Claude Giroux passes 1,000 points, providing spine-tingling thrill for Senators fans

OTTAWA -- On paper, this was a meaningless 81st game in an 82-game season.

The Ottawa Senators had already been eliminated from the playoff picture and were playing out the string, as the cliche goes.

Except that this group of Ottawa players has a way of finding meaning in their every day, squeezing joy out of special moments.

And it was a tingles-down-the-spine moment for beloved hometown winger Claude Giroux and for every one of the 18,688 spectators at the Canadian Tire Centre for this farewell to the Senators home ice season and salute to the 1K milestone for Giroux.

No one wanted Giroux to reach the 1,000-point mark on this occasion more than he did – unless it was his linemates Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle, who plotted secretly off-ice to figure out ways to get Giroux the two points he needed.

“A couple of goofs,” Giroux lovingly termed his linemates.

Together, they made the milestone come easily, and early.

Giroux scored a first-period goal for career point No. 999 and then set up star centre Stützle for the kid’s 38th goal of the season and Giroux’s 1,000 point.

As the puck got swept out of the Carolina Hurricanes net, Stützle raced across the ice to scoop it for his teammate. While Stutzle was getting the souvenir, the Senators bench emptied as every last player jumped onto the ice to swarm Giroux.

“I was trying to keep my emotions in check,” Giroux said. “I knew it was going to happen, that they’re going to all come on the ice, but to have it actually happen, was definitely a little different. But it was special.”

FOMO got the better of young goaltender Mads Sogaard, who lumbered up ice to join in the fun.

“I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to cross the red line, but I thought – screw it, I’m going,” Sogaard said. “I was super excited.”

It was a big night for Sogaard, too. The rookie goalie went up against his Danish hero, Frederick Andersen, and beat him 3-2, stopping 27 of 29 Carolina shots. Sogaard made a couple of game-saving stops in the final minute.

During a TV timeout, the Senators arena staff aired a highlight reel of Giroux’s career, including his first NHL goal. Stützle said later he was impressed watching the skill of many of Giroux’s goals shown on the screen. When it was over, No. 28 raised his stick in salute to fans, on this Fan Appreciation Night.

Giroux said he would have preferred Stützle to celebrate with him in the moment and not worry about the puck until later, “but he was excited and I’m happy he was the one that scored on (point 1,000),” Giroux said.

With “a lot of family here” looking on, Giroux wasn’t done yet. Like any good superhero, Giroux scored the game winner midway through the third period.

Incredibly, at age 35, Giroux has matched his career high with 34 goals on the season, with one game left, in Buffalo Thursday, to try to top it.

“It’s not a secret, I didn’t think I would get that many goals,” Giroux said. “I’ve never really been a goal scorer, but you know, I’m playing with players that make plays. I’m just trying to get open out there.”

The Giroux career stat line reads: 1,099 games, 328 goals, 673 assists, 1,001 points.

The final game of the season versus the Sabres will round off his games played to a tidy 1,100.

The captain, Tkachuk, said it was a thrill just to be a small part of this chapter of Giroux’s amazing career.

“It was such a special night,” Tkachuk said. “Everything was about G, but also the energy and passion of the fan base and the support we’ve had for us all year is really, really special.”

Added Stützle: “Just having (Giroux) as a teammate and learning from him is really special. We love him.” Stützle said Giroux can enjoy his summer more with the milestone in the books.

Of all the moves general manager Pierre Dorion made last summer, bringing home Giroux after a long career in Philadelphia and a brief stay in Florida, was his best one. Giroux has not only brought his A-game to Ottawa, he demands the best of his younger teammates.

Tkachuk and Timmy Sign Their Hearts Out

In keeping with a long-time team tradition, players gave fans the jerseys off their backs post-game. Usually, this involves a quick exchange while the player signs the sweater before handing it over and heading to the dressing room.

On this night, though, players went out of their way to linger and mingle. Tkachuk walked through the lineup of fans waiting to receive their player jerseys and shook the hands of every one of them. Long after fans had their special souvenirs, Tkachuk and Stützle spent several minutes signing for fans in the stands who passed down their own store-bought jerseys to have them signed.

“Brady! Timmy!” they called out.

“It’s just to give back for the support we have felt and the energy,” Tkachuk said. “They made us better on the ice and we’re just kind of showing our appreciation ... and of course, a lot of them are kids, and if we can do a little thing just to make a kid’s day, it’s something easy we’re going to do.”

What a captain. What a group.

They are headed toward becoming the most popular band of players in franchise history. Just wait until they start becoming a playoff threat – as early as next season.

As fans and staffers have told me, this team cared about each other and played hard, entertaining hockey all season long. They were still in a playoff hunt into early April.

Next year, they plan to be playing in May.

Milestones aplenty

Although Giroux had the most conspicuous milestone of the night, there are plenty of other statistical pleasantries for the Senators and their fans to enjoy this season.

With Tkachuk sitting at 82 points and Stützle at 88, they are the first Ottawa teammates to post 80 or more points in a single season since Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza in 2007-08. Giroux, at 78 points, can join them with a two-point game in Buffalo. Don’t bet against it.

Stützle also has one game left to take a shot at 90 points, a spectacular total for a player who just turned 21 in January and took on the role of a No. 1 centre when Josh Norris was lost for the season with a shoulder injury.

Stützle and Tkachuk both have 35-plus goals – 35 for Tkachuk and 38 for Stützle.

With 50 assists, Stützle, 21, is the youngest player in franchise history to reach the mark.

Rookie Shane Pinto has 20 goals and might have 21, had his power-play goal versus the Hurricanes not been called back on an offside.

Shades of the Early Sens

In an earlier incarnation of the Senators, individual success arrived just before the team became known as a yearly playoff threat.

Is history repeating itself with today’s Senators?

Think back to the months and years before Ottawa’s first playoff appearance, in 1997.

In his rookie season, 1993-94, Alexei Yashin scored 30 goals and had 79 points. (And finished fourth for the Calder in a stacked rookie group; Martin Brodeur won the Calder that year.)

Two years later, Alfredsson won the Calder as rookie of the year, with 61 points.

It was a portent of things to come as the Senators qualified for their first post-season with a win against Buffalo on the final night of the 1996-97 season, a bump that would launch a string of 11 consecutive playoff appearances.

Look for a similar pattern here with this group.

DeBrincat to be Qualified

In a teaser to his year-end wrap-up conference, expected next Monday, GM Dorion told an Ottawa sports radio pre-game show that he plans to qualify winger Alex DeBrincat (at $9 million), even if he can’t get the pending RFA signed to a longer contract.

Dorion also said he would like to see rookie star defenceman Jake Sanderson signed long-term, a year before he could qualify for restricted free agency. He also praised the play of young defenceman Erik Brannstrom and said he would like to sign him to a new deal. Brannstrom is a pending RFA.