Matthew Tkachuk backs down from scrapping 5'7 Opponent

The Florida Panthers have gone in a complete 180 this season, after Bill Zito's ill-advised choice to fire Andrew Brunette for Paul Maurice. Gone was the fire from the last season, along with Mackenzie Weeger and Jonathan Huberdeau.

With the arrival of Matthew Tkachuk, prominent vet Keith Tkachuk follows, and when your Dad calls your team soft, obviously he took it personally.


Tkachuk took it so personally, his rat came out in the 2nd period of the Ottawa Senators vs the Panthers.


Tkachuk's hit sent DeBrincat barreling onto the ice, as the forward managed to miss being penalized for the obvious blind-side hit. DeBrincat luckily wasn't seriously harmed as he returned to the game later.


In typical Matthew Tkachuk fashion, he refuses to answer the bell and Turtles up, much like he did with Zack Kassian before DeBrincat.

And after all of this, instead of Tkachuk following the code, the refs opted to eject both players and this is a bad look for Tkachuk, but this son of Keith is no fighter apparently.

MATTHEW TKACHUK REFUSES TO DROP THE GLOVES WITH MUCH SMALLER PLAYER HE BLINDED EARLIER IN THE GAME