Image: Todd Little
The Florida Panthers (4-2-2) will finish off a brief homestand when they welcome the Seattle Kraken (5-2-1) to Amerant Bank Arena this evening.
Brady Tkachuk second consecutive hat trick rescued the Panthers from a late two-goal deficit in Thursday’s dramatic 3-2 victory over the lowly Vancouver Canucks. Tkachuk got his first at 11:11 of the final frame; he tied it up with 13 seconds remaining in regulation; and then won it 2:33 into overtime. Tkachuk became the first player to record back-to-back natural hat tricks since 1986 and only the third player in NHL history to pull off the feat, joining Petri Skriko and Cy Denneny. Defensive monster Seth Jones collected a pair of assists and with the seconday helper on his baby bro’s first maker, Matthew Tkachuk extended his point streak to seven games. Akira Schmid only faced 17 shots, but came up big early in the third to keep the Cats withing striking distance.
The Kraken, who will finish off a five-game road trip tonight, dropped a tough 4-3 decision in overtime to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday. Ryan Winterton, Jared McCann and Matty Beniers scored the goals and Philipp Grubauer stopped 31 shots before yielding the winner to Victor Hedman. Despite the loss, Seattle looks much-improved so far this season, earning 11 points in eight games played.
- WHEN: 6 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Scripps, Prime Video, KONG
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 106.3 ESPN (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #SeaKraken, #SEAvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Davy Jones’ Locker Room
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 2
- LAST MEETING: @FLA 5, SEA 4 (SO) (Recap) – 3/24/26
- NEXT MEETING: January 12, 2027
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Markström (2-1-1 .905 / 2.02 1SO) Seattle: Daccord (3-1-0 .913 / 2.73 0SO) or Grubauer (2-1-1 .910 / 2.71 0SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Seattle
Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Vancouver (2-6-1 5P) at TAMPA BAY (5-2-0 10P) 4 p.m.
- New York Islanders (3-3-1 7P) at TORONTO (3-3-2 8P) 7 p.m.
- BUFFALO (4-3-1 9P) at MONTREAL (3-3-1 7P) 7 p.m. (NHL Network)
- San Jose (4-3-0 8P) at DETROIT (2-3-2 8P) 7 p.m.
- Philadelphia (0-6-3 3P) at OTTAWA (6-2-0 12P) 7 p.m.
- BOSTON (5-2-0 10P) at Los Angeles (0-3-2 2P) 9 p.m.
