Brady Tkachuk’s return to Canadian Tire Centre started with a punch to the gut for Ottawa, but the Senators answered fast, kept pushing, and rolled to a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers.
Tim Stützle and Stephen Halliday each finished with a goal and an assist, while Jake Sanderson set up two scores as Ottawa snapped Florida’s three-game winning streak in front of a crowd that made its feelings known from the opening puck drop.
Tkachuk opened the scoring midway through the first period, cashing in just nine seconds after Artem Zub went off for hooking. The goal came on Florida’s first shot of the night, after an offensive-zone faceoff win. Matthew Tkachuk set up Seth Jones, Jones found Brady down low, and Brady swept the puck past Linus Ullmark to make it 1-0.
That lead barely had time to settle in. At 4:13, Radko Gudas was whistled for cross-checking, and Ottawa quickly made it hurt.
Sanderson fed Stützle after his first shot was blocked, and Stützle wired it from the slot. Halliday picked up the secondary assist.
The next big swing came in the second period, and it belonged to a familiar face. Claude Giroux, the former Panther, gave Ottawa the lead 9:34 into the frame when he took a pass from Nikolas Matinpalo and beat a screened Akira Schmid through traffic from long range.
Then Sanderson helped turn defense into damage. After he blocked Sam Bennett’s shot, he sent Shane Pinto away on a partial breakaway. Dmitry Kulikov got back into the play, but the puck ended up underneath Schmid with 2:42 left in the period, giving Ottawa a two-goal cushion.
From there, the Senators kept the pressure on and never let Florida find a way back in. At 7:58 of the third, Dylan Cozens took an entry pass off the boards from Drake Batherson, worked around Sandis Vilmanis, and set up Warren Foegele, who had started the rush, for Ottawa’s fourth goal.
Halliday closed the night at 14:57, snapping home a backhand pass from Stützle after a turnover by Lars Eller at the Ottawa blue line.
Florida did some things right early and then spent the rest of the night chasing the game. After taking the lead, the Panthers managed just 18 shots the rest of the way on Ullmark and went 0-for-4 on the power play after scoring on their first man advantage.
For Ottawa, it was the kind of workmanlike night that turned into something bigger: hits, blocks, hustle, and enough finish to bury Florida.
Brady Tkachuk’s goal pushed his point streak to five games, and he has 11 points over that stretch. He led all players with six hits, and he and Seth Jones were the only Panthers to register three shots on goal in the one-sided game.
Jones also extended his own point streak to five games with the secondary assist on Florida’s lone goal. He played 21:09 and added two hits and one blocked shot.
Matthew Tkachuk’s primary assist stretched his point streak to nine games and kept him four points ahead of Jones and his brother for the team lead in scoring. Eight of his 12 assists have come on the power play.
Schmid had a rough night in goal, allowing five goals on 29 Ottawa shots. He dropped to 2-2-1, and his goals-against average climbed to 3.62.
Cole Schwindt made his season debut and skated 7:40. He won 60% of his faceoffs and finished with five hits.
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Blacks arrival comes with Jacob Markstrom sidelined by a shoulder injury, which forced Florida to reach for help in a hurry. Against a Penguins lineup that got two goals from Nick Robertson and added production from Hendrix Lapierre and Evgeni Malkin, the Panthers at least got a look at where their emergency plan stands, even if the broader answer in net is still very much unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
Brady Tkachuks Ottawa Return Came With An Unexpected Rivalry Jab
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Panthers Loss Put One Frustrating Question On Floridas Defense
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Nikolas Matinpalo also got caught with a high-sticking penalty, a reminder of how thin the line was for Florida on a night when every shift seemed to matter. The goaltending side gave the Panthers some stability, with Linus Ullmark in good position and making key saves despite dealing with a lower-body strain, but the broader issue remained whether the defense in front of him could do enough to keep games from slipping into the kind of late scramble that tests a teams structure. [Read more 🡒]