The Tkachuk hat trick chase that could rewrite NHL history

Brady Tkachuk has a chance to do something no NHL player has done. The Florida Panthers forward can record a Tkachuk hat trick for the third straight game when Florida hosts the Seattle Kraken at 6 p.m. ET at Amerant Bank Arena, which would make him the only player in league history to score a hat trick in three straight games, according to NHL.com. The 27-year-old winger would stand alone; the mark has never been reached in the league's century-plus history. Even matching the back-to-back feat put him in rare company.

The run began Tuesday in Columbus, where Tkachuk piled up four points, including a hat trick, in a 7-3 win over the Blue Jackets. They were his first goals in a Florida uniform, and he has needed no adjustment period in his new surroundings. Field Level Media reported.

An overtime finish in Sunrise

On Thursday night, he scored every Florida goal in a 3-2 overtime win over the Vancouver Canucks. Tkachuk started the comeback on a one-timer fed by Aaron Ekblad, tied the game through traffic with the net empty and thirteen seconds left in regulation, and finished it from point-blank range 2:23 into overtime.

Florida trailed for most of the night. Vancouver opened the scoring in the opening period through Liam Ohgren, and Elias Pettersson doubled the lead, sending the Panthers into the final period chasing the game. Tkachuk struck at 11:11 of the period, a wrist shot from above the right circle, before the late equalizer off a Carter Verhaeghe pass at 19:47 and the overtime winner.

Goaltender Akira Schmid made 15 saves for Florida, starting with Jacob Markstrom sidelined by an undisclosed injury. Seth Jones, who assisted on two of Thursday's goals, anchors the blue line. At the other end, Leevi Merilainen stopped 36 shots, but the loss was Vancouver's sixth in a row.

A list more than a century long

No NHL player had recorded hat tricks in consecutive games since Auston Matthews did it for Toronto in February 2024. Both of Tkachuk's were natural hat tricks, with no other scorer in between, a feat previously managed only by Petri Skriko in November 1986 and Cy Denneny in February 1923.

Tkachuk is the latest Panther to pull it off, joining Noel Acciari in December 2019 and Pavel Bure in February 2001. Thursday's was the fifth hat trick of his career, and he is the second Panther to finish a hat trick with an overtime goal, after Aleksander Barkov.

Why this chase stands apart

A natural hat trick requires a single player to score consecutively, with nobody else finding the net in between. Doing it in consecutive games had not happened in forty years before this week. Florida had not won consecutive games this season before this week, and Tkachuk has been the difference in both.

What tonight holds

Seattle visits Florida at 5-2-1 while the Panthers sit at 4-2-2. The Kraken took Tampa Bay to overtime on Thursday before falling 4-3, and they opened their five-game road trip without a regulation loss. Seattle has been competitive from the opening faceoff of the trip. Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves in the Tampa Bay game. Florida will have the home crowd behind it after Thursday's comeback at Amerant Bank Arena. The game airs on Prime Video, SCRIPPS and KONG.

A packed Saturday around the league

Tkachuk's chase leads a 14-game Saturday schedule. The slate opens with New Jersey visiting Washington in the afternoon. Edmonton suffered its initial regulation defeat Thursday, 4-2 to Utah. Connor McDavid can stretch his season-opening point streak to eight games when Edmonton visits Utah at 10 p.m. ET; he leads the league with 18 points. Alex Ovechkin needs a pair of assists to tie Nicklas Backstrom's franchise assist record in Washington, according to NHL.com. Ovechkin announced earlier this month that this will be his final season.

Elsewhere, the Milwaukee Brewers swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS to reach the World Series, a day after the Dodgers were pushed to the brink of elimination. The best-of-seven is over, and Milwaukee moves on.