SUNRISE — Brady Tkachuk scored a hat trick for the second consecutive game, netting three straight goals including the overtime winner to pull the Florida Panthers back from a 2-0 deficit and beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday.
Tkachuk is only the third player in Panthers history to produce back-to-back hat tricks, joining Noel Acciari, who accomplished the feat Dec. 16-20, 2019, and Pavel Bure, who did it Feb. 10-14, 2001. He is also the first NHL player with consecutive hat tricks since Auston Matthews in 2024, and only the third player in NHL history to score a natural hat trick in consecutive games.
“It says a lot about just the guys in this room, just the culture that these guys have created over the last couple of years,” Tkachuk said of his first comeback experience as a Panther. “You’re truly never out of it. For me to be able just to learn off that, I’m truly blessed and lucky.”
The Canucks broke the ice at 7:23 of the first period on a Liam Ohgren goal, then doubled the lead to 2-0 when Elias Pettersson beat goaltender Akira Schmid at 17:06. Despite trailing, Florida led 15-6 in scoring chances in the opening frame. “We got great puck possession,” head coach Paul Maurice said of the Panthers’ start. Schmid stopped all 10 shots he faced after the first period, and the Panthers led 9-4 in shots on goal during a scoreless second.
Tkachuk cut the deficit to 2-1 at 11:11 of the third period, taking a pass from defenseman Aaron Ekblad — who has dished six assists over his last two games — and sniping from beyond the left circle. Matthew Tkachuk, whose point streak extended to seven games, assisted on the play. With the net empty and only 11.8 seconds remaining in regulation, Brady Tkachuk teed up a Carter Verhaeghe pass and beat Vancouver goaltender Leevi Merilainen with a one-timer from the right circle to force overtime. Merilainen finished with 36 saves.
“Credit to Levy,” Tkachuk said of Merilainen, his former teammate with the Ottawa Senators. “He’s a tremendous goalie who’s got a bright future ahead of him. I played with him back in Ottawa. He made huge saves and was keeping that team alive.”
At 2:23 of overtime, Tkachuk took a feed from Seth Jones and scored from the left circle to seal the win. Jones, who finished with two assists on the night, credited the team’s composure. “It felt like we were getting shot after shot after shot and nothing was going for us,” Jones said. “But at the end of the day, we were a veteran team in here and we stuck together. We didn’t turn on each other. That’s the most important thing.”
The Panthers played without captain Aleksander Barkov and briefly lost Eetu Lusotarinen to an injury after the Finnish winger crashed hard into the boards in the third period, though Lusotarinen returned later in the period. Florida led 53-26 in shot attempts at 5-on-5. “There’s not a lot of guys that can beat a goalie from that distance, put it exactly where he wants it,” Maurice said of Tkachuk. “He picks his shots. He was the defining player for us tonight, for sure.”
“It was pretty special,” Tkachuk said of the crowd’s reaction to his overtime goal. “It’s just such an amazing fan base. Such amazing people here. I feel the support and it’s meant a lot to me.”
With the win, the Panthers move to 4-2-2. “Every point matters every single night,” Tkachuk said. Florida closes its two-game homestand Saturday against the Seattle Kraken at Amerant Bank Arena, with puck drop set for 6 p.m. ET.