Senators vs. Panthers: Ottawa Boos Brady Tkachuk All Night, Then Beats Florida 5-1 in His Return

Brady Tkachuk's first game back in Ottawa came with a soundtrack. He was booed regularly, a chant of "We don't need you!" rolled around Canadian Tire Centre, and some fans went as far as throwing Tkachuk jerseys onto the ice. The former Senators captain, traded to Florida on June 21, scored on the Panthers' very first shot of the night anyway.

Then the Ottawa Senators spent the rest of the night proving the crowd's point. Tim Stützle and Stephen Halliday each had a goal and an assist, Claude Giroux, Shane Pinto and Warren Foegele also scored, and Ottawa beat the Florida Panthers 5-1 on Wednesday night in a game that featured two fights, a third-period scrum in front of the Senators bench and a penalty box that never seemed to empty.

Homecoming, Heel Turn Edition

Tkachuk spent eight seasons in Ottawa, five of them wearing the "C," and he did not look rattled. With Artem Zub off for tripping Garnet Hathaway, Matthew found Brady low on the right side, and Brady beat Linus Ullmark with a wrist shot tucked under the goalie's right arm at 10:00 of the first. Seth Jones had the second assist. Five seconds later, Hayden Hodgson and Bokondji Imama dropped the gloves.

Ottawa's response came on its own power play. Radko Gudas was sent off for cross-checking Pinto at 12:45, and at 14:13 Jake Sanderson slid a pass to Stützle in the right circle for a one-timer into an open net. Per NHL.com, it was the 38th power-play goal of Stützle's career, tying Jochen Hecht for third most by a German player in league history. The rest of the period brought four coincidental roughing minors at 15:32 and, at the horn, a penalty on Carter Yakemchuk for removing Tkachuk's helmet.

The second period is where Ottawa took control. Giroux, working from between the circles, put a wrist shot through traffic past a screened Akira Schmid at 9:34, with Nikolas Matinpalo assisting. At 17:18, Pinto took a Sanderson pass in stride, powered past Niko Mikkola into the zone, tried to deke, and watched the puck bounce off his own skate and trickle under Schmid's right pad. Not pretty. Still counts. It was 3-1 after two.

The Third Period Gets Loud

Sam Bennett had been called for slashing Ridly Greig late in the second, and 2:17 into the third, the two of them fought. Emotions spilled over more than once after that. Both Tkachuks and Bennett tangled with Senators players in front of the Ottawa bench, Brady Tkachuk and Dylan Cozens got into a heated exchange, and the roughing minors piled up, including four at 3:35 that came with a misconduct to Nick Cousins.

Ottawa lost its starting goalie early in the frame. Ullmark made a pad save on Tkachuk and needed help getting off the ice, and coach Travis Green said afterward it was a lower-body strain and that Ullmark would be reassessed Thursday. Ullmark had stopped 17 of 18 shots. Samuel Ersson stopped the only shot he faced in 16:25 of relief.

The Senators kept scoring anyway. Cozens made a slick move around Sandis Vilmanis and set up Foegele at the edge of the left circle for a five-hole finish at 7:58, Foegele's first of the season. At 14:57, Halliday took a drop pass from Stützle and lifted it over Schmid's glove from the right circle for the 5-1 final.

Stützle Steals the Show

Stützle finished with a goal and an assist in 19:41 and won seven of his 10 faceoffs. He sounded like a player who knew exactly how complete the effort was. "I think that was probably the most full 60 minutes we played all year," he said.

Sanderson had two assists in his return after missing eight games with a lower-body injury he suffered in the season opener at Toronto on Oct. 3. "A little crazy, but you know what? Like we got great fans," Sanderson said of the atmosphere.

Giroux, for his part, said it "felt like a playoff game," and the hit totals backed him up: Florida was credited with 42 hits, Ottawa with 25. Pinto described the price of admission. "I think all of us took a hit to make a play tonight," he said.

For Florida, Tkachuk finished with a goal, six hits and six penalty minutes in 13:13. Per NHL.com, he has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) during a five-game point streak, Matthew Tkachuk has three goals and 12 assists during a nine-game streak and Jones has 10 assists during a five-game run. Schmid made 25 saves on 30 shots.

Turning Point: Giroux Breaks the Tie

The first period was chaos, and chaos tends to favor the team with Tkachuks. Giroux's goal midway through the second was the moment the game stopped being a street fight and became a hockey game Ottawa was controlling. From there, the Senators outscored Florida 4-0.

Florida coach Paul Maurice did not need long to diagnose it. "We were behind the play in the first. We just lost so many face-offs," he said. "The defining feature of our game is our forecheck. I don't think we ever got to it."

Stats That Matter

• 33-20: Ottawa's edge in faceoffs, a 62.3 percent clip that fed Maurice's complaint.
• 30-19: Shots on goal, Ottawa.
• 42-25: Hits, Florida. All that contact, one goal.
• 44-40: Penalty minutes, Florida and Ottawa, on 15 and 13 penalties respectively.
• 1-for-5 vs. 1-for-7: Each power play scored once, both in the first period.

What It Means

Ottawa improves to 7-3-0 with 14 points, is 4-1-0 at home and has won two of its past three. The bigger question is Ullmark, who per NHL.com leads the league in wins (seven) and save percentage (.945). Green, though, loved what he saw from the group. "Tonight, everyone was good," he said. San Jose visits Thursday.

Florida falls to 5-3-2 with 12 points, and its three-game winning streak is over. The Panthers had to turn around and play in Pittsburgh on Thursday, the second night of a back-to-back. Tkachuk kept his postgame short. "Of course, not the outcome that we wanted, but start of a road trip," he said. "Just gotta bounce back, move on to tomorrow."

Every Rivalry Needs a Villain

Tkachuk said it was "just nice to be back," and he played like it, scoring early and finishing with three roughing minors. Every good rivalry needs a heel, and the Senators now have theirs in a Panthers sweater.

Ottawa's fans got their villain. Their team got the last word, and the two points.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press and NHL.com; postgame quotes as reported by NHL.com.