NHL
Florida’s seven-goal surge runs through the Tkachuk brothers
Brady Tkachuk’s natural hat trick, Matthew’s five assists and four power-play goals turn a 1–0 deficit into a 7–3 win in Columbus.
Brady Tkachuk scored a natural hat trick and Matthew Tkachuk supplied five assists as the Florida Panthers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 7–3 on Tuesday, October 13. Florida’s seven-goal surge at Nationwide Arena turned a first-period deficit into a five-goal lead, with four power-play goals helping the Panthers take control.
The brothers’ totals explained the stretch that decided the game. Brady scored Florida’s first three goals, all in an 8:03 span of the second period. Matthew assisted on each one, then helped set up Carter Verhaeghe before the intermission. Both brothers had four points in a period Florida won 4-0.
Florida’s leading performers
| Player | Goals | Assists | Points | Shots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew Tkachuk | 0 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Brady Tkachuk | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Seth Jones | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Sam Reinhart | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| Carter Verhaeghe | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Brady turns the deficit into a lead
Brady’s first goal tied the game at 2:27. His second, on the power play at 6:00, put Florida ahead, and another power-play goal at 10:30 completed the hat trick. He needed four shots on goal to score three times and finished with 16:19 of ice time. After supplying all three goals that erased Columbus’ lead, he assisted on Verhaeghe’s power-play goal at 17:50.
Matthew supplies the first five
Matthew’s contribution continued into the third period. His fifth assist came on Sam Reinhart’s power-play goal at 1:20, which made it 5-1. By that point, he had assisted on every Florida goal. He finished with only one shot on net, but his five assists included all four of the Panthers’ power-play goals.
Seth Jones provided another route through the offense. The defenseman assisted on Brady’s go-ahead goal, Reinhart’s early third-period goal, Verhaeghe’s second goal and Reinhart’s late empty-netter. His four-assist game covered both power-play and even-strength scoring, and he logged 23:14. Every Panthers goal had either Matthew or Jones credited with an assist.
Four power-play goals, three finishers
The scoring was concentrated among three finishers. Brady’s hat trick, Reinhart’s two goals and Verhaeghe’s two accounted for all seven Florida goals. Reinhart also assisted on Brady’s third goal and led the Panthers with seven shots on net. Verhaeghe scored twice on three shots, first extending the second-period lead and then making it 6-1 at 3:28 of the third.
Special teams helped turn that production into separation. Florida converted four of six power-play opportunities and kept Columbus scoreless on two. Verhaeghe’s first goal came during Mathieu Olivier’s five-minute slashing major in the second period. Reinhart scored on a separate advantage early in the third, after a late second-period high-sticking penalty to Carson Soucy.
The final shot count was much closer than the score, with Florida ahead 28-27. The Panthers created their largest advantage in the second period, scoring four times on nine shots while holding Columbus to five shots and no goals. Four of Florida’s six unanswered goals came with the man advantage.
Akira Schmid finished with 24 saves. Columbus had opened the scoring through Kent Johnson at 14:11 of the first and later received third-period goals from Denton Mateychuk and Cole Sillinger, 22 seconds apart. Reinhart’s empty-net goal at 17:43 completed a night in which Florida’s leading scorers shared the finishing and setup work across every goal.
