Panthers to assess Matthew Tkachuk’s status during leadup to must-win Game 5
The Florida Panthers have faced this predicament before. In these playoffs, in fact.
But if pulling off a comeback from a 3-1 deficit in the Stanley Cup Final seems nearly insurmountable, the degree of difficulty would increase even more if Florida’s All-Star winger Matthew Tkachuk is limited or unavailable for Game 5.
Tkachuk played only four shifts during the third period of the Panthers’ 3-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. The Hart Memorial Trophy finalist was forced to watch a noticeable portion of the Panthers’ near comeback against Vegas from the bench.
Tkachuk did not specify what sort of physical ailment kept him out of the game, but the All-Star winger appeared to be dealing with some sort of upper-body injury after missing a little more than 17 minutes of ice time early in Game 3 following a crunching hit by Vegas forward Keegan Kolesar.
“That’s just not gonna come out right now,” Tkachuk said when asked about his injury. “I don’t know what’s going to come from this, but we’re excited we have an opportunity to come through like we did in the Boston series.”
Panthers coach Paul Maurice did not get into specifics either when asked about Tkachuk’s possible status for Game 5, but said: “Well, we have two days off to assess that. We’ll get some rest and we’ll see.”
The Panthers will next try to replicate the resilience they showed when they rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the first round against the Bruins, winning two games in Boston along the way. But defeating a Vegas squad, which again dominated a large amount of Saturday’s game as it has most of the series, without Tkachuk entirely or for extended stretches would make the task even more daunting.
“Matthew’s been a grinder his whole life. He was again tonight,” Maurice said. “We were just hoping to get into a situation where he could use what he had to give us. Was hoping to get on the power play a little earlier and certainly at the end of the game.”
Tkachuk left the ice in the third period with 15:42 remaining in the third period and did not return until there was 5:01 left.
Tkachuk was not on the ice when Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov cut the Knights’ lead to 3-2 three minutes and 50 seconds into the third period.
Barkov’s goal came from the line consisting of him, Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart.
“Against any team in any situation, a three-goal lead is tough to come back from,” Barkov said. “We almost did and we finished the game on a good note.”
Tkachuk played two shifts within that time and played out the remaining 2:26 when the Panthers pulled goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for a sixth attacker in a failed attempt to tie the game.
“Obviously you want to be out there playing and I was able to at the end and was hoping to make some magic happen, but we just ran out of time,” Tkachuk said. “I just had to try and find a way to make it work and we just came up a second short.”
This story was originally published June 11, 2023 at 12:21 AM.
