2022-23 Season Rewind: Matthew Tkachuk

Talk about a first impression.

Hitting the ground running during his first season with the Panthers, Matthew Tkachuk not only piled up points, but also helped changed the organization's entire culture both on and off the ice.

In many ways, his style of play became the team's style of play.

"He's been huge for us," captain Aleksander Barkov said of Tkachuk's impact. "Not just scoring goals, not just making plays, but everything about being a hockey player in the team, being a leader in the team. He's been doing everything as good as possible. He's been unbelievable."

Finishing third in voting for the Hart Trophy, Tkachuk, who never went more than three straight games without a point during the regular season, produced a career-high and team-leading 109 points (40 goals, 69 assists) -- the most-ever by a player in their first season with the Panthers.

Doing everything that he could to help the Panthers get into the playoffs, Tkachuk racked up 12 of those points (five goals, seven assists) during the team's 6-1-1 run to close out the campaign.

Coming up in the clutch, three of those five goals were game-winners.

"He knows how to score big goals," goalie Sergei Bobrovsky said. "He's such a smart player."

With his contributions coming not just in the form of goals and assists, Tkachuk also showcased his signature brand of grit, toughness and attitude each and every shift.

Joining some elite company, he became the first player to surpass both 100 points and 100 penalty minutes in the same season since Sidney Crosby achieved the feat back in 2005-06.

Teaming up with Sam Bennett on the second line, Tkachuk was also a force in the possession game, helping the Panthers own 66.3% of all expected goals when he was on the ice at 5-on-5.

"It seems like every time we need a big play, he steps up," said forward Nick Cousins, who also played a bit with Tkachuk. "All the credit goes to him. He's a big-game player. It seems like any time we need a hit, a big play, a goal, it seems like he comes up big, so we're lucky to have him."

In the playoffs, Tkachuk continued to rise to the occasion.

Setting franchise records for goals (11) and points (24) in a single postseason, the man they simply call "Chucky" was seemingly at the center of every single big moment for the Panthers during their incredible run to the Stanley Cup Final, including scoring three goals in overtime.

In Round 1, he set a single-series franchise record with 11 points (five goals, six assists) to help the Panthers upset the 65-win Bruins in seven games. Later, in the Eastern Conference Final, he registered the game-winning goal in three of four games as the Panthers swept the Hurricanes.

Unfortunately, even a superhero like Tkachuk isn't immune to injuries.

Literally giving it everything he had, he was unable to suit up in the final game against the Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final after suffering a broken sternum earlier in the series.

Incredibly, Tkachuk did manage to play through the injury during Game 4 when he notched a goal and an assist to help lead the Panthers to their first-ever win in the Stanley Cup Final.

Years from now, it's a performance that many will still point to as the pinnacle of toughness.

"Seeing how the team has changed from the start to the end, what guys are willing to do for the end result, we all saw that down the stretch," said Tkachuk, still visibly in pain during the team's exit day back in June. "We'll all have some unreal memories from this run and from this year."

Still only just beginning to sniff his prime at 25 years old, and with seven years remaining on his contract, Tkachuk is confident there's plenty more big games ahead for himself and the Panthers.

"Nothing is guaranteed, but we know that we have guys in the age range that if we do all the right things we can hopefully give ourselves a chance at playoffs for a bunch of years and then see what happens," he said.

COOL STAT

Tkachuk loved to both create and capitalize on secondary chances.

In addition to scoring a ton of goals right around the net, he also generated 50 rebounds, according to MoneyPuck.com, which were 24 more than the next-best player on the team.

Of his 322 shots on goal, 11.7% led to a rebound.

Taking a look around the NHL, Tkachuk, who also led the league with 13.5 expected goals on shots taking from rebounds, was one of just four players to generate at least 40 rebounds this past season, with the others being Brady Tkachuk (47), Bryan Rust (41) and John Tavares (40).

At this point, it's safe to argue that there's no one better around the net than No. 19.

BEST GAME

At one point in this game, Tkachuk literally licked his chops.

Can you blame him?

Making mincemeat out of the cross-state rival Lightning, Tkachuk racked up a whopping five points (two goals, three assists) to lead the Panthers to a 7-1 win on Feb. 6 at FLA Live Arena.

"We're really looking at a really good home stretch to finish off the year," Tkachuk said of the team's strong start to the second half. "It starts with tonight, and I thought we did a great job."

Finishing just one point shy of matching the franchise record for the most points in a game, his five points were also the second-most ever tallied by a player in their first game back after being named MVP of the NHL All-Star Game, trailing only Mario Lemieux's six-point game in 1987-88.

An absolute force around the net, Tkachuk's most-impressive moment of the game occurred when he batted a floating puck out of mid-air straight past former Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy from on the doorstep to extend Florida's lead to 3-1 at 8:40 of the second period.

"Any time you're around the net and can get a little piece of it, you have to," he said.

GOAL OF THE YEAR

The image has become nothing short of iconic at this point.

After scoring on the power play with 4.7 seconds left on the clock against Carolina in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final on May 24, Tkachuk went straight to knees and slid down the ice with his hands up in the air as teammates tried to chase him down to join the jovial celebration.

With the goal -- which came roughly three minutes after the Hurricanes had tied things up -- Tkachuk not only locked in a 4-3 win in front of a crowd of feisty fans at FLA Live Arena, but also helped the Panthers punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1995-96.

"We know what we have in there," Tkachuk said. "We know how to play. We know the right way to play, we know what makes us successful. And being in it with the guys and seeing the belief and just the calmness to us is really something special. Like, nothing rattles us. They score with three minutes left, you'd think, uh oh, here we go, what's going to happen? But it's the opposite."

Tkachuk's timely tally also tied the NHL record for latest series-clinching goal in regulation.

"I think Chucky's that guy," forward Ryan Lomberg said. "No surprise."