Matthew Tkachuk’s return sparked the Panthers. Can it lead to another deep playoff run?
The Florida Panthers have a puck board inside their dressing room that comes out when the Stanley Cup playoffs begin. It has 16 slots, one for every win needed to hoist the Stanley Cup. After each victory, one player is given a game puck, gives a brief speech and then puts the puck into the board.
It should come as no surprise who the team picked to start things off Tuesday following their 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning to begin their title defense.
“Chucky,” captain Aleksander Barkov said, “welcome back.”
The Panthers had been waiting more than two months for Matthew Tkachuk’s return to the lineup. He had been sidelined since mid-February after sustaining an apparent groin injury during the 4 Nations Face-Off and missed the final 25 games of the regular season. For the past three weeks, he slowly upped his on-ice progression from simple skating to an individual conditioning plan to finally rejoining team practices.
And on Tuesday, as the Panthers began their title defense, Tkachuk returned to the lineup and wasted little time reminding the Panthers and the hockey world what he can provide to a team.
Tkachuk scored two power-play goals in the second period and added an assist in Florida’s 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning to being their best-of-7 opening-round series at Amalie Arena.
“It makes you realize how great of a game it is,” Tkachuk said, “and the best thing in the world is [to be] out there competing. Being around the guys. Just, everything. I’m loving it.”
The Panthers are loving it, too. Tkachuk is the type of player with a unique blend of speed, physicality, emotional intelligence and leadership that can drive a team on a deep playoff run. That was evident each of the past two years. His 49 playoff points since 2023 rank fourth in the NHL behind only the Edmonton Oilers trio of Connor McDavid (66), Evan Bouchard (52) and Leon Draisaitl (51).
And Florida certainly missed him down the stretch. The Panthers went 13-11-1 in his absence and slipped from a chance to win the Atlantic Division to finishing third in the division standings. Even after missing two months, Tkachuk still finished the season ranked third in goals (22) and points (57).
“He’s obviously one of our leaders and a really great player,” forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “You see it every night. He battles so hard. He helps our team tremendously when he’s in the lineup. He brings so much balance to our team with physicality and skill.”
It seemed almost inevitable that Tkachuk would return on Tuesday. He returned as a full participant in practice on Saturday and Monday in addition to going through morning skate ahead of Game 1. The team held off on a decision on his playing status until after they went through pregame warmups.
His teammates watched as he got closer to returning. That alone was enough to provide a spark to the team even when he couldn’t contribute.
But with how long of a layoff he went through, Tkachuk even had doubts that he would be ready to go on Tuesday.
“The last two months, even however many days ago, like absolutely,” Tkachuk said. “Just super grateful to be back out. I’ve got a ton of people to thank for getting me ready to play in playoffs. It’s nice going out there and playing for them. I’ve got great support, at the rink, at home, everywhere, so everybody was really positive around me, even when I might have not had my most positive days.”
Tuesday was a fitting way for Tkachuk to get things going again. Even though he was only on the ice for 11:43, well below his usual per-game average of over 18 minutes, he was physical and gritty early. He attacked at the net front. He got under the Lightning’s skin.
And then he showcased his scoring prowess with the power play goals that pushed Florida’s lead first to 4-1 and then to 5-1.
“What was on display was the hands,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “Just an incredible set of hands. … When you put it in the context, he hasn’t played a hockey game in two months. You or I wouldn’t have any hands in that game. For him, he can still take that much time off and handle a puck the way he handles it. The rest of it was just smartly played by him, in that I don’t think he was in the rhythm of the game.”
While there was still some rust, his teammates weren’t surprised how quickly he was able to establish himself in a game with such high stakes.
“He’s not really a guy you can put a label on because he’s such a unicorn of a player,” said. defenseman Nate Schmidt, who also scored two goals in the win. “But I think more than anything, just how he is in the room, getting the guys fired up for the game, you feel his energy, you feel his excitement in the locker room. I think it takes the edge off of guys quite a bit. You see him be able to step into a game and be impactful. That’s just the way he is. That’s the type of player he is. He’s a playoff player that comes into a game and does what he does.”
And forward Brad Marchand: “He is a competitor, and he is there to win. You hear the way he talks, and his reputation precedes him. He is a very talented guy and one of the gifted players in the league around the net. He is a presence out there. You need to be aware when he is on the ice.”
His presence was on full display, both on the ice and afterward. As Tkachuk received the game puck from Barkov postgame Tuesday, he turned to his teammates and needed just two sentence to sum up where they are — and what’s to come.
“It’s great to be back with you boys,” Tkachuk said. “We’re just getting started.”
That goes for Tkachuk individually and the Panthers as a whole.
One win down, 15 to go.
This story was originally published April 23, 2025 at 1:15 PM.
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