Panthers' Matthew Tkachuk ejected after jumping Devils captain Nico Hischier

Matthew Tkachuk saw his opportunity and he took it.

In the dying moments of the Florida Panthers' 4-2 loss against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, a heated scrum broke out after New Jersey's empty-net goal. Players from both sides were getting into it after the Panthers’ Sam Bennett and Devils’ Damon Severson needed to be separated.

With everyone trying to find a partner, Tkachuk beelined for Devils captain Nico Hischier.

Tkachuk was relentless in trying to get a piece of the Swiss centreman, grabbing the collar of his jersey, attempting to feed him punches as Hischier had his head down, and still skating after him when the two were initially separated.

It took multiple tries, but eventually the officials got Tkachuk away from Hischier and the Panthers winger was then tossed out for the remaining seconds of the match.

This was not a random attack, though.

The two teams played in New Jersey less than a week ago, and with just seconds remaining in the first period, Hischier faced off against his captain counterpart, Aleksander Barkov, and crosschecked his left leg. Barkov has not played since.

It doesn’t help that with the lowlight slowed down, it looks as malicious as any open-ice headshot, but Hischier is adamant it was not on purpose.

"That was a huge draw. I take pride in my draws and obviously I didn’t do it on purpose," Hischier said after the game. "I didn’t even see it until the second period. I definitely hit his knee but it was not something I wanted to do or a dirty play. …It was definitely unlucky and I hope he’s not hurt too bad.”

Thankfully, Barkov will not be absent from the team long-term and is officially listed as day-to-day.

Nevertheless, Tkachuk saw the quasi post-game scrum on Wednesday as his chance to get some revenge for his fallen captain and let off some steam. Add in the frustration of losing one of the league’s best centres for any period of time, and the context that the Panthers' season has not gone as planned and you get the perfect recipe for some extracurriculars.

After this loss to the Devils, the Panthers have earned a 15-15-4 record – far off from last season’s Presidents' Trophy-winning campaign. Not a whole lot is going according to plan in South Florida but maybe Tkachuk doing his typical post-whistle antics can provide a spark that will set the Panthers on a course to winning more hockey games.

In his first season in Florida, Tkachuk is leading the team in scoring by a wide margin, with 14 goals and 39 points in 31 games.

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