Matthew Tkachuk had his fifth career hat trick and one assist to lead the Florida Panthers to a 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.
With his second goal, Tkachuk became the fourth player in NHL history to have 100 or more points in consecutive seasons after changing teams in the offseason. He joined Wayne Gretzky (1987-88, 1988-89), Jimmy Carson (1987-88, 1988-89) and Mike Rogers (1980-81, 1981-82) in achieving the feat.
With three points in the next six games, Tkachuk, who had 104 points last season in Calgary, would become only the second player in NHL history to score at least 104 points in consecutive seasons, each with a different team, with Gretzky. Rogers had 103 points in 1981-82, and Carson had 100 points in ‘88-’89.
Anton Lundell added two goals and one assist and Alex Lyon made 18 saves while helping the Panthers to its second win in a row and a season series sweep of Montreal.
Sean Farrell scored his first career goal and Rafael Harvey-Pinard had a goal for the Canadiens, who dropped their second in a row. Sam Montembeault made 25 saves.
Farrell opened the scoring 1:23 into the first period when the rookie took a shot from along the boards that was mishandled by Lyon and went in.
Lundell tied it at 4:09 with his 11th of the season after Montembeault gave up a rebound off a shot by Tkachuk.
Tkachuk finished off a tic-tac-toe sequence with Brandon Montour and Sam Reinhart to give the Panthers a 2-1 edge 3:59 into the second on the power play.
Just under two minutes later, Tkachuk scored his second, beating Montembeault with a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle.
Tkachuk completed his hat trick with 20 seconds remaining with an empty-net goal.
Panthers: Head to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets on Saturday.
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