Tkachuk’s Five Points Lead Florida to Rout of the Lightning

Good morning and happy Tuesday, February 7th.

Thanks to all of our readers who replied to yesterday's email on how the NHL could improve its All-Star weekend. We particularly appreciated these two, completely opposite, responses...

"Cancel it. It's not entertaining. Makes the players look like gong show idiots. I don't think they really care about this. It looks like a circus show. Boring. Not interested." - Ed

"It's great the way it is. It's entertainment after all and a chance for the league to showcase its players' personalities and skills — something the league should find ways to do a lot more of!" - Tyler

Thanks for the feedback, gents! 👊

Matthew Tkachuk wasn’t with the Florida Panthers last season when they won the NHL’s Presidents’ Trophy as the league’s top regular-season team.

Yet Tkachuk is the one doing all he can these days to push the Panthers to the level they were at in 2021-22. Tkachuk, acquired in an offseason trade, posted two goals and three assists for five points (watch all 5 points here) to steer the Panthers to a 7-1 trouncing of the Tampa Bay Lightning Monday.

“We're looking forward to the last really good home stretch to finish off the year,” Tkachuk said. “And it started tonight."

The victory gave the Panthers (25-22-6) 56 points, leaving them one point behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Coach Paul Maurice’s Panthers still have much work to do: The Penguins (24-16-9) have four games in hand over the Panthers. Plus, Florida has the New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres between it and the Penguins.

But Tkachuk has jump-started the Florida team. The Panthers are 6-2-2 in their past 10 games and Tkachuk has five goals and 14 assists for 19 points in those 10 games.

He’s currently on a seven-game point scoring streak. During that span, Tkachuk boasts five goals and 10 assists. The feisty winger also was named the Most Valuable Player of the NHL All-Star game in his home arena on Saturday.

Even with their recent success, the Panthers needed the six-goal win margin to push their goal-differential to +1 on the season.

Panthers No. 1 center Aleksander Barkov left the game in the second period after blocking a shot. But Florida coach Paul Maurice said he didn’t expect Barkov to be out long-term.

🏆 Jamie Benn plays in 1,000th career game in 3-2 win over the Ducks. The British Columbia native has collected 348 goals, 465 assists, 754 PIMs, and a +62 in his first thousand NHL games — pretty impressive numbers for a 5th round pick. Jake Oettinger made 32 saves, Nils Lundkvist and Roope Hintz notched regulation goals, and Jason Robertson and Tyler Seguin sealed the victory in the shootout. The Stars win snaps their three game losing streak, all of which came in overtime.

🐐 Jaromir Jagr scores 1,099th professional and international play goal to overtake Wayne Gretzky's record. Jagr turns 51 on February 15 but decided to celebrate his birthday early by scoring a goal in Kladno's 5-4 loss to Trinec in the Czech league. The Czech-legend collected 844 regular season and playoff goals in the NHL, added 93 goals in Russia's KHL, 107 goals in Czech pro leagues, plus 55 goals in international competitions including the Olympics, World Cups, World Championships, and Euro Hockey Tours. The 50-year-old winger has 11 points through 19 games for Kladno this season.

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