The star forward of Florida Panthers, Matthew Tkachuk has shared his views about the team's chances of winning another Stanley Cup with the same roster which includes new faces as well.
What did Matthew Tkachuk say about Florida Panthers chances of winning another Stanley Cup?
The Florida Panthers became the first team to secure a spot in the 2025 Stanley Cup finals. This is also their third consecutive finals on the trot after defeating Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final. Matthew Tkachuk feels that the team's success this year is purely based on the new faces who have performed well.
He also mentioned that retaining last year's roster wouldn't have led them to this point in the season. He even believes that the core players were very important but new faces have been crucial in elevating the team to this stage.
We wouldn't be in this position without the new guys that we have this year, Tkachuk said. If we had run back the same team as last year, we wouldn't be in this position right now. I'm a firm believer in—each year you have your core pieces, but the additions that you make help put us over the top to this point. Really just want to win it for those guys.
A potential rematch is on the cards as Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers went head to head in the 2024 Stanley Cup finals. The Oilers lead the seven game series 3-1 and they need one more win to advance to the finals.
Matthew Tkachuk's Panthers advance to third consecutive Stanley Cup final
On Wednesday, the Florida Panthers defeated Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final.
The Hurricanes started the match on a strong note as Sebastian Aho scored twice in the first period to take a 2-0 lead. Matthew Tkachuk scored a power play goal to cut the deficit to just one goal making it 2-1 in the second period.
30 seconds later, Evan Rodrigues tied the game 2-2 for Florida. Anton Lundell then made it 3-2 going in the third quarter. Seth Jarvis scored the equaliser in the third quarter. It was Carter Verhaeghe who once again got the Panthers in front and Sam Bennett sealed the victory with an empty-net goal.
Aleksander Barkov, Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Tkachuk all scored two points each. Sergei Bobrovsky had a stellar performance as he made 20 saves and posted a .870 save percentage.