Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk revealed the significant injuries he was playing through after his team's Stanley Cup triumph Tuesday.
"I tore my adductor off the bone and had some hernia thing, all on the same side," Tkachuk, who was hurt playing at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, told TNT's Darren Pang. "Wanted to throw in the towel a bunch of times. I gotta thank a lot of people for getting me healthy enough. I'm sure I wasn't the easiest to deal with. ... I really didn't think I would be playing, or at least playing to my capabilities. The longer the playoffs went, the better I felt."
Tkachuk played under seven minutes in the championship game of the 4 Nations Face-Off versus Canada after sitting out the United States' round-robin game against Sweden. He then missed the last 25 games of the regular season while recovering from the injury.
The 27-year-old returned for Game 1 of the first round versus the Tampa Bay Lightning and tallied two goals and three points in his first contest back. Tkachuk finished the postseason with eight goals and 23 points in all 23 of Florida's games, including seven points in the six-game Cup Final versus the Edmonton Oilers.
It's Tkachuk and Florida's second straight Stanley Cup.
"This one's more rewarding to me, just with everything personally I had to overcome," Tkachuk said. "I didn't know if I was going to be playing. It just shows how unbelievable our group is, the depth, everything, to allow me to get my footing throughout the playoffs.
"I owe a lot of people a lot of thank yous. Doctors, medical team, our trainers, equipment guys, all the support staff that don't get a lot of credit. I would not be here without them, and I owe them this one."
Tkachuk wasn't the only Panther who dealt with a gruelling injury in these playoffs. Head coach Paul Maurice revealed that captain Aleksander Barkov split the palm of his hand open in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, while star forward Sam Reinhart missed time in the Eastern Conference Final due to a Grade 2 MCL sprain, per The Associated Press' Stephen Whyno and Alanis Thames.
