On a night that saw the entire league in action, the Florida Panthers put on a show that stole the night. The Tkachuk brothers were incredible. The power play unit is finally showing signs of life. And the road play continues to be better than what they’re producing at home.
Let’s get into the three takeaways of the game:
Tkachuks Clicking
It seems like ever since Monday aftertoon’s matinee against the Buffalo Sabres, the idea to put the Tkachuk brothers on the same line together has worked wonders.
Brady recorded his first point during that game in the form of an assist and then during Tuesday night’s game, he scored his first three goals as a Panther — a natural hat trick scored in only eight minutes and three seconds. This was the fourth hat trick of his career. Matthew Tkachuk assisted on all three of Brady’s goals plus an additional two assists on two other goals.
It seems that this needs to be considered one of the top lines moving forward until the Panthers get back Brad Marchand and Aleksander Barkov.
Power Play Phenomenon
Here’s a crazy stat to take into consideration: After the Panthers home opener that took place on October 10th, they were dead last in the league in power play goals.
After the back to back games against the Buffalo Sabres and the Columbus Blue Jackets, they now find themselves tied for second in the entire league in power play goals. The quick turnaround has truly been remarkable. Sam Reinhart has been the catalyst, contributing to three of the goals. Florida, even without Barkov and Marchand, has enough skill up front that this should continue.
The Road Kings Continue
The Panthers have played on the road for a large majority of this young season and it seems to be working in their favor for the most part, They have gathered 8 out of 10 points on the road so far and this is very good as the season moves on.
Here are some other fun statistics to note about the Panthers after their win in Columbus: Matthew Tkachuk is the first brother in NHL history to assist on a natural hat trick set of goals. Seth Jones had a 4+ assist game. Sam Reinhart had a multi goal game and so did Carter Verhaeghe. The Florida Panthers are the first team in NHL history to accomplish all of these things in the same game.
The Panthers’ next take the ice in Sunrise on Thursday, October 15th against the Vancouver Canucks at 7pm.
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