“I’m sure the league is going to take a look at it,” said a grumbling Jake Guentzel after Friday’s game against the Florida Panthers, hoping that the NHL would crack down on Matthew Tkachuk. Well, turns out, they didn’t. The Cats’ forward has been at the center of a lot of controversies since Game 3 between the arch rivals, but ended up being able to breathe a sigh of relief. While the incident did stir the pot a lot, some NHL experts believe that the final verdict on the matter wasn’t surprising.

Tkachuk loves himself a fair bit of scrum, as if we didn’t know it by now. Moreover, with injuries rendering him unable to play since February’s 4-Nations Face-Off, Matthew could hardly wait to feel the thrill. And he did, only a bit too much for his own good. After the Florida captain, Aleksander Barkov, took a major hit by the Bolts’ Brandon Hagel in Game 2, the Panthers forward was on the lookout for revenge in the next game. He did, at Guentzel’s expense. And got Tampa Bay fans clamoring for disciplinary action against him. However, their calls for Chucky’s head went in vain, but David Pagnotta knew this was coming.

Brandon Hagel was handed a one-match suspension by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety after he took down Barkov at the Amalie Arena last Thursday. Naturally, with Guentzel having to pay for his misconduct at the next day’s match, Tampa Bay fans wanted to see Tkachuk being served with a similar suspension. However, that didn’t happen. The NHL Network analyst, Pagnotta, took to X on April 27 to elaborate on why Matthew Tkachuk didn’t share the same fate as the Bolts’ Hagel.

“While the hit was late, Guentzel played the puck prior – and there was no head contact,” Pagnotta’s social media post notes why Matthew’s hit on Guentzel wasn’t anything close to what Hagel did to the Cats’ captain. The Tampa Bay star came into Barkov from behind, even though the latter didn’t even play the puck. “Puck was absolutely no where to be found,” the commentators could be heard affirming that Barkov shouldn’t have been the target. On the other hand, while Tkachuk’s hit on Guentzel was late, the latter did release the puck just seconds before the collision.

“On the Hagel hit on Barkov, Barkov never played the puck. It’s my understanding these are the major factors by the DOPS and why there’s no hearing for Tkachuk,” Pagnotta explained further as to why calling for Matthew to face a similar punishment as Hagel by Tampa Bay fans was never going to materialize. Moreover, right after Hagel took out Barkov, the Panthers’ captain was seen holding his head as he lay flat on the ice. On the other hand, Matthew’s hit took out Guentzel indeed, but also couldn’t stop the latter’s teammate Anthony Cirelli from scoring in an empty net.

After Tkachuk’s hit, skirmishes broke out on the rink before the officials got things under control. Matthew was given a five-minute major for interference for the late hit. However, TNT analyst Paul “Biznasty” Bissonnette noted that he thought Matthew got off easy and that his action warranted harsh treatment by the NHL.

Well, that didn’t pan out as per Biz’s liking. But hey, it’s the Battle of Florida, and things are gonna get rough. Moreover, the history between Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel might have also contributed to the former’s decision to give Guentzel a taste of Tampa Bay’s own medicine. At February’s 4 Nations Face-Off, Hagel and Tkachuk got embroiled in a fistfight when the USA and Canada met for the first time at the tournament. Maybe that memory is still fresh? Whatever it might be, the Panthers winger needs to pull up his socks, and fast, for the task at hand.

Can Matthew Tkachuk keep his calm and advance to the next round?

Florida finished the regular season in third place in the Atlantic Division, while the Bolts wrapped things up in second place. With the defending Stanley Cup champs also having scored significantly fewer goals than their in-state rivals, many pundits claimed that Tampa Bay would go on to the next round of the playoffs. However, fans weren’t convinced and believed that the Panthers would repeat the results from last year, when the two Sunshine State teams met in the first round and the Cats went all the way to win their first-ever Stanley Cup.

So far, the Miami team has more or less been able to back up the fans’ faith. In the first two games of the seven-game Round 1, the Panthers have won, while in the third, they fell to the Bolts. Despite debate over whether he would return to the Cats’ fold after being decommissioned from action since February, Matthew Tkachuk showed up in Game 1 to the fans’ relief, even though head coach Paul Maurice wasn’t exactly impressed by his star forward’s performance at the match.

And yet, Tkachuk has already bagged three goals and one assist in the 3 postseason matches he’s played so far. But what of the things to come? After serving his one-match suspension, Brandon Hagel will also be back for Game 4 on Monday. Would that give Matthew Tkachuk another chance at a hit or will he bury the hatchet once and for all? Will the next clash see these two writing the next chapter of their intense rivalry? Tell us your thoughts!