How Matthew Tkachuk got his mouth guard back, plus blame for OT penalty, more Panthers-Rangers notes (2024)

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Famously, Matthew Tkachuk doesn’t really even use his mouth guard.

It’s not like he places it in his mouth the way it was designed to be used, to protect his teeth and guard against concussions. For his entire career, the Florida Panthers star has instead chewed on his white mouth guards before action, during action and after action while sitting on the bench.

On Tuesday night, during a second-period skirmish, New York Rangers power forward Chris Kreider took Tkachuk’s mouth guard one step further from its intended use, yanking it out of his mouth and giving it a comedic toss in the air.

For the record, Kreider said, “I don’t remember that,” when asked about the viral incident after the Rangers’ 3-2 overtime loss. And for the record, the mouth guard never left the playing surface.

Technically, had Tkachuk’s piece of protective equipment sailed over the glass and into the crowd, Kreider could have been assessed a game misconduct by the officials, and the NHL’s Department of Player of Safety could have even considered further discipline — as unlikely as that would have been.

Chris Kreider just threw Matthew Tkachuk’s mouth guard into the crowd after the scrum 😅 pic.twitter.com/SPmRUsoeXl

— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) May 29, 2024

On Wednesday, before flying to New York for Game 5, Tkachuk said he told Kreider, who has zero goals in the series, “That was the best play he made all game.”

“Luckily it didn’t go over the stands,” Tkachuk said. “He just threw it up in the air, so I got to wash it off and just use it.”

Tkachuk said he didn’t know that, by rule, Kreider could have been kicked out of the game had the mouth guard left the ice. He sounded glad Kreider wasn’t booted.

“It’s all game-within-the-game stuff,” Tkachuk said. “It’s playoffs. Gotta love it.”

It wasn’t the first time an opposing player grabbed Tkachuck’s mouth guard. He couldn’t remember who did it previously, but the player, he said, “Just chucked it back at me.”

Tkachuk said he usually chews through one mouth guard during the regular season but it’s “one a round in the playoffs.”

Asked why he doesn’t wear his mouth guard and instead chews on it constantly, Tkachuk added, “It’s just a habit, I guess.”

As usual, Panthers coach Paul Maurice had an interesting take on the matter, going slightly off topic.

“You score a goal, the first thing that happens, it used to be two arms up in the air,” Maurice said. “They wouldn’t do a drive-by of the bench. That would have been showboating. Now what’s the first thing? Overtime winner, reach in, take your mouth guard out. I don’t get that.”

Maurice then joked, referring back to the COVID-19 pandemic, “Like three years ago, you couldn’t stand within six feet of people or you were going down. Now we have mouth guards flying everywhere.”

Wheeler takes blame for OT penalty

Playing his first game since suffering a gruesome leg injury on Feb. 15, Blake Wheeler found himself where no one wants to be in overtime: the penalty box.

After a Mika Zibanejad turnover, Wheeler fought Niko Mikkola and Aleksander Barkov for the loose puck. Barkov seized possession, and Wheeler hooked him before he could put a shot on Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin.

Mika Zibanejad on this play: “Obviously I should have probably made a different play, decision. … Just come back and try to make other decisions next time and hope that it goes my way.”

He thought Wheeler was more open with Cuylle headed to the net. pic.twitter.com/qV8F3jzn86

— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) May 29, 2024

“I’ve replayed it a million times between last night, this morning,” Wheeler said on Wednesday. “I own that play. I talked to Shesty about it after and asked him if he would’ve preferred me to let him take that look. If there’s anyone I trust to make that save, it’s him.”

But, if he had to do it all over again, he said he’d do the same thing.

“Hindsight is 20-20,” Wheeler said. “Put them on the power play. Maybe we stop them. I own my actions, and I think I would’ve done it all over the same way.”

“It was a turnover at the offensive blue line, and it was a tough spot for him to be in,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “There was a lot of heat on him, a lot of pressure. It was more what they did than him doing something. He was surrounded by a couple players. It bounces back the other way. The guys were chasing it down the best they could and ended up having to get a stick on him.”

The Panthers, of course, won the game on Sam Reinhart’s power-play goal, evening the series at 2-2. In total, Wheeler played 9:18.

Laviolette said Wheeler was on the ice early in overtime because the coach wanted to continue playing his bench. Wheeler said the beginning of the game was a whirlwind but that eventually play settled down for him and it began to feel like a normal game.

“Certainly wish the outcome was different,” he said, “but it was great to be out there.”

Panthers’ PP coming up big

The Panthers’ power play has scored five times on 12 chances in the past three games, and on Tuesday, not only did it score two, but Sam Bennett’s goal came three seconds after a power play expired.

But none was prettier than Reinhart’s winner, as each of Florida’s five skaters touched the puck in a span of 13 seconds and Brandon Montour and Barkov executed quick one-touch pass for Reinhart’s third power-play goal in two games, ending overtime 72 seconds in.

SAM REINHART CALLED GAME 🤩

THIS SERIES IS TIED UP #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/65Eu2kGvHe

— NHL (@NHL) May 29, 2024

“I’d say that when Reino’s in the slot there that open, (you) try to get it to him,” Tkachuk said. “We tried it a couple times in the game. But at the end of the day, we have five guys that can score on the power play or that can be threats. It was good one-touch passing by everybody.

“We know they play three guys pretty hard on the top three, which is very effective, and they do a great job of it. So just trying to be quick with it. Barky was a great threat down there to take it to the net and then made a great one-touch pass to Reino after a few good plays at the top. So it’s good to get everybody in on that goal.”

Reinhart, by the way, told The Athletic that he slept like a baby after the game. He wasn’t wired or anything. He watched the replay once “and moved on.”

“Have to be even keel in the playoffs,” he said. “The only time I have trouble sleeping is after a loss.”

Panarin sees decreased ice time

Artemi Panarin, who had two assists in Game 4, played only 16:06, his lowest ice time of the playoffs.

His center, Vincent Trocheck, played 20:33, but he’s also on the penalty kill. Winger Alexis Lafrenière, who scored a goal, played 15:50.

“I like to start that line in the offensive zone, neutral zone a little bit more if I could,” Laviolette said. “Lot of defensive-zone faceoffs. Their line was really the one line that had some chances and was a little bit effective for us, so I don’t have any problem with Artemi or his line. … There was nothing to the minutes for me.”

(Top photo of Matthew Tkachuk battling Barclay Goodrow in front of Igor Shesterkin: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)