The Panthers extinguish the Blue Jackets

Brady Tkachuk's hat trick sets Columbus dark

Columbus strikes first

Qualification night lit all 32 candles, and at Nationwide Arena one of them had to go dark. The Columbus Blue Jackets finished 17th of 32 last season, eight places above the Florida Panthers, and they struck first: Kent Johnson's wrist shot at 14:11 of the first period. The Panthers knew what a loss here meant. In 2024-25 the Buffalo Sabres snuffed them on qualification night.

Brady Tkachuk takes over

Then Brady Tkachuk took over the second period. He tied it with a wrist shot at 2:27. He tipped in a power-play goal at 6:00. He buried another on the man advantage at 10:30, and Matthew Tkachuk assisted on all three.

At 13:44 Mathieu Olivier drew a five-minute slashing major and a game misconduct. Carter Verhaeghe's power-play snap shot at 17:50 became the winner, with Brady and Matthew Tkachuk on the assists.

Too late for Columbus

Sam Reinhart tipped in Florida's fourth power-play goal 1:20 into the third, and Verhaeghe struck again with a wrist shot at 3:28. Cam Talbot stopped 17 of 23, and Jet Greaves turned aside all 4 he faced. Denton Mateychuk and Cole Sillinger scored 22 seconds apart late in the third, but Reinhart's empty-netter at 17:43 sealed it. Akira Schmid made 24 saves. Matthew Tkachuk finished with five assists. The Blue Jackets reached the semifinals two seasons ago. This time their candle went cold on the first night, and 30 flames burn on.