Brady Tkachuk’s natural hat trick leads Panthers past Blue Jackets 7-3
Matthew Tkachuk assisted on all three of his brother’s goals and finished with five assists in Florida’s win.
Brady Tkachuk turned a one-goal Florida deficit into a two-goal lead with three consecutive goals in the second period Tuesday. The Panthers went on to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-3 at Nationwide Arena, with Tkachuk finishing with four points.
His first goals of the season arrived at 2:27, 6:00 and 10:30 of the second period, a span of 8:03. The last two came on the power play. Matthew Tkachuk assisted on each of his brother's goals and finished the night with five assists.
Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart supplied Florida's other four goals, scoring twice apiece. Verhaeghe struck at 17:50 of the second and 3:28 of the third; Reinhart scored at 1:20 of the third and added an empty-net goal at 17:43. Reinhart also had an assist, while Seth Jones collected four.
Kent Johnson's first-period goal had put Columbus ahead. Denton Mateychuk and Cole Sillinger scored 22 seconds apart late in the third, and Damon Severson had two assists for the Blue Jackets.
Akira Schmid stopped 24 of 27 shots for Florida. Cam Talbot allowed six goals on 23 shots for Columbus before Jet Greaves entered and saved all four shots he faced. The Panthers improved to 3-2-2, while the Blue Jackets fell to 2-3-0.
