Panthers’ Tkachuk heating up, ready to play with brother for Team USA in 4 Nations Face-Off
Matthew and Brady Tkachuk have been dreaming about this moment for most of theirs lives. The brothers — Matthew a star winger for the Florida Panthers, Brady the captain for the Ottawa Senators — will be teammates for the first time in their professional hockey careers starting next week when they play for Team USA in the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off, a tournament featuring the league’s top players from the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden.
But before they play together, the two have to face off against each other one more time, with the Panthers hosting the Senators at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday for both teams’ final game before the league’s two-week break for the 4 Nations tournament.
“It’s really hard not to look forward to that right now, but I am trying to stay in the moment for these last few games,’’ Matthew Tkachuk said. “It’s right around the corner and we are so excited. The family, I can’t put into words how excited everyone is. They’ll all be there in both Montreal and Boston.”
Added Brady: “It’s hard not to get excited for a tournament like that and to be teammates with one another for two weeks. That’s something that we’ve always dreamed of doing together and but yeah, I guess it’s a nice little story — that last game before it is against each other. Battle it out tonight and then be teammates tomorrow.”
Matthew hosted Brady at his house in Fort Lauderdale on Friday when Ottawa arrived in town. The two had dinner and started laying out plans for the tournament. Both will be integral for the United States’ success in the event, which will take place Feb. 12-20 at Montreal’s Bell Centre and Boston’s TD Garden. The format is a round-robin first round, with each team playing each other once, and the two teams with the best record playing in the championship.
Matthew is an alternate captain for Team USA.
“He’s going to be a such a big part of that team,” Brady Tkachuk said, “and the success that we’re going to have is going to be a lot of not just the way he plays, but his leadership as well. I’m excited to see it.”
And the Panthers like to see the way Tkachuk is producing heading into the break. He scored twice in Florida’s 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, including the go-ahead goal with 11.8 seconds left in regulation when he deflected a rebound shot from Sam Reinhart past St. Louis goaltender Joel Hofer.
Tkachuk has now scored six goals in the Panthers past five games entering Saturday and has 10 total points in that span. For comparison, he had just two goals total over his previous 18 games before this stretch.
“He’s a driver,” Reinhart said. “He’s the heartbeat when he’s going like that. It seems like when the moment gets bigger, he rises to the occasion.”
On the season, Tkachuk has 21 goals and 54 points, which both rank second on the team behind only Reinhart (31 goals, 61 points).
“He’s on a roll,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “Hopefully he can keep that going.”
Injury update
Panthers rookie forward Mackie Samoskevich is out Saturday after sustaining an upper-body injury in the second period against St. Louis. Maurice said the decision is a precautionary one and that Samoskevich should be good to go when the team returns from the 4 Nations break.
Jonah Gadjovich will draw into the lineup in Samoskevich’s place.
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