MIAMI — Florida Panthers All-Star winger Matthew Tkachuk and his younger brother Brady, a top-line forward and captain for the Ottawa Senators, met for the 14th time in their careers Saturday.
Florida defeated Ottawa 5-3, with Matthew involved in three of Florida’s five goals to vault his record against his brother in the NHL to 8-6 and help the Panthers snap a two-game losing streak just in time for their upcoming four-game West Coast road trip.
Florida improves to 5-3-1 on the season. Ottawa falls to 4-4-0.
The sibling rivalry is the latest subplot of the divisional rivalry the Senators and Panthers share. Reflecting on past games against his brother, which took place when Matthew played in Calgary for the Flames, Matthew said this matchup would mean more than previous ones because of the Eastern Conference connection.
Matthew added that family in attendance, including their mom (who still has her “no fighting” rule) and dad (Keith, who played in the NHL for 18 years), would don neutral clothes in their suite.
“At the end of the day, we’re going to be two teams fighting for playoff hopes against each other,” Matthew said before the game. “... I guess that part might kind of suck for the family. But I think we enjoy it, and we’re gonna have fun with it. Hopefully we can meet in the playoffs for lots of years to come.”
Both brothers have arguably been the best players on their respective teams this season. Entering Saturday, each had amassed 10 points. Matthew led Florida with four goals and six assists, while Brady shared the top spot on the Senators with five goals.
Each Tkachuk played a role in goals for his respective team Saturday. Matthew assisted on each of Florida’s two goals and capped the game with an empty-net goal with 14 seconds left. He also had another goal overturned with Florida called offside after an Ottawa challenge.
Brady scored 3:23 into the second period for Ottawa to make it 2-2.
“One of the biggest honors for me is seeing him play in the NHL and seeing him have as much success as he’s having,” Matthew said. “I’m so proud of him.”
They’ll play against each other two more times this season in Ottawa on March 27 and back at FLA Live on April 6.
Carter Verhaeghe scored twice, opening scoring on a feed from Matthew Tkachuk with 12:01 left in the first period and temporarily putting the Panthers up 3-2 late in the third period.
Ottawa’s Nick Holden tied the game with 8:04 left in the game before Brandon Montour scored the game-winning goal for Florida with a slap shot that got past Ottawa’s Anton Forsberg, who saved 48 of 52 shots he faced, with 3:32 left to play and Matthew Tkachuk sealed the win with his empty netter shortly before the final horn.
Spencer Knight stopped 23 of 26 shots that came his way.
Barkov gets his first
With 11 seconds left in a power play, Aleksander Barkov scored the Panthers’ second goal of the evening – his first of the season. Barkov’s goal song, “I’m So Excited,” doubled as a celebratory ditty and an apt descriptor of how he felt in the moment.
Heading into Saturday, FLA’s power play percentage sat at 8.11%, according to Hockey Reference. That ranked third to last in the league.
Shots on shots
One game after tallying 51 shots on goal and 104 total shot attempts in a 4-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Panthers once again were aggressive at the net.
Florida had 26 shots on goal in the first period Saturday and finished the night with 53 shots on goal, marking just the second time in franchise history they had at least 50 shots on goal in back-to-back games.
Up next
The Panthers head to the West Coast for a four-game road trip that includes games against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday, San Jose Sharks on Thursday, Los Angeles Kings on Saturday and Anaheim Ducks on Nov. 6.
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