Stanley Cup: Matthew Tkachuk sank again in Indiscipline in Game 2

For the second consecutive Stanley Cup Final, Matthew Tkachuk emerged for the wrong reasons Monday night, scoring 22 penalty kicks in the Panthers’ 7-2 loss in Florida at the hands of the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

First, star forward Jack Eichel hit hard when he tried out with 2:04 left in the second half.

Tkachuk charged Eshel, who seemed to have lost his balance before contact when he saw his opponent lunge at him, to knock him hard onto the ice. Eshel immediately got up and looked pained as he quickly left for the locker room.

“No matter who you are, don’t walk across the middle of the ice with your head down or you’ll get hit,” Tkachuk said in the locker room after the game.

On the sequence, Tkachuk received a severe penalty, as well as a 10-minute misconduct penalty.

After the match, Eshel admitted that he was in a vulnerable position and did not seek to accuse Tkachuk.

“I didn’t see it until the last minute. It’s a legal check, it was a huge crash,” Eichel admitted on TNT after the game. When that happens, you have to get up and keep playing. I give credit to my teammates for defending me.”

“He was hit hard,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. I asked him in between periods if he was ok and he said yes. It is part of hockey in June. Sometimes you have to get hurt in order to win and it’s never easy. »

Fortunately for the Knights, Eichel returned to the bench at the start of the third period. The No. 9 was quickly made clear by setting up the second goal of the evening from Jonathan Marchesault 2:10 into the third period.

“It was a good check. It’s hockey. It was great news to see him again. “It gave us some juice, and sometimes it can take energy from the other team,” Cassidy said.

Tkachuk also put his signature on the scoresheet in the third period by scoring his first goal of the series with just over seven minutes left in the game to cut the lead to 6-2.

Then, moments later, Tkachuk received another 10-minute misconduct penalty. He first knocked the stick out of Michael Amadeo’s hands in a scuffle, before directing a plastic rat that had been thrown across the rink towards the Golden Knights bench.

“We have to prepare well for the next match and get some momentum from our side,” Tkachuk said in the dressing room after the match.

“It’s a similar team to Boston, but not the same weight. They have a lot of players who like to counter-attack. At this level, it’s like Toronto. We managed to contain Toronto. Hopefully we can do the same for them from now on.”

In the first match, Tkachuk was also penalized after hitting Nicholas Hague during a brawl. He then received a double minor penalty for roughness and misconduct for 10 minutes.