The Latest Breaking News from Aleksander Barkov

TAMPA, Fla. — The Battle of Florida is on for Round Two of the playoffs.

Twenty-six years. Sixteen coaches. Ten general managers, including Dale Tallon twice and one set of brothers, Bryan and Terry Murray.

WASHINGTON — Carter Verhaeghe wheeled his arm into a fist pump and, suddenly, two and a half decades of frustration for the Florida Panthers were over.

SUNRISE, Fla. — Carter Verhaeghe is the same 26 years old as Aleksander Barkov, but made his minor-league debut seven years ago when Barkov was on his third stellar season with the Florida Panthers.

SUNRISE, Fla. — For the second time in three days, the Florida Panthers were all but dead, stuck in a precarious hole and in need of a thrilling comeback to avoid falling to the brink of first-round elimination.

SUNRISE, Fla. — If the Florida Panthers couldn’t see an awful end approaching, the desperate fans packed inside FLA Live Arena on Thursday certainly could, groaning at every misplayed puck and blown power-play chance for more than 15 minutes in the first period until, finally, there was relief. Later, there…

After clinching the Presidents’ Trophy, the Florida Panthers have already guaranteed they’ll finish the year with one of the NHL’s marquee pieces of hardware.

Tuesday turned out to be a great day for the Florida Panthers.

With only two weeks left until the start of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Florida Panthers are playing as well as they have at any point this season — and nearly as well as they ever have in their history.

SUNRISE, Fla. — In every one of their four games in the last week, the Florida Panthers have fallen behind.

SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers trailed the Toronto Maple Leafs by four goals in the second period and the jokes wrote themselves: They had the Maple Leafs right where they wanted them.