Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett need no introduction.
The Edmonton Oilers and their fans are plenty familiar with the feisty Florida Panthers forwards, who were once part of the Battle of Alberta as members of the Calgary Flames. Tkachuk and Bennett surely will take pleasure in attempting to prevent the Oilers from winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1990.
“We expected to be back here,” Tkachuk told reporters after the Panthers eliminated the New York Rangers on Saturday. “Obviously, nothing’s guaranteed, but we were expecting this the way we’ve been working, the way we’ve been dialled in and detailed. We’re very happy to be back, but the job’s not finished.”
The Panthers’ acquisition of Tkachuk in the summer of 2022 played an outsized role in changing the trajectory of the franchise. Under coach Paul Maurice, who arrived in Sunrise a month before Tkachuk, Florida ditched its rush-based attack for a more in-your-face approach, pummeling opponents below the goal line and pouncing on turnovers.
Tkachuk, who has 30 points in 37 career regular-season and playoff games against the Oilers, embodies that hard-nosed style. His production over the past two post-seasons is rivaled by few others.
Bennett made headlines in the second round when he shelved Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand with a controversial hit. But he has remade himself into an impact top-six centre over parts of four seasons with the Panthers after struggling to find footing with the Flames.
Bennett, who will enter the Stanley Cup Final on a three-game goal streak, has eight points in 10 games since returning from a hand/wrist injury that sidelined him early in the post-season. He sets the tone on the forecheck, having recovered 1.83 offensive dump-ins per game at 5-on-5 during the playoffs. That ranks third out of 92 forwards who have played at least 100 minutes at 5-on-5 this post-season.
The Panthers have generated a shot on net on 54.5 per cent of Bennett’s dump-in recoveries at 5-on-5 — tied for second best among qualified forwards.
When Tkachuk and Bennett have been on the ice at the same time in the playoffs, the Panthers have out-chanced opponents 61-30 at 5-on-5. (They finished the previous series sharing a line with Evan Rodrigues, generating 76.1 per cent of expected goals at 5-on-5 and outscoring the Rangers 3-1 in 38:25 of ice time.)
“He’s as consistent a driver as we have that his game looks pretty much the same in terms of how hard he plays every single night,” Maurice said about Bennett recently. “It’s what he is.”
The Panthers are looking to become the third team in the expansion era (since 1967-68) to win the Stanley Cup after losing in the final round the previous year, joining the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins and 1984 Oilers.
Tkachuk, Bennett and the other returning members of the Panthers will be motivated by redemption. For those two in particular, the opponent could add a little extra spice.
All stats via Sportlogiq