A look at Matthew Tkachuk’s journey to 500 points. And a Panthers lineup change vs. Columbus
Matthew Tkachuk understandably wasn’t in the mood to talk about his individual milestone Saturday night. The Florida Panthers had just lost 5-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks to cap a three-game road trip in which they went 1-1-1.
But as the Panthers attempted to make a third-period comeback, Tkachuk logged the 500th point of his NHL career when he cashed in on a rebound and backhanded a puck into the net for his second goal of the season to put Florida within two goals with seven-and-a-half minutes to play.
“It doesn’t mean much today, to be quite honest,” Tkachuk told reporters in Chicago after the game, “but I’ve played with a lot of great players, so I’m lucky.”
Even if the Panthers had won, Tkachuk likely would have brushed aside the accomplishment. The star winger’s focus is always on team results over individual success — even when his individual success generally drives team results.
And Tkachuk’s journey to 500 points sped up rapidly after being acquired by the Panthers ahead of the 2022-23 season in a blockbuster trade with the Calgary Flames.
Of Tkachuk’s 500 points, 118 of them (42 goals, 76 assists) have come in 89 games with Florida after logging 382 points in 431 games with Calgary — 104 of which came in his final season.
The 118 points are the most in Panthers history through a player’s first 89 games with the franchise. Pavel Bure, who had 114 points in his first 89 games, is the only other player to have more than 100 points in that timeframe.
He also has the ninth most in the NHL since the start of last season. He trails only Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (163) and Leon Draisaitl (141), Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (129), Boston’s David Pastrnak (129), Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson (122), Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (120) and Mikko Rantanen (119), and New Jersey’s Jack Hughes (119).
What’s more, Tkachuk and dad Keith Tkachuk are just eighth father-son duo to both record 500 career points in the NHL. The other father-son pairs: Nick and Mike Foligno, Sam and Dave Gagner, Mark and Gordie Howe, Brett and Bobby Hull, Zach and J.P. Parise, Paul and Peter Stastny, and Alexander and Thomas Steen.
Matthew got to the feat in 520 games. His dad got to 500 points one game sooner.
Lineup change
Panthers defenseman Mike Reilly will make his season debut on Monday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Reilly, signed to a one-year, $1 million deal this offseason, has been a healthy scratch for the first 10 games of the season.
Uvis Balinskis, who has been a pleasant surprise to start the season, will come out of the lineup for Reilly.
With Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad still sidelined after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery, five of the seven defensemen on Florida’s active roster are new to the team this season. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Dmitry Kulikov and Niko Mikkola are the others in addition to Reilly and Balinskis. Gustav Forsling and Josh Mahura are the only returners from last season’s Stanley Cup Final run until Montour and Ekblad return, which could be later this month.
“If you would’ve asked me this before the opening game, I would say Mike would be in within the first three or four games,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “But [the defensemen] played well, and because we’ve got four new guys, I was a little bit reluctant to start pulling defensemen in and out of the lineup, but he’s practiced really, really hard. We’ve had a couple of games where some of our defense hasn’t been fantastic. It’s a perfect time to get a guy in. Everybody’s kind of gotten their feet wet and I think even when you take a player out, now he’ll come back in with some confidence and some edge.”
