SUNRISE —Brady Tkachuk did not exactly hit the ground running by any means in his first handful of games with the Florida Panthers.
The younger Tkachuk brother was held pointless in the first five games with his new team.
Then, in his seventh game on Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets he finally scored a goal.
Then he scored another goal.
And then one more.
After picking up just one assist in the first six games of the season, Tkachuk flipped a switch, scoring a natural hat trick against the Blue Jackets for his first three goals as a Panther.
His three-goal, four-point effort in Columbus is one that should have been hard to repeat, much less one-up.
But in front of the home crowd on Thursday night, Brady stole the show once again.
With the Panthers trailing 2-0 with 8:49 to play in regulation against the Vancouver Canucks, Tkachuk finally got a puck past goaltender Levi Merilainen on Florida’s 32nd shot of the night.
Then with 12.8 seconds left in the third, Tkachuk tied the game at 2-2 with his second of the night.
In overtime, Tkachuk toe-dragged a Canucks defenseman before firing home his third goal of the evening to complete his second hat trick in as many games and lead the Panthers to their fourth win of the season.
“Today was pretty special,” Tkachuk said postgame. “Just to do it in front of this crowd, this amazing fan base.
”Of course it’s not just one guy out there. It took a group effort.”
Said Seth Jones, who assisted on the last two: “He’s a true gamer. I think he impacts, you know, he’s obviously scoring right now, but he impacts the game in so many ways—with his physicality, his tenacity around the net. He played an unreal game tonight.”
Tkachuk joins Sasha Barkov as the only players in Panthers history to complete a hat trick in over time (Barkov did it twice).
He is also just the third Panthers player with a hat trick in consecutive games, joining Noel Acciari and Pavel Bure.
“I mean it’s pretty cool,” Tkachuk said when learning he was the third Panther with a hat trick in consecutive games.
“But I know what my goal is being here. And that’s being part of something special. It’s not about the individual stuff. Yeah, it’s great, but there’s bigger, bigger goals out there that not just myself have, but this group has as well.”
With the slow start behind him, Tkachuk now leads the Panthers goals with six in eight games.
And there wasn’t cause for concern from the Panthers on his early season numbers either.
“I was at zero concern of his production early in the year,” coach Paul Maurice said of Tkachuk. “Everything is brand new, and then he worked with [Barkov] for two and a half weeks and played four periods with him.”
“The centerman (Barkov) leaves, takes us a little while to adjust to that, and now he’s kind of figured Sam Bennett out and that’s a pretty darn good line.”
As for fueling another Panthers comeback?
“It says a lot about the guys in this room,” Tkachuk said, “just the culture that these guys have created over the last couple of years that you’re truly never out of it.
“For me to be able to just learn off that, I’m truly blessed and lucky.”
ON DECK: GAME No. 9
SEATTLE KRAKEN at FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Saturday, 6 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
- Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
- Radio: WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM. Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM, NHL App
- Season Series — At Seattle: Jan. 12. At Florida: Saturday
- Last Season: Tied 1-1
- All-Time Regular Season Series: Seattle leads 6-2-2
- Up Next for the Panthers: Wednesday at Ottawa Senators, 7:30 p.m.
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