SUNRISE, Fla. — The line of Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe encapsulates everything that makes the Florida Panthers so dominant in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The three players relentlessly forecheck opponents. Their offensive skill is elite, as they’re three of the top four scorers during the Panthers’ postseason run. They can shut down opponents, averaging 1.98 goals against per 60 minutes of play at 5-on-5. Thanks to Tkachuk and Bennett, they’re uniquely antagonistic, dishing it out and taking it, and then dishing out some more.

That combination of attributes makes them perhaps the most dangerous line in the playoffs. They could be the top-scoring trio on any team. Or a team’s checking line. Or its most annoying pests.

“It’s a deadly combination, all over the ice,” Florida winger Brad Marchand said.

Deadly for opponents. Fun for Tkachuk.

“It’s fun when we’re getting in on the forecheck and finishing hits and playing in their zone and getting good scoring chances,” he said after the Panthers’ 6-2 win in Game 3 against the Hurricanes, putting them one win from a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final. “I thought the building was electric. I credit my linemates for how they played, getting [the fans] going.”

Through 15 playoff games, this line has earned 65.4% of the shot attempts when on the ice at 5-on-5 and 57% of the expected goals. The trio is averaging 4.6 goals per 60 minutes, and its 70% goals-for percentage ranks third in the playoffs among teams that advanced past the first round.

Since Verhaeghe bounces between lines in the regular season, there’s not been the opportunity for the fans or Panthers players to formally name this line. Among the suggestions on social media — some more cynical than others — were “The Rat Pack,” the “Elbow Grease Line” and the “Immunity Line,” in reference to how they’re able to avoid NHL discipline while playing on the edge.

“We are kind of a line that can do everything,” Bennett said. “Chucky likes to hold pucks down low, he likes to slow the game down a little bit. Then, Carter is speeding the game up, he’s using his speed, he’s heavy and fast. Then, I’m kind of a mix of that. It’s just a line that we’ve found has been effective in the playoffs. I love playing with both of those guys.”

Three parts, three players and all of them bringing something different to the dominance.

“The diversity in style is actually a good thing for us,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said.

Sam Bennett: “Definition of a playoff player”

Bennett, 28, was acquired by the Panthers from Calgary in April 2021. Tkachuk was with the Flames at that point. He wasn’t thrilled about the trade.

“He’s always had the talent. He’s always had the work ethic. He’s always had the bite, the jam, everything,” Tkachuk said. “I think a lot of his success has to do with opportunity. He didn’t get the opportunity in Calgary that he has here. I don’t know why that is.”

What Tkachuk has seen from Bennett in Florida is someone he believes is “the definition of a playoff player.” Bennett has 43 points in 54 games over the past three postseasons, while playing a physical style that has, on occasion, crossed the line into illegal and injurious.

Or as Marchand put it: “He’s got a good right hook.”

Bennett appeared to sucker-punch Marchand during the Panthers’ playoff series win over the Boston Bruins in 2024. It knocked Marchand out of the series for two games and didn’t result in further discipline for Bennett.

At the trade deadline in 2025, they became teammates.

“I didn’t hold a grudge. Again, I know how this game’s played. I played a similar way,” Marchand said. “It’s something that we joke about. I can laugh it off. I joke about it all the time. I joke about it more than he does, but I definitely joke about it.”

But Bennett has jokes. That’s something Marchand didn’t anticipate before getting to know him.

“He’s not as serious of a person as I thought he was. When you see him on the ice and you see him kind of around the media, he just seemed like he was quiet and very reserved. Once you get to know him, he’s actually pretty vocal and really funny and a good guy to be around,” Marchand said. “But when you see him on the ice, he’s so intense. He doesn’t really chirp. You don’t hear him during the game. He’s all business.”

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Panthers in complete control after Sam Bennett’s power-play goal

Sam Bennett’s power-play tally fuels the Panthers to a three-goal lead over the Hurricanes in Game 1.

Marchand and Maurice praised Bennett’s speed and shot, but Marchand was especially enamored with his truculence.

“He brings a physical aspect to the game that, especially this time of year, you can’t have enough of it,” Marchand said of Bennett. “Those are the guys that make a huge impact on the game, when you have to be aware of them physically on the ice and know where they’re at.”

Marchand would know.

Carter Verhaeghe: “Shows up in the big games”

Verhaeghe, 29, signed as a free agent with the Panthers in 2020 after winning a Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in the previous season. He has become one of Florida’s biggest postseason heroes, improving when the regular season ends. Over the past four playoff runs for the Panthers, Verhaeghe has 11 game-winning goals. No one else has more than six.

“He’s a guy that really shows up in the big games,” Bennett said.

Version 1.0 of this line last season was very effective, too; Bennett and Tkachuk skating with winger Evan Rodrigues, one of the Panthers with the strongest analytics. But Rodrigues doesn’t have the offensive game of Verhaeghe, who has a 0.90 points-per-game average over his past 70 postseason games.

Verhaeghe split his time last postseason between Bennett’s line and skating with captain Aleksander Barkov. Maurice was comfortable moving around Verhaeghe in the past. This season, he couldn’t find the right time to pair Verhaeghe with Barkov and have it stick.

“I got it wrong the entire year. The first two years, I thought I was really smart. Every time I changed it, the lines take off,” Maurice said. “This year, I was a dumbass.”

Though Maurice couldn’t stick with Barkov, Verhaeghe really clicked with Bennett and Tkachuk in the playoffs

“I think our line works because we all kind of bring a different element to the line. We read off each other really well,” Verhaeghe said. “Chucky makes really good plays, so smart, so physical. Benny’s the same thing, kind of makes plays so fast up the middle. We just stay on pucks, like to be close together.”

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Verhaeghe’s backhand shot finds the net for Florida

Carter Verhaeghe goes top shelf on a backhand to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead in the first period.

With Bennett and Tkachuk making space and making plays, Maurice sees Verhaeghe as the one who can cash in on the chances they create.

“It’s Carter’s speed and his release, and all of their ability to jump on broken plays,” Maurice said.

Verhaeghe is a name familiar to any NHL fan who has watched the playoffs in the past few seasons. Bennett is gaining notoriety through memorable acts — ask a Toronto Maple Leafs fan about his collision with Anthony Stolarz — as well as his play for Team Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off and impending unrestricted free agency, where he’s expected to double the average annual value of his contract.

But neither of them has been a guest on “The Tonight Show.”

Matthew Tkachuk: “He’s a wonderful human being”

Tkachuk is a superstar. That was true when the Panthers traded star winger Jonathan Huberdeau and top defenseman MacKenzie Weegar for him in 2022, before inking him to an eight-year, $76 million contract extension.

That was true during Tkachuk’s performance in 2023, leading the Panthers in a shocking first-round upset of Boston and through the Eastern Conference playoffs before suffering a broken sternum in the Stanley Cup Final against Vegas.

That was true last postseason, when Tkachuk had 22 points in 24 games and then took the Stanley Cup for a swim in the Atlantic Ocean. And that was true at the 4 Nations Face-Off, when he and his brother created a sensation by dropping the gloves against Canada.

Tkachuk and Bennett have been partners on the ice for multiple seasons, establishing a second dominant line behind Barkov’s trio.

“He and Sam have similarities. They’re fearless in how they play. And then they’re exact opposites,” Maurice said. “But that’s truly how they complement each other.”

Tkachuk has 14 points in 15 games this postseason, which tells only part of the story. He has been his antagonistic self on and off the ice, like when he slammed a ball against a wall repeatedly during a Hurricanes news conference in Raleigh, with the media area separated from the Panthers’ workout area only by a curtain. And like when he slammed Carolina’s Sebastian Aho to the ice in Game 3 after Aho had taken out Panthers forward Sam Reinhart with a hit in Game 2.

“I don’t really look at it as intent or intimidation at all. It’s just sticking up for teammates,” said Tkachuk, who was given a roughing penalty and a 10-minute misconduct. “We’re a family in there. It could happen to anybody, and there’s probably 20 guys racing to be the guy to stick up for a teammate like that. That’s just how our team’s built. That’s why we’re successful. I don’t think any of us would be thrilled at that play in Game 2.”

After the game, the Hurricanes lamented not retaliating to the retaliation, worrying that Tkachuk would have gotten an opponent to take the bait again.

“They’re very good at goading you into penalties,” Carolina’s Taylor Hall said.

It’s frustrating, for sure. But Tkachuk has that effect on people. Even his coach.

“I hated Matthew when I was in Winnipeg,” said Maurice, who coached the Jets from 2013 to 2022. “And then you meet him and you go, ‘Oh my God, he’s a wonderful human being.'”

Maurice shared a story from after Game 3, when one of the Panthers invited a young fan who was battling cancer to the locker room area with his parents. Tkachuk left the team’s postgame celebration to say hello and chat with him.

“You need to see that because that’s real,” Maurice said.

ON-ICE PERSONAS can be much different than those away from competition. Maurice also points to “Benny’s Buddies,” a program that Sam Bennett launched with the Humane Society of Broward County. Every time he scores a goal, it raises money toward covering pet adoption fees.

“They’re really, really nice people. Then, the puck drops,” Maurice said of his Panthers. “They’re hard on guys. They are. And most of that is driven by how they feel about each other. They don’t want to let the other guy down.”

Marchand said that there’s a duality to hockey players. Their actions on the ice define them in public, in the media and reputationally around the league. But when they share a locker room, when they’re no longer opponents but teammates like him and Bennett, there’s a person you meet who’s at odds with the one on the ice.

“I think it’s just this respect we have for each other, understanding that what we do on the ice is our job. We’re competing for the same goal,” Marchand said. “At the end of the day, you’re willing to do things on the ice that aren’t typical of you as a person off the ice.”

Maurice, as he does, compared this duality with — of all things — shotgunning a beer in church.

“Have you ever shotgunned a beer? Have you ever been to church? Would you shotgun a beer if you’re in church? No, and that doesn’t make you a hypocrite,” he said. “There’s a context for all things.”

Within any context, Bennett, Tkachuk and Verhaeghe are one of the NHL’s most compelling trios — and an engine driving the Panthers to potentially repeat as champions.

Through the first two rounds, the Carolina Hurricanes looked as dominant as anyone, needing just 10 games to dispatch the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals.

The Eastern Conference finals have been a different story.

Carolina has run into the Florida Panthers, who are showing everyone that they are serious about defending the 2024 Stanley Cup title. Florida has won all three games by an aggregate score of 16-4.

Can the Canes pull off a historic comeback from down 3-0, or are the Panthers headed to a third consecutive Stanley Cup Final?

Here are matchup notes heading into Monday’s Game 4 from ESPN Research, as well as betting intel from ESPN BET:

More on Game 3: Recap | Grades

Matchup notes

Carolina Hurricanes at Florida Panthers
Game 4 | 8 p.m. ET | TNT

The Panthers, who are up 3-0 in the series, are -5000 to win, while the Hurricanes are +1500 to take the series, per ESPN BET; those numbers are adjusted from Florida -700 and Carolina +425 before Game 3. Florida is also the favorite to win the Cup at -110, and Sergei Bobrovsky leads the Conn Smythe Trophy candidates at +200.

With six goals in Game 3, Florida has scored at least five goals for four straight games, dating to Game 7 of the second round vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs. It’s the fourth instance in the past 30 years of a team scoring five-plus goals in four consecutive postseason games, joining the 1995 Detroit Red Wings, 2021 Colorado Avalanche and 2024 Avalanche.

Aleksander Barkov had two of the Panthers’ five third-period goals, and also added an assist, in the win. It is his 20th career multipoint playoff game, breaking a tie with teammate Carter Verhaeghe for the most in Panthers postseason history.

Also scoring two goals in the win was defenseman Niko Mikkola, who had just three goals in 61 career playoff games entering Saturday. Mikkola’s effort was just the fourth multigoal playoff game by a defenseman in Panthers history.

Evan Rodrigues had two assists in Game 3, becoming the sixth player in NHL history to register multiple assists in each of the first three games of a conference finals/Stanley Cup semifinals series (and the first since Al MacInnis in 1986).

The Hurricanes have lost 15 straight conference final-round games, extending their record for most consecutive losses in the round before the Stanley Cup Final (either conference final or semifinals) in Stanley Cup playoffs history. Carolina’s last win in a conference final-round game was June 1, 2006 (a 4-2 victory over Buffalo in Game 7 of the 2006 Eastern Conference finals).

Logan Stankoven finished with a goal and an assist, becoming the third rookie in Whalers/Hurricanes Stanley Cup playoffs history with four or more goals in a playoff year, joining Erik Cole in 2002 and Warren Foegele in 2019.

Carolina must try to come back from a 3-0 series deficit, something only four teams in Stanley Cup playoff history have accomplished in a best-of-seven series: Los Angeles Kings over San Jose Sharks (2014 conference quarterfinals), Philadelphia Flyers over Boston Bruins (2010 conference semifinals), New York Islanders over Pittsburgh Penguins (1975 quarterfinals), Maple Leafs over Red Wings (1942 Stanley Cup Final).

Scoring leaders

GP: 15 | G: 6 | A: 9

GP: 12 | G: 5 | A: 8

CONCORD, N.C. — Austin Cindric is not worried about his future with Team Penske after his father Tim Cindric was fired by team owner Roger Penske as the team’s IndyCar president earlier this week following a cheating scandal at the Indianapolis 500.

Cindric drives the No. 2 Ford Mustang for Penske in the NASCAR Cup Series, and is currently 12th in the points standings with three top-10 finishes in 12 races, including a win at Talladega. That victory was Team Penske’s first of the 2025 NASCAR season.

Still, given the family ties with Team Penske it raised some speculation about how his father’s departure might impact the younger Cindric.

Penske met with all of his NASCAR drivers in person in Charlotte following the moves, including Austin Cindric.

When asked if he was given any assurances from Penske that it will not impact his future with Penske’s NASCAR team, Cindric shook his head and said “I don’t think it was even in question.”

“Their support has always been very strong and also very transparent,” Cindric said following qualifying Saturday for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “When I have not performed to my best we have had those conversations. But past that it’s business as usual for me.”

Tim Cindric was one of three executives fired by Penske after two Penske cars were found to be illegal following qualifying runs at the Indianapolis 500. Along with Cindric, IndyCar managing director Ron Ruzewski and IndyCar general manager Kyle Moyer were also terminated.

“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams,” Penske said in a statement. “We have had organizational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes. I apologize to our fans, our partners and our organization for letting them down.”

Penske owns three IndyCars, IndyCar, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500. He has won the Indy 500 a record 20 times.

Cindric called this the best start to his career and believes his team has plenty of momentum following the win at Talladega.

Cindric said his father’s firing won’t impact how he approaches the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday.

“Professionally, I’m in no different of a place than I was a week ago,” Cindric said. “I feel like we have a lot of momentum on our team right now in the No. 2 car. I’ve never felt better and had a better start to the season. So for me I’m just focused on execution. I feel like we have had some really fast cars.