Hurricanes Play Panthers-Style Playoff Hockey With Matthew Tkachuk In The Stands

Matthew Tkachuk has some good playoff memories in the Carolina Hurricanes' rink.

Scoring back-to-back overtime-winners in 2023 and eliminating the Canes in last year's Eastern Conference final stand out when he's on the Lenovo Center ice.

But on Monday, he sat in the stands with father Keith Tkachuk and mother Chantal to watch Brady Tkachuk's Ottawa Senators try to tie their first-round series.

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Andrei Svechnikov, who laid out seven hits in Game 2, also stirred the pot in post-whistle scrums. He was sent to the box for roughing Drake Batherson after the play and received an interference penalty later in the first period.

In 2023-24 and 2024-25, the Panthers accumulated the most penalty minutes in the NHL and finished second and first in minor penalties, respectively. In last year's playoffs, they also ranked second in minor penalties per game. (And yes, Matthew Tkachuk was among the six most penalized players both years.)

While taking penalties is obviously not a key to success, the Panthers didn't hurt themselves as often as other squads did when getting penalized. They had a league-leading 86.4 percent penalty kill in last year's playoffs and a second-place 88 percent kill rate in the 2023-24 post-season.

That meant Florida could irritate its opponents and not get frequently punished in the goals column.

Svechnikov served both his penalties in full during Game 2, as the Hurricanes went a perfect 3-for-3 on the PK. After going 4-for-4 last Saturday, they're 7-for-7 through two games.

Carolina is not going to the box as much as the Panthers did in their Cup runs, but getting to frustrate the Senators by roughing them up and killing any penalties that come its way builds confidence.

Hurricanes Survive An Overturned OT Goal And Failed Penalty Shot To Beat Senators In Wild Game 2

The Carolina Hurricanes had a goal overturned in their first overtime period. Jordan Martinook was awarded a penalty shot instead. He didn't capitalize then, but he did in double-overtime.

Part of the reason for the Hurricanes' stellar PK so far is their stingy play in the defensive zone.

In Game 2, the Canes' penalty-killers tried to give the Sens no time and space instead of passively protecting the slot. They defended their blueline to prevent the zone entry, and when the Senators got in, they pressed the puck carrier, swung at their sticks and the puck to stop any scoring opportunities and went in on puck battles.

"They're man on man everywhere, so everyone's got a guy on them," Senators right winger Drake Batherson told reporters before Game 2.

Carolina averaged the fewest shots against on the penalty kill during the regular season and the second-fewest shots in a limited sample size during these playoffs, according to naturalstattrick.com.

Florida averaged the third-fewest shots against while shorthanded in its 2024 Cup run and the fifth-fewest in the 2025 playoffs, so the Canes are arguably better in that regard at the moment.

They even generated a 2-on-1 in the final stages of their third kill in Game 2, with Sebastian Aho scoring right after the penalty ended to take a 2-0 lead.

It's no wonder Matthew Tkachuk said he doesn't think anybody enjoys playing Carolina before the 2025 Eastern Conference final.

"They're a tough team to play against and make it harder on you every game," he told reporters at the time.

Considering Brady Tkachuk's Senators now need to beat the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed four times in the next four or five games to advance to the second round, it's only getting harder.

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This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 10:00 AM.