'They Brought A Little Juice': Paul Maurice Sticking With Line Featuring Sam Bennett Centering Tkachuk Brothers

The Florida Panthers played their home opener on Saturday night in Sunrise, losing 4-1 to the Minnesota Wild.

While the game itself wasn’t much to write home about for the 19,000-plus packed inside Amerant Bank Arena, there was one thing that happened on the ice that fans had been clamoring over for the past few months.

During the third period, with Florida trailing 3-1 and pushing for one of their trademark ‘Comeback Cats’ efforts, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice sent a forward line over the boards that turned more than a few heads.

In the time since Florida acquired Brady Tkachuk over the summer, whether it be on social media or in press conferences with the media, the idea of a line featuring the Tkachuk brothers flanking Sam Bennett has come up more than a few times.

Before training camp, Maurice actually joked that “they’d be in jail before the puck drops” when asked about playing the trio together during the season.

Well, apparently he was willing to risk the run in with the law on Saturday, because Maurice actually said the plan was to move Brady Tkachuk to the Bennett line earlier in the game, but thanks to four power plays in a 14-minute span between the second and third periods, we didn’t see the group on the ice together at even strength until about six minutes into the final frame.

“I was just trying to get a little more speed in some different areas,” Maurice said after the game. “They were fine, you would have seen it earlier but the penalties came one right after another, so they didn't see it till about the 13-minute mark of the third period, but that was planned earlier. It has to relate to the 12, how it moves the other guys around the bench. I didn't mind it, they brought a little juice.”

In terms of advanced metrics, there isn’t a ton of data to go off since the line only played a couple shifts together, but despite the small sample size, the trio received high marks.

They were perfect in terms of Corsi and Fenwick, creating a scoring chance without allowing one. That scoring chance was also a high danger opportunity that drew a penalty.

Interestingly, the line graded out well defensively despite having two of their three starts coming in the defensive zone; the third was an offensive zone faceoff.

Perhaps that’s why it wasn’t very surprising to see the line back together when the Panthers took the ice for practice on Sunday at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale.

It seems Maurice is going to see how the unit looks from the start of a game when Florida faces the Buffalo Sabres on the road Monday afternoon.

"There’s enough there," Maurice said following Sunday's practice. "They’re all heavy, they can all forecheck a puck and hang onto it. There’s not a cost to us with that line right now.”

Maurice added that he wants to give Sam Reinhart some time playing center, which could lead to more of the Bennett-Tkachuk brothers skating together.

Reinhart centered a line with Carter Verhaeghe on the left and Sam Lafferty on the right during Sunday's skate. 

As for Bennett, centering the Tkachuks is one change that he has previously said he would enjoy seeing more of.

“Obviously they’re two great players that play a similar style to me, and we can definitely play physical, we can use our skill,” said Bennett. “It'd be fun to get a couple more looks with them.”

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Photo caption: Sep 20, 2026; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers left wing MatthewTkachuk(19) and his brother, left wing BradyTkachuk(8), sit on the bench during the third period against the Carolina Hurricanes at (Jim Rassol-Imagn Images)