Devils Captain Comments on Matthew Tkachuk Altercation, ‘That’s Hockey’

NEWARK—New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier and Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk have history. And that history was revisited on Tuesday night amid the Devils’ 2-1 shootout loss to the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

READ: Tempers Boil Over, Panthers Bully Past Devils in Shootout Loss

You have to go back two seasons to find the existing beef between Tkachuk and Nico Hischier. The Devils and the Panthers were two of the NHLs top teams in the 2022-23 season. It started when Hischier got mixed up with Sasha Barkov in the faceoff circle that injured the Panthers captain, costing him three games.

In their following meeting during the holiday season, Tkachuk and Hischier threw down in a post-goal scrum after the game was out of reach for the Panthers. The tempers boiling over back then was a result of a series of chippy games, which ended in the Devils captain taking a few shots from the Panthers forward.

Fast-forward to Tuesday night, and the bad blood between the two forwards was revisited. In the third period of a 1-1 contest, Tkachuk blasted the Devils captain along the wall with a big hit.

However, following the hit, defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler immediately came to the defense of his captain. Hischier wasn’t far behind Siegenthaler, tracking down Matthew Tkachuk to get in a few licks of his own.

Matthew Tkachuk lays a huge hit on Nico Hischier and both teams converge 💥 pic.twitter.com/EAILfWUFlh

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 15, 2025

The scrum resulted in two minors (interference & roughing) for Tkachuk, and one minor for Siegenthaler.

The Devils didn’t convert on their man advantage opportunity.

Following the loss, Hischier explained he perhaps should have let cooler heads prevail.

“I think just a little bit too much emotion for me,” Hischier explained. “Obviously, I don’t see him coming. I don’t think I even touched the puck. So that’s part of it. He made the hit, and just I got a little bit emotional there.”

Perhaps if it were someone else, Hischier’s wires wouldn’t have crossed.

However, it wasn’t the first altercation between the two players. Therefore, the Devils captain said it was still important he showed some sort of retaliation.

“I want to stick up for myself, too. And like I said, I think I just didn’t like the hit too much,” Hischier said. “I just got a little bit emotional there. That’s hockey.”

Whereas Hischier said he might have gotten a little too emotional, his head coach had no qualms with the way he and the Devils responded to Tkachuk.

“I loved the response. I thought it was great,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said.

MORE: Devils Prioritizing Team Toughness, ‘We Might Not Start It, But We’ll Finish It’ (+)

Similarly to the first two meetings with the Panthers, the Devils gave Florida a taste of their own medicine. They might have left a point on the table, but much like the defending champs, the Devils didn’t go down without a fight, literally. The Panthers’ M.O. is that they can hurt you, both physically and on the scoreboard. The Devils have adopted that mentality this season, and thus far it’s paid off.

Whether Hischier likes it or not, the Devils are more like the defending Stanley Cup Champions than he perhaps realizes. And certainly, that’s not something to be ashamed about.

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