Tkachuk 'feeling the best I've felt' for Panthers heading into Game 6 of Cup Final

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- It was nearly two months ago, back in mid-April, when Matthew Tkachuk was facing the possibility of not being ready for the Florida Panthers at the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The forward hadn't played since February, not since a run-in during the 4 Nations Face-Off cost him the final two months of the regular season. In that week between the end of the regular season and the playoffs, Tkachuk being on the ice was far from assured.

"Yeah, I didn't know if I was going to come back at the start," Tkachuk said Monday, when he was named as one of the first six players for the United States at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. "Kind of found out the day before I was going to have a chance to play. Day of, honestly."

Through some combination of modern medicine and sheer will, Tkachuk has played every single game for the Panthers this postseason and will be in the lineup Tuesday when they can repeat as Stanley Cup champions in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC). Florida has a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series.

Tkachuk's times on ice have fluctuated, starting with the 11:43 he managed in his return April 22, when he had two goals and an assist in a 6-2 win at the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round. He played more than 22 minutes in each of the three overtime games in the Cup Final.

None of it was a slam dunk.

"The first round was definitely the worst I felt, by far," Tkachuk said. "And just knowing that that was going to be -- other than this round -- that was our toughest round, playing Tampa, so I knew that even at nowhere close to what I expect out of myself, I knew I needed to help out as best I can if we were going to get by them.

"So, I was proud of myself and happy for playing in that round."

Quietly -- not a word often used about him -- Tkachuk has put up point after point in the playoffs, with 22 (seven goals, 15 assists) in 22 games, tied for fourth in the postseason with teammate Sam Bennett and Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen. That includes the two goals and an assist he had in Florida's 5-4 overtime loss to Edmonton in Game 4 on June 12. His defensive game has, too, risen in tandem with his health.

"He got to a block that he was -- probably in the (second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs), early (in the conference final against the Carolina Hurricanes) that he'd come to full health," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "But there's still the mental part about what he can (do), how far do you want to stress that, taking hits, giving hits, things like that. And then this series, he's back to full health.

"And when that happens, you've seen that line, they've become a very good line on both sides of the puck. They were producing great numbers at the start, but -- loose isn't the right word -- but they weren't able to defend as well as they can now."

Tkachuk perhaps hasn't been the same flame throwing, in-your-face presence he was two seasons ago, when he began to help transform the results and the aura of the Panthers, who are in the Cup Final for a third straight year and on the verge of repeating as champions.

He hasn't needed to be.

But it's also because of the beating his body has taken, first against the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2023 Cup Final, when he fractured his sternum but still played Game 4 before being physically unable to take the ice in Game 5, and again while representing the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Tkachuk sustained a lower-body injury in the opening game against Canada on Feb. 15.

"He played a game with a broken collarbone and figured out how to get through the game," Maurice said of his performance in that Game 4 of the 2023 Final. "I think he had our three best chances to score that night against Vegas, so he can adapt his game very well. We knew he wasn't at 100 percent or close to it, actually. And then I think the last three games he's played have been the best of the playoffs by far. So, he's back."

On Monday, as Tkachuk went to sit at the podium to address the media, the marks from a cupping session were clearly visible by the neck of his T-shirt. He has worked hard to be here, to return, to play every game in a series that could cement the Panthers -- and him -- as all-time greats.

"I've had some ups and downs throughout the playoffs, (but) now I'm feeling the best I've felt," Tkachuk said. "Personally, I'm very happy with where the health is and everything. Just very lucky that I'm able to be playing.

"… I thought there was maybe a 50-percent chance I wouldn't be playing as close to about a week or five days before playoffs. So, (I'm) very lucky and fortunate that I've got great trainers and doctors and they all somehow got me healthy enough to play."