Matthew Tkachuk is still doing it all for the Panthers, minus the flash

NEW YORK — Matthew Tkachuk spoiled us a year ago.

There were so many big moments during the Florida Panthers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final.

The overtime goals. The game winners. The big hits. The crashing of the net.

And the personality and pizzazz that’s perfect for the glitz and glamour of South Florida.

That’s why the mouthguard-twirling, mullet-donning hockey player ended up riffing with Charles and Shaq behind the “NBA on TNT” desk during Miami Heat games and hopping on “The Pat McAfee Show.”

This postseason, the Panthers have nine wins, and Tkachuk is leading them with 16 points.

Yet it feels so much quieter than last year. We really haven’t had our first big Matthew Tkachuk moment, yet he continues to play at such an elite level.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice has spent the past few days fielding questions as though something’s been wrong with Tkachuk’s play. Tkachuk, on the eve of Wednesday’s Eastern Conference final opener against the New York Rangers, discussed why, in the Boston series, he only had one goal in a Game 1 loss and four assists the rest of the way.

“I’d say last series was not a ton of goal scoring and more of the playmaking and more of the physicality, but we’ll see what this round holds for myself,” Tkachuk said Tuesday night.

Well, apparently, it’ll be a little bit of everything.

This shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody after he scored four times in last year’s Eastern Conference final sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes, including three game winners. Tkachuk did it all in Florida’s one-sided 3-0 victory over the Rangers, which came inside, not so coincidentally, his favorite opposing stage, the venue he called a “dream” to be playing in — the storied Madison Square Garden, a slap shot away from Broadway.

Tkachuk’s seal-breaking, first-period goal was also the game winner, making him the first player in NHL history with four game-winning goals through his first five career games in the conference finals. Tkachuk also hammered Vincent Trocheck with a pair of first-period hits, including a well-timed open-ice doozy that Trocheck didn’t see coming. Tkachuk’s aggressive forecheck caused multiple giveaways on a night when the Rangers had trouble getting out of their zone cleanly.

Tkachuk would have set up Aleksander Barkov for a 2-0 lead in the second period, but Igor Shesterkin foiled that opportunity. Tkachuk was the guy to whom Carter Verhaeghe tried to make a tape-to-tape pass at the backdoor in the third period after a Shesterkin turnover. Instead, Verhaeghe hit Alexis Lafrenière on the tape for a back-breaking own goal for the Rangers. And it was Tkachuk who assisted on Sam Bennett’s empty net goal.

LOOK FOR THE TKACHUK TRUCK 🛻💨 pic.twitter.com/VuAsHLxKZ7

— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) May 23, 2024

Tkachuk has been singing Barkov’s praises all playoffs, especially after their series-clinching win last week in Boston. But Barkov, after Wednesday’s win put the Panthers three wins from their second consecutive Prince of Wales Trophy, said, “I can say the same things about him. He’s a leader. He’s a true leader of this team. He does everything (that) he can, and today was a good example of that. He set the tone physically and made some plays and did whatever he does at his best and we just follow his lead.”

Playing in a hostile environment against the Presidents’ Trophy winners, it was critical for the Panthers to score that first goal Wednesday night and to lull the lively arena to sleep by making life incredibly difficult for the Rangers.

Well, this was a vintage Panthers victory in which they banged bodies, had possession of the puck, wreaked havoc on the Rangers’ breakout with a stifling forecheck and relied on Sergei Bobrovsky to make the big saves when they needed him to. And he sure did during a late third-period burst after New York killed a third Florida power play and went on a threatening flurry that nearly tied the score in a game in which the Panthers, to that juncture, had frustrated them to no end.

“I guess it was kind of your ideal road win for us on how we want to play,” Tkachuk said. “We’re very comfortable in the low-scoring games. We’ve got a lot of offensive guys on the team. But guys have bought into a certain style of play that has worked for us and has to keep working for us. That’s the best way to win in the playoffs. It’s a hard style to play, but it’s a hard style to play against.”

And that’s really where Tkachuk set the tone.

This was a low-event game, but on a big stage like the Eastern Conference final, players naturally want to put on a show.

Well, Tkachuk is the one who seemed to settle down the Panthers during every shift he played on a line with veteran Verhaeghe, who extended his franchise record with his 22nd career playoff goal, and the 22-year-old Anton Lundell.

Tkachuk wasn’t his normal flashy self of last postseason. He was simply … effective.

“What he did tonight was (he) righted our team back to the simple parts of our game,” Maurice said. “You always want to do more. These are the best players in the world and they’re capable of doing more. But sometimes the less is just way better, and it’s also quite a bit smarter. And I thought he led in that department.

“There wasn’t a lot of creativity in (Tkachuk’s) game. That’s not a bad thing. Most of his special creativity happens in about a three-foot area around (the net) where you’re like, ‘How the hell did he do that?’ … But it’s kind of playoff hockey. It’s happening so fast out there. There’s not a lot of room to create. And he didn’t try to push that envelope. I thought that was very good as a leader, especially. … When he plays a simple game, then everybody else can fall in.”

The other area in which Tkachuk is invaluable is allowing Maurice to feel comfortable putting a youngster like Lundell, who has had a sensational playoff, on the second line next to him.

Lundell was plus-3 in Game 1.

“The things that make Matthew Tkachuk special is, you can take a guy that’s coming into his third year and give him that shot, and he’s encouraging that kid on the bench,” Maurice said. “He’s directing. He’s intense with him. So, Anton Lundell feels now, as a guy that’s really in his second full, hard year in the NHL, in terms of playoffs, that he can contribute. He plays and he drives. … The most important person in a player’s life is the guy sitting beside him, especially when you’re young. That’s where the real mentorship happens.”

MATTHEW TKACHUK SCORES THE FIRST GOAL OF THE ECF 🔥 pic.twitter.com/XXdWFl1YGm

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 23, 2024

Tkachuk now has 23 goals and 55 points in 59 career playoff games. His dad, Keith, by the way, had 28 goals and 56 points in 89 career playoff games.

Tkachuk is now the third 40-point getter in Panthers playoff history, behind Barkov and Verhaeghe. This is a guy who was a Hart Trophy finalist last season with 109 points.

Yet he says it’s not about points for him. It’s about something else vastly more important, and this is where he again sets that tone for the Panthers.

“I don’t put any pressure on myself to score or produce offense,” Tkachuk said. “I guess that’s part of my game — a big part of my game, but at the end of the day, it’s not about myself here.

“There’s a way bigger goal ahead. Guys on our team that didn’t score tonight were some of our best players. It could be somebody different each and every night, but there is so much buy-in from everybody that nobody cares who’s producing, who’s doing whatever, who’s doing the hitting.

“I mean, at the end of the day, we’re here for wins. That’s it.”

So far, so good, then.

Now onto Game 2, and while we maybe still haven’t seen that first big Matthew Tkachuk moment this postseason, he’s been dynamite nonetheless.

Still, don’t you get the sense it’s coming?

(Photo of Matthew Tkachuk: Elsa / Getty Images)