The Panthers are heading to their third straight Stanley Cup Final after Carter Verhaeghe scored in the third to seal a 5-3 win over the Hurricanes.
Florida rallied from an 0-2 deficit in Game 5 and Verhaeghe scored his 12th career game-winning goal in the playoffs, twice as many as the next-closest Panther, and his third series-clinching goal.
It’s easy to root for Carter, who worked hard for years to become an NHL star.
The Ontario native played four seasons with Niagara IceDogs before being drafted by his childhood favorite team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, 82nd overall in 2013.
After a season with the Toronto Marlies, he was traded to the Islanders organization and played for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
Verhaeghe was then traded to the Lightning and played for their Syracuse Crunch team, where he lead the AHL in points in 2018-19.
Carter finally made an NHL roster in 2019, then won the Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2020 and left for the Panthers as a free agent the following season, winning his second title a season ago.
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