Brady Tkachuk's second straight natural hat trick lifts Panthers over Canucks
The Florida forward scored three consecutive goals for the second game in a row, including the overtime winner.
Brady Tkachuk scored three consecutive goals, including the overtime winner, to give the Florida Panthers a 3-2 comeback victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
It was his second straight natural hat trick, making him the third player in NHL history to accomplish the feat and the first since Petri Skriko did so with Vancouver in 1986.
"Today was pretty special," Tkachuk said. "To do it in front of this crowd, but of course, it's not just one guy out there. It took a group effort."
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He started the run with 8:49 left in regulation, firing a shot from the top of the right circle past goalie Leevi Merilainen. With goalie Akira Schmid pulled for an extra attacker, Tkachuk tied it with 13 seconds left with a one-timer from the right faceoff circle.
He completed the comeback at 2:23 of overtime with a wrist shot from the left hash marks.
"Awesome. Awesome. He's a true gamer," said Panthers defenceman Seth Jones, who assisted on two of the goals. "He's obviously scoring right now, but he impacts the game in so many ways, his physicality and his tenacity."
Tkachuk also had a natural hat trick in Florida's 7-3 win at Columbus on Tuesday, with all three goals coming in the second period. He is now the third player in Panthers history to record hat tricks in consecutive games, joining Pavel Bure and Noel Acciari.
He is also the 65th player in NHL history to score three or more goals in consecutive games and can make league history with a third straight hat trick when Florida hosts the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
"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."
The performance marked a dramatic reversal for Tkachuk, who had no goals and just one point in his first six games with the Panthers after being traded from Ottawa this off-season.
"I don't think anybody puts more pressure on myself than me," he 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."
Liam Ohgren opened the scoring for Vancouver at 7:23 of the first period. Defenceman Elias Pettersson made it 2-0 with 2:54 left in the first, with Filip Chytil assisting in his season debut after returning from a preseason shoulder injury.
Merilainen made 36 saves for the Canucks, who have lost six straight games. Schmid stopped 15 shots for Florida, which improved to 4-2-2.
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.
With files from CBC News, The Globe and Mail and Yahoo Sports