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LeBrun: Was Matthew Tkachuks huge hit on Jack Eichel clean or dirty? Heres what NHL players an

LAS VEGAS — It is a hit people will be talking about 30 years from now.

Matthew Tkachuk’s bone-rattling check on Jack Eichel will be on highlight shows for decades. Two superstar players making a combined $19.5 million in annual salary coming together like a truck collision on the highway, Eichel’s helmet popping off his head on impact.

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It took your breath away.

And on this night, the best news of all was seeing Eichel return for the third period of a 7-2 romp for his Golden Knights over the Panthers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, the game giving Vegas a 2-0 series lead with Game 3 on Thursday in South Florida.

The obvious concern was for Eichel as he bobbled up and gingerly skated back to the dressing room — and specifically for his surgically repaired neck.

Jack Eichel heads to the dressing room following this hit from Matthew Tkachuk. pic.twitter.com/yK2lVWZTCE

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 6, 2023

So again, seeing him return to the game was such a relief for every hockey fan.

It was also a hell of a hit by Tkachuk. It had the hockey world immediately buzzing.

I reached out via text message Monday night to current and former players and a few coaches in the aftermath of the hit, to get their perspective on whether it was clean.

Their answers:

Lightning star and captain Steven Stamkos:

“It was a clean hit. Eichel was in an awkward position at the point of contact, but it was a good hockey hit in my eyes. Glad to see Jack back in the game. I was surprised no one went after Tkachuk, especially given the score of the game. But all is well for Vegas tonight, so a non-issue I guess.”

Former Ducks star and captain Ryan Getzlaf:

“Good, hard hit!!! I have no problem with it. Think it’s a good time for a big hit to try and pump his team up. Didn’t go out of his way at all, just got him in a bad spot.”

Current Eastern Conference NHL player, who requested anonymity:

“Glad Eichel is OK. To me, it was a great hit. It was clean. Eichel saw him last second and was a little surprised and leaned into it instead of absorbing it. The reason he had to get his head down for the split second to find the puck is because he went to one hand on his backhand so he had to take an extra second to look down to coral it and got surprised. On Tkachuk’s part, that’s a skill to be able to hit like that in open ice. There’s a lot that goes into it, like the timing, keeping your elbow down and hitting with shoulder and also using your legs while keeping your feet on the ground. Not as easy as it looks. Glad to see no one is hurt and it was as good of a hit as you can make in my opinion.”

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Former Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant:

“From what I saw on TV, Eichel didn’t see him until it was too late. And seemed to stumble a bit, which made the hit look even worse. My view, though, is that it was a clean hit, bad result.”

Former Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau:

“Thought it was hard but not dirty. Eichel was falling. Tkachuk tucked in his arms, Jack saw him coming and stumbled. I didn’t think it was a penalty.”

Current Western Conference NHL player, who requested anonymity:

“I thought the hit was clean. Tucked elbow, shoulder level … wasn’t predatory. It was just unfortunate Eichel toe-picked when he did.”

Blues head coach Craig Berube:

“I thought was a clean hit, shoulder to shoulder. It looked like Eichel just did not see him until right before contact.”

Former Stars star and captain Mike Modano:

“Didn’t help that he (Eichel) toe-picked before he got hit. But it was a clean hit. Open-ice hits are nonexistent anymore, so when they do happen, everyone assumes it was a cheap shot. That hit happened 40 times in the ’99 playoffs.”

So yeah, there’s unanimity here. As there should be. Clean hit all the way, which Eichel himself rather impressively acknowledged after the game Monday.

“It’s kind of on me a bit,” he said. “I didn’t see him, and I kinda tripped and kinda fell into him. But it’s a physical game. He’s trying to finish checks out there. Got to be aware of it, you know? You’ve got to keep your head up. I’ll be fine.”

Modano’s comment cracked me up, about that kind of open-ice hit happening 40 times in the 1999 playoffs. So true. The game has changed so much. It’s for the better, of course, when it comes to how many fewer headshots we see today. But man, a good ol’ clean hit in open ice really is something you don’t see much anymore. It’s such a beautiful thing. But there’s an entire generation of players who don’t look for it or even look to deliver it. It’s just not a regular part of today’s NHL game, especially not in the regular season.

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So Monday night’s hit, on a Stanley Cup Final stage, again given the two players especially, that’s one for the ages.

It’s similar in scope to when fellow stars Vincent Lecavalier and Jarome Iginla dropped the gloves in an emotional bout at the 2004 Stanley Cup Final.

Tkachuk and Eichel will laugh about it at some point this summer, no doubt.

For now, though, there’s this: A scrappy Panthers team that used its edgy, physical play to get under the skin of its opponents in the three previous rounds has been on the losing end of that physical battle through two games of this Cup Final. Well, Tkachuk’s hit aside, that is.

The Golden Knights are bigger and stronger than the Bruins, Leafs and Hurricanes, and the Panthers have no answer for it so far. Just ask Radko Gudas after he got injured Monday night trying to hit Ivan Barbashev. Ouch.

And maybe that’s why Tkachuk felt the need in that moment in the second period to sound the physical alarm.

It didn’t work. But it sure did leave us with a hit we’ll never forget.

(Photo of Jack Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

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Sebrina Pilcher

Update: 2024-05-02