Florida Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk returned to action with two goals and an assist, and the Stanley Cup champs swiped home-ice advantage by thumping the host Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 to start their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series on Tuesday night.

TAMPA, Fla. – It appears the Florida Panthers will get their star forward back for Game 1 against Tampa Bay. The Panthers announced on Tuesday afternoon that Matthew Tkachuk had been taken off injured reserve. The media could not be loaded, either because the server or network failed or because the format is not supported.

Matthew Tkachuk made the Panthers look whole again in a dominant Game 1 win over the Lighting, while the Hurricanes held serve to go up 2-0 on the Devils. Ryan Dixon provides the takeaways from both games.