Once Tkachuk was finally free from the box with 13:03 left in regulation and the game tied against the Pittsburgh Penguins, he made his mark known. He scored on his first shift back, tipping in a Carter Verhaeghe shot on the power play to help Florida to a 3-2 shootout win on Friday at Amerant Bank Arena.

You never want to see that happen to a teammate or anybody. I know the guys weren’t too happy about it. Neither was I.’

The Florida Panthers exit the holiday break in a dogfight in the Atlantic Division for the top seed. The defending Stanley Cup champions are tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs with an identical record of 22-13-2 (46 points) and will look to pull ahead of them on Monday when they take on the New York Rangers at home in Sunrise,

The Florida Panthers will look to end their two-game road trip with two important points when they battle the Utah Hockey Club at Delta Center on Wednesday. For the Panthers, it’ll also mark their first-ever matchup with the NHL’s newest team.

Read the recent NHL news and rumors about Matthew Tkachuk for fantasy hockey. Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk tallied two assists during their

Nikita Kucherov did not face any supplemental discipline after taking down Matthew Tkachuk with a knee-on-knee hit Monday night. Kucherov did get a 5-minute major for kneeing and was ejected from the game.

Tkachuk had three shots on net with a minus-2 rating in Saturday's 4-0 loss to the Canadiens. Tkachuk sustained a knee injury and briefly left Florida's previous game. The holiday break gave him plenty of time to recover. Tkachuk had 16:18 of TOI.