BOSTON — For obvious reasons, it’ll be Matthew Tkachuk’s winning overtime goal that will get played over and over again from the Bruins’ Game 5 loss to the Panthers on Wednesday night.
But the game’s most Tkachukian moment in a series that has had Matthew Tkachuk’s grabby fingers all over it came in the third period.
The Bruins had just scored to tie the game 2-2, with 15:27 left in regulation. TD Garden was suddenly loud and the Bruins had momentum as they lined up for the ensuing faceoff.
Bruins rookie Jakub Lauko lined up against Tkachuk, who immediately engaged him. The two were entangled, and before Lauko knew what hit him, both players tumbled to the ice and the referee had one arm raised, the other pointing at Lauko.
Just 41 seconds into Lauko’s 2-minute hooking penalty, the Panthers scored a power-play goal, regaining their lead and momentum.
Was it a hook or was it a masterpiece of Tkachuk’s dark art of agitation?
Either way, he’d drawn the penalty that led to a go-ahead goal in a must-win game for the Panthers.
Then he scored the winning goal in overtime.
Losing at home in overtime would have been a gut punch for the Bruins no matter who scored the winning goal or how they did it, but the fact it was Tkachuk made it all the more sour.
Florida Coach Paul Maurice marveled at his patience.
“That guy is a – and then you put a long string of profanity – gamer. Is he not a gamer?” Maurice asked.
“I don’t know, there’s what, 700 other guys in the league? Six hundred and forty of them jam that thing as fast as they can in the net and lose, and he pulls it across, he’s just a gamer.”
He might be a gamer, but to Boston fans, this was the guy who cross-checked Garnet Hathaway in the back behind the play in Game 4, a hit that earned him a $5,000 fine. It was the guy who kept trying to cross-check, slash and punch Linus Ullmark with the game out of reach at the end of the game Sunday.
Playoff series create rivalries and villains.
Tkachuk was already a pretty unpopular anti-hero around the NHL before this, but he didn’t have enough history with Boston to reach Tom Wilson levels of disdain.
Tkachuk was happy to play the underdog on Wednesday.
“We were supposed to get swept this series,” he said. “I don’t think anyone gave us a chance. … Now they’re coming back down to Florida.”
He liked the potential to spark some more angst in Boston.
“We know there can’t possibly be a Game 7 in their mind right now and in everyone in Boston’s mind,” he said with a little grin.
“It’s up to us to see you back here in a couple days.”
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