It will go down as one of the most memorable nights in Ottawa Senators history.
Former captain Brady Tkachuk returned to Ottawa for the first time in enemy colours on Wednesday night and was jeered relentlessly, from the opening warm-up right through to the end.
And the Senators made sure their fans went home happy, rolling to a convincing 5-1 victory over the Florida Panthers in an atmosphere that felt more like a Game 7 than a regular-season game in October.
Tim Stützle and Stephen Halliday each had a goal and an assist in the victory. Jake Sanderson, playing his first game since suffering a lower-body injury on opening night, picked up two assists.
Claude Giroux, Shane Pinto and Warren Foegele scored the other Ottawa goals as the Senators improved to 7-3-0.
The bad news on the night was the loss of goaltender Linus Ullmark to a lower body injury as he tried to make a routine save. Ullmark has been the club's MVP of the young season with a 7-1 record, a .945 save percentage and a 1.33 goals against average.
But the night will be remembered for the loud, fierce message the Senators and their fans sent to their former captain.
It was as if Senators fans had all been handed a program containing the various chants they had planned for the evening.
The playlist included "We Don't Need You," "Traitor," "You're a Sellout," "Brady Sucks," "Timmy's Better," "Who's Your Daddy?", "You Can't Read," "You Eat Crayons," "Brady's Balding," "Overrated," and "F--- You, Brady."
And perhaps the most amusing chant of all: "F--- Your Podcast."
Tkachuk wasn't just booed every time he touched the puck. He was booed every time he stepped onto the ice. He was booed during warm-ups, during stoppages in play and pretty much any time the crowd felt like it.
And when it came time for his welcome-back tribute video in the first stoppage, the fans didn't let up for that either.
The Senators had put together a video that focused entirely on Tkachuk's off-ice charity work during his eight seasons in Ottawa. But even that wasn't enough to sweeten the reception.
The boos continued.
When the video wrapped up, Tkachuk took a brief skate around centre ice, waving to the crowd with an awkward smile as the jeering continued.
Perhaps the funniest contrast of the evening came when the Senators acknowledged another former player, Lars Eller, who also ended up with the Panthers. Despite playing just one season in Ottawa, Eller received a full standing ovation from the same crowd that had just mercilessly booed its former captain.
The message was unmistakable. Once a Senator, always a Senator. Unless you quit on us.
After eight seasons in Ottawa, including five as captain, Tkachuk requested a trade in May with two years still remaining on his contract.
That request came just a couple of weeks after the Senators were eliminated from the playoffs, when Tkachuk had publicly insisted he was fully committed to the team and city. At the time, he also expressed frustration with the ongoing speculation about his future, describing it as an unnecessary distraction.
Sens fans clearly haven't forgotten that sequence of events. And they certainly weren't about to let Tkachuk forget it on Wednesday.
Ironically, the game couldn't have started much worse for the home crowd. Of all people, it was Tkachuk who opened the scoring, beating Ullmark with a relatively weak shot on a Florida power play.
For a brief moment, it looked as though the former captain might write the kind of story that Senators fans had spent months dreading. But that was the last thing that went right for the Panthers on Wednesday.
The Senators took over from there, playing arguably their best all-around game of the young season.
They were aggressive, physical, solid in all areas of the game, and determined to make life miserable for the visitors. Especially for the guy wearing the unfamiliar No. 8.
There was plenty of nastiness, too. Hayden Hodgson squared off with Florida tough guy Boko Imama in one of the night's fights.
Ridly Greig, meanwhile, seemed to be in the middle of everything. Greig was a constant irritant to the Panthers, getting in their faces and throwing around his weight, such as it is. After delivering a massive hit on Dmitry Kulikov, Greig found himself answering to Sam Bennett.
On paper, that looked like a mismatch, but Greig handled himself extremely well in the scrap, adding another memorable moment to a night filled with them.
There was also plenty to like beyond the emotion and physical play.
Sanderson's return provided an immediate boost to a blue line that's been battered by injuries and just lost Thomas Chabot for at least a couple of weeks. Sanderson's two assists were a welcome reminder of just how important he is to the Senators at both ends of the ice. The power play suddenly looked a million times better.
But this night will always be remembered as the night Tkachuk returned to Ottawa, and it wasn't just the fans who pushed back with boos, chants and ex-captain jerseys thrown on the ice.
Some of Tkachuk's former teammates obviously had a problem with him as well.
After the morning skate, Stützle was asked if he had gone to dinner with Tkachuk on Tuesday night.
"I have a chef at home, so I didn't go for dinner," Stützle said.
The Senators were physical with Tkachuk at every opportunity, causing multiple scrums with him. Artem Zub knocked him down on the first shift. Greig was in his face all night. Dylan Cozens, who had his best game of the year, got into it with Tkachuk as well. And there was a full evening of yapping between Tkachuk and the Sens bench.
After the game, the Senators celebrated the statement win by playing Tkachuk's personal theme song, "Mr. Brightside," on a loop in the dressing room.
For months, October 21 had been circled on calendars across Ottawa. There was so much hype leading up to this game, it had the potential to disappoint.
And yet it somehow surpassed all expectations by a mile.
A night in Ottawa that won't be forgotten #GoSensGopic.twitter.com/19abOn6Gq4
— Steve Warne (@SteveWarneMedia) October 22, 2026
The healing begins, but there's no rest for the Senators, who are right back at it on Thursday night when they welcome Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks to Canadian Tire Centre.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa
