FT. LAUDERDALE — One night after capturing the hockey world’s attention by facing David Pastrnak, Matthew Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers spoke Thursday about the respect he had for the Boston Bruins’ Game 7 first-round hero for accepted his invitation to fight – and explained, piece by piece, how the rare star-on-star fight came to be.
“I think it was just their last six guys doing what they were doing, which I don’t think we really liked on our end — I guess they kind of started there,” Tkachuk said smiling. “I don’t know, I guess I wanted in on the action.” I asked him to fight. He said: “We will do it in the next game. I’m like, “Maybe we should do this now.” » He said, “All right, I’ll be out next shift.” »
“Give him a lot of respect. It’s two guys who aren’t known for fighting – me and him – and two players who are probably more known for the offensive side of the game.”
PASTRNAK AND TKACHUK DROP THE GLOVES! 🥊 pic.twitter.com/RQqDxyOO2F
– Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 9, 2024
In fact, as Tkachuk recalled, “We were both in contention for the Hart last year and just seeing us battle it out at center ice in a playoff game is pretty cool.” . It’s good for hockey. Two emotional guys who are leaders for our teams and just want to show that we will do whatever it takes to win. We weren’t going there to play patty-cake or anything. We were going there to have fun fighting and, I don’t know, try to throw some punches.
The punches came after a pair of massive post-whistle scrums that resulted in 10-minute fouls by Boston’s Pat Maroon, Justin Brazeau, Trent Frederic, Charlie McAvoy and Brad Marchand and Eetu Luostarinen, Dmitry Kulikov , Niko Mikkola, Nick Cousins and from Florida. Sam Reinhart.
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After Tkachuk challenged Pastrnak to a fight, Pastrnak went to the bench for a line change so he could be fresh. You can see on video that he informed coach Jim Montgomery that he would be facing Tkachuk on the next shift. Pastrnak said after the game that he wasn’t afraid of Tkachuk and insinuated that it was time to take a stand with the Bruins being beaten so badly.
“I can take a punch. I would do anything for these guys here,” Pastrnak said.
Pasta and Tkachuk agreed to fight before tackling the next shift! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/HOVK6Spfpi
– Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 9, 2024
Tkachuk is much more experienced than Pastrnak, but he joked that he doesn’t like fighting because his brother, Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk, and his father, former NHL player Keith Tkachuk, “say that I’m not very good at this. »
“At that point you can’t even hear the crowd,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “You don’t even have any idea what you’re doing.” You just pass out and throw as many punches as possible.
“It was a good fight.”
Tkachuk’s father was actually at the match and looked excited after the fight. But when his son received the kick accompanied by a 10-minute misconduct, Matthew said his father “was just excited to be able to leave early.” I think he was ready to get out of there.
As for Matthew, he said he went to the locker room and spent time with his ejected teammates and the coaches.
He’s in the midst of another excellent playoff season, tied for the team lead with 10 points in seven games, and, as coach Paul Maurice pointed out Thursday, he continues to be disciplined, as l ‘showed his lack of response in the first period on Wednesday after Marchand caught him with a monstrous, clean check.
“The real statement of this game was the hit he took from Marchand and (the way he) got up,” Maurice said. “He’s just a player. He knows everything, but he doesn’t start a fire, I don’t think. He was a bit of an arsonist at the beginning of last year, and then that stopped.
Tkachuk said he can’t wait to play Game 3 and hear how Bruins fans will greet him and the Panthers, who upset the Bruins in seven games in last year’s first round. There’s a chance Sam Bennett returns for the first time since his injury in Game 2 of the Tampa Bay series. Maurice said he would participate in Friday’s full morning workout, and then they would decide.
“It’s going to be good. It’s Friday night in Boston,” Tkachuk said. “In the playoffs, I mean, there’s going to be a lot of energy in the rink. Two teams that know each other really well and two teams who really want to win. It’s a very good series at the moment.
Brad Marchand LEVELS Matthew Tkachuk 😱💥 pic.twitter.com/AS5KxYtaTk
– Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) May 8, 2024
“We saw it last year in the playoffs. They weren’t too happy with us coming back for game 5 and especially game 7. We’re used to the hate as an away team, especially our team now with a bit of rivalry building up here. We go out there and we just play. This is what makes us good. It doesn’t matter where we play, who we play. We just play and have fun doing it. So I hope the crowd will motivate us.
As for the postponement, Tkachuk does not expect it.
“We have to try to take the momentum from winning the last game, but in the playoffs it’s almost like whatever happened in the previous game – win or lose, crazy, boring, whatever – It’s a clean, fresh slate that will follow the game.
“Now it’s a best-of-five, and technically they now have home ice, so it’s up to us to win on Friday to get home ice back.”
GO FURTHER
Was David Pastrnak fighting Matthew Tkachuk stupid or awesome? Yes
(Photo: Sam Navarro / USA Today)