Matthew Tkachuk quips about trash-talking Hurricanes players during Panthers' dominant Game 2 win 

Matthew Tkachuk played well in the Florida Panthers’ 5-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. Tkachuk helped his team by assisting the first goal early in the game. He later scored a goal on a pass from Carter Verhaeghe.

Reporter Jackie Redmond asked him postgame about rumors that he was trash-talking during the contest. She said her source told her he was “quite vocal” on the ice. Tkachuk denied it, replying:

"I think you're getting false info. At the end of the day, it's Game 2. It's a series. So do whatever you can to win the series."

Verhaeghe had three assists and Sam Bennett scored two goals and added an assist in the Panthers' win. Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves for his third playoff shutout. The Panthers now lead the series 2-0.

Florida scored three goals in the first period with Gustav Forsling and Matthew Tkachuk making it 2-0 for the Panthers. Bennett scored the third goal with a power-play deflection late in the first. He scored again in the second on a rebound to make it 4-0. Then, Aleksander Barkov scored a power-play goal in the third period for the final score.

Carolina struggled to score and has now lost 14 straight games in the Eastern Conference Final. Their goalie Frederik Andersen was subsequently pulled after allowing four goals on 16 shots. Sam Reinhart suffered a lower-body injury and left the game after the first period but Florida was in complete control of the game, despite missing one of their star forwards.

Game 3 will be on Saturday in Sunrise, Florida, at Amerant Bank Arena as Tkachuk and Co. will look to take a 3-0 lead in the series in front of their fans.

Matthew Tkachuk scores after going 10 games without a goal

Matthew Tkachuk had a better game in Game 2 against the Hurricanes. Apart from his goal and two points, Tkachuk also had a +3 rating in 15:52 of ice time. In Game 1, he only had one assist and finished with a -1 rating. Additionally, he scored after a gap of 10 games.

So far in the 2024 playoffs, Tkachuk has 12 points in 14 games. That includes four goals and eight assists. His playoff production has helped the Panthers in important games.

In the 2024-25 regular season, Tkachuk scored 22 goals and 35 assists, finishing with 57 points. His regular season numbers were lower than expected because he missed 30 games due to injury.