Both Tkachuk Brothers Are Ejected as Bruins-Panthers Descends Into 126 Penalty Minutes

The Boston Bruins beat the Florida Panthers 4-1 on Sunday, and the score was the quietest part of the afternoon. The game produced 126 penalty minutes, the most in a single NHL game this season, including seven 10-minute misconducts. It started with a fight two seconds after the opening faceoff, and it ended with both Tkachuk brothers sent off three minutes apart in the third period, while Jeremy Swayman made 40 saves behind a Bruins team that never lost control of the scoreboard.

How did the game start?

With the gloves off before the crowd had sat down. Brady Tkachuk and Nikita Zadorov dropped the gloves straight off the opening faceoff at TD Garden, NHL.com reports, and each drew a five-minute major for fighting. It was not a one-off: Garnet Hathaway and Mark Kastelic fought at 6:32 of the first period, each drawing a five-minute major of their own, and Florida’s Gustav Forsling took a delay-of-game minor in between. By the end of the first seven minutes the officials had handed out six penalties, 12 minutes to each team, and Boston already led 2-0. The tone was set by the matchup itself. These are division rivals who have met twice in the playoffs during Florida’s championship runs, and the Panthers lead the league in both penalties taken (105) and penalties drawn (107), finishing in the top three in both categories every season since 2022-23, Boston Hockey Now reports.

How did both Tkachuk brothers get sent off?

In the third period, three minutes apart, and both were finished for the day. B/R Open Ice flagged that Brady and Matthew Tkachuk both drew 10-minute misconducts in the third period, MarkerZone reports. Matthew was sent down the tunnel with 8:08 left in the third, according to Jack Studley, so his 10-minute misconduct simply ran out the clock. Brady’s case was different: he had already taken a 10-minute misconduct at the end of the second period, alongside Eetu Luostarinen, Hampus Lindholm and Zadorov, NHL.com reports, so the third-period call was his second of the night. That is the detail that turns two misconducts into an ejection story rather than a penalty story. It was the first time the brothers, reunited as teammates in Florida this season, were sent off together, and it happened on a night when their team was already losing by three.

What do the 126 penalty minutes actually add up to?

The most penalised game of the season, and a ledger that tells its own story. The referees dished out 126 penalty minutes on Sunday, including seven 10-minute misconducts, Boston Hockey Now reports, the highest single-game total this season. Zadorov finished with 17 penalty minutes, and Kastelic had 17 of his own. The misconducts were spread across both teams: four players took them at the end of the second period alone, two from each side. The Panthers outhit the Bruins 38-13, NHL.com reports, which fits a team that plays on the edge and a game that kept tipping over it. The numbers also explain why the game felt as long as it did: 15:41 of Boston power-play time, 8:39 for Florida, and a penalty kill that had to work four times in the final frame alone.

What did the coaches and players say?

Very little about the officials, and a lot about the game. Zadorov would not discuss the referees afterwards, telling reporters to go back and watch the tape and decide whether he deserved 17 penalty minutes, Boston Hockey Now reports. Bruins coach Marco Sturm admitted the game dragged: “There were a lot of calls. It was a long game. I don’t even know, but it felt long. I think they started to really, after the first period, kind of, ‘Okay, this is enough.’ Maybe it should’ve started a little bit earlier. At least, you know what, at least it was both sides.” Florida coach Paul Maurice chose a different subject entirely, praising the brothers as people: “The most impressive thing that you would find with the Tkachuk family is how those two young men treat the people that they interact with on a daily basis. They are so incredibly well-raised.” Carter Verhaeghe kept it shorter: “Our team is definitely not backing down from anyone.” The weekend had already produced one fight nobody would call a fight, when Matthew Schaefer and Luke Hughes traded gloves-on punches and both refused to call it a fight, and Sunday gave the league a second one with the opposite problem: two players who definitely fought, and a game that kept fighting after them.

How did Boston win the hockey part?

By scoring three times before Florida could settle, and then letting Swayman close the door. Elias Lindholm opened the scoring at 4:53 on a wrist shot that had to be reviewed to confirm it crossed the line, NHL.com reports. Mikey Eyssimont, called up on Saturday morning and thrown onto the second line for his season debut, scored at 6:11, and Morgan Geekie made it 3-0 on a five-on-three at 15:59. Carter Verhaeghe got Florida on the board with a power-play goal at 18:05, and Matthew Tkachuk picked up his 22nd assist of the year on it. JJ Peterka made it 4-1 58 seconds into the third period, and that was the final goal of the game. Swayman stopped 40 shots for his ninth win of the season, finishing with 3.52 goals saved above expected, Boston Hockey Now reports, and the Bruins killed four of five Panthers power plays. Brady Tkachuk had a team-high eight shots, but none of them beat Swayman.

What does this mean for the brothers’ first season together?

It is the loudest night yet of a reunion Florida paid heavily for. Brady was acquired from Ottawa on June 21 for two 2026 first-round picks, a 2027 second-rounder and a conditional 2029 first, reuniting him with Matthew. The night before Boston, Brady scored twice in a 4-3 loss at Washington while Matthew picked up three assists and played 23:55, MarkerZone reports. Sunday was the first time the brothers were sent off together, and it came in the first meeting of the season between these two teams. The Panthers have lived on the edge of the rulebook all season, and the league has already shown it will look at their incidents: Tom Wilson faced no further discipline for boarding Vilmanis, while Frank Nazar was suspended two games for a high hit on Bo Horvat. Nothing on supplemental discipline for either Tkachuk has been reported, and MarkerZone notes the league has said nothing about looking at them.

What happens next?

The Panthers finish their road trip at Columbus on Tuesday, November 10, and the Bruins host Montreal on Thursday, November 12. Boston improved to 13-4-1 with a fourth straight win, while Florida fell to 9-7-2. The next Bruins-Panthers meeting is now the game to circle, with 126 penalty minutes and two ejections on the books from the first one. The Tkachuk family has been in the headlines all week for more than the fights, with Matthew’s shot at the Senators over a sellout claim drawing its own reaction, and Darnell Nurse’s ‘low IQ’ jab at a reporter showed how quickly a quote can travel when the game gets chippy.