Panthers vs. Blue Jackets: Brady Tkachuk's Natural Hat Trick and Matthew's Five Assists Fuel 7-3 Rout

For one period on Tuesday night in Columbus, the Florida Panthers turned into a Tkachuk family group chat. Brady shot, Matthew passed, and the Blue Jackets got left on read.

Brady Tkachuk scored three straight goals in the second period for a natural hat trick, Matthew Tkachuk set up every one of them on his way to five assists, and the Panthers erased an early deficit to flatten the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-3 at Nationwide Arena. Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart scored twice apiece, Seth Jones piled up four assists, and Florida snapped a two-game losing streak.

A Quiet First, Then a Family Takeover

Columbus actually won the opening act. Kent Johnson scored unassisted at 14:11 of the first period, his third goal of the season, and the Blue Jackets carried a 1-0 lead into the intermission against a Florida team playing its second game in two days.

Then the brothers took the wheel. At 2:27 of the second, Brady jumped on a Carson Soucy turnover and finished with a wrist shot from the high slot, with Matthew picking up the only assist. It was his first goal as a Panther.

At 6:00, with Damon Severson in the box for interference, Brady tipped in a power-play goal off a sequence started by Matthew and Jones. At 10:30, with Sean Monahan serving a hooking minor, he ripped another wrister on the man advantage, Reinhart and Matthew on the helpers. Three goals in 8:03.

Then Columbus handed over the keys. At 13:44, Mathieu Olivier was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for slashing Uvis Balinskis, and the Panthers spent the next stretch treating the Columbus penalty kill like a piñata. Verhaeghe cashed in at 17:50 with both Tkachuks assisting, and it was 4-1 after 40 minutes.

The third period was mostly paperwork. Reinhart redirected a Matthew Tkachuk shot on the power play at 1:20 for 5-1, and Verhaeghe made it 6-1 at 3:28, which ended Cam Talbot's night after 17 saves on 23 shots. Jet Greaves stopped all four shots he saw in relief. Denton Mateychuk, with his first of the season, and Cole Sillinger scored 22 seconds apart at 13:47 and 14:09, and Reinhart rolled one into an empty net at 17:43.

The Brothers Who Broke the Record Book

Start with Brady: three goals, an assist and four points in the second period alone. The AP noted he became the ninth player in Panthers history to score three times in one period, and it was the fourth hat trick of his career and his second against Columbus. NHL.com clocked it as the third-fastest hat trick in franchise history, trailing only Noel Acciari and Steve Reinprecht, both of whom did it against Dallas.

Through six games in a Florida sweater, the former Ottawa captain had exactly one point, an assist in Monday's loss at Buffalo.

"It's something that, of course, you kind of always dream of happening, and it kind of happened in all the events that we've played together," Brady said. "So, for it to happen here, it probably took a little longer than expected, but it's a great feeling."

Then there's Matthew. Five assists, four of them in the second period, which the AP said made him the first player in Panthers history with a four-assist period. His five helpers matched the club record, per the AP, and tied his career highs for assists and points in a game, per NHL.com. He has 10 points during a six-game point streak.

The two became the third and fourth Florida players with a four-point period, according to the AP, and NHL.com noted they are only the third set of brothers in the past 40 years with four or more points in the same game. The other two pairs are Daniel and Henrik Sedin and Peter and Anton Stastny.

"There's some chemistry there, you know," coach Paul Maurice said.

The supporting cast ate too. Reinhart had two goals and an assist, and his power-play goal was the 86th of his career, a Panthers record, per the AP. He also stretched his point streak against Columbus to a franchise-record 12 games. Jones had four assists in 23:14, and Akira Schmid made 24 saves on 27 shots, one night after relieving Jacob Markstrom in Buffalo.

Turning Point: Five Minutes Nobody in Columbus Will Forget

Brady's first goal flipped the momentum, but the Olivier major is where the game died. Florida was already up 3-1, and five minutes of power play against a reeling team is the hockey equivalent of handing over your Netflix password.

Olivier did not dodge it afterward. "I can sit here and try to rationalize (the penalty) all I want with you. I don't even have an explanation for it. It looked bad. It was bad, and that's on me," he said.

Columbus took seven penalties to Florida's three, in a game where the shot count was basically even.

Stats That Matter

• 4-for-6: Florida's power play. The Panthers scored four man-advantage goals between 6:00 of the second and 1:20 of the third.
• 5: Matthew Tkachuk assists, four of them in a single period, a Panthers first per the AP.
• 8:03: The span it took Brady to complete the natural hat trick.
• 25-6: Penalty minutes, Columbus vs. Florida.
• 28-27: Shots on goal, Florida vs. Columbus. Same volume, wildly different finish.

What It Means

Florida climbs to 3-2-2 with eight points and is now 3-1-2 on the road. The Panthers had dropped four of five (1-2-2) entering the night. The AP noted Florida is now 11-2-0 against Columbus since the start of the 2022-23 season. Vancouver visits on Thursday.

Columbus falls to 2-3-0 and has lost three of four, including Saturday's 5-3 loss at St. Louis. Per the AP, the Blue Jackets have allowed seven power-play goals in 18 opportunities, and coach Rick Bowness sounded like a man running out of patience.

"So, you have to hope, you've got to believe, that that performance tonight will embarrass them enough to stop this, right? Because if they're not embarrassed by that, we don't want them on the team. It's as simple as that," Bowness said. The Rangers come to town Saturday.

Sibling Rivalry, Pointed Somewhere Else

Maurice pointed out that the brothers grew up playing together. It took seven games for that to show up on an NHL scoresheet, and when it did, it looked less like a breakthrough and more like a reunion tour where the band plays every hit back to back.

"I'm just more happy with the two points for the team," Brady said. Sure. Columbus will be seeing the highlights for a while.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press and NHL.com; postgame quotes as reported by NHL.com.