SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — With one swipe of his stick in overtime, Brady Tkachuk gave Florida a victory, joined a very small group of Panthers and claimed family bragging rights.
Welcome to Florida, Brady.
He had his second consecutive hat trick, joining only Pavel Bure and Noel Acciari on the list of Panthers players with three goals in back-to-back games, to carry Florida to a come-from-behind, 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
“It's pretty cool, but I know what my goal is being here and that's to be part of something special,” Tkachuk said. “It's not about the individual stuff. Yeah, it's great, but there are bigger goals out there.”
He's the first member of his star-studded family to have six goals in a two-game span. His father, Hall of Famer Keith Tkachuk, had five goals in a two-game stretch on three occasions. And his brother, fellow Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk, has never had more than four goals in such a timespan.
Brady Tkachuk also became the second player in almost 40 years and the third player in NHL history to score natural hat tricks — three consecutive goals without another player from either team scoring in that span — in back-to-back games. Petri Skriko did it for Vancouver in 1986, and Cy Denneny did it in 1923 with the original Ottawa Senators.
“Today was pretty special,” Brady Tkachuk said.
The last NHL player with back-to-back hat tricks in regular-season play was Toronto's Auston Matthews in February 2024. Dallas' Mikko Rantanen pulled it off during the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Brady Tkachuk not only did it — but he did it in a matter of minutes.
“Those guys who have had great success in their career in big moments, they can feel it," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “They want it.”
Brady Tkachuk's first three-goal game of the season was Tuesday in Florida's 7-3 win at Columbus, when he netted them all in a span of 8:03 of the second period. On Thursday, it was another quick blitz that got it done.
His goal with 8:49 left in regulation got Florida to 2-1. He tied it with 12.8 seconds left in regulation, almost won it with a drive five seconds into overtime, then got the winner 2:23 into the extra session. Add it up, and the hat trick Thursday came in a span of 11:12.
“Awesome. Awesome. He's a true gamer," said Panthers defenseman Seth Jones, who assisted two of Brady Tkachuk's goals on Thursday and one of his scores Tuesday. “He's obviously scoring right now, but he impacts the game in so many ways — his physicality and his tenacity.”
Brady Tkachuk came to Florida this offseason in a trade from Ottawa. He spent eight years with the Senators, who ended up sending him to the Panthers for four draft picks. Social media was ablaze with criticism after the first six games of Florida's season, with Brady Tkachuk managing only one point and no goals in that span.
A couple of hat tricks have made his numbers look a whole lot better.
“I don't think anybody puts more pressure on myself than me,” Brady Tkachuk said. “It wasn't the start that I wanted or envisioned, but with this group, everybody's there for one another. Just had to stick with it and knew it was eventually going to come. Didn't expect what followed, but every day has just been a blast being here, being with this group. It's truly a special group.”
___
See AP’s full NHL coverage here
