Brady Tkachuk Finally Responds to Blackhawks Rookie’s Challenge

Brady Tkachuk and the Blackhawks rookie who called him out.

Florida beat Chicago 5-3 on Wednesday night at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida.

But the final score is not what people are talking about this morning.

A scrum late in the game has turned into one of the most debated moments of the young NHL season.

It involves a player who has built a career on never backing down from anybody.

And a 29-year-old who was playing his very first NHL game.

Here is what happened.

With the game winding down, Panthers winger Brady Tkachuk and Blackhawks defenseman Ethan Del Mastro started getting into it near the benches.

Del Mastro is a 6-foot-4 rookie with six NHL games played before Wednesday night.

He had zero points and a minus-5 rating coming into the game.

Tkachuk was reportedly the one who initiated the exchange with Del Mastro.

Then Dillon Boucher entered the picture.

Boucher, a 29-year-old forward from Head Chezzetcook, Nova Scotia, was making his NHL debut.

He had been recalled by Chicago on Tuesday after Patrick Kane went down with an upper-body injury.

Boucher had spent his first three pro seasons in the ECHL with the Wichita Thunder, where he served as captain.

He moved up to the AHL's Rockford IceHogs this season.

Wednesday night was his first taste of the NHL.

He played 8:10 on the fourth line with Ryan Greene and Jordan Greenway.

He finished without a point.

But he clearly came to make noise.

Near the end of the first period, with Chicago down 2-0, Boucher tried to goad Garnet Hathaway into dropping the gloves.

Hathaway did not bite.

Then, later in the game, Boucher saw Tkachuk and Del Mastro going at it.

He had words for Tkachuk.

Multiple reports say Boucher invited Tkachuk to fight.

Tkachuk acted as if he did not hear it and turned the invitation down.

That is the part that has people talking.

Tkachuk's name has been synonymous with toughness for years.

He has 838 penalty minutes over 587 NHL games.

He had 17 penalty minutes through 15 games this season before Wednesday night.

That is why a no from him lands differently than it would from almost anyone else.

When a player with that résumé declines a fight, people notice.

The replays get argued over for days.

Gino Hard, a reporter for Markerzone.com, flagged the moment as a heated exchange between Tkachuk and the Blackhawks rookie.

Hard noted that Tkachuk and Del Mastro were getting into it before Boucher had some words for Brady.

Here is the angle that has people talking.

Boucher is a 29-year-old with no NHL games played.

He invited Tkachuk to fight.

Tkachuk turned him down.

Tkachuk has not responded publicly to the call-out.

Why Tkachuk's silence is getting noticed.

Tkachuk has built a career on being the guy nobody can push around.

He plays on the edge.

He fights.

He talks.

He never backs down.

That is his brand.

So when a guy with zero NHL games asks him to go and he declines, it looks different than if almost any other player did the same thing.

The opening part of the exchange involved Del Mastro, a rookie defenseman with limited NHL experience.

Tkachuk was reportedly the one getting into it with him first.

Then a guy with no NHL games to his name asks for a fight and gets ignored.

That is a rough look for a player who sells himself as the one nobody can push around.

The context matters for Chicago.

The Blackhawks came into the game at 4-10-1, 31st in the NHL.

They were 0-5-1 on the road, the only winless road team in the league.

Wednesday's loss was their fourth in a row.

They are now 0-6-1 on the road.

A scrum is about the only thing they got out of this one that wasn't a loss.

Del Mastro had the better night statistically.

He finished with two assists and a plus-2 rating in just over 10 minutes of ice time.

He helped set up goals by Roman Kantserov and Frank Nazar.

The second one was shorthanded.

Chicago made a game of it before falling short.

Florida was 8-5-2 before Wednesday night.

The Panthers play at Washington on Saturday.

Chicago is at Tampa Bay on Thursday.

Whether Tkachuk answers any of this before then is the part to watch.

Tkachuk's family was already in the headlines this week.

His brother Matthew Tkachuk called out the Ottawa Senators over their sellout claim after Brady's return to Ottawa on Oct. 21.

Matthew said the announced attendance of 17,010 was not accurate.