Tkachuk missed season-ending Game 5 loss due to fractured sternum

Florida Panthers superstar Matthew Tkachuk was held out of Tuesday's season-ending Game 5 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights due to a fractured sternum, head coach Paul Maurice announced.

Maurice said Tkachuk sustained the ailment in Game 3 and that he would "heal fine from it."

Tkachuk was removed from that contest by the league's concussion spotter after taking a big hit from Golden Knights forward Keegan Kolesar. He returned to the matchup after clearing protocol and eventually scored the game-tying goal en route to the Panthers' overtime victory.

Game 4 was a different story. Tkachuk was limited to just four shifts in the third period of the matchup and, at one point, went almost 11 minutes without touching the ice.

"He didn't dress himself for (Game 4)," Maurice said following Game 5. "Somebody helped him get his gear on, somebody tied his skates, somebody put his sweater on for him.

"But the next day, when he came in, he was in significant pain, so it wasn't really a question of whether he'd be able to play (in Game 5) or not. The idea would be, if we could let it calm, we might be able to get him to Game 7."

The Panthers fell 9-3 to the Golden Knights on Tuesday without Tkachuk. The victory lifted Vegas to its first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

"The mental part of it, not being there, killed him," Maurice said in an interview with NHL on TNT's Jackie Redmond. "But he knew. ... You could see him in (Game 4) trying to find a way to play with a broken bone, and I think he had the three best chances we had to score. ... Clearly, he also knew that the other four guys on the ice needed a guy who could do other things.

"He accepted it. He understood."

Grigori Denisenko slotted into the lineup in Tkachuk's absence. Denisenko, 22, registered three assists in 18 regular-season games this campaign and had never seen action in the playoffs prior to Tuesday.

The Panthers' MVP of the postseason, Tkachuk led Florida with 11 goals and 24 points in 20 playoff contests.