Brady Tkachuk scored three straight goals, including the overtime winner, to lift the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Story
The Florida Panthers turned an early two-goal deficit into a 3-2 overtime win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday at Amerant Bank Arena, powered by Brady Tkachuk’s second straight hat trick.
Vancouver struck first in the opening period when Liam Ohgren scored at 7:23 to make it 1-0, before Elias Pettersson doubled the lead at 17:06. Despite being outscored early, Florida carried much of the play, leading 15-6 in scoring chances in the first period.
During a scoreless second period, the Panthers outshot the Canucks 9-4 on goal, but Leevi Merilainen finished with 36 saves for Vancouver.
Florida got back to work in the third period after pulling Schmid for the extra attacker late in regulation. Tkachuk opened the comeback by scoring at 11:11 to make it 2-1, then tied the game at 2-2 with only 11.8 seconds left, beating Merilainen on a one-timer from the right circle.
In overtime, Tkachuk put the game away at 2:23 of the extra frame, scoring from the left circle after taking a pass from Seth Jones to give the Panthers the 3-2 final and secure two points.
The win moved Florida to a 4-2-2 record. Earlier in the game, the Panthers were already missing several key players, including captain Aleksander Barkov, and Eetu Lusotarinen left the ice in the third period after crashing into the boards before returning later in the period.
Tkachuk’s hat trick made him only the third player in Panthers history to record back-to-back hat tricks, joining Noel Acciari (Dec. 16-20, 2019) and Pavel Bure (Feb. 10-14, 2001).
In addition to the milestone, the recap notes that the Panthers held a 53-26 edge in 5-on-5 shot attempts, and that Akira Schmid stopped all 10 shots he faced after the first period.
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