Panthers unsure of Tkachuk’s status for Game 5
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
SUNRISE, Fla. — The status of Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk was uncertain after their Game 4 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night.
Tkachuk played just 16 minutes, 40 seconds in the 3-2 loss, which moved Vegas one win away from capturing its first Stanley Cup. He was clearly laboring in the game and skated only four shifts during the third period.
“Obviously, you want to be out there playing. Just was able to go out there at the end and tried to make some magic happen late but ran out of time,” Tkachuk said.
Florida coach Paul Maurice wouldn’t disclose what was affecting Tkachuk and wouldn’t confirm his status for Tuesday’s potential elimination game back in Las Vegas.
“We got two days off to assess that. Get some good rest and we’ll make that decision [then],” he said.
What would it take for Tkachuk to miss Game 5?
“That’s a tough question. I don’t really want to talk about that right now,” said the winger, who leads the Panthers with 11 goals and 13 assists this postseason.
It was the second-lowest total ice time for Tkachuk in the playoffs, behind Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, during which Tkachuk amassed 22 penalty minutes.
He did very little shooting in warmups and didn’t have his usual velocity during Game 4. He managed four shots on goal on eight shot attempts, but Tkachuk went 10:41 between shifts in the third period as Florida attempted to rally from a 3-0 deficit.
“Matthew’s been a grinder his whole life, and he was again tonight,” Maurice said. “We were just looking and hoping to get into a situation where he could use what he had to give us and hopefully get on the power play a little earlier, I guess, than certainly at the end of the game.”
The Panthers earned their only power play of the game with just under 18 seconds remaining after Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo sent the puck over glass in the defensive zone.
There was speculation after the game that Tkachuk might have been feeling the effects of the Game 3 hit delivered by Golden Knights forward Keegan Kolesar. Tkachuk was pulled from that contest in the first period by NHL concussion spotters but was cleared to return in the second period. He would eventually score the game-tying goal ahead of Carter Verhaeghe‘s overtime winner.
“That’s just not going to come out right now,” Tkachuk said, when asked about the Game 3 hit.
Tkachuk was asked if his time off the ice in the third was due to being in too much pain.
“I don’t even know how to answer that, really. Just trying to find a way out there to make it work tonight and came up just probably a second short,” he said. “Time ran out there with me and [Sam Bennett] whacking away. Two more seconds there, you never know.”
The end of the game was chaotic. The Panthers scrambled to get pucks on goalie Adin Hill (29 saves) in the final seconds of their 6-on-4 power play. Tkachuk had the puck on his stick right before the buzzer sounded. Then several scrums started, as Hill took exception to Florida defenseman Brandon Montour crashing his net after the horn sounded.
As garbage and plastic rats littered the ice — fans had been frustrated with the officiating for the two games in Sunrise — Hill earned a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct while Montour was given a charging minor and a 10-minute misconduct.
Tkachuk was given slashing and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties as well as his fourth 10-minute misconduct of the series. Tkachuk now has five 10-minute misconducts this postseason, the seventh player all time to have that many in a single postseason.
“A little mayhem after the buzzer there, but everyone on our ice there did our job to keep the puck out,” Hill said.
Florida captain Aleksander Barkov said it was a by-product of a hard-played game.
“Those scrums are going to come. We were close to tying the game, and there are a lot of guys at the net, and those things happen,” he said.
Teams up 3-1 in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final have won 36 of 37 series. The only team to rally from that deficit was the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, who came back from a 3-0 hole to defeat the Detroit Red Wings for the Cup.
But the Panthers do have something to cling to heading into Game 5: their shocking first-round win over the Boston Bruins after rallying from a 3-1 series deficit. It all started with a Game 5 overtime victory on the road, on the first of three overtime winners from Tkachuk in this run to the Stanley Cup Final.
“It was just like a really short-term mindset or there: Get the first goal in Boston, get it to overtime,” Tkachuk said. “Just the longer games go against all these teams, all the pressure starts to shift to them. So it’s going to Vegas, and the longer it goes, longer the game goes, the longer the series goes, all the pressure goes to them.”
Maurice said that before Game 5 his players will be reminded plenty of that rally against the Bruins.
“We’ll tell stories over the next two days, for sure, reminders of the energy level we brought into Game 5 in Boston,” he said, “and we’ll celebrate it. We’ll celebrate it before the puck drops.”
It’s 2025 MLB All-Star Home Run Derby day in Atlanta!
Some of the most dynamic home run hitters in baseball will be taking aim at the Truist Park stands on Monday (8 p.m. ET on ESPN) in one of the most anticipated events of the summer.
While the prospect of a back-to-back champion is out of the picture — 2024 winner Teoscar Hernandez is not a part of this year’s field — a number of exciting stars will be taking the field, including Atlanta’s own Matt Olson, who replaced Ronald Acuna Jr. just three days before the event. Will Olson make a run in front of his home crowd? Will Cal Raleigh show off the power that led to 38 home runs in the first half? Or will one of the younger participants take the title?
We have your one-stop shop for everything Derby related, from predictions to live updates once we get underway to analysis and takeaways at the night’s end.
MLB Home Run Derby field
Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners (38 home runs in 2025)
James Wood, Washington Nationals (24)
Junior Caminero, Tampa Bay Rays (23)
Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins (21)
Brent Rooker, Athletics (20)
Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves (17)
Jazz Chisholm Jr., New York Yankees (17)
Oneil Cruz, Pittsburgh Pirates (16)
Live updates
Who is going to win the Derby and who will be the runner-up?
Jeff Passan: Raleigh. His swing is perfect for the Derby: He leads MLB this season in both pull percentage and fly ball percentage, so it’s not as if he needs to recalibrate it to succeed. He has also become a prolific hitter from the right side this season — 16 home runs in 102 at-bats — and his ability to switch between right- and left-handed pitching offers a potential advantage. No switch-hitter (or catcher for that matter) has won a Home Run Derby. The Big Dumper is primed to be the first, beating Buxton in the finals.
Alden Gonzalez: Cruz. He might be wildly inconsistent at this point in his career, but he is perfect for the Derby — young enough to possess the stamina required for a taxing event that could become exhausting in the Atlanta heat; left-handed, in a ballpark where the ball carries out better to right field; and, most importantly, capable of hitting balls at incomprehensible velocities. Raleigh will put on a good show from both sides of the plate but will come in second.
Buster Olney: Olson. He is effectively pinch-hitting for Acuna, and because he received word in the past 72 hours of his participation, he hasn’t had the practice rounds that the other competitors have been going through. But he’s the only person in this group who has done the Derby before, which means he has experienced the accelerated pace, adrenaline and push of the crowd.
His pitcher, Eddie Perez, knows something about performing in a full stadium in Atlanta. And, as Olson acknowledged in a conversation Sunday, the park generally favors left-handed hitters because of the larger distances that right-handed hitters must cover in left field.
Jesse Rogers: Olson. Home-field advantage will mean something this year as hitting in 90-plus degree heat and humidity will be an extra challenge in Atlanta. Olson understands that and can pace himself accordingly. Plus, he was a late addition. He has got nothing to lose. He’ll outlast the young bucks in the field. And I’m not putting Raleigh any lower than second — his first half screams that he’ll be in the finals against Olson.
Jorge Castillo: Wood. His mammoth power isn’t disputed — he can jack baseballs to all fields. But the slight defect in his power package is that he doesn’t hit the ball in the air nearly as often as a typical slugger. Wood ranks 126th out of 155 qualified hitters across the majors in fly ball percentage. And he still has swatted 24 home runs this season. So, in an event where he’s going to do everything he can to lift baseballs, hitting fly balls won’t be an issue, and Wood is going to show off that gigantic power en route to a victory over Cruz in the finals.
Who will hit the longest home run of the night — and how far?
Passan: Cruz hits the ball harder than anyone in baseball history. He’s the choice here, at 493 feet.
Gonzalez: If you exclude the Coors Field version, there have been just six Statcast-era Derby home runs that have traveled 497-plus feet. They were compiled by two men: Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. James Wood — all 6-foot-7, 234 pounds of him — will become the third.
Olney: James Wood has the easy Stanton- and Judge-type power, and he will clear the Chophouse with the longest homer. Let’s say 497 feet.
Rogers: Hopefully he doesn’t injure himself doing it, but Buxton will break out his massive strength and crush a ball at least 505 feet. I don’t see him advancing far in the event, but for one swing, he’ll own the night.
Castillo: Cruz hits baseballs hard and far. He’ll crush a few bombs, and one will reach an even 500 feet.
Who is the one slugger fans will know much better after the Derby?
Passan: Buxton capped his first half with a cycle on Saturday, and he’ll carry that into the Derby, where he will remind the world why he was baseball’s No. 1 prospect in 2015. Buxton’s talent has never been in question, just his health. And with his body feeling right, he has the opportunity to put on a show fans won’t soon forget.
Olney: Caminero isn’t a big name and wasn’t a high-end prospect like Wood was earlier in his career. Just 3½ years ago, Caminero was dealt to the Rays by the Cleveland Guardians in a relatively minor November trade for pitcher Tobias Myers. But since then, he has refined his ability to cover inside pitches and is blossoming this year into a player with ridiculous power. He won’t win the Derby, but he’ll open some eyes.
What’s the one moment we’ll all be talking about long after this Derby ends?
Gonzalez: The incredible distances and velocities that will be reached, particularly by Wood, Cruz, Caminero, Raleigh and Buxton. The hot, humid weather at Truist Park will only aid the mind-blowing power that will be on display Monday night.
Rogers: The exhaustion on the hitter’s faces, swinging for home run after home run in the heat and humidity of Hot-lanta!
Castillo: Cruz’s 500-foot blast and a bunch of other lasers he hits in the first two rounds before running out of gas in the finals.
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