Did Keith Tkachuk’s criticism spark Panthers’ turnaround? ‘He considers himself a hero’
Any time it comes up, Matthew Tkachuk laughs like someone who’s used to some unfiltered thoughts from his famous father. It was only a little more than a week ago when the Florida Panthers’ season seemed doomed, on the heels of a season-worst four-game losing streak, and Keith Tkachuk unloaded on his son’s underachieving team.
A year removed from winning the Presidents’ Trophy, the Panthers had a minuscule change to even make the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs after they lost to the Senators last week and Tkachuk, who was there in Ottawa to watch Florida lose to Brady Tkachuk and Senators, called the Panthers “soft.”
A few hours later, Florida upset the Maple Leafs in overtime in Toronto. Their longest winning streak of the year was underway and the Panthers took back control of their postseason destiny.
“He considers himself a hero down here in Florida for changing our season around,” Tkachuk told NHL on TNT on Wednesday when he was asked about his former All-Star father. “Normally, I get sick and tired of hearing him talk about how he’s turned it around, but I’m OK with him saying it right now.”
A day later, the Panthers won their season-best fifth straight game, bouncing back from its earlier loss to Ottawa by blowing out the Senators on Thursday at FLA Live Arena, and again Tkachuk weighed in — again, laughing at the absurdity of the coincidence.
“Don’t give him that much credit,” the superstar right wing said. “We know these are very important games here and I think just that whole streak we really buckled up as a group and didn’t want to lose anymore games.”
Florida’s five wins were uniformly impressive. The streak started with the upset of the Leafs, continued with convincing road wins against the lowly Canadiens and Blue Jackets, and finally ran through a perfect homestand with a hard-fought win against the Sabres and the rout of Ottawa.
When they pounded the Senators in Sunrise, the Panthers also answered some questions about their toughness. The game featured 166 penalty minutes, eight fighting penalties and ejections on both sides, and Florida was never fazed, ultimately cruising to a five-goal win. Most of the penalties happened because the Panthers didn’t like Ottawa’s treatment of Alex Lyon — the Senators bumped the goaltender a few too many times and sprayed snow at him by stopping short around the crease — and they responded by instigating multiple brawls.
After two of those melees, Florida get power plays and immediately cashed in with goals.
“Good turnaround from us,” defenseman Radko Gudas said Wednesday. “Guys bore down and battled back from pretty much negative thoughts to being back in this spot right now.”
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Updates on Panthers’ Bennett, Bobrovsky
Although star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was back in the active lineup Saturday, the Panthers still stuck with Lyon in goal for the sixth straight game to face the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena in Washington.
Bobrovsky is making progress in his return from an illness and a return to the bench is an important step, but Florida was going to have a hard time going away from Lyon no matter how healthy Bobrovsky was. Lyon, 30, posted a .961 save percentage while starting all five games of the Panthers’ five-game winning streak and set a franchise record for saves in a regulation game with 56 on Thursday.
For now, Lyon remains Florida’s starter, despite only having 37 games of NHL experience, and Bobrovsky the backup.
“Alex is playing tonight, but Bob could’ve played,” coach Paul Maurice said. “I still think he needs more work. His body feels 100 percent now. He feels strong and back, but he got knocked down pretty good by his sickness, so he wants to get in the net. He’s our best option on the depth chart, if I had to put another guy in. I don’t think he’s at 100 percent, though, in terms of where he feels his game’s at and we’re not practicing [much] right now because of the schedule.”
Center Sam Bennett, who missed his 10th straight game Saturday, also skated Saturday and continues to make incremental progress in his return from a soft-tissue injury. Maurice has not ruled out a potential return for Monday when the Panthers host the Maple Leafs, but the center will have a better chance to return for the regular-season finale Thursday against the Hurricanes, as Florida will have a chance to practice Tuesday or Wednesday.
The Panthers won’t practice Sunday after traveling.
“Skated this morning,” Maurice said. “Nothing bad happened, so we’re taking that as a positive.”
This story was originally published April 8, 2023 at 4:26 PM.
