Matthew Tkachuk’s name has been bouncing around the hockey grapevine lately, and not just for his stick skills. Just a day after the NHL handed Brandon Hagel a timeout for his late knock on Sasha Barkov, Tkachuk decided to stir the pot in Game 3 a few days ago. With the Panthers already trailing 4-1 and the clock winding down, he absolutely leveled Jake Guentzel with a shoulder hit that came in like a wrecking ball after the puck was long gone. Sure, Guentzel didn’t get benched like Barkov—but even the casual fans could see that hit was riding fashionably late. And just five minutes before the buzzer?

The twist? No disciplinary hearing. Nada. Elliotte Friedman confirmed it’s case closed, Tkachuk skated away clean, and fans are not letting it slide. And the fact that Hagel had to sit out Game 3 for a suspension only turned up the heat. One fan even dropped, “But Hagel got one for his. NHL again showing they favor certain players and teams.” Add to that the Panthers being reigning champs and Tkachuk’s high-value status, and the favoritism claims just snowballed. But Tkachuk? He slid a cheeky little jab at the trolls during a TNT interview—smooth, subtle, and oh-so-sassy.

So things got real spicy on The Pat McAfee Show when Pat and Paul Bissonnette linked up on a call for Matthew Tkachuk, just vibing and talking hockey chaos. Biz, never one to hold back, came out swinging with the question that had everyone leaning in, “planning on hitting any Maple Leafs players this round or what?” And Pat? He doubled down like only Pat can, throwing in a cheeky twist: “hey you planning on taking any cheap shots, Tkachuk is what he’s saying?” It was playful, it was savage, and it was peak locker-room banter in broadcast form.

And Tkachuk? Oh, he hit ’em with a grin and a line that had folks howling: “I don’t know what he’s talking about. If I would have been taking cheap shots, I would have been suspended.” Smooth, slick, and dripping with that classic Tkachuk edge. The man basically swerved the accusation with style, reminding everyone that if he was out there playing dirty, he’d be sitting in the penalty box—or worse.

And just like that, the Florida Panthers are strutting into Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with that playoff fire still crackling! After stomping the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3 in a rowdy Game 5 showdown at Amalie Arena, the Cats punched their golden ticket to the next round. Meanwhile, over in Ottawa, the Maple Leafs handled their business too, skating past the Senators 4-2 in Game 6 and locking in their spot for the Eastern Conference Second Round.

It’s Florida vs. Toronto, and this clash is drenched in Atlantic Division drama. Toronto, the big boss of the Atlantic as the No. 1 seed, gets to chill with home-ice advantage. But in the meantime, leave it to Biz Nasty to bring the heat to Matthew Tkachuk. Yep. The TNT interview wasn’t the only time Leafs loyalist Paul Bissonnette tried to grill Tkachuk ahead of the big Round 2 series. But did he succeed?

Matthew Tkachuk keeps a straight face as Bissonnette tries to stoke the fire

Matthew Tkachuk was back doing Matthew Tkachuk things; lighting it up on the ice and skating that fine line between grit and trouble. In the Panthers’ fiery showdown with Tampa Bay, he delivered a late shoulder to Jake Guentzel that got people talking, raising eyebrows faster than a ref reaching for his whistle. And the loudest among Tkachuk’s dissenters was arguably Bissonnette. So when Matthew Tkachuk couldn’t join the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast right from the beginning, Biz Nasty made sure that the opportunity didn’t go to waste. “You’re late…just like your hits,” the TNT analyst quipped. Meanwhile, Matthew? He just responded with a smile. But Bissonnette didn’t stop there. Because, well, he is “technically a journalist.”

After the Tampa Bay Lightning found themselves beaten out of the playoffs by the Panthers for the second consecutive year, Tkachuk did what Tkachuk often does—add insult to injury. “I don’t know if it’s really a rivalry,” he said. And sure enough, Bissonnette was there to pick up on it, asking the Panthers star if it happened to be a “misquote” or a “shot a Coop (Jon Cooper)” for using Paul Maurice’s own words against him. But Tkachuk wasn’t going to play into his hands, was he? “We’ll always have our coach and our players’ back. I guess we’ll leave it at that,” he said, refusing to give Bissonnette more to go on.

That being said, Bissonnette will have plenty more to go on come Round 2. And Tkachuk, he’ll be looking to make sure that the team that deprived him of facing his brother in the playoffs gets hit hard. Pun intended? Depends on Tkachuk.