Sens dump former captain Tkachuk and Panthers 5-1

OTTAWA – With fans chanting “We don’t need you!,” the Ottawa Senators defeated Brady Tkachuk and his Florida Panthers 5-1 on Wednesday night.

Tkachuk, who spent eight seasons in Ottawa, including five as captain, received a hostile reception in his return to Canadian Tire Centre.

He was booed regularly and fans chanted throughout the evening. A number of fans also threw “Tkachuk” jerseys on the ice.

The Senators (7-3-0) lost goaltender Linus Ullmark early in the third period. Ullmark, who allowed one goal on 17 shots, made a pad save on Tkachuk and left the game.

Sam Ersson faced one shot in relief.

Tim Stutzle, Claude Giroux, Shane Pinto, Warren Foegele and Stephen Halliday scored for the Senators.

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Tkachuk scored the lone goal for the Panthers (5-3-2), who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end. Akira Schmid made 25 saves.

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Emotions boiled over in the third. Tkachuk, brother Matthew and Sam Bennett got into it in front of Ottawa’s bench with Tkachuk and Dylan Cozens getting into a heated exchange.

Ottawa’s Ridly Greig and Bennett fought earlier in the period.

Foegele gave the Senators a 4-1 lead by finishing off a great feed from Cozens at the eight-minute mark of the third. Halliday made it 5-1 when he scored off a Stutzle drop-pass.

The Senators scored twice in the second period. Giroux scored his second of the season through traffic from the top of the slot midway through the stanza.

Pinto made it 3-1 late in the period.

Despite the hostile welcome, Tkachuk seemed unfazed and opened the scoring for the Panthers with a power-play goal midway through the first period on a feed from his brother.

Stutzle tied the game just over four minutes later with a one-timer off a pass from Jake Sanderson.

Takeaways

Senators: Ottawa played with intensity and determination and was rewarded.

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Panthers: The Panthers seemed to get caught up in the emotion of the game early on and drew a couple needless penalties.

Key Stat

Sanderson (305 GP) became the second-fastest Senators defenceman to reach 40 career multi-point games, behind Erik Karlsson (233 GP).

Key Moment

Ullmark needed assistance when he left the game early in the third period.

Up next

Senators: Ottawa will host the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.

Panthers: Florida heads to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 21, 2026