From Leafs castoff to playoff cheat code

When Panthers need a goal, Verhaeghe has delivered

- KEVIN MCGRAN

The Florida Panthers have won precisely two games in three visits to the Stanley Cup final.

Carter Verhaeghe scored the winner in both.

He did it in overtime last year in Game 3 against the Vegas Golden Knights. And he scored Florida’s first goal Saturday night in a 3-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers in the opener of their best-of-seven series. Game 2 goes Monday night.

“He is an unusual performer, that man,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said of Verhaeghe. “He is so good in the most intense and almost chaotic play. He can raise to that level. I don’t know that I fully understand it.

“That guy’s a gamer.” It’s a final filled with links to the Maple Leafs: Zach Hyman, Connor Brown, Cody Ceci, Sam Carrick and now third-string goalie Jack Campbell on the Oilers side; Verhaeghe, Maurice and Evan Rodrigues on the Panthers. Verhaeghe is the only one of the bunch with a Stanley Cup ring, winning a couple of years back with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“I’ve been to a lot of different places,” said the 28-year-old Verhaeghe. “And everywhere I went, I tried to learn and try to get better. I always had the drive to try to get better.

“I knew I had the talent. It took a little longer for me.”

The Leafs drafted Verhaeghe in the third round in 2013, on the strength of a 44-point season as a playmaking centre with the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs. A fan of Leafs great Mats Sundin, Verhaeghe was born in Toronto and raised in Waterdown, about 60 kilometres west of the city.

His weaknesses were skating and commitment. In other words, he was a long-shot project for thenLeafs skating coach Barb Underhill.