Brady Tkachuk completed another three-goal night in Sunrise, burying the overtime winner after scoring with 13 seconds left in regulation to lift the Florida Panthers past the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday.
Key takeaways
- Tkachuk recorded his second consecutive hat trick and has posted six goals and seven points across his last two games.
- Florida erased a two-goal third-period deficit, with Tkachuk scoring both regulation goals before ending it 2:23 into overtime.
- Seth Jones assisted on the Panthers’ final two goals, while Akira Schmid stopped 15 shots for his second straight victory.
- Vancouver received goals from Liam Ohgren and defenseman Elias Pettersson, but its skid reached six games at 0-5-1.
- Leevi Merilainen turned aside 36 shots for the Canucks, who had kept Florida off the board through two periods.
Tkachuk takes over late for Florida
The Panthers spent most of the night chasing the game and did not break through until their 32nd shot. Tkachuk finally cut Vancouver’s lead to 2-1 at 11:11 of the third period, taking Aaron Ekblad’s pass and snapping a shot from above the right circle past Merilainen.
Florida went to the extra attacker in the closing minute, and Tkachuk delivered again. Carter Verhaeghe found him in the right circle, where Tkachuk hammered a one-timer off the far post at 19:47 to force overtime.
His third goal came at 2:23 of the extra session. Jones helped set up the play, and Tkachuk fired a wrist shot from the left hash marks to finish the comeback.
The hat trick followed a four-point performance in Florida’s 7-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday. The Panthers improved to 4-2-2, with Schmid handling 15 saves behind a club that controlled much of the shot volume.
Canucks build an early edge, then watch it disappear
Vancouver struck on its first shot at 7:23 of the opening period. Florida could not get the puck out of its own zone, allowing Linus Karlsson to collect it near the blue line and thread a pass through traffic to Ohgren near the right face-off circle. Ohgren’s bouncing shot found its way through Schmid’s legs for a 1-0 lead.
The Canucks doubled that margin during 4-on-4 action at 17:06 of the first. Filip Chytil, playing his first game of the season after a preseason shoulder injury, moved the puck from below the goal line to Pettersson in the slot. The defenseman drove a one-timer past Schmid.
That was all Vancouver could get despite Merilainen’s 36-save effort. The Canucks fell to 2-6-1 and remain without a win during their six-game slide.
