SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe lifted a backhander just under the crossbar 2:59 into overtime, and the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Tuesday night for a 2-0 lead in their NHL first-round playoff series. It was the fifth OT winner in Verhaeghe’s career, coming on a play where Matthew Tkachuk got the puck to Anton Lundell — who found Verhaeghe. He waited for Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to commit, then put the puck over him to end it. Sam Bennett, who left with an injury in the second period when he appeared to get hit by teammate Brandon Montour’s slap shot ..read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Ordinarily at playoff time, this would be bulletin-board material: A coach in the NHL referred to the Florida Panthers as weird. Except this time, nobody minded. Because the guy who said it was Panthers coach Paul Maurice. Weird, goofy and unique are just some of the terms Maurice uses to describe his team, and he’s saying those words in the most endearing way possible. To him, they’re all badges of honor, part of the reasons why the Panthers finished with 110 points, won the Atlantic Division for the second time in three years and have a full head of steam going i ..read more

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart scored 10 seconds apart midway through the second period, and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Tuesday night. With the victory and Boston’s 3-1 loss to Ottawa, Florida clinched the Atlantic Division title. The Panthers (52-24-6) finished with the season with a four-game win streak to make up a five-point deficit in the standings. Carter Verhaeghe and Brandon Montour also scored for Florida, and Anthony Stolarz made 24 saves. The Panthers will play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round of the playoffs. Mitchell Mar ..read more

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — All Florida needed was one point to ensure its postseason run would start at home. And once that task was done, Sam Reinhart decided to put an exclamation point on things. Reinhart got his 55th goal of the season with 1:02 left in overtime, and the Panthers clinched home ice for at least Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs by beating the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 in the next-to-last regular-season game for both teams on Saturday. “We’re excited about the challenge ahead,” Reinhart said. “It’s starting for real pretty soon. Do what you can to get home-ice advantage. That’s the bea ..read more

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Anthony Stolarz skated out of his net, controlled a loose puck and set up the opening goal of the night for Florida. And then he turned that goal into the eventual game-winner. Stolarz stopped 25 shots and got his second assist of the season, Anton Lundell and Nick Cousins scored, and the Florida Panthers shut out the Ottawa Senators for the third time with a 2-0 victory on Tuesday night. “I’d like to add a goal to that, but I think at the end of the day the shutouts are the most important thing,” Stolarz said. It was the second instance of Florida shutting out a team thre ..read more

BOSTON (AP) — Jesper Boqvist scored 2:05 into overtime, Linus Ullmark stopped 28 shots and the Boston Bruins beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Saturday in a matchup of the top two teams in the Atlantic Division. First-place Boston moved five points ahead of second-place Florida. Both teams have four games left in the regular season — with the Panthers’ all at home. “It’s another big game, another playoff-type game against a team that’s going to be there and those games aren’t hard to get up for,” said Boston center Charlie Coyle, who had a power-play goal in the second period. “It makes you fee ..read more

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves for his fifth shutout of the season, Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and two assists and the Florida Panthers routed the Ottawa Senators 6-0 on Thursday night. Nick Cousins, Dmitry Kulikov, Anton Lundell, Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart also scored to help Florida improve to 48-24-5. Panthers coach Paul Maurice moved into sole possession of fourth place on the NHL victory list with 865. Joonas Korpisalo allowed four goals on 17 shots for Ottawa. Anton Forsberg gave up two on 14 shots in relief. With Florida up 5-0 to start the third, Tkachuk scored ..read more

TORONTO (AP) — Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 61st and 62nd goals of the season to go along with an assist as the Toronto Maple Leafs built a four-goal lead before hanging on late to down the Florida Panthers 6-4 in a potential first-round playoff preview Monday. Nicholas Robertson and Matthew Knies also had a goal and an assist each for Toronto, while Tyler Bertuzzi and David Kampf provided the rest of the offense. Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves for the Leafs, who were without five regulars — including star winger Mitch Marner (high ankle sprain) for an 11th straight game. Vladimir Taras ..read more

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