The Florida Panthers have been dependent on Matthew Tkachuk this season to provide scoring and physical play to spur on the team all season. Tkachuk appeared to go much too far with the latter aspect of his game as he delivered a nasty cross check to Garnet Hathaway of the Boston Bruins in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup playoff series between the two teams.

Angry Bruins supporters were calling for a Tkachuk suspension when they saw replays of the hit on Hathaway.

The Panthers were in a somewhat desperate position entering the game, trailing the Bruins 2-1 in the series. While the Panthers came out aggressively in Game 4, the Bruins took a 1-0 lead in the first period, and when the horn went off at the end of the period, Tkachuk went after Hathaway and drew a late penalty for his actions.

If anything, the move spurred on the Bruins, and Boston rolled to a 6-2 triumph to take a 3-1 lead in the series.

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A picture of Mark Stone in middle hoisting the Stanley Cup, three players on each side of him looking at him (on left Nathan MacKinnon, Joe Pavelski and Connor McDavid), on right Nikita Kucherov, Matthew Tkachuk and Brad Marchand, NHL logo, hockey rink in background

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Tkachuk was able to score in the second period for the Panthers, and he also started a dust-up with Boston goalie Linus Ullmark at the end of the 3rd period. It appeared Matthew Tkachuk and the Ullmark would engage in a fight after the goalie took off his own mask, but officials stopped the battle before it escalated.

Jake DeBrusk and Taylor Hall scored 2 goals each for the Bruins. Tyler Bertuzzi and Brad Marchand also scored for the victors.

The Bruins took charge in the series by winning 2 games in Florida after losing Game 2 of the series in Boston. The record-setting Bruins will have a chance to close out the series Wednesday when they host the Panthers in Game 5