Thursday was hat-trick night in the NHL, and all three came with comebacks attached

Tkachuk does it again, later

Brady Tkachuk scored a hat trick for the second straight game, and the second one was the harder act. The Panthers trailed Vancouver 2-0 — the Canucks scored at 7:23 and 17:06 of the first period — before Tkachuk started his climb at 11:11 of the third. He tied the game 2-2 with 11.8 seconds left in regulation, then scored the winner at 2:23 of overtime to finish a 3-2 comeback win. The overtime winner came at the end of a 40-second shift — Tkachuk, per the Panthers' recap, showed no signs of slowing down before finding the finish. m:…3488

Tkachuk is the third player in Panthers history to produce back-to-back hat tricks, and the first NHL player with consecutive hat tricks since Auston Matthews in 2024. Head coach Paul Maurice said: "He picks his shots. He was the defining player for us tonight, for sure." Tkachuk himself credited the room: "It says a lot about just the guys in this room, just the culture." The win moved Florida to 4-2-2, with Leevi Merilainen making 36 saves for Vancouver in the loss. Florida closes its two-game homestand Saturday against the Seattle Kraken at 6 p.m. ET. m:…3488

Stone owns the third period

In Las Vegas, the script flipped: no comeback required, just a captain taking over. Mark Stone recorded a natural hat trick in the third period — three straight goals — as the Golden Knights beat Calgary 6-2 to improve to 7-2-0. Vegas now leads the league in goals with 35. Vegas needed no comeback: Brett Howden scored 26 seconds into the game, Eichel added his fifth of the season on a shorthanded breakaway, and Braeden Bowman scored on the power play before Stone tipped in the fourth, fifth and sixth goals for the natural hat trick. m:…8967

The supporting cast is producing too. Jack Eichel has 16 points on the season (5G, 11A), including a shorthanded breakaway goal for his fifth of the year. Mitch Marner extended a six-game multi-point streak totaling 15 points, and Carter Hart stopped 28 of 30 shots for a .933 save percentage. Calgary fell to 1-7-0. m:…8967

Quinn's Gordie Howe night in Toronto

Buffalo's win was the night's third act. The Sabres beat Toronto 5-4 in overtime at Scotiabank Arena, and Jack Quinn starred with a Gordie Howe hat trick and then some: two goals, two assists and a fight. Four points matches his single-game career high. m:…8230

Dennis Gilbert launched the third-period comeback with his first goal as a Sabre, and it was Buffalo's third comeback from a two-goal, third-period deficit already this season — a pattern that says as much about the Sabres' slow starts as their finishes. Owen Power scored the overtime winner, his second OT winner. The injury list is growing, though: Josh Norris is in protocol after an overtime injury, Rasmus Dahlin missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury and has a 50/50 chance to play Saturday in Montreal, and Jiri Kulich is day-to-day. Buffalo sits at 4-3-1. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 26 of 30 in net. Three hat tricks, three wins, three different paths — the rare night when the highlight and the standings told the same story. m:…8230