Tkachuk returns to the Panthers as a gold medal party awaits against the Maple Leafs

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk is ready to go back to work. That doesn’t mean he’s ready to stop celebrating Olympic gold.

Tkachuk — part of the U.S. men’s hockey team that won gold at the Milan Cortina Games — is in the Florida Panthers’ lineup for their first post-Olympic game Thursday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Panthers are throwing a gold medal celebration and U.S. captain Auston Matthews, who also captains the Maple Leafs, is set to be part of it as well.

“I really think our team really showed what it’s like to be true Americans and the pride we played with and how we would do every single thing for our country,” Tkachuk said, gold medal dangling from his neck. “So, the support we’ve gotten is incredible.”

It has been a whirlwind since Sunday for Tkachuk: an all-night party in Italy before a charter flight back to the U.S., more parties with the team in Miami on Monday, then a trip to the White House for the State of the Union with most of his Olympic teammates.

And life has been one big celebration for Tkachuk in recent years anyway, with a Stanley Cup win in 2024, another in 2025, a wedding in there as well — and now, gold.

“The hardest thing to do in sports is winning the Stanley Cup,” Tkachuk said. “You go through an 82-game grind and then your four playoff series, some Game 7s probably, and just the physicality and the travel and everything, it’s crazy. Whereas you could almost argue it over there at the Olympics, it’s so hard because it’s just one-game elimination.”

Tkachuk is one of seven Panthers players who won Olympic hockey medals: Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett won silver medals for Canada, while Anton Lundell, Niko Mikkola and Eetu Luostarinen won bronze medals with Finland. Panthers general manager and hockey operations president Bill Zito was part of the braintrust for the U.S. team in Milan, and equipment manager Teddy Richards had the same role for the Americans at the Olympics.

They’ll all be part of Thursday’s ceremonies.

“It’s a weird dynamic,” Marchand acknowledged. “Obviously we’re disappointed and you want a different outcome, but at the same time, trying to remember to be grateful for the incredible part of it all.”

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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/nhl

Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press