NASHVILLE --Matthew Tkachuk was held without a point in his Florida Panthers debut, a 4-0 loss to the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Monday.
It was the second of two split-squad games between the teams. Visiting Florida won the first game 4-3 in overtime. Tkachuk, who had one shot on goal in 18:13, was acquired July 22 in the trade that sent forward Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar to the Calgary Flames. Ryan McDonagh had an assist in his Predators debut, and Matt Duchene and Mattias Ekholm each had two assists. Kevin Lankinen stopped all 13 shots he faced before being replaced midway through the second period by Yaroslav Askarov (12 saves). Spencer Knight started in goal for the Panthers and made 19 saves on 20 shots in 29:56. Alex Lyon made 15 saves in relief. Filip Forsberg put Nashville up 1-0 at 14:23 of the first period. It was his first game since signing an eight-year, $68 million contract ($8.5 million average annual value) on July 11. Cody Glass pushed it to 2-0 at 8:01 of the third period from the right hash marks off a pass from Duchene for a power-play goal. Colton Sissons made it 3-0 at 13:30 when he finished a breakaway with a backhand, and Tanner Jeannot tipped a McDonagh shot at 17:12 for the 4-0 final. McDonagh was traded to Nashville by the Tampa Bay Lightning on July 3.
