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Panthers' Matthew Tkachuk Angry With NHL Ahead of Hurricanes Series

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Matt Levine | Last updated May 20, 2025 2:17 PM ET

The Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes are getting ready to begin their Eastern Conference Final matchup. Game 1 between the two teams is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, May 20, at 8 p.m. ET.

Carolina has home-ice advantage heading into the series, potentially giving them a slight edge over Florida. But the Panthers have shown extreme toughness throughout the playoffs and are still the defending champions.

Naturally, everyone wants to hear what the players think about the series, and media times are set throughout the series. But the league seems to have already angered the Panthers with this.

According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, Florida wasn't happy about the setup of the pre- and post-game press conference areas. The league put the area in the Panthers' gym, so some players took it upon themselves to make extra noise ahead of Game 1.

"The Panthers aren’t pleased the NHL has set up the pre and postgame news conference area literally in their gym, so naturally Matthew Tkachuk started slamming the medicine ball against the wall the second the Jordan Staal/Taylor Hall presser starts"

This tactic from Tkachuk likely won't get the league to move the press conference area, but it could cause some annoyance for the players. If anything, this could be more motivation for either side heading into Game 1.

The Hurricanes can use it to shut him up over this tactic, and the Panthers may use it as fuel to steal a road game. Overall, this series has a lot of emotion in it, and fans can already feel that before the puck has hit the ice between the two teams.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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