Dave Hyde: Tkachuk delivered the hurt, but Panthers feel the pain, down 2-0

LAS VEGAS — It was a big hit, a ferociously fierce hit, and on some nights Matthew Tkachuk’s open-ice, Zamboni run over Vegas star Jack Eichel might have been the kind to swing a game or define a series.

“I just came off the bench and saw him in the middle of the ice with his head down,’’ the Florida Panthers star said, “and it doesn’t matter who you are, you shouldn’t be going through the middle with your head down.”

Tkachuk has shouldered much of the load on the way to the Stanley Cup Final, but the attention Monday was on that shoulder, just as the rule book reads, meeting Eichel’s shoulder. And Eichel’s lungs. And maybe even Eichel’s kidneys.

Eichel went down to the ice, lost his helmet and, as three teammates jumped Tkachuk, only seemed to have a survivor’s dazed sense to jump up and skate immediately off the ice, where he appeared to buckle on the runway to the locker room.

Yes, on another night, against another team, that hit near the end of the second period might have been the centerpiece of something other than constant post-game conversation.

But in a 7-2 rout by Vegas in Game 2, it wasn’t a cure for a lost defense, no more miracle work in goal by Sergei Bobrovsky and the Panthers’ regular propensity to take too many needless penalties that Vegas happily accepted.

Or, as Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said: “They’re the most penalized team in the regular season and the most penalized team in the playoffs, so we knew our power play would get its chances.”

Cassidy even led into the game’s first goal by Jonathan Marchessault by pointing out the cross-check by Ryan Lomberg near center-ice wasn’t a “penalty saving a goal. You want to take advantage of that.”

Vegas opened and closed its scoring on power plays Monday to go with three power-play goals in its Game 1 win. So there’s that to tighten up, and it’s a taller order if Panthers defenseman Radko Gudas doesn’t return for Game 3 after leaving Monday’s game following a big hit he took.

Yes, it wasn’t just Tkachuk delivering big hits.

“That game was a man’s game,’’ Cassidy said.

The challenge for the Panthers is playing their physical brand without forming a Conga line to the penalty box. The talk will begin they’re overdoing the physical, and to tone it down, but that overlooks how it’s a central piece on this postseason run.

“At the end of the day, it’s just how we play,’’ Tkachuk said afterward to reporters. “I think if we were playing physical and (ahead) in the game, you guys would be like, ‘that’s the recipe for success.’ So we’re just sticking with our game.”

Tkachuk scored an accounting goal Monday to make it 6-2. So the likes of him and Aleksander Barkov, who remains scoreless in the Final, have to pick up that end.

But if one of Tkachuk’s immense qualities is his scoring, his ability to deliver checks like the one on Eichel and also covet being the target of opposing teams is another.

Hockey, of course, involves a mental component, and one hit, if done hard enough, can stay in a guy’s head. Just the threat of violence, Panthers center Sam Bennett said, can make defensemen hesitant to go after pucks and open up opportunities over a long series.

“He’s a really good player, and good players can get hit, too,’’ Tkachuk said.

Eichel, for his part, said the wind was knocked out of him and echoed the idea it was a clean hit. He then mentioned the Vegas theme of it “Hurts to win.”

“Feels like everyone was saying that after the hit,’’ he said.

The real question after the hit was why Tkachuk was sent to the penalty box for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct penalty (along with Vegas’s Ivan Barbashev). Was he expected to be jumped by three players without fighting back? Were referees calling it a game at 4-0 late in the second period?

“I went to the bench to get ready for the power play,’’ Tkachuk said. “They might have thought that game was a little bit out of reach maybe in the second period, but we certainly didn’t. We’ve scored seven goals in a period before, so you never know in playoffs.”

It was 6-1 when his 12 minutes of penalty expired. Tkachuk was then given another 10-minute misconduct near the end of the game for fighting, one he says was merited.

Along with his similar one to end Game 1, it means he hasn’t finished any of the final games. That might be a start toward a better finish. Coming home for Game 3 might be, too.

“They’re halfway there and hopefully they’re thinking about that a little bit as they’re coming to Florida,’’ Tkachuk said.

Maybe Eichel is thinking of that hit, too. Not like he would have in a loss. But in a long series, such hits add up. The question is whether this becomes a long series.