Brady Tkachuk's Gordie Howe night carries Panthers past Canes 6-3

Panthers 6, Hurricanes 3. Brady Tkachuk's first night in a Florida sweater ended with two goals, an assist and a fighting major, and the Cats looked like a team that has done this before.

How it went

Carolina drew first blood when Dominik Badinka scored on a backhand at 6:04 of the first, with Gleb Trikozov setting it up.

Florida answered on its first power play. Aleksander Barkov moved it to Matthew Tkachuk, Matthew fed his brother on the left side, and Brady buried it at 12:02. The Panthers outshot the Canes 19-8 in the opening period, per NHL.com.

The second period was a bag of pucks for Carolina's kids. Barkov scored on a breakaway at 2:30 with Brady Tkachuk and Niko Mikkola assisting. Cole Reinhardt made it 3-1 at 4:06 off feeds from Jack Devine and Radko Gudas.

The Canes clawed back when Justin Robidas scored on the power play at 9:34 and Bradly Nadeau tied it 3-3 at 10:45. That lasted 85 seconds. Reinhardt tipped in a Mikkola shot at 12:10, then Mikkola scored one of his own at 19:07 with Sandis Vilmanis and Eetu Luostarinen picking up assists.

The third was mostly cleanup, though Brady Tkachuk and Charles-Alexis Legault dropped the gloves at 7:42 before Brady sealed it with an empty-netter at 17:45. Florida finished with a 34-24 edge in shots.

Who stood out

Brady Tkachuk: two goals, one assist, seven shots and five penalty minutes in 14:09. That's a Gordie Howe hat trick in your first game with a new club, and the fight came after a run at Barkov, per Florida Hockey Now. That's the whole job description in one shift.

Cole Reinhardt: two goals and seven hits from a guy trying to win a roster spot. The tip on Mikkola's shot was a greasy goal, and seven hits is a loud way to say you'd like to stay.

Niko Mikkola: a goal and two assists in 19:51, back from the knee injury that ended his last season. He led the blue line and looked like he never left.

Barkov: a goal, an assist, plus-3 and 78.6 percent in the faceoff circle in 15:17, per NHL.com. First game back after losing all of last season to knee surgery. The breakaway goal drew the loudest ovation of the evening for obvious reasons.

Jacob Markstrom went the distance and stopped 21 of 24. Radko Gudas blocked a team-high five shots, which is the ferda play of the night in a game that was never in doubt.

Ferda Take

Paul Maurice dressed something close to an opening-night lineup against a Carolina group that was mostly prospects. Take the final score with a healthy dose of skepticism, but don't extend that skepticism to the power play.

The new top unit has Barkov on the right wall, Seth Jones at the point, Matthew Tkachuk at the net, Sam Reinhart in the bumper and Brady on the left, per The Hockey News.

It took 38 seconds to score. Maurice told The Hockey News that "puck recovery is really important" with Brady out there, and that's the honest reason he's on PP1. He wins the wall battles the pretty units lose.

Maurice's line on Brady's summer, via NHL.com: "He put in tremendous work this summer into his fitness level so he can drive at a high pace." Barkov's read was simpler. "You just know he's one of those guys that has your back in any moment."

One preseason game doesn't mean much. One preseason game where Barkov, Mikkola and Markstrom all look right means plenty.

Next game

Rematch in Raleigh Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET at Lenovo Center. Carolina will roll out a young lineup again, with Brandon Bussi or Cayden Primeau in net.