Panthers' Matthew Tkachuk Punishes Opponents with a Matured Game

How many points could Matthew Tkachuk produce if he wasn't stuck in the penalty box? The NHL is finding out as he refines a crucial balance in his game.

TORONTO – When former NHLer Ryan Whitney proclaimed on a podcast last week that Matthew Tkachuk was the best “American-born player,” it seemed like the kind of thing someone from Boston would say to troll fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The best American? Surely, Whitney had forgotten about Auston Matthews. You know, the guy who scored 60 goals and won the Hart Trophy as league MVP a year ago.

Of course, that was in the regular season. The playoffs, as Tkachuk proved in a first-round series win against the Bruins, are a completely different animal. And in a 4-2 win in Game 1 against the Leafs on Tuesday, the Florida Panthers forward was once again a total beast.

Not only did Tkachuk pick up three assists to hammer home Whitney’s point that Tkachuk should be up for consideration as the best American player these days. But with five goals and a playoff-leading 14 points in eight games, you could make the argument that the Arizona-born winger has emerged as the NHL’s best player — period.

“He was floating,” deadpanned Panthers coach Paul Maurice following Tuesday’s win.

Flying might have been a more accurate adjective to describe Tkachuk’s play against the Leafs. He was everywhere. He hit everything. He was a shift-disturbing handful every single time he was on the ice.

There was obviously his physical play, which is what separates him from Matthews and many others. But more than that, it was his offensive skill that really stood out.

Tkachuk set up Florida’s first goal by casually toe-dragging the puck around Mitch Marner, who earlier in the day had been recognized as a finalist for the league’s top defensive forward. In the second period, he drew a couple of defenders toward him deep in the offensive zone and then found a wide-open Aaron Ekblad for a point shot that was redirected by Sam Bennett. And during a delayed penalty in the third, Tkachuk completed the hat-trick of assists by faking a wrist shot and then feeding Brandon Montour for a one-timer that put the game out of reach.

“He’s a force,” said Bennett. “He’s a great player. He steps up in big games and he’s physical. He makes plays, he scores goals. He’s one of the rarest players in the NHL, I’d say.”

Indeed, there are a lot of players who can put up points. And there are plenty who can play with a physical edge. But aside from Boston’s Brad Marchand, there’s not a whole lot who can blend the two so perfectly — all while keeping their emotions in check.

It’s a skill. One that took Tkachuk, who led the Panthers with 40 goals and 109 points, as well as 123 penalty minutes this season, took some time to master.

Just ask Buffalo Sabres coach Don Granato, who coached a teenaged Tkachuk for a couple of years at the USA Hockey National Development Team Program.

“He’s just so strategically smart and intelligent when it comes to getting people off their game,” said Granato. “I remember we played Russia in Prievidza, Slovakia. And it was an all-out brawl. And I don’t know if that starts without Matthew in that game. He brings emotion into the game and drags others into it. He forces his teammates to elevate their game. There’s a ripple effect.”

Those ripples sometimes turned into Tsunami-sized waves. While Tkachuk had 33 points in 24 games as a 16-year-old, he also racked up 75 penalty minutes. As Granato and others wondered, imagine how many more points he would have scored had he been on the ice for those 75 minutes?

It’s a question that Maurice also started to ask midway through the year. By then, Tkachuk had already accumulated 74 penalty minutes in 49 games. While Maurice didn’t want to take away from what made Tkachuk so effective, he needed him to stay out of the box if the Panthers were going to make a run at the playoffs.

In February, Tkachuk responded by taking just three penalties. The next month, he was penalized just six times.

“I think there’s been a maturation to his game,” said Maurice. “In the back-half of our season, he stayed out of the penalty box and understood that he could drive the play and drive the physicality … Matthew is physical, because he’s around the puck and he kind of bumps and hits and he’s heavy. But I think he realized how important he was just on the ice for our team.”

The realization of how important he was to the Panthers’ overall success is what has made Tkachuk so effective in the playoffs. He still plays with an edge, whether it was taking eight penalties against the Bruins in the first round or delivering nine hits against the Leafs on Tuesday. But he’s also learned to turn the other cheek, like when he received a big, open-ice bodycheck from Toronto’s Luke Schenn that knocked Tkachuk on his back and his stick from his hands.

In the past, Tkachuk may have got up and retaliated and may have earned a two-minute minor penalty. Or worse, he may have allowed the hit to knock him off his game. But thanks to Maurice, who Tkachuk credited as a “calming influence,” there is less of that wildfire that at times would rage out of control when Tkachuk was playing for Darryl Sutter in Calgary.

“He’s been somebody that I’ve just really enjoyed playing for. He’s really smart,” Tkachuk said of Maurice. “He’s someone who I’ve learned a lot from. He’s personally taken my game and made me into a way better player. For that, I thank him.”

Indeed, there is a certain obliviousness to Tkachuk’s game. He’s no longer interested in stirring up rivalries like he once did with Los Angeles’ Drew Doughty. He’s certainly got no time for debates about whether he or Matthews is the better American-born player.

Right now, it’s all about the playoffs and trying to advance past the Leafs in the second round. Everything else, he said, “doesn’t mean anything.”