Recap
Brady Tkachuk hat trick powers Panthers past Blue Jackets 7-3
The Florida Panthers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-3 on Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena. Kent Johnson opened the scoring with an unassisted goal midway through the first period, his 3rd of the season, to put Columbus up 1-0. The Panthers then scored 6 goals in a row. Brady Tkachuk tied it early in the second and added two more in the period to complete a hat trick, making it 3-1. Carter Verhaeghe scored late in the second on the power play, the game-winner, for a 4-1 lead after two periods.
Sam Reinhart and Verhaeghe scored early in the third to stretch the lead to 6-1 before Denton Mateychuk and Cole Sillinger answered for Columbus, Sillinger's goal coming 22 seconds after the previous goal. Reinhart sealed it with an empty-net goal late in the third. The Panthers went 4 for 6 on the power play.
Matthew Tkachuk set up 5 goals for a 5-point night, while Seth Jones had 4 assists. Reinhart finished with 2 goals and an assist. Akira Schmid made 24 saves for the win; Cam Talbot took the loss with 17 saves before Jet Greaves came on in relief and stopped all 4 shots he faced.
Written with AI from official NHL data and checked against it. The box score and play-by-play are the official record. How we write these
