Panthers’ loss to Sharks can’t spoil the return of Tkachuk
Before the two goalies fought in the third period, the loudest cheers of the night at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday night came when Matthew Tkachuk jumped onto the ice for his first shift of the season.
Tkachuk played in his first game since Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday, only he did not factor into Florida’s lone goal in a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks.
Even though he did not say anything publicly at the time, when Tkachuk walked out of his Sunrise arena after the Panthers won the Stanley Cup for the second straight year with that 5-1 win over Edmonton in Game 6, he knew he would not be back on this ice for some time.
Monday, it looked like Tkachuk had never left.
Tkachuk, who came into the game 1:02 in, got into a scuffle with San Jose defenseman Vincent Desharnais midway through the first — then took a big hit, the kind you do not get in a practice, from Desharnais later in the first.
He bounced right off the ice and continued on.
“I will say it was such a relief and nice to be out there,” Tkachuk said after the game. “The first period was weird, just a little strange. Nothing mimics a game. The second felt better, third felt back to normal.”
Tkachuk missed Florida’s first 47 games after having surgery on Aug. 22 to repair a sports hernia and torn adductor.
Initially hurt while playing for the United States in the 4 Nations Face-Off, Tkachuk said before Monday’s game that he had not felt 100% since that tournament’s opening game in Montreal.
After being injured, Tkachuk missed the final 25 games of the regular season, declining surgery knowing it would end his season.
Instead, Tkachuk went the rehabilitation route and felt somewhat good enough to play once the playoffs started.
Tkachuk scored two goals with an assist in his first game back, Game 1 of the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Despite the pain and being somewhat limited due to the nature of the injury, Tkachuk helped the Panthers win the Stanley Cup for the second straight season by playing in all 23 playoff games and tying for the team lead with 23 points.
“You see some of the plays he makes,” Aaron Ekblad said of Tkachuk’s return. “He is an incredible, awesome player. He brings a lot of fire to the game.’’
Monday, he could not help the Panthers crawl out of a 3-0 hole after the Sharks scored three times within the opening six-plus minutes of the second period.
All three goals scored by the Sharks came off rebounds that the Panthers failed to clear out of the way.
Sergei Bobrovsky made the initial save on all three only to see the puck end up on a San Jose stick — and ultimately in the back of the net.
Bobrovsky did get into his first NHL fight six minutes into the third period when San Jose’s Alex Nedeljkovic went after Florida forward Evan Rodrigues behind the Sharks net.
The Florida goalie sprinted the length of the ice — shedding his mitts along the way — and challenged Nedeljkovic before ripping off the San Jose goalie’s mask with the two trading punches.
“I felt that was a little too much over the line,” Bobrovsky said. “I wanted to make sure to get in, to let him know. I made a decision, and went right into it. It was exciting, but obviously not something I do for a living. Unfortunately we didn’t get the two points. That’s the most important thing.”
It looked like Bobrovsky would have to leave the game for going all the way down the ice, but after a brief trip to the Florida room, he came back out onto the ice to wild cheers from the home crowd.
It did not matter much.
Florida went 3-3 on its most recent road trip and now heads out on a three-game trip which starts Thursday in Winnipeg.
“I couldn’t believe that. The best goalie in the world is doing that? It’s pretty incredible,” Tkachuk said of the Bobrovsky brawl. “We know what he has meant to our team since I have been here, and he just added another part of his game. The building was rocking, loudest I have heard. It was really cool. Probably the only highlight of the game.”