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Florida Panthers' Brady Tkachuk (8) skates during warmups prior to an NHL hockey game against the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa, on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Keito Newman
By The Canadian Press

Former captain Tkachuk hears boos in return as Senators roll to 5-1 win over Panthers

Oct 21, 2026 | 8:45 PM

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.

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.

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.

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


Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press


by The Canadian Press