Florida sets NHL mark with third straight game featuring a natural hat trick

Carter Verhaeghe scored a natural hat trick as Florida defeated the Seattle Kraken 8-3, establishing an NHL first for the Panthers. No team had previously produced a natural hat trick in three successive games.

Verhaeghe struck late in the first period before scoring twice more early in the second. His third goal sealed the milestone, extending a sequence that began with Brady Tkachuk's natural hat tricks in Florida's two preceding games. The distinction requires a player to score three goals in succession.

Sam Bennett also finished with a hat trick against Seattle, opening his scoring for the season with those three goals. Unlike Verhaeghe's effort, Bennett's goals did not constitute a natural hat trick.

Florida's eight-goal performance came with center Aleksander Barkov absent. A leg injury has sidelined him for several weeks, leaving the Panthers without him during their record-setting stretch.