KANATA, Ont. — Fans of the Ottawa Senators could not wait to boo Alex DeBrincat out of the Canadian Tire Centre.
DeBrincat left the rink smiling, however, as his Detroit Red Wings turned the tables on the pre-game story of comeuppance by putting a 5-2 beatdown on the hometown Sens.
Even the lusty boos that rained down on No. 93 early in the game lost their thunder by the third period as the voices of a sellout crowd of 18,834 fell as flat as Ottawa’s play in the second and third periods.
“It was pretty much what I expected,” said DeBrincat, of the negative reaction. Though he did not record a point in the game, DeBrincat drew a critical first period penalty that helped turn the momentum of the game.
Why the nastiness from the usually friendly crowd in Ottawa? DeBrincat had said he was willing to return to Ottawa for another season of his contract, but was moved via trade to Detroit because he wasn’t interested in signing long term here. Fans in Ottawa picked up on that and were determined to give him a rough greeting.
“It is what it is, I tried to zone it out and just play the game,” DeBrincat said of the booing. “We’re happy to come away with the win; they’re a tough team to play on the road and it’s a big two points for us.”
DeBrincat admitted that although it was nice to get the return to Ottawa out of the way, it might have been “less of a story” later in the season, when his departure was not as fresh.
The Wings had more than DeBrincat’s interest at heart. They had lost seven of the past eight meetings against the Sens and nine of the last 11.
Especially painful for the Wings were the back-to-back beatdowns by the Senators in late February. Both teams were clinging to faint playoff hopes at the time and the Sens left a mark when they mopped the floor with Detroit, physically and on the scoreboard, with 6-2 and 6-1 victories.
In some circles, these were known as the “Who wants it?” series, as Sens captain Brady Tkachuk verbally challenged the entire Detroit bench. Notably, several Wings grappled with Tkachuk throughout the game and Michael Rasmussen took on Tkachuk in a fight.
The Wings clearly went to school on those losses, vowing to be tougher to play against this season, for all teams but especially Ottawa, a franchise on the rise — as are the Wings and Buffalo Sabres in the Atlantic Division.
Tkachuk was so upset about his team’s play — good to start but then undisciplined and full of mistakes — he could barely talk about it.
“Disappointed, frustrated — I don’t really have any more feelings than that,” Tkachuk said Saturday.
The Sens had an early lead and then gave up the next five goals, three of them on the power play.
In a season that had been rolling along nicely for a 3-1 Sens team, the afternoon fell apart quickly in this early battle for first place with Detroit in the Atlantic.
“They just showed that they’re better than us,” Tkachuk said. “That’s what’s frustrating.”
Getting three power-play goals past Joonas Korpisalo in the Senators net was the difference, and though Korpisalo said he needed to be better, there weren’t really any soft goals.
Though outshot 37-23, Detroit got serious chances when they materialized. In fact, the Wings could have had six or seven goals. On the other side, Sens winger Drake Batherson hit iron a couple of times.
Ottawa was missing shutdown defenceman Artem Zub, which scrambled the defence pairings. Head coach D.J. Smith refused to use that as an excuse after his team played what he called a “perfect first period.”
Perfect that is until Ridly Greig took a roughing penalty for a hit on DeBrincat.
Smith said he didn’t think it merited a penalty.
Greig said those decisions are up to officials.
“That’s for the refs to decide, I was just finishing my check,” Greig said.
But even Greig admitted this was a huge turning point in the game, late in the first period.
The Wings responded with a quick power-play goal by Shayne Gotsibehere, a match for the Sens’ earlier power-play goal by Jake Sanderson, his third in five games.
“Yeah, maybe,” Greig said, when asked about the momentum shift. “It kills us a bit. It would be nice to head into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead, that’s a little bit of a difference right there.”
Until Greig’s penalty, the Senators had controlled play, held a 14-2 shot advantage, and had the early lead. Until they didn’t.
In the second period, Detroit took its first lead of the matinee off a sneaky play by Christian Fischer, driving behind the Ottawa net and then throwing a blind backhand pass the opposite direction, out to Joe Veleno. With Korpisalo following Fischer, the right side of the net was wide open for Veleno to tap it home.
A little more than 10 minutes later, the Wings went up 3-1 on a power-play goal by David Perron, who flicked a puck up over Korpisalo, showing the touch that made Perron a 28-goal scorer for the Edmonton Oilers back in his prime.
Wings captain Dylan Larkin and Veleno, with his second of the game, scored in the third period to complete the rout. Greig scored in alone on Ville Husso, who was great early on when the Sens might have built a lead. He finished with 35 saves.
Fan rage against DeBrincat apparently didn’t extend to the dressing room. The ex-Senators winger went out to dinner with several of his former Ottawa teammates on Friday night, including captain Tkachuk. (Wonder if anyone ordered hot wings?)
Expect lots more passion to come between these two division rivals.
“These are two good young teams going at it,” DeBrincat said. “They play a hard, physical game. For us to come on the road and get the two points is big for us.”