Panthers' Matthew Tkachuk delivers brutally honest assessment of his playoff scoring drought - "I'm not Ovechkin"

Matthew Tkachuk has four goals in 14 games for the Florida Panthers during the playoffs. The left wing returned from an injury but has not been able to impact the game offensively like he usually has.

It hasn't mattered yet, but in theory, it will eventually matter if one of Florida's top scorers doesn't become more of a threat with the puck. He was asked about it after a game in which he actually did record a goal, his first of the series.

Tkachuk said he's not Alex Ovechkin, so he's not always going to score in bunches.

"We're up 2-0. I do not care how we get there," the left winger said. "I've never cared. Sometimes it's nice to go in, but it is what it is sometimes. I'm not Ovechkin, so they're not always going to go in."

The Panthers haven't needed Tkachuk to be Ovechkin. They've dominated the Carolina Hurricanes by a combined score of 10-2 against some of the best goalkeeping in the playoffs, so they've scored at will without their star forward.

Tkachuk scored and added an assist. It was his first multi-point game since his playoff debut against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but he's still not scoring and registering points with the frequency he did when healthy in the regular season.

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Matthew Tkachuk reflects on dominant start

Matthew Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers are two games from a third straight Stanley Cup Final trip. They endured a Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and winning that may have given them some momentum.

Matthew Tkachuk scored last night (Imagn)

He said via The Athletic:

“When you go from a Game 7 into a Game 1, those are two pretty high-intense games. Those are as riled up as you know you’re going to get. And it might have been natural for us to take a little bit to get going tonight. And it was the exact opposite. It was an unreal start from us. The goals aside, just the way we played in the first period was as good as it gets, and that’s just a hell of a road trip.”

The Panthers return home with a chance to sweep and move on on home ice. The Hurricanes have yet to win a Conference Finals game in their last 14 tries, and the Panthers would like to push that to four consecutive sweeps.