Tkachuk spoke about injury while chatting on the Missin Curfew podcast with Shane O'Brien and Scotty Upshall
Believe it or not, Matthew Tkachuk is still just in his mid-20s.
The young All-Star has done well making a name for himself in the NHL over the past few years, but he took a big step toward cementing his legacy during the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season.
First it was with his clutch play, stepping up for the Florida Panthers in the biggest moments as the team made an improbable run all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
Then it was in his grit and determination.
Tkachuk suffered a broken sternum during Game 3 of the Final.
He then scored the tying goal in the final minutes, leading to the Panthers claiming victory in overtime of a must-win game.
Tkachuk would try to give it a go during Game 4 but ended up missing most of the third period before gutting it out at the end of the third period as Florida tried to tie the game and even up the series.
Neither would come to fruition. Florida lost Game 4, and Game 5 back in Vegas, dropping the Stanley Cup Final in five games to the Golden Knights.
As much as he wanted to, Tkahcuk couldn’t play in Game 5 for Florida.
Now, the 25-year-old superstar is healing, taking some down time and trying to process the incredible run he led Florida on over the past couple months.
“I’m feeling…ahh I don’t’ know, you just have to let it heal,” Tkachuk said this week during an appearance on the Missin Curfew podcast with Shane O’Brien and Scottie Upshall. “It’s nothing really in my control right now. You can let it frustrate you as much as you want, at the end of the day it’s got to take multiple weeks. I’ll see how I am in a month, month and a half. “
After a long and grueling hockey season, taking some down time and letting the body relax and regenerate is essential.
That is especially true for Tkachuk, who gave everything he had, both physically and emotionally, while trying to help the Panthers win the Stanley Cup.
“I’m I ust trying to relax right now,” he said. “I was really, really, really busy for eleven months, really since the trade. I was coming down (to South Florida), trying to get a house, training camp was coming up, it was just full-on, throttle-on for eleven months.”
When you go as hard as you can for as long as you can, it can lead to some very difficult and trying times during the season.
As such, Tkachuk is wise in that he knows now that he’s got some down time, the best thing he can do is lean into it.
Embrace the opportunity to chill, because in his profession, those chances don’t come along too often.
“If they’re telling me to only take two weeks off, I’m taking four,” Tkachuk said. “I need a little bit of rest and recovery, and I’ll come back stronger.”
Speaking about the experience of both making the playoffs after a late-season run and then going on a stretch of success that took them all the way to the Final, Tkachuk reiterated the sentiment that the knowledge gained by he and his teammates was invaluable.
“I really enjoyed the fight till the end,” he said. “I’ve never been in that position before.”
It was that hunger, that drive that Florida showed late in the season that not only got them into the playoffs, but fueled the fire that led them to being three wins away from hoisting the Stanley Cup.
Now that know, to a man, what it takes to reach that point, to be on the cusp of achieving the ultimate goal
“You have to have that mindset where you have to play so desperate down the stretch,” he said. “Turn that switch on is pretty tough.
“I just felt for us, that’s something the guys are going to take from this year. That’s only going to help us. We learned so many lessons this year.”
It’s true what they say, knowledge it power.
The Panthers and their young core are full of confidence and hope that what they accomplished during the playoffs was just beginning.
Yeah, they reached the Final, but as far as Florida is concerned, this was only the beginning.
“We’re all (around) the same age and this is going to make us so much more successful down the road,” Tkachuk said.
If nothing else, bring on the return of the playoff beards.
“I loved having that beard as long as I did,” Tkachuk said through a grin. “That was the longest I ever hard a beard. I’m motivated to try and beat it next year.”