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TAMPA — Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk handled his first game back from a lower body injury better than anyone could have hoped. The winger scored a pair of power-play goals as Florida rolled to a 6-2 win to open its series against Tampa Bay.
Fortunately, he felt as good as he performed.
“I felt great,” Tkachuk said.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said he was checking in with Tkachuk throughout the game, and the blowout win allowed Maurice to keep the star on the bench a little longer than usual. Tkachuk logged 11:43 of ice time on Tuesday after averaging 18:13 during the season.
Maurice said he’s optimistic Tkachuk will be ready to pick up where he left off in Thursday night’s Game 2 in Tampa Bay.
“He got through the game fine, and seems fine today,” Maurice said. “We’ll get the morning skate out of him and make sure nothing’s changed for tomorrow.”
Tkachuk said he was not always sure he would be physically able to play in Game 1, but he recovered fast enough to get on the ice.
“Just super grateful to be back out,” Tkachuk said. “I’ve got a ton of people to thank for getting me ready to play in the playoffs. It’s pretty self-explanatory; it’s nice going out there and playing for them.”
He said after the game he may have eased back into the game at first. But soon enough, he was back to form, earning a roughing penalty on Nikita Kucherov before scoring twice to help put the Lightning away.
“There were some plays in the game I wish could have back and was just kind of maybe dipping my toe a little bit at the start,” Tkachuk said.
Maurice said a concern entering the game was how Tkachuk would adjust to the game when being thrown into a playoff environment. He passed with flying colors.
“It was mostly just an unknown because he hadn’t had a lot of practice time before, a lot of battle time,” Maurice said. “… It’s one thing to put a player back in the regular season, especially. But the playoffs are such a different animal. So I’ll watch him very closely, but … even when Matthew was not at 100 percent, I saw him play an incredibly smart game with a broken collarbone, and I think he had three of our best chances to score that night against Vegas two years ago, so he can adapt his game.”
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Fortunately, he felt as good as he performed.
“I felt great,” Tkachuk said.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said he was checking in with Tkachuk throughout the game, and the blowout win allowed Maurice to keep the star on the bench a little longer than usual. Tkachuk logged 11:43 of ice time on Tuesday after averaging 18:13 during the season.
Maurice said he’s optimistic Tkachuk will be ready to pick up where he left off in Thursday night’s Game 2 in Tampa Bay.
“He got through the game fine, and seems fine today,” Maurice said. “We’ll get the morning skate out of him and make sure nothing’s changed for tomorrow.”
Tkachuk said he was not always sure he would be physically able to play in Game 1, but he recovered fast enough to get on the ice.
“Just super grateful to be back out,” Tkachuk said. “I’ve got a ton of people to thank for getting me ready to play in the playoffs. It’s pretty self-explanatory; it’s nice going out there and playing for them.”
He said after the game he may have eased back into the game at first. But soon enough, he was back to form, earning a roughing penalty on Nikita Kucherov before scoring twice to help put the Lightning away.
“There were some plays in the game I wish could have back and was just kind of maybe dipping my toe a little bit at the start,” Tkachuk said.
Maurice said a concern entering the game was how Tkachuk would adjust to the game when being thrown into a playoff environment. He passed with flying colors.
“It was mostly just an unknown because he hadn’t had a lot of practice time before, a lot of battle time,” Maurice said. “… It’s one thing to put a player back in the regular season, especially. But the playoffs are such a different animal. So I’ll watch him very closely, but … even when Matthew was not at 100 percent, I saw him play an incredibly smart game with a broken collarbone, and I think he had three of our best chances to score that night against Vegas two years ago, so he can adapt his game.”
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