Did Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler Put a Good Luck Charm on Florida Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk?

Jimmy Butler wore a Florida Panthers jersey ahead of their quadruple overtime victory.

The Florida Panthers are winning the hearts of South Florida sports fans.

Count Miami Heat superstar Jimmy Butler as a supporter as well. Before the Panthers’ Game 1 of the conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes, Butler wore a jersey of winger Matthew Tkachuk during Thursday's practice.

Everyone’s reppin - are you?
Let’s go @FlaPanthers! 🐀 pic.twitter.com/JvjPKv1FwH

— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) May 19, 2023

And guess who had the winning goal? Yep, it was Tkachuk.

Perhaps some of Butler’s clutch postseason play inspired Tkachuk to put the Panthers ahead of Carolina in the fourth overtime period.

JIMMY GAVE CHUCKY THAT GOOD LUCK CHARM TN 🔥🔥🔥

— makayla (@makaylasfilm) May 19, 2023

I’m crediting Jimmy wearing the Chucky jersey today with good juju … that’s no coincidence

— Justin (@justrunss) May 19, 2023

As South Florida athletes, it’s expected for Heat and Panthers players to support each other. But in addition to representing the same area, they are also instilling the underdog mentality through the playoffs. Like Miami, the Panthers continue to shock those who doubt them. Butler and the Heat know the feeling of being underestimated by talking heads.

In response to those who underrate Miami, Butler said, “The best part is we still don’t care what none of y’all think. Honestly speaking, we don’t care if you pick us to win. We never have and we never will. We know the group of guys we have in this locker room, and we know that Coach [Spoelstra] puts so much confidence and belief in every one of us.”

Their hockey counterparts share that mentality and hope to continue the momentum heading into Sunday night.

“It’s a race to recover now,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “Certainly you get the win and you get a different night. Tomorrow will be the same that we had planned. That won’t change, and then the puck drops and the opportunity to grab momentum will be up for grabs.”

Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.