After earning All-Star Game MVP honors over the weekend, Matthew Tkachuk delivered another standout performance, this time in a game that mattered, with two goals and three assists to power the Florida Panthers to an impressive 7-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Carter Verhaeghe scored twice and collected two assists and Sam Bennett added a 4-on4 marker and two helpers as the Panthers’ second line completely dominated the tilt by combining for 12 points and 15 shots on goal.
After Verhaeghe converted a Tkachuk cross following an interception early in the first and Bennett finished off another fine Tkachuk feed from behind the net 1:42 into the second, the Lightning got their only goal when Nikita Kucherov let go of a long shot through traffic that found twine at the 3:02 mark, with the assists going to Mikhail Sergechev and Brayden Point.