Matthew Tkachuk's sister Taryn cheers for the Panthers during their game against Capitals at Capital One Arena

By Tushaar Kuthiala

Modified Feb 05, 2025 17:38 GMT

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Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk had a special fan rooting for him during Tuesday night's game: his sister Taryn. She shared some moments from the Capital One Arena on Instagram.

“Cats,” Taryn captioned the IG story.

(Credit: IG/@taryntkachuk)

Taryn is the youngest of three Tkachuk siblings and plays field hockey at the University of Virginia. The photo she shared on Tuesday night is a wide shot of the ice rink and features most of the Panthers and Washington Capitals in action. Florida lost the game 6-3.

Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin scored his 878th goal into an empty net with one second remaining on the clock. He is now 17 short in his hot pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s record.

“We had two or three guys, I think, had kind of off nights. But other than that it was a reasonably well-played game,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice told the media after the game. “We need more than one line producing and they (Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett) were carrying it for us tonight.”

Matthew Tkachuk scored the Panthers’ third and final goal of the night at 7:46 in the third period to take the score to 4-3 before the Capitals scored two empty-netters with the clock running down.

Tkachuk extended his point streak to four games with four goals and three assists. He is set to play for Team USA in the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off tournament alongside his younger brother, Ottawa Senators left wing Brady Tkachuk.

Matthew Tkachuk gives a speech at the White House

Tkachuk and his teammates were invited to meet US President Donald Trump on Monday during their trip to Washington, DC. In a brief speech at the event, Tkachuk said:

"Being one of the few Americans who loves the country so much. This is such an incredible day for myself, and I wake up every day really grateful to be an American.

“This team, this group of guys is super special. Everybody sees what we do on the ice, but I've built bonds with these guys I will have for the rest of my life."

The Panthers became the first sports team to visit Trump since his return to office as the 47th President of the United States.