SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brady Tkachuk completed his second straight natural hat trick with a nifty move up the middle in overtime to give the Florida Panthers a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
Tkachuk also scored three straight goals Tuesday night in Columbus in the second period of a 7-3 victory over the Blue Jackets.
With goalie Akira Schmid off for an extra attacker, Tkachuk tied it with 13 seconds left in regulation with a one-timer
from the right faceoff circle. He started the run with 8:49 to go, firing a shot from the top of the right circle past goalie Leevi Merilainen.
Merilainen made 36 saves, and Liam Ohgren and defenseman Elias Pettersson scored first-period goals for Vancouver. The Canucks have lost six straight, the last five to start a six-game trip.
Schmid stopped 15 shots.
Ohgren opened the scoring at 7:23. After a Florida turnover, he took a pass from Linus Karlsson and snapped in a shot from the high slot.
Pettersson struck with 2:54 left in the first with his third goal of the season. Filip Chytil — making his season debut after returning from preseason shoulder injury — set up the defender for a shot from the slot.
The Panthers lost forward Eetu Luostarinen midway through the third period when he crashed into the back boards off a clean hit from Pettersson.
Before the game, the Canucks traded Aatu Raty to Toronto for fellow forwards Jacob Quillan and Brandon Buhr.
Canucks: At Tampa Bay on Saturday.
Panthers: Host Seattle on Saturday night.
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