What Florida Panthers can learn about their roster while Matthew Tkachuk is sidelined
Let’s preface this with the obvious statement: No singular player can truly replace Matthew Tkachuk. He holds too many valuable roles for this Florida Panthers team. His on-ice blend of scrappiness and scoring talent. His knack to get under opponents’ skin. His off-ice leadership. His emotional intelligence to know exactly when to make a play or say the right thing to fire up his teammates. It’s a unique combination.
But the Panthers are going to have to find a way to carry on without him for at least the immediate future. The star winger, who is second on the Panthers in goals (22), assists (35) and points (57), is sidelined with a lower-body injury, believed to be to his groin, that he sustained during the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Monday that Tkachuk will play again this season and Tkachuk said Monday during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that he is ”feeling better,” but until he steps foot on the ice again, the Panthers will need an all-hands-on-deck approach to make up for what they are losing in Tkachuk.
And to Maurice, that means this short-term stretch, which started in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken and continues with their road game Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators, will be a learning experience of sorts.
“Everybody gets their depth tested over the course of the year,” Maurice said after practice Monday. “Usually, if you’ve handled it right, you find out some really good things. Different guys get power play looks. Different guys get matchup looks. Somebody’s going to get a little more ice time. You need to be able to play with the key player down.”
Maurice then pointed to two cases of this from the past two seasons.
The first came early in their Stanley Cup run last season. Sam Bennett missed five games after taking a puck to the hand in Game 2 of the team’s first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Anton Lundell moved up in the lineup to take Bennett’s spot between Carter Verhaeghe and Tkachuk. Lundell set up the key pass for Florida to win Game 2 against Tampa Bay in overtime. The Panthers then won two of the final three against the Lightning to advance to the second round and split their first two games against the Boston Bruins before Bennett’s return.
The second is something that has been seen during the regular season. When captain and top line center Aleksander Barkov has missed sporadic time, Lundell once again has been a key component in Maurice’s shakeups. The coach slides winger Sam Reinhart, who has formed a dynamic one-two punch on the top line with Barkov, to a line with Lundell and winger Eetu Luostarinen. The three thrived together in the 2022-23 season on Florida’s third line, so there’s natural chemistry already baked in there.
“You always want your best players in,” Maurice said, “but when one of them goes out, you have to make adjustments and you learn something in those adjustments. So if it happens again, you can go back to a place and everybody understands [their role].”
For now, that means forward Evan Rodrigues sliding into Tkachuk’s spot on the right wing of Florida’s second line with rookie Mackie Samoskevich on the left wing and Bennett at center. The trio was on the ice together for 13:04 against Seattle, outshooting the Kraken 6-5 and 7-6 edge in scoring chances. They appeared to score the go-ahead goal with 3:05 left in the second period on a Samoskevich wrist shot from the slot, but the goal was disallowed after Seattle challenged for goaltender interference, saying Rodrigues impeded goaltender Joey Daccord from defending his position.
Beyond that, it moves Jesper Boqvist up to Florida’s third line and gets the physical Jonah Gadjovich into the lineup on the fourth line with A.J. Greer and Tomas Nosek.
Bennett also moves up to Florida’s top power-play unit with Tkachuk out.
“Everyone gets a little more of an opportunity, and you’ve just got to make the most of it,” Boqvist said. “I feel like we have a couple guys that are prepared for it. It obviously sucks losing Chucky like that, and hopefully he gets back to us soon.”
Until then, the Panthers will embrace the challenge of playing without him and take advantage of the chances that come with it.
“You learn the most from the tough times, when you have to survive those type of moments — when the game isn’t going your way or you are missing big parts of your team,” Barkov said. “You learn how to play in those situations, in those moments, and learn how to win in them and that makes your team even stronger. Any adversity we have to face, we will.”
Sourdif recalled
With Tkachuk out with injury and Luostarinen missing the game in Nashville due to the expected birth of his first child, the Panthers on Monday recalled forward Justin Sourdif from Charlotte Checkers, their American Hockey League affiliate.
Sourdif has 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) in 29 games with the Checkers. He will play a bottom-six role with the Panthers against the Predators.
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