FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Matthew Tkachuk made his feelings about the Edmonton Oilers clear during his introductory press conference with the Florida Panthers on July 25, 2022.
“I hate Edmonton,” the forward said, three days after being traded by the Calgary Flames to Florida and signing an eight-year contract. “But now I hate Tampa (Bay) more.”
Tkachuk and the Panthers already took care of their current underdog team by defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the First Round of the Eastern Conference. To complete their run to their first championship, they must go through the team Tkachuk loved to hate in the Stanley Cup Final.
Florida hosts Edmonton in Game 1 of the best-of-7 series at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; KeynoteUSA, KeynoteUSA+, SN, CBC, TVAS).
But does Tkachuk still hate his old rivals from the Battle of Alberta like he used to?
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t say that,” the forward said Tuesday. “But any time you play any opponent in the Stanley Cup Final, you don’t even have to have team rivalry or rivalry with them. Just when the puck, it’s going to be very intense, like you’ve had that rivalry for a few years… It’s the Stanley Cup Final, there’s a lot on the line, so I’m sure the teams will go for it pretty well from the beginning and I’m sure. that both teams really want this.”
The Panthers, who defeated the New York Rangers in six games in the Eastern Conference final, have been driven to return to the Cup final and win since losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in the season finale. pass. After defeating the Dallas Stars in six games in the Western Conference final, the Oilers reached the Cup final for the first time since 2006 and are looking to win the Cup for the first time since 1990.
Tkachuk has a decent idea of the importance of this series to Edmonton and its fans having played about 180 miles south of Calgary for six seasons. The 26-year-old has 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists) in 32 career regular-season games against the Oilers, including 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) in 28 games with the Flames, who drafted him with the No. 6. Pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.
“It’s a great environment to play there. “Everyone is interested,” Tkachuk said. “It’s probably the biggest thing that’s happened in Canada in 30 years or something. It hasn’t been 30, 20 years since they came back to the final in 2006. They’ve been waiting for it for 20 years, so I’m sure there will be a great atmosphere.”
Tkachuk got a taste of what it can be like in the playoffs when Calgary faced Edmonton in the 2022 Western Conference Second Round. The Flames won the first game, but the Oilers won the next four to take the series in five.
Edmonton center Connor McDavid scored 12 points (three goals, nine assists) and center Leon Draisaitl scored 17 (two goals, 15 assists) in the series. Tkachuk scored four points (three goals, one assist, a team-high).
“It was intense,” Tkachuk said. “We definitely ran into probably the best McDavid to ever play. He was on fire and his other offensive guys had a great series and they actually played us very hard defensively as well. I think the first game was (9-6) or something like that and that was the only game we won…. But they played very well.”
Tkachuk noted that the Oilers have had some changes to their roster in the two seasons since he left the Flames. He said they have also changed the way they play.
“I think they defend better as a team than they get credit for,” Tkachuk said. “I think everyone still thinks about McDavid and company and the total offense, run and gun. That’s not really how they are. They obviously have a super high-level offense, but I would say they are more complete now than they were two years ago, when I was there.”
Still, stopping them will be a challenge. McDavid leads all scorers this postseason with 31 points (five goals, 26 assists) in 18 games. Draisaitl is second with 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in 18 games and defenseman Evan Bouchard is third with 27 (six goals, 21 assists) in 18 games.
“So it’s got to be a group,” Tkachuk said of Edmonton’s defense. “We have guys who can skate, like them. McDavid is probably the fastest guy in the world, so we have to be next to him. If you are tied or behind him, he will beat you, so we have to be in front of him at all times and have layers of support.”
Florida also has its share of offensive talent. Tkachuk leads the way with 19 points (four goals, 14 assists) in 17 playoff games. That’s five shy of the Panthers’ record of 24 points (11 goals, 13 assists) he set in 20 games last season before a broken sternum kept him out of the finals game.
Although Tkachuk’s regular-season production dropped from 109 points (40 goals, 69 assists) in 79 games last season to 88 points (26 goals, 62 assists) in 80 games this season, Florida coach Paul Maurice He said it was just as effective, particularly early in the season, when defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour and forward Sam Bennett were injured.
“When we had three critical pieces of our lineup at the beginning of the year, their (offensive) numbers weren’t very good, but their defensive numbers were really good,” Maurice said. “He’s a leader there, so the culture and shape of our team has a big impact on that.”
Maurice also highlighted how Tkachuk has become more disciplined. He had 74 penalty minutes in the playoffs alone last season. He has 19 this postseason.
Tkachuk attributed this to the entire team’s commitment to discipline. That will be especially important against the Oilers, who rank first in the playoffs on the power play at 37.3 percent.
Therefore, the Oilers could see a slightly different Tkachuk than the one who had 75 penalty minutes in 33 games against them (regular season and playoffs) with the Flames. (He has no penalties in four regular-season games against Edmonton with Florida.)
“I just think about recognizing my game and changing it up a little bit. I think not only me but our whole team is super disciplined,” Tkachuk said. “Not necessarily just disciplined in not taking penalties, even though we are way behind on that. But just discipline in our routes on the ice and being predictable and disciplined and knowing what the guy next to you is going to do and discipline in the length of your shift. Like everything.
“We have that full buy-in right now 24/7, so our team has made great strides in that since I’ve seen it in two years and hopefully we’re peaking in the right moment”.
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