Brady Tkachuk did what Brady Tkachuk does in his return to Ottawa: he scored, he stirred the pot, and he made sure the Senators knew exactly who was on the other side.
Michael Andlauer, never one to shy away from a public moment, filled in one of the more entertaining blanks from that night. On the Coming In Hot Senators podcast, the Ottawa owner said Tkachuk had a message for the Senators bench after he put Florida ahead early in the game.
“Some things never change, eh boys?”
That was the line, delivered after Tkachuk gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead and set off an emotional celebration in his first game back at Canadian Tire Centre. For a player known around the league as one of hockey’s top agitators, the chirp fits the profile.
The surprise isn’t that he said something. It’s that it was relatively mild.
Andlauer had already drawn attention earlier this offseason when he commented on Tkachuk’s departure from Ottawa after the blockbuster trade that sent him to Florida. He suggested Tkachuk’s father, Keith, and brother, Matthew, had a significant influence on his desire to leave, and he used the line “blood is thicker than water.”
Ottawa ended up getting the bigger last word on the ice.
After falling behind to Tkachuk’s goal, the Senators responded with five straight of their own and rolled to a 5-1 win over the Panthers. The game shifted decisively after the opening burst from Florida, and Ottawa never looked back.
It’s easy to imagine a few return comments coming Tkachuk’s way as the night tilted against his new team, even if nothing from that exchange has surfaced publicly. What is clear is that this won’t be the last chapter between Tkachuk and his old club.
The next meeting between Ottawa and Florida is set for January 18, 2027, and it already feels like one of those dates fans will circle the moment the schedule allows. Tkachuk won’t be forgetting the lopsided loss anytime soon, and the intensity figures to be right there again when the teams meet next.
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Panthers Look Dangerous For One Big Reason After Jets Rout
The Panthers got exactly the kind of emphatic response they were looking for, rolling past Winnipeg 5-1 behind a power play that looked every bit as dangerous as advertised. Carter Verhaeghe set the tone with a pair of early man-advantage goals, while Matthew Tkachuk kept pucks moving and chances coming as Florida built control of the game. Brady Tkachuk, Niko Mikkola and Sam Reinhart also found the net, giving the Panthers the sort of balanced scoring night that can make them tough to track when they get rolling.
For a team that has spent much of the season trying to stay sharp on special teams, this was a reminder of how much damage Florida can do when it turns pressure into goals. Winnipeg had little answer after Adam Lowrys lone tally, and the Jets have now dropped six straight, but the bigger takeaway for the Panthers was the way they dictated terms with the extra attacker. When Verhaeghe is finishing plays and Matthew Tkachuk is stacking up setup chances, Florida starts to look less like a team that can win and more like one opponents have to survive. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Catch Winnipeg At A Desperate Time In This Road Test
Florida heads into Winnipeg catching the Jets in an uneasy spot, with a road trip that suddenly looks a lot less routine than it did a week ago. The Panthers are coming off a win over the Blackhawks and now get a club trying to steady itself after a stretch of close losses, all by a single goal, in a season where offense has been hard to find and key players have not produced at the level Winnipeg needs.
The matchup also comes with an added layer of uncertainty for the home side, which has had to keep adjusting as the roster and lineup have shifted. For Florida, it is the kind of game that can turn into a statement road test if it can keep the pressure on a team already searching for answers and avoid letting a desperate opponent turn the building into a factor. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Face A Telling Test As Road Trip Ends In Winnipeg
The final stop of Floridas four-game road trip brings a useful measuring stick in Winnipeg, where the Panthers close out a demanding stretch against a Jets team trying to stop a five-game winless skid. Florida arrives with some momentum after edging the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2, a game that featured contributions from Lars Eller, Sandis Vilmanis, Matthew Tkachuk, Akira Schmid and Seth Jones as the Panthers kept finding ways to stay in the fight.
Winnipeg, meanwhile, is coming off a 2-1 loss to Montreal at the Heritage Classic, so both sides enter Canada Life Centre looking to steady themselves for different reasons. For Florida, the trip-ending matchup is less about style points than whether it can keep its response sharp away from home and leave the West with another hard-earned result. [Read more 🡒]