Greg WochinskyESPN2 minutes to read
Raleigh, NC — Florida Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk is letting everyone know when it’s time to leave the rink after scoring his goals in overtime.
In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Carolina Hurricanes, Tkachuk scored 13 seconds into quadruple overtime, the sixth-longest Stanley Cup playoff game in NHL history. In game two on Saturday night, he needed just 1 minute and 51 seconds to score a powerful goal in the first overtime to give Florida a 2-0 lead.
But after scoring those two goals, he literally told his team it was time to leave the rink: Tkachuk immediately and emphatically pointed towards the exit door of the rink, ran up to it, and led his team off the ice and into their locker room. to celebrate.
Public play is prohibited. He does not slide along the ice while pumping his fists. Not even the goal celebration in game five against the Boston Bruins in the first round, when he flew around center ice and was tackled by his teammates.
Just a mad dash to get out.
Tkachuk called it “the old bus” in 10 [minutes]”Celebration” after the second game.
“Let’s get out of here. It’s been a lot of hockey the last two games,” he said.
Tkachuk said the celebration came to him the moment after his goal in the fourth overtime of Game 1. In Game 2, Tkachuk and his teammates were already near the exit door of the rink in the corner after he scored on the power play. He went straight to the door and waited there for it to open.
“We were already there,” he said, “so I guess I said, ‘It’s a lot of hockey. ‘” Let’s go. Let’s get off the ice, take off the skis.
It was a goal celebration he hadn’t seen before, Panthers coach Paul Morris said.
He said, “I understood what he was doing.” “We walk to the rink tonight and it feels like we never left. We’ve been to this rink a lot and I think we’re very happy that we [games] And get out of here.”
Tkachuk now has seven goals in the playoffs, bringing the Panthers to within two wins of their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final since 1996. Game three is on Monday night in Sunrise, Florida.
“I can’t wait. It’s been fun playing there all year. I’m sure it will be the highest [building] Monday “.
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