TAMPA, Fla. (AP) 鈥 Matthew Tkachuk returned to the lineup and was back to his old self quickly for the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.
Playing for the first time in more than two months after dealing with a lower-body injury, Tkachuk scored two second-period goals in his return game for the Panthers in their Eastern Conference first-round series opener at Tampa Bay.
Those two scores were both power-play tallies, the first putting Florida up 4-1 鈥 the second goal for the Panthers in a 14-second span 鈥 and the next one pushing the lead to 5-1 midway through the second period.
It was just like old times: Tkachuk got twisted up with Tampa Bay's Brandon Hagel 鈥 someone he fought during the 4 Nations Face-off tournament 鈥 after one whistle, took the game's first penalty on a roughing call (leading to Tampa Bay's first goal), then made sure his name was all over the scoresheet.
Florida coach Paul Maurice, in a televised in-game interview with ESPN, said he was comfortable with what he was seeing from Tkachuk in his first game back and expected him to 鈥渂e the difference-maker鈥 for the Panthers.
鈥淭hat's what he is for us," Maurice said. "He's got an incredible set of hands, got an incredible gift for the emotional needs of a game, when you need a hit, when you need a big play. He's been great for us.鈥
The decision on whether Tkachuk would even be out there for Game 1 wasn't certain until just before game time.
Tkachuk went through practices Saturday and Monday, then took part in the team's day-of-game skate Tuesday in Tampa before the final decision on his return was made; Maurice even indicated that it could come down to the final few minutes before the 8:48 p.m. start time of the game.
Tkachuk hadn't played for the Panthers since Feb. 8 because of a lower-body injury suffered during the 4 Nations Face-off tournament two months ago.
He was on Florida's second line for practice Monday and the skate on Tuesday, alongside Mackie Samoskevich and Sam Bennett 鈥 his linemates for Game 1 as well. And Game 1 also marked Tkachuk's first time in a game with former Boston forward Brad Marchand as one of his teammates. The Panthers acquired Marchand at the trade deadline.
Tkachuk missed the teamsa国际传媒 final 25 games of the regular season, yet still finished with 22 goals, 35 assists and 57 points 鈥 third-most on the team in all three categories. He was also second on the Panthers this season with 11 power-play goals.
Over his first two playoff runs with the Panthers in 2023 and 2024, both of which netted trips to the Stanley Cup Final, Tkachuk had 46 points in 44 games.
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