Brady Tkachuk hat trick, five Matthew Tkachuk assists lead Panthers over Blue Jackets

Florida Panthers admin October 14, 2026 0 Comments

Brady Tkachuk hat trick, five Matthew Tkachuk assists lead Panthers over Blue Jackets

It was only a matter of time before Brady Tkachuk got going.

And after not scoring through the first six games of his Florida Panthers tenure after being acquired in an offseason blockbuster trade with the Ottawa Senators, Tkachuk finally scored his first goal with his new team on Tuesday.

And then scored again. And again.

Tkachuk produced a natural hat trick in the second period of the Panthers’ eventual 7-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, potting three consecutive goals in a span of 8:03 in the middle frame at Nationwide Arena. The first goal was at even strength. The second and third came on the power play.

“Of course it wasn’t the start that I wanted personally,” Brady Tkachuk said postgame about his first six games, “but just got to stick with it. It was a great effort by the whole team tonight.”

And the kicker? Matthew Tkachuk assisted on all three of his brother’s goals, including getting the primary helper on the first two goals. Matthew Tkachuk overall had five assists, tying the franchise record for most helpers in a game originally set by Aleksander Barkov on March 8, 2019, and matched by Anton Lundell on Jan. 31, 2022.

Florida improves to 3-2-2. Columbus falls to 2-3-0.

According to NHL stats, Brady Tkachuk is the eighth player in Panthers history to score a natural hat trick and the third-fastest three goals by a Panthers skater. He’s also the ninth player in NHL history with a hat trick where his brother assisted on all three goals.

Entering Tuesday’s game, Brady Tkachuk was second on the Panthers with 20 scoring chances — tied for the second-most in the NHL among players without a goal.

“We knew a period or a game like this would come,” Matthew Tkachuk said during an intermission interview on Scripps Sports. “Brady honestly through the first seven games has had our best chances out of anybody on the team and they just weren’t going in, so it’s nice to see them go in for him.”

The duo then dished out assists on a Carter Verhaeghe power-play goal with 2:10 left in the frame to cap a four-goal period that turned a 1-0 Florida deficit into a 4-1 lead. Verhaeghe added a second goal and Sam Reinhart added a power-play goal of his own to push the Panthers’ lead to 6-1 before Columbus scored back-to-back goals in 22 seconds late in the third to get within 6-3. Reinhart then capped scoring with an empty-net goal.

Defenseman Seth Jones had four assists, tying the franchise record for assists by a defenseman originally set by Bryan McCabe on Oct. 10, 2016, and matched by Brian Campbell (Oct. 17, 2011) and Aaron Ekblad (March 10, 2022).

Brady Tkachuk’s hat trick is the Panthers’ first natural hat trick with all three goals coming in the same period since Matthew Tkachuk tallied three consecutive third-period goals against the St. Louis Blues on Jan. 9, 2024.

It’s the fourth hat trick of Brady Tkachuk’s career. The other three came on March 16, 2024; Feb. 13, 2024; and Dec. 11, 2021. The four points also tie a career high, which he also did three times while with Ottawa (April 7, 2026; Jan. 14, 2026; and Jan. 18, 2023).

The Panthers now return home for games against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (7 p.m., Scripps Sports) and Seattle Kraken on Saturday (6 p.m., Scripps Sports).

This story was originally published October 13, 2026 at 8:11 PM.