SI

Matthew Tkachuk Suffers Ugly Leg Injury on Dangerous Hit From Nikita Kucherov

Ryan Phillips

Kucherov was given a five-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct penalty.
Kucherov was given a five-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct penalty. / B/R Open Ice on
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The Florida Panthers may be without one of their stars for a while.

On Monday night during a tense matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, All-Star winger Matthew Tkachuk was injured and needed to be helped off the ice.

The play came with 3:09 left in the first period and the Lightning up 3–0. As Tkachuk came across the ice and reached for the puck, Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov veered into him and slammed him with a knee-on-knee hit. It was a dangerous play that could be considered dirty.

Tkachuk went down hard and immediately waved to the trainers on the bench. Eventually he had to be helped from the ice while putting no weight on his right leg.

Kucherov was assessed a five-minute major for kneeing and was also ejected with a game misconduct penalty for the hit.

Video of the incident is below.

That's really ugly. Kucherov will undoubtedly have to explain himself to the league office this week.

UPDATE: Somehow, Tkachuk returned to the game in the second period.

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Ryan Phillips
RYAN PHILLIPS

Ryan Phillips is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in digital media since 2009, spending eight years at The Big Lead before joining SI in 2024. Phillips also co-hosts The Assembly Call Podcast about Indiana Hoosiers basketball and previously worked at Bleacher Report. He is a proud San Diego native and a graduate of Indiana University’s journalism program.

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