Ottawa turned Brady Tkachuk’s homecoming into a five-goal statement Wednesday, beating the Florida Panthers 5-1 at Canadian Tire Centre behind two-point nights from Tim Stutzle and Stephen Halliday. Tkachuk scored in his first game back in the building where he spent eight seasons, five as Senators captain, but Ottawa took over after Florida’s early power-play strike.
Key takeaways
- Stutzle and Halliday each finished with a goal and an assist as Ottawa improved to 7-3-0.
- Jake Sanderson returned from an eight-game absence and set up two goals.
- Linus Ullmark stopped 17 of 18 shots before leaving in the third period with a lower-body strain.
- Florida’s three-game winning streak ended, with Akira Schmid making 25 saves.
- The Senators scored twice while short-handed in the third period to pull away.
Ottawa answers after Tkachuk’s early moment
The building was charged from the opening faceoff as Tkachuk returned following his June 21 trade to Florida. His first shot of the night put the Panthers ahead at 10:00 of the first period. Matthew Tkachuk found his brother near the right side of the net, and Brady slipped a wrist shot under Ullmark’s right arm on the power play.
“It was just nice to be back,” Tkachuk said. “Of course, not the outcome that we wanted, but start of a road trip. Just gotta bounce back, move on to tomorrow.”
Ottawa’s response came on its own man advantage. Sanderson sent the puck across to Stutzle in the right circle at 14:13, and the German forward one-timed it into an open side of the net to make it 1-1.
Claude Giroux put the Senators in front at 9:34 of the second. With traffic taking away Schmid’s view, Giroux snapped a shot from the slot area for the 2-1 lead. Shane Pinto added breathing room late in the frame, taking Sanderson’s pass in stride, driving past Niko Mikkola and watching his attempted move send the puck off his skate and beneath Schmid’s right pad at 17:18.
Sanderson, back after the lower-body injury suffered in Ottawa’s Oct. 3 season-opening win at Toronto, said returning to the ice brought immediate relief.
“It was awesome,” Sanderson said. “For me, it was a huge relief to get out there, and it was a massive win.”
He also saluted the crowd, which greeted Tkachuk’s return with a loud, playoff-style atmosphere.
“I didn’t expect it to be that much,” Sanderson said. “A little crazy, but we have great fans. They’re passionate and they want to see us win. They brought the energy tonight, and it was awesome seeing everyone on their feet at the end.”
Giroux felt the same edge in the rink.
“It felt like a playoff game,” he said. “There was a standing ovation from the fans, a lot of energy in the building, and we played a pretty solid game.”
Penalty kill delivers the finish as Ullmark exits
Florida could not find its forecheck or sustain pressure after the opening goal. The Panthers spent too much of the middle period in the box, and Ottawa’s work rate carried into the final 20 minutes.
Warren Foegele struck short-handed at 7:58 of the third period. Dylan Cozens beat Sandis Vilmanis with a sharp move before feeding Foegele at the left-circle edge, where Foegele fired through Schmid’s legs.
Halliday closed the scoring at 14:57, taking a drop pass from Stutzle on another short-handed rush and beating Schmid over the glove from the right circle.
Pinto said Ottawa’s players were committed to taking contact in order to move the puck cleanly.
“I think all of us took a hit to make a play tonight,” Pinto said. “That was how we had to get the puck out, and everyone bought into it. That was the mindset all night.”
Stutzle called it Ottawa’s most complete showing of the season.
“It was a great team effort,” Stutzle said. “We stayed with our game for 60 minutes. That was probably the fullest 60 we’ve played all year. We didn’t take too many penalties and kept playing the whole game.”
Ullmark was replaced at 3:25 of the third after allowing one goal on 18 shots. Samuel Ersson stopped the only shot he faced in relief. Coach Travis Green said Ullmark has a lower-body strain and will be checked again Thursday. Ullmark entered the night leading the NHL with seven victories and a .945 save percentage; his 1.33 goals-against average ranked second in the League.
Green had no shortage of positive reports on his bench.
“We rate our players after every game,” Green said. “I don’t remember a game where we liked every player. Tonight, everyone was good.”
The two short-handed goals marked the 10th time in Senators history that the club has scored multiple short-handed goals in one period. It was Ottawa’s first such period since Jan. 30, 2025, when it scored two in the second.
Stutzle’s power-play marker was his 38th in the NHL, matching Jochen Hecht for third among German-born players. Sanderson, playing his 305th NHL game, reached 40 career multi-point outings faster than every Ottawa defenseman except Erik Karlsson, who did it in 233 games.
For Florida, the loss halted a three-game run and sent the Panthers to Pittsburgh for the second half of a back-to-back Thursday. Coach Paul Maurice said his club never established the identity it wanted.
“We were behind the play in the first,” Maurice said. “We lost too many faceoffs. In the second, we were in the penalty box too much. The defining feature of our game is the forecheck, and I don’t think we ever got to it.”
Despite the defeat, Brady Tkachuk extended his point streak to five games, with seven goals and four assists over that span. Matthew Tkachuk pushed his streak to nine games, totaling three goals and 12 assists. Seth Jones reached 10 assists during a five-game point streak.
Radko Gudas returned after missing three games with a lower-body injury and recorded four hits, one blocked shot and a minus-2 rating in 17:03. Florida also dressed Cooper Black as Schmid’s backup after recalling him from AHL Charlotte on Tuesday along with forward Cole Schwindt.
