Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk ‘tore adductor off the bone,’ battled hernia during 2024-25 Cup run

The Florida Panthers cemented themselves in modern NHL history Tuesday night, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, clinching a second consecutive championship. Matthew Tkachuk’s goal in the first period of Game 6, Florida’s second of the evening, turned out to be the game winner. Tkachuk finishes his 2024-25 postseason run with eight goals and 23 points in 23 games. Not bad for someone who didn’t play between the 4 Nations Face-Off and the start of the playoffs working his way back from a lower-body injury.

“I didn’t think this was possible, I personally could’ve just thrown in the towel and gotten myself fixed up and missed out,” he told Sportsnet. “There were days where I wanted to do that, and I knew this team was too special and we had a chance. And I’m just so lucky to be on this team with this group of guys.”

As he told TNT’s Darren Pang Tuesday, “I tore my adductor off the bone. And I had some hernia thing, all on the same side.”

All the pain was worth it. Tkachuk is now a two-time Stanley Cup champion.

The Panthers joined the Pittsburgh Penguins of 2016 and 2017 and the Tampa Bay Lightning of 2020 and 2021 as the only franchises to win consecutive Stanley Cups in the salary-cap era.

Do two wins in a row qualify you as a dynasty? Tkachuk believes so, particularly when the Panthers also lost in the 2022-23 Final, meaning they joined the Lightning of 2020-22 as the only two teams to reach three consecutive Finals since the Oilers 40 years ago.

“We got to be a dynasty now,” Tkachuk told Sportsnet’s Gene Principe after the game. “That’s three years in a row, Finals, two championships. This team is so special. Stanley Cup champion… this never gets old.”