SUNRISE, Fla. – Brady Tkachuk can’t be stopped.
Netting a hat trick for the second straight game, Brady scored three straight goals – including the game-winner in overtime – to help the Florida Panthers claw back from an early multi-goal deficit and secure a massive 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday.
"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,” Brady said of his first ‘Comeback Cats’ experience. “You're truly never out of it. For me to be able just to learn off that, I'm truly blessed and lucky."
A rare feat, Tkachuk is only the third player in Panthers history to produce back-to-back hat tricks, joining Noel Acciari (Dec. 16-20, 2019) and Pavel Bure (Feb. 10-14, 2001).
“Incredible,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “Happy to be a part of it tonight.”
Even with the Panthers applying much of the pressure early on, the Canucks broke the ice in the first period on a goal from Liam Ohgren that made it 1-0 at 7:23.
With play at 4-on-4 later in the period, the Canucks doubled their lead to 2-0 when Elias Pettersson found some real estate in the slot and beat Akira Schmid at 17:06.
Playing better than the score, Florida led 15-6 in scoring chances in the first period.
“We got great puck possession,” head coach Paul Maurice said of Florida’s start.
During a scoreless second period, the Panthers led 9-4 in shots on goal.
Standing on his head, Leevi Merilainen finished the game with 36 saves for Vancouver.
“Credit to Levy,” Brady 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.”
Already missing several key players – including captain Aleksander Barkov – the Panthers briefly lost another important player to an injury in the third period when Eetu Lusotarinen went crashing hard into the boards and had to be helped off the ice by two of his teammates.
Thankfully, the Finnish winger returned to action later in the period.
Fresh off scoring a hat trick against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, Brady stayed red-hot and cut into the deficit for the Panthers when he took a pass from Aaron Ekblad in transition and quickly sniped a shot from beyond the left circle to make it 2-1 at 11:11.
Extending his point streak to seven games, Matthew Tkachuk assisted on the goal.
“It felt like we were getting shot after shot after shot and nothing was going for us,” defenseman Seth 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”
Sticking together and finally drawing blood, the hunt was now officially on.
After pulling Schmid for the extra attacker late in regulation, Brady brought the Panthers all the way back to even when he teed up a pass from Carter Verhaeghe and beat Merilainen with a blistering one-timer from the right circle to make it 2-2 with only 11.8 seconds left.
At 2:23 of the extra frame, Tkachuk, who showed no signs of slowing down at the end of a 40-second shift, found the strength to send the Canucks packing when he took a dish from Jones and scored from the left circle to lock in the 3-2 win and secure two big points for the Panthers.
For the newest Cat, it was the first of many big moments to come in Sunrise.
"It was pretty special,” Brady said of the crowd’s celebration after his 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 now sit at 4-2-2.
“Every point matters every single night,” Brady said.
THEY SAID IT
“Yeah, we've always had that resilience in us and that's the culture we built here. I feel very confident that we were going to come back in that game. We obviously controlled a lot of the play. Once we got pucks through and got to him, we found a way to get it done.” – Aaron Ekblad on the Panthers erasing a 2-0 deficit
“There's not a lot of guys that can beat a goalie from that distance, put it exactly where he wants it. Then you see kind of two more almost identical [goals]. He picks his shots. He was the defining player for us tonight, for sure.” – Paul Maurice on Brady Tkachuk’s performance
“He's a true gamer. I think he impacts [a lot]. He’s obviously scoring right now, but he impacts the game in so many ways with his physicality and his tenacity around the net.” – Seth Jones on Brady Tkachuk’s impact on the Panthers
CATS STATS
- Brady Tkachuk is the first NHL player with consecutive hat tricks since Auston Matthews in 2024.
- Brady Tkachuk is only the third player in NHL history to score a natural hat trick in consecutive games.
- Seth Jones has dished out six assists over his last two games.
- Akira Schmid stopped all 10 shots he faced after the first period.
- Sandis Vilmanis notched a team-high four hits.
- The Panthers led 53-26 in shot attempts at 5-on-5.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Panthers will close out their two-game homestand with a showdown against the Seattle Kraken at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.
For tickets, click HERE.
