NHL fans on social media reacted as Matthew Tkachuk sparked an all-out brawl in Thursday’s Florida Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning game after he shoved Nikita Kucherov from behind, well away from the puck.
The incident unfolded in the third period with the Bolts leading 4-0. During a delayed penalty, Tkachuk delivered a late hit on Kucherov from behind, igniting chaos on the ice.
Brandon Hagel immediately stepped in to defend Nikita Kucherov, leading to a fight with Matthew Tkachuk. Hagel dominated the fight after landing heavy punches and ripping Tkachuk’s jersey off. Several players intervened and dropped their gloves, resulting in penalties for all 11 skaters on the ice.
A total of 167 penalty minutes were piled up in the matchup, which the Tampa Bay Lightning won 6-1.
One tweeted:
“A Canadian beating the sh*t out of an American. Getting some practice in for next week’s Olympics.”
Another chimed in:
“Matthew Tkachuk is the biggest b**** in the NHL and Paul Maurice is the NHL’s version of Sean Payton coaching his players to hurt other players. The @FlaPanthers are the most arrogant disgusting team in the league.”
Here are some of the other top reactions on X:
“Tkachuk will pay for that off the puck hit on Kucherov. Panthers should be embarrassed,” a third fan wrote.
“Hagel saw x today and all those American losers saying 19 beat him in the 4 nations fight and said hold my beer,” added another.
“Hagel rag dolled him. Don’t suggest Tkachuk tries him for a third time!” one X suer posted.
“Hagel filled Chuckie in again. A bit more challenging for Matthew when he doesn’t have element of surprise,” another chimed in.
Matthew Tkachuk and the Panthers fall to Lighting 6-1
Brandon Hagel opened the scoring for the Bolts after putting them ahead 1-0 at 2:08 of the first period. Zemgus Girgensons increased the lead to 2-0 before heading into the second period.
Jake Guentzel made it 3-0 after scoring on the power play at 1:14 of the second period. Erik Cernak increased the lead to 4-0 with a wrap-around goal at 17:50. Pontus Holmberg put the Lightning ahead 5-0 at 6:09.
Mackie Samoskevich, who was the lone scorer for the Panthers, cut the deficit to 5-1 at 9:50. Oliver Bjorkstrand scored the winner for the Lightning at 15:41. Andrei Vasilevskiy had a stellar performance, making 33 saves between the sticks.
Edited by Abhishek Dilta
