Matthew Tkachuk's G2 Ejection Called Out by Fans as Panthers Routed by Golden Knights
Scott Polacek@@ScottPolacek
Featured Columnist IVJune 6, 2023
The Vegas Golden Knights are two wins away from their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Vegas seized a 2-0 lead in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final with a commanding 7-2 victory over the Florida Panthers in Monday's Game 2 at T-Mobile Arena. While the home team's offensive firepower and strong play from goaltender Adin Hill (28 saves on 30 shots) made the difference, Matthew Tkachuk's roller-coaster of an evening overshadowed some of the game.
The left-winger received a misconduct penalty in Game 1 and picked up where he left off with another one in the second period of Monday's contest with a hard hit on Jack Eichel.
Eichel skated off but eventually returned, as did Tkachuk. However, the latter's return was short-lived as he received yet another misconduct penalty and was done for the night after scoring a goal.
His performance led to plenty of reaction on social media:
gregg krupa @greggkrupaso, are people beginning to reconsider this whole matthew tkachuk thing? <a href="https://twitter.com/FlaPanthers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FlaPanthers</a> least disciplined performance in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StanleyCupFinal?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StanleyCupFinal</a> in many years!
Tkachuk was excellent in the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes and figured to be Florida's best chance at keeping up with Vegas' litany of scorers, but a garbage-time goal after the outcome was decided and multiple misconducts through two games was not the formula.
The Golden Knights found their path to victory, though, with Jonathan Marchessault and Brett Howden each scoring twice. Alec Martinez, Nicolas Roy and Michael Amadio scored the other goals, and the Panthers ended up pulling goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky in the second period.
The only real concern for Vegas was the status of Eichel after Tkachuk crushed him, but even that didn't last for long because he was back on the ice in the third period and even assisted Marchessault's second goal.
Marchessault now has 12 goals in the playoffs and looked like the best player of the series for extended stretches.
Perhaps Tkachuk can reclaim that status with an impressive showing when the series shifts to Florida for Thursday's Game 3, but he has left plenty to be desired through two losses to start the Stanley Cup Final.