SUNRISE, Fla. — Matthew Tkachuk, who scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal Tuesday night for the Florida Panthers, revealed after the game that he sustained a torn adductor and a sports hernia all on the same side during the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Tkachuk missed the rest of the regular season after the tournament but returned for Game 1 of the playoffs, scored two goals and an assist in that playoff opener against Tampa Bay, and ended up tying for the team lead with 23 points in the playoffs.
Coach Paul Maurice quipped after Tuesday’s 5-1 win over Edmonton that the medical term for Tkachuk was, “He was a mess.”
Matthew Tkachuk reveals he tore his abductor muscle off the bone, and had “some hernia thing,” which almost kept him out of the playoffs 😳 pic.twitter.com/skGChME1br
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 18, 2025
Tkachuk said a day before Game 6 that he thought he was 50-50 to even play in the playoffs.
“I didn’t know if I was going to come back at the start, and kind of found out the day before I was going to have a chance to play. Day of, honestly,” Tkachuk said. “The first round was definitely the worst I felt, by far, and just knowing that was going to be, other than this round, that was our toughest round, playing Tampa. So I knew that even at nowhere close to what I expected out of myself, I knew I needed to help out as best I can if we’re going to get by them.
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“So I was proud of myself and happy for playing that round. And I had some ups and downs throughout the playoffs, and now I’m feeling the best I’ve felt. So personally, I’m very happy with where the health is and everything, and just very lucky that I’m able to be playing. I did not think I was going to be playing. I shouldn’t say that. I thought there was maybe a 50 percent chance I wouldn’t be playing, as close to about a week or five days before the playoffs started, so very lucky and fortunate that I’ve got great trainers and doctors and they all somehow got me healthy enough to play.”
Tkachuk reiterated after Tuesday’s game, “I wouldn’t be here without the trainers and doctors and all those people. That’s what makes this Cup so special for me is just how it was just to be out there and to get to the point of playing. This Cup is because of them for me. I’m so lucky.’’
Tkachuk became the second player over the past 33 years and sixth in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1968) to lead a repeat Stanley Cup champion in points during each playoff run (outright or tied).
“We had a lot of guys who played through some stuff, Anton Lundell said. “It just shows the guys, we’ve got some real warriors on our team and you know, every single guy is important and we know nobody wants to be away. So, that’s why I’m really proud of the guys as well.”
Maurice said he also wasn’t positive Tkachuk would be able to return.
“But what he does so well is he’s so smart, he managed himself around the ice and around the game that he could still produce, but he wasn’t taking hits, and he wasn’t giving hits,” Maurice said. “He was in open ice, and then he just kind of slowly built that and slowly got in there a little more.
“The last four games were for me the best four games that he played for the Florida Panthers.”
Maurice also said captain Aleksander Barkov split his hand open in Game 1 of the series and Sam Reinhart, who scored four goals Tuesday, sustained a Grade 2 sprained MCL in the Carolina series.
(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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