Brady Tkachuk hat trick lifts Panthers over Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS (Interstat) — Brady Tkachuk had a natural hat trick in the second period and Matthew Tkachuk matched a club record with five assists as the Florida Panthers rolled past the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-3 at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday. Sam Reinhart scored twice and added an assist, extending his point streak against Columbus to 12 games. Carter Verhaeghe also scored twice, Seth Jones had four assists and Akira Schmid made 23 saves on 26 shots for Florida. Brady Tkachuk finished with three goals and one assist. Reinhart had seven shots on goal, while Verhaeghe had four shots. Kent Johnson, Denton Mateychuk and Cole Sillinger scored for Columbus, while Damon Severson had two assists, four penalty minutes and three hits, and Charlie Coyle added one. Johnson and Mateychuk each had three shots. Florida snapped a two-game skid and improved to 3-4-0. Columbus fell to 2-3-0. The announced attendance was 13,538.