COLUMBUS, Ohio - Brady Tkachuk scored three straight goals in 8:03 and Matthew Tkachuk added four assists Tuesday as the Florida Panthers erupted for a four-goal second period and rolled past the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-3 at Nationwide Arena, improving to 3-2-2 on the young season.
The Panthers trailed 1-0 after the first period before the Tkachuk brothers took over. Brady tied the game at 2:27 of the second on a cross-ice feed from Matthew, then added power-play goals at 6:00 and 10:30 to complete a natural hat trick - the eighth in Panthers franchise history. Carter Verhaeghe added a goal at 17:50 of the second, also assisted by Matthew, as Florida took a 4-1 lead into the third.
Brady’s three goals in 8:03 were the third-fastest three-goal stretch by a Panthers player, behind Noel Acciari’s 3:59 and Steve Reinprecht’s 5:11, according to Florida Hockey Now. Florida went 3-for-5 on the power play in the second period alone, one day after scoring two power-play goals in Buffalo.
Akira Schmid, making his first start with the Panthers, earned the win with 22 saves. Cooper Black was called up from Charlotte to back him up with Jacob Markstrom listed as day-to-day. Radko Gudas also sat out.
Sam Reinhart scored twice, including an empty-netter at 17:43 of the third, and set a franchise record by recording a point in his 12th straight game against Columbus dating to 2022, surpassing Sasha Barkov’s 11-game point streak against Washington from 2018-23. Matthew Tkachuk, meanwhile, recorded a point against Columbus for the 15th consecutive game - matching his father Keith for the second-longest such streak against the Blue Jackets in NHL history. Only Jake Guentzel, at 17 games, has a longer run.
Verhaeghe finished with two goals, adding a second at 3:25 of the third from roughly 40 feet out through traffic. Columbus got third-period goals from Denton Mateychuk and Cole Sillinger, who scored his third of the season, to make it 6-3 before Reinhart’s empty-netter closed it out.
The Panthers host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise at 7 p.m., with the next meeting in Vancouver scheduled for Jan. 9. Florida holds an all-time regular-season series deficit against Vancouver of 22-14-4. The Panthers then host the Seattle Kraken on Saturday at 6 p.m.