Matthew Tkachuk had quite a night on Tuesday in Tampa.

The star forward played his first game for the Florida Panthers since early February after suffering an apparent groin injury during the 4 Nations Face-Off while representing the United States.

Before his injury, Tkahcuk was on one heck of a tear.

In the eight games leading up to 4 Nations, Tkachuk racked up a ridiculous eight goals and 16 points, including seven goals over a six-game goal stream.

Despite the gap of several months between games, it appears Tkachuk has picked up right where he left off.

He scored a pair of power play goals less than five minutes apart during the second period of Florida’s 6-2 victory over the Lightning in Game 1, adding an assist on Nate Schmidt's third period PPG to cap off his impressive night.

"It's just great to be out there," he said. "I'm super grateful, and it just makes you realize how great of a game it is, and the best thing in the world is being out there competing, being around the guys, and just everything."

Tkachuk ended up playing just 19 shifts over 11:43 of playing time, about six and a half minutes less than his average TOI during the season.

He finished with three shots on five attempts but was not credited with any hits or blocked shots.

"I know there are some plays in the game where I wish I could have back, and just kind of was maybe dipping my toe a little bit at the start, but I feel great," said Tkachuk.

Barring any setbacks, Tkachuk will be back on the ice with the Panthers when they face Tampa Bay in Game 2 on Thursday night.

With a fully healthy stable of forwards, Florida is able to match up quite well with Tampa, even on the road, as the Cats can roll four lines deep and are comfortable defensively regardless of which group is on the ice.

"They're such a great team, and it's going to take everybody to play against them, and I thought that's where our depth shows," said Tkachuk. "Just playing hard each and every shift, you have guys that are being really physical, chipping pucks…we know the recipe of how we need to play, and I thought our depth really showed it."

It also helps that each of the Panthers, longtime members and the newest additions, all have excellent grasps of Florida's five-man defensive systems.

The work put in by everyone on the roster over the past couple months, both on the ice and in the video room, is showing through at the best time.

"I thought everybody was really good, and we're all playing the same game right now so it's each to rad off," said Tkachuk. "It's good to see."

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