Tkachuk 'tried to give everything' for Panthers after injury in Cup Final

SUNRISE, Fla. --Matthew Tkachuk had his left arm on his upper right chest pretty much throughout his media session at FLA Live Arena on Thursday, a symbol of the disappointing ending to his otherwise memorable first season with the Florida Panthers.

The forward was unable to play in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday, a season-ending 9-3 loss at the Vegas Golden Knights, because of a fractured sternum sustained in Game 3 on an open-ice hit from Golden Knights forward Keegan Kolesar.

He did return to play his aggressive style in Game 3 and Game 4 but ultimately decided he simply wasn't healthy enough to dress for Game 5.

"I'm happy that I was able to attempt and play that (Game 4), but I knew I wasn't myself," he said. "There were 12 better options than me for forwards basically at that point. I knew it wasn't myself but I tried to give everything. I can hold my head high knowing that I did everything possible to try to play."

He even enlisted the help of his brother, Ottawa Senators forward Brady Tkachuk, to get him ready for Game 4.

"The next few days (after Game 3) were pretty tough," Tkachuk said. "Just getting in and out of bed. Needed help getting onto a table here to get treatment, but everybody played a huge part in getting me to play that game.

"I mean, my brother was staying with me and had to get me out of bed and get me dressed to come to the rink, and I had guys tie my skates and putting on my jersey and just helping me with everything."

Perhaps more than any other player on the team, it was Tkachuk who helped the Panthers reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1996.

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In his first season playing for Florida after being acquired in a trade with the Calgary Flames on July 22, he tied for sixth in the NHL with an NHL career-high 109 points (40 goals, 69 assists) in 79 games and led the Panthers in playoff scoring with 24 points (11 goals, 13 assists) in 20 games.

So the fact that Tkachuk couldn't play in an elimination game spoke to the severity of the injury.

"Not something I've dealt with before," he said. "[Stinks] that it had to happen, especially at that time, but most guys were playing through stuff. It's just the way playoffs are and [a] long season. Like we've been playing for 10 months or 100 games, so guys have dealt with stuff all year but, yeah, this one is new for me."

Tkachuk was scheduled to be examined again Thursday, though coach Paul Maurice said the early indications were that the forward would not need surgery and would be ready for the start of training camp in September.

"The original reports would be, it just heals," Maurice said. "Now, he's not going be able to do a lot of upper-body work for a while. It's 4-6 weeks for those things to heal. That's going to put him into July before he's training, but he gets another six weeks, so you've got two months to really, really push hard, and so he'll recover from it."

Tkachuk tied Mark Stone of the Golden Knights and Roope Hintz of the Dallas Stars for third in scoring in the playoffs; his last assist came on the goal by defenseman Brandon Montour that gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 4:08 of the first period in Game 3.

Less than two minutes later, at 5:56, came the Kolesar hit that changed everything for Tkachuk.

He stayed out on the ice when Vegas was assessed a penalty later in the shift -- a high-sticking minor on forward William Carrier -- but then headed to the dressing room and didn't play again until the 4:26 mark of the second.

"I got hit; I knew something was off," Tkachuk said. "Tried to play a power play right after that but went to the room, got it checked out, but then I was going to come back out and then they told me I'd do concussion swatting, so I missed, like, a long time doing that and then came back out and didn't know if it was going to be my last game or my last period or my last shift."

Tkachuk ended up playing more than six minutes in each of the second and third periods of Game 3, scoring with 2:13 left in the third to send the game to overtime in a 3-2 win, but he wasn't the same.

He played 16:40 in Game 4, though there was a stretch of 10:41 in the third when he simply sat on the bench, encouraging his teammates and showing signs of discomfort.

"I don't know if people have played through [a fractured sternum] or not before," Tkachuk said, "but when you get something like that, you can get through that game with all the adrenaline, like you're in it and the last thing you want to do is be told like you can't play it.

"But then when you wake up the next day, like that's where it sinks in. That's where it feels the worst probably."

He had two shifts in the final 5:01 and was around the net when the Panthers' ultimately unsuccessful comeback attempt ended in a 3-2 loss.

"'Chucky' [playing] is a good example of what he brought to this team this year and especially in the playoffs and how bad he wanted to play, how bad he wanted to help the team," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "I wasn't the guy who helped him out of the bed, but I can see how much he was in pain and still [managed to] come to the rink and do his thing."