Senators live up to home opener hype, take down Flyers

KANATA, Ont. — There are things you can plan for opening night, or opening matinee in this case. 

The rest of the program is up to the players on the ice. 

The Ottawa Senators took care of that with a resounding 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Ottawa’s home opener Saturday. The win evens their early record at 1-1. 

“A lot of guys played awesome,” said Senators captain Brady Tkachuk. “That’s kind of what we needed as a team, and of course the atmosphere helped.”

Ah, yes. That atmosphere. A sellout Canadian Tire Centre crowd of 20,011 was on their game and on their feet, often. 

A wave of pre-game ceremonies set the stage and it was followed by a highly entertaining game. 

Playing the hero’s role was Ottawa’s second power play unit, which contributed two of the Senators three goals with the extra man.

Jakob Chychrun, acquired more for his defence than his offence, staked the Senators to a 2-0 lead in the first period on two shots to the same location of the Flyers' net, high to the blocker side of Carter Hart. Thus was the foundation built for this matinee victory.

“Yeah, I guess it was a couple of good shots,” Chychrun said, sheepishly. “Cew (Zack MacEwen) made a great play to find me on the first one and the second was just a one-T (timer) when the puck was rolling a bit.”

Chychrun opened the scoring at 2:36 after icing was waved off at the last second and Ottawa controlled play in the Flyers’ zone. Chychrun’s second, at 10:47, was a power play blast from the high slot. 

Ottawa was cruising at this point, still riding the high of the opening ceremonies, but got into penalty trouble late in the period. 

With Drake Batherson already in the box for hooking, Claude Giroux took a penalty for grabbing Cam York’s stick and tossing it into the Sens' bench. 

During that resulting 5-on-3, the Flyers scored as former Ottawa 67’s star Travis Konecny put a rebound past Anton Forsberg at 16:51, closing the gap to 2-1.

A power play goal by Jake Sanderson, another blast from the point, extended Ottawa’s lead to 3-1 in the second period. And though Cam York got that one back just 16 seconds later, the Sens closed out the period in style. 

That minor penalty for grabbing York’s stick was one of Giroux’s few miscues of the afternoon. The man they call ‘G’ used his guile to create two goals for Tkachuk. On Tkachuk’s second of the afternoon, Giroux laid out to keep a puck in at the blueline, setting up the scoring sequence for Ottawa’s fifth and final goal of the day. 

Giroux, the subject of a pre-game ceremony, showed he is still willing to dig in the corners like a grinder. It was Giroux’s work to retrieve a puck in the dying seconds of the second that led to a Tkachuk first of the day, a blast past Hart with six seconds left. 

With their two-goal lead restored, the Senators cruised through the third period.

A major difference in the outcome, the Sens were three for seven on the power play while the Flyers were one for six. 

“When you take that many penalties, it’s tough to get guys involved,” said Senators head coach D.J. Smith. “Clearly in the first period we were a little bit excited there, but you can’t take those penalties as the year goes on. You’re going to wear guys out and you’re giving the other team an opportunity.”

Getting goals from their defence has not been a Senators strong suit, so it was refreshing to see three of five goals from the D-corps. Sanderson scored his first of the season in just his second game. 

Last season Sanderson scored his first of the season in game 19, in late November. 

“It’s always nice to get it done right away, it was a great play by Vladdy (Tarasenko) and an even better screen by Ridly (Greig),” Sanderson said. 

Sens of Occasion 

It’s been a long time since the CTC was the scene of such a grand pre-game ceremony. 

The recurring theme was welcoming in the new – owner Michael Andlaeur and president of hockey operations Steve Staios, for example – with a nod to those who came before, including former franchise owners Bruce Firestone, Rod Bryden and representing the late Eugene Melnyk, his daughters Anna and Olivia. They all joined Andlauer at centre ice as part of the fanfare. 

Call it a fresh breeze in the building with a hint of yesterday’s glory. 

Andlauer dropped the puck for the ceremonial faceoff, but only after another familiar face sent the sellout crowd into a tizzy. Franchise icon Daniel Alfredsson was introduced as part of the coaching staff and then received another massive ovation when he presented Senators winger Claude Giroux with a silver stick in honour of his 1,000 career NHL points. That milestone was recorded in the final game of last season. Alfredsson himself was a thousand-point player, of course.

Giroux said it took him a while to settle his emotions. 

“It was obviously special and for it to happen when the Flyers are here – both organizations made it pretty special,” Giroux said. “It definitely took myself a while to get going.”

Giroux’s wife, Ryanne, and their children Gavin and Palmer were on the red carpet to celebrate with dad. Giroux says his oldest, Gavin, keeps asking him to replay the ceremony for his 1,00th game in March of 2022, when Giroux was still with the Flyers. 

Young Tim Stützle, who scored the goal to give Giroux point No. 1,000, cracked wise that Giroux couldn’t have reached the milestone “without Chucky (Tkachuk) and I.”

Giroux joined his hometown Senators just last season after spending the bulk of his career with Philadelphia, so it was fitting that his former Flyers teammates were here to tip a cap and express best wishes to their former captain.

Even the choice of anthem singer resonated with fans, as Lyndon Slewidge, the longtime anthem voice of the hockey team performed his first anthems since the 2015-16 season. When Slewidge, who first performed the anthems in 1994, finished his "O Canada" rendition Saturday afternoon, he received a roaring salute from fans even as he saluted with his white gloves, as is his tradition. 

‘We want Pin-to’

At different times in the game, a chant of “We want Pin-to!” rang out, signaling fans' wish to get RFA centre Shane Pinto signed. 

Tkachuk said the team definitely heard the chants.

“We want him bad as well,” Tkachuk said. “We miss him and I think the message is for him, he knows we always have his back and hopefully it gets figured out soon.”

The Senators continue to sort out their salary cap issues and will likely have to make a trade to create room for Pinto’s new contract.