Brady Tkachuk has natural hat trick, brother Matthew has 5 assists as Panthers roll Blue Jackets 7-3

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Brady Tkachuk had a natural hat trick in the second period, his brother Matthew Tkachuk matched a club record with five assists and the Florida Panthers rolled past the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-3 on Tuesday night to snap a two-game skid.

Carter Verhaeghe scored twice and Sam Reinhart added two goals and an assist, extending his point streak against Columbus to a franchise-record 12 games.

Matthew Tkachuk assisted on all three of his brother’s goals and had an assist on Verhaeghe’s goal in the second for the first four-assist period in Panthers history. He extended his points streak to six games.

Brady Tkachuk became the ninth Panthers player with three goals in a period. He also had four points in the second as the brothers became the third and fourth Florida players with a four-point period.

Seth Jones contributed four assists, and Akira Schmid stopped 24 shots a night after replacing Jacob Markstrom following the first period of the Panthers’ loss at Buffalo.

Kent Johnson, Denton Mateychuk and Cole Sillinger scored for Columbus, and Damon Severson had two assists. The Blue Jackets lost for the third time in four games and have allowed seven power-play goals in 18 opportunities.

Cam Talbot stopped 17 shots before being replaced after allowing his sixth goal at 3:28 of the third period. Jet Greaves made four saves in relief.

Columbus took a 1-0 lead on Johnson’s unassisted goal at 14:11 of the first period, but Florida took control from there.

Brady Tkachuk took advantage of a turnover by Carson Soucy in the Florida zone and pulled the Panthers even at 2:27 of the second with his first goal of the season. He added a power-play goal 3 1/2 minutes later and completed his fourth career hat trick, and second against Columbus, with another power-play goal at 10:30.

Mathieu Olivier was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for slashing Uvis Balinskis at 13:44 of the second, leaving Columbus short-handed for five minutes. Verhaeghe scored on the ensuing power play.

Reinhart’s power-play goal 1:20 into the third gave him a Panthers-record 86 career power-play goals.

Columbus made it 6-3 with third-period goals from Mateychuk and Sillinger 22 seconds apart. Reinhart had an empty-netter.

Florida improved to 11-2-0 against Columbus since the start of the 2022-23 season.

Up next

Panthers: Host Vancouver on Thursday.

Blue Jackets: Host the New York Rangers on Saturday.

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