Brady Tkachuk’s Ottawa Senators and Matthew Tkachuk’s Florida Panthers combined for the most penalty minutes, 166, in a single NHL game last season. The two teams managed to top themselves in their first meeting of this season by combining for 167 on Monday night.
An all-out brawl occurred late in the third period that sparked that high-water PIM number. After the players were finally separated, on-ice officials got creative… and uber-punitive to wrest control back of the game.
Ten players were effectively ejected at the same time.
“Ottawa penalty number seven has two minutes for goaltender interference, two minutes for roughing,” NHL official Garrett Rank announced. “Florida number 12 has two minutes for roughing and then every player on the ice has a ten-minute misconduct.”
"Every player on the ice has a ten-minute misconduct." 😂
The referee for the Senators 🆚 Panthers game had enough. pic.twitter.com/Sk6uE0v7Ha
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 28, 2023
After the ruling, the two teams’ benches were half empty like a beer-league game.
So many players earned misconducts Paul Maurice had to count how many were left on the bench 🤣 pic.twitter.com/dJvC3lxtSm
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 28, 2023
To understand why things came to a head at the end of the game, context from earlier is needed. The trouble spot occurred earlier in the third after Matthew Tkachuk threw a hit on Ottawa’s Travis Hamonic.
That hit led to Zack MacEwen laying Tkachuk out with a high hit of his own and then pummeling the Panthers star forward with punches while the two were down on the ice.
Zack MacEwen assessed a five-minute match penalty for a check to the head on Matthew Tkachuk. 👀 pic.twitter.com/kwa8WjEdoH
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 28, 2023
Tkachuk was understandably not thrilled after the play was over. Sportsnet cameras and microphones picked up the superstar threatening to take out two of the Senators young stars in Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson in retaliation.
“F*&^ing Timmy and Sanderson are dead,” Tkachuk screamed at the Ottawa bench.
"Timmy and Sanderson are dead." pic.twitter.com/XCiE6Awyh3
— Everyday Sens (@EverydaySens) November 28, 2023
The two-time, 40-goal scorer was left dabbing at blood on his head after the play. He ended up fighting Sanderson shortly after and receiving an extra roughing penalty which kept him in the box for the ensuing chaos.
With tempers high and the Panthers up 5-0 over halfway through the third, Brady Tkachuk was sprung on a breakaway chance that was ultimately stopped by Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Tkachuk made sure to leave a little extra on Bobrovsky though as he skated behind the net.
That drew the ire of defenseman Dmitry Kulikov and his response sparked a minor line brawl.
Tempers flare between the Senators & Panthers and every player on the ice is assessed a 10-minute misconduct. 😱 pic.twitter.com/1HI2TrSJCl
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 28, 2023
To shut down all of the extra curriculars for good, the referees handed out ten-minute misconducts to all 10 skaters. Tkachuk ended up with two extra minors, one for roughing Ryan Lomberg and the other for interference on Bobrovsky. Florida’s Jonah Gadjovich also received an extra two minutes for roughing.
When the dust settled, five players were left on the Ottawa bench as MacEwen had been ejected for his earlier hit and the Panthers were left with six players on their bench, forcing Panthers head coach Paul Maurice to do a head count for the remaining seven or so minutes of the game.
“That’s mild,” Maurice said postgame. “We only got up to 167 minutes there,” he said. “It has to get into the 250s before it gets too squirrely. Sometimes hockey can get like that, it is what makes the game so darned great. It is graceful, beautiful, physical and angry all at the same time. It was good. Probably good for both teams. It could be the story of the year.”
The two Tkachuk brothers ended up with a combined 27 penalty minutes. They did so with their grandparents and father Keith in attendance for a true Tkachuk family get together.
Here’s how the full penalty sheet looked after the game.
The Panthers and Senators will play each other three more times this season. Make sure to mark February 20, April 4, and April 7 on your calendars.
Headline photo: @matthew_tkachuk/IG
