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Instant Reaction: Brady Tkachuk scores late hat trick in Canucks’ overtime loss to Florida

Photo credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

By David Quadrelli

Oct 15, 2026, 22:03 EDT

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Welcome back to Instant Reaction, the series here at CanucksArmy/Daily Faceoff Vancouver, where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Vancouver Canucks game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!

Lineup

Brendan Batchelor

@BatchHockey

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Projected #Canucks lines vs. @FlaPanthers DeBrusk. EP40. Lekkerimäki. Öhgren. Rossi. Karlsson. Cotter. Chytil. Boeser. O’Connor. Sasson. Gallagher. EP25. Hronek. Oleksiak. Willander. Buium. Mancini. 🥅Meriläinen🥅 4pm on @KiSSWestCoast and Seekr seekyoursounds.com/radio/kisswest…

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10:41 PM · Oct 15, 2026

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First Period

The game began with Sam Reinhart letting go of a wrist shot that hit the underside of the crossbar, as the Panthers were that close to opening the scoring just 23 seconds into this one.

It was all Florida to start this game, as the shot counter read 5-0 in favour of the Panthers when they got their first power play of the game less than five minutes in. The Canucks’ penalty kill has been a mess to start this season, but they killed off all three Tuesday night against the Islanders. Part of that is absolutely because of the strong play of Leevi Meriläinen, and don’t get me wrong, he was sharp again early in this game, but the Canucks’ PK did a good job of keeping the Panthers to the outside on this one.

Surprisingly, it was the Canucks who got the first goal of the game, on their first shot of the game seven and a half minutes in. After some hard work along the boards from Linus Karlsson in the offensive end, Karlsson refused to give up on the play and got the puck back down low to Liam Öhgren after the Panthers thought they were out of trouble:

Vancouver goal!Scored by Liam Ohgren with 12:37 left in the 1st. Assisted by Linus Karlsson.FLA: 0 | VAN: 1#VANvsFLA #FlaPanthers #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-15T23:25:55.936442Z

1-0 Canucks.

The Canucks started to spend some time in the Florida end after this goal, and were settling in nicely to this game.

Garnet Hathaway got very upset at Max Sasson after the Canucks centre accidentally bumped his helmet against Hathaway’s. The Panthers centre lost his cool — not to the same level as Evan Rodrigues — while Sasson displayed the same “are you kidding me?” demeanour Josh Donaldson showed when a young Manny Machado got upset that Donaldson tagged him “too hard” back in 2014.

Anyways, the two sides played 4-on-4. At 4-on-4 and with not much time left in the first period, Tom Willander held the puck down low along the boards in the Florida end, with Brock Boeser and Filip Chytil coming in to help. Elias Junior Pettersson saw his opening, and streaked down from the point while calling for the pass. Chytil hit him with a beautiful backhand pass, and DPetey made no mistake, burying the Canucks’ second goal of the game and getting Chytil his first assist in nearly a full calendar year.

Vancouver goal!Scored by Elias Pettersson with 02:54 left in the 1st. Assisted by Filip Chytil and Tom Willander.FLA: 0 | VAN: 2#VANvsFLA #FlaPanthers #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-15T23:46:55.653745Z

2-0 Canucks after 20 minutes of play.

Some takeaways from the first:
-Some really sharp saves from Leevi Meriläinen in that first period.
-I don’t know how to properly use the word mogged in a sentence, but I’m pretty sure that’s what Max Sasson did to Garnet Hathaway there.
-DPetey continues his strong play. Up to three goals already, and the dude is stepping up big defensively.

Second Period

The Canucks kicked off the second period with a sleepy no-shot, no-entry power play opportunity.

Though a missed trip of Brock Boeser behind Akira Schmid’s net begged for “rigged game conspiracy” considerations, a holding penalty against Boko Imama, drawn by none other than Elias Pettersson (the forward), buried those concerns shortly after.

The first minute of the club’s third power play looked like more of the same. However, they found their groove in the second minute after a successful entry, recording a handful of shots on target.

The Panthers woke up enough to muster their first real look of the period, easily stuffed away by Leevi Meriläinen. A large chunk of the period saw the Canucks thoroughly dominate the Panthers in their zone; a sentence I never thought I’d write this season.

With seven minutes left in the game, Jonathan Lekkerimaki stole the puck off Sam Bennett and ripped the puck up-ice to EP40 for a clear breakaway opportunity, only to back up into the referee, who promptly stabilized himself by pulling on the back of EP40’s jersey, spoiling a guaranteed scoring chance. The Panthers are never beating the allegations, folks.

Victor Mancini had a decent period on the offensive side, ripping a shot off the iron before setting up Max Sasson for a backhander that swam under Schmid’s pads and through the crease just wide of the goalpost. He even riled up Brady Tkachuk after a lengthy shift inside the Canucks’ zone.

Courtesy of John Shorthouse, the Canucks left the middle frame with a lead for the first time all season!

2-0 Canucks after 40 minutes of play.

Some takeaways from the second:

-Meriläinen stood tall during the Panthers’ late rally, making a handful of simple stops to ensure the Canucks maintained their momentum into the third.

-I liked the Canucks’ work in the neutral zone overall; just a lot of tidy pickpocket plays from behind to turn up-ice with numbers. It felt like more than a handful of Panther zone entry attempts were thwarted by the hard work of the Canucks’ young forward.

Third Period

The Panthers kickstarted the final frame with a minute and a half on the man advantage. Panthers looked a little sleepy on their puck movement, resulting in just a few shot attempts.

Not long after the expiry of Lekkerimaki’s penalty, EP40 would cut through the middle uncontested for an absolute howitzer off Schmid’s chest.

Seven minutes into the frame, Eetu Luostorainen collided hard into the end boards after going shoulder to shoulder with D-Petey. He would leave the game after an extended stay on the ice. Bad news for an already injury-riddled Panthers’ lineup.

Following the Luostorainin injury, things started to get pretty chippy. Noted goon Marco Rossi drew a roughing minor against Nikko Mikkola after the former dared to crash the crease looking for a rebound opportunity on his own shot.

Credit where it’s due, Schmid made an incredible coast-to-coast save on Lekkerimaki to hold the Canucks’ lead at two. The Panthers then turned the chance into a sustained cycle in the Canucks’ zone, resulting in a shot on goal for the defending team. It wasn’t a great look for Vancouver’s first power play unit.

The Canucks’ absolutely pathetic power play gave way to a slew of rush chances for the Panthers. After putting in a respectable shutout bid, the hot stick of Brady Tkachuk halved the Canucks’ lead midway through the period.

Florida goal!Scored by Brady Tkachuk with 08:49 left in the 3rd. Assisted by Aaron Ekblad and Matthew Tkachuk.FLA: 1 | VAN: 2#VANvsFLA #FlaPanthers #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-16T01:26:57.761822Z

2-1 Canucks

Lekkerimaki with another steal, this time in the offensive zone, leading to a shot from distance by Tom Willander.

Tkachuk’s goal appeared to have rallied the Canucks out of the stank that arose following their dismal power play opportunity. Over the final nine minutes, they generated enough offensive zone cycle time to quell the Panthers’ momentum. The pace slowed enough, and a slate of icings by both teams left the Panthers with just two minutes to chase the lead with the goalie pulled. However, the Canucks defensive work and faceoff prowess weren’t enough to stop Brady Tkachuk from scoring his second of the period to force this one into overtime.

Florida goal!Scored by Brady Tkachuk with 00:13 left in the 3rd. Assisted by Carter Verhaeghe and Seth Jones.FLA: 2 | VAN: 2#VANvsFLA #FlaPanthers #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-16T01:52:56.353418Z

2-2 Tie

Some takeaways after 60 minutes:

-Truly unfortunate turn of events for Meriläinen, who was stellar throughout Thursday night’s affair.

-Lots of ice time for Jonathan Lekkerimaki, and I think he earned every minute of it. I really liked his defensive play against a large and mean Panthers’ team. Somehow wasn’t credited with any takeaways on the NHL roster report, which is beyond me.

-Quiet games for a lot of the Canucks’ defencemen, which is good. Thought DPetey and Tom Willander were quietly solid.

-Unfortunate that they couldn’t ice it away. Brock Boeser had several chances to ice this away, but each of his rinkwide clearances sailed just wide of the net. Bummer!

Overtime

The Canucks kicked off the 3-on-3 overtime, nearly conceding the hat trick goal to a Panthers’ rush straight off the faceoff. A minute later, Sam Bennett rifled a shot off the bar from point-blank range.

A minute later, when the Canucks had not once controlled the puck, Brady Tkachuk secured the victory with a hat trick…his second in as many games.

Florida goal!Scored by Brady Tkachuk with 02:37 left in the OT. Assisted by Seth Jones and Sam Reinhart.FLA: 3 | VAN: 2#VANvsFLA #FlaPanthers #Canucks

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-16T01:56:56.729279Z

3-2 Florida Panthers

Brutal result, even if it was a great one for the Ethical Tank™.

They were so close to a regulation win, but it can’t be stated enough just how much a momentum swinger that failed power play was. The Canucks giving up a minute of zone time while up a man completely altered the brain chemistry of the Panthers’ players.

What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!

And be sure to tune into Rink Wide Vancouver LIVE moments after the final horn on YouTube!