPBF West Palm Beach — read the source article.