The Maple Leafs have a Matthew Tkachuk problem
The favoured team had no answer for the force of nature that is Tkachuk and if that continues, things could get very interesting in this series
Even after registering three assists, nine hits and five shot attempts, Matthew Tkachuk was not the best player in the NHL Tuesday night. Hell, he wasn’t even the best American. Both those designations went to Joe Pavelski, a 38-year-old coming off a concussion, who scored four goals.
But unlike Pavelski, whose heroics went for naught in the Dallas Stars’ 5-4 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series, Tkachuk was the driving force in a Game 1 victory. Florida Panthers’ goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was excellent and the Panthers had a perfect game plan for their series opener against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it was Tkachuk who drove play and left the most indelible mark on the proceedings, not to mention the bodies of his opponents.
And that should come as no surprise. If not for Connor McDavid’s otherworldly season, Tkachuk would win the Hart Trophy for 2022-23 for dragging the Panthers into the playoffs. Then he willed his team to one of the biggest upsets in the history of the game in Round 1. Are you picking up on a trend here? Momentum is largely overrated game-to-game in the playoffs, but in-game and personal momentum can be huge factors. And right now, there isn’t a player who is a scarier opponent than Matthew Tkachuk. And unless the Maple Leafs find a way to stop him, and to a lesser extent his linemates Sam Bennett and Nick Cousins, their magical playoff run is in jeopardy of ending less than halfway through the post-season.
But how? Tkachuk is a tour de force to begin with. But when a guy like that - with that kind of skill, that ability to punish opponents and that dominating a personality - gets on a roll, he can be impossible to stop. There is no doubt that one season after Tkachuk was dealt to Florida, the Panthers are his team. Aleksander Barkov wears the ‘C’ in Florida, but this is a team that clearly falls in line with Tkachuk, a guy who leads by example and doesn’t allow for silly things such as 43-point differences in the standings bring them down.
“He’s a force,” Bennett said. “He’s a great player. He steps up in big games, he’s physical, he makes plays, he scores goals. He’s one of the rarest players in the NHL I would say, so I’m glad he’s on our team. I love playing with him. He gives me a lot of confidence out there. We’re able to play physical and make a lot of plays. He really slows the game down, which makes it easier.”
Panthers coach Paul Maurice pointed out after Game 1 that Bennett is actually the harder hitter and the more physical player on that line, but Tkachuk is the player who has everyone looking over their shoulders. You combine that with a very sick set of mitts, which he exhibited when he walked Selke Trophy finalist and former London Knights running mate Mitch Marner in setting up the Panthers’ first goal, and you have a very unique player.
And here’s the thing. The way Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe was speaking the morning of Game 1, it was clear his team was spending a lot of time focusing on Tkachuk and his potential impact. And he still went out and shredded them. Keefe started the game matching up the line of John Tavares between MMarner and Calle Jarnkrok against the Panthers’ top line and that didn’t work. Keefe then made adjustments to get Ryan O’Reilly out there more against that group and that didn’t work either. On the Panthers’ fourth goal, the Leafs were so focused on Tkachuk - who had just drawn a delayed penalty to give the Panthers an extra man - that it left Brandon Montour all alone in a scoring area where he delivered a clap-bomb to the back of the net.
Tkachuk took 39 of his 123 penalty minutes this season in the final four games, but he preceded that with a stretch in which he took just one minor penalty in 14 games. Panthers’ coach Paul Maurice noticed a maturation in Tkachuk’s game as the season went on. Tkachuk finished the season fourth in PIM in the NHL, just three minutes behind little brother Brady, but 63 of those minutes were accumulated in just five games. So if you throw out those five games, Tkachuk actually averaged just one minor penalty every 2-1/2 games.
“In the back half of our season, he stayed out of the penalty box and understood that he could drive play and drive physicality,” Maurice said. “Matthew is physical in that he’s around the puck and he bumps and hits and he’s heavy. But I think he realized just how important he is just on the ice for our team. His reputation doesn’t match Jan. 1 on, his last 40 games. It’s just been pure production and compete.”
Sounds an awful lot like a guy who is coming to realize just how good he can be, that he can be among the best players in the game. He can certainly be the best player in a playoff series, a difference maker who has the potential to alter the balance of power. That should have the Panthers pretty excited and the Leafs more than a little concerned.