Senators 5, Panthers 1: Tkachuk Came Home. Ottawa Did Not Need Him.

October 21, 2026 - Ottawa - They chanted "We don't need you." They threw old jerseys on the ice. Brady Tkachuk still scored the first goal of his return, a power-play wrister under Linus Ullmark's right arm at 10:00, set up by his brother. Then the building got the rest of what it came for. Five the other way.

The Ottawa Senators beat the Florida Panthers 5-1 at Canadian Tire Centre. Ottawa is 7-3-0, two of the last three. Florida is 5-3-2 after three straight wins. Shots were 30-19 Ottawa. Attendance was 17,010, per ESPN. Stephen Halliday, Warren Foegele, Dylan Cozens, Nikolas Matinpalo, Niko Mikkola, and Sandis Vilmanis are not seeded on AthX player pages, so those names stay unlinked.

Tim Stützle had a goal and an assist. Halliday had a goal and an assist. Jake Sanderson had two assists in his first game back. Claude Giroux, Shane Pinto, and Foegele scored. Ullmark stopped 17 of 18 in 43:35, then left. Samuel Ersson made one save. Brady Tkachuk scored Florida's only goal. Akira Schmid stopped 25 of 30.

1-0 on the first shot, then Stützle

Tkachuk spent eight seasons here, five as captain. The June 21 trade sent him to Florida. This was the first time back. He smiled and shrugged after the goal, the Panthers recap said. "It was just nice to be back," he told NHL.com. "Of course, not the outcome that we wanted, but start of a road trip. Just gotta bounce back, move on to tomorrow."

Stützle tied it at 14:13. Sanderson to the right circle. One-timer, open net, power play. Halliday the other assist. "I think that was probably the most full 60 minutes we played all year," Stützle told NHL.com.

Sanderson had missed the first eight games after a lower-body injury in the Oct. 3 opener at Toronto. "It was awesome," he told NHL.com. "Huge relief off my shoulders to get out there, and yeah, massive win for sure." He also said he did not expect the building to be that loud.

Giroux through traffic, Pinto off a skate

Giroux made it 2-1 at 9:34 of the second, a wrist from between the circles through a screen, Matinpalo the assist. "It felt like a playoff game," Giroux told NHL.com. "Came out to fans' standing ovation. It was a lot of energy in the building, and we played a pretty solid game tonight."

Pinto made it 3-1 at 17:18. Sanderson hit him in stride. The NHL recap said he powered past Mikkola, tried a deke, and the puck went in off his skate under Schmid's right pad. "I think all of us took a hit to make a play tonight," Pinto told NHL.com.

Florida coach Paul Maurice told NHL.com the Panthers never got to their game. Behind the play in the first. Too many lost faceoffs. Too much time in the box in the second. "The defining feature of our game is our forecheck. I don't think we ever got to it."

The Associated Press recap said Sam Bennett fought Ridly Greig in the third, and that Brady, Matthew Tkachuk, and Bennett mixed it up in front of Ottawa's bench, Brady with Cozens.

Ullmark down the tunnel, then two more

Ullmark left at 3:25 of the third. The Associated Press recap said he made a pad save on Tkachuk and needed help getting off. Ottawa coach Travis Green told NHL.com it is a lower-body strain, to be reassessed Thursday. The NHL recap put Ullmark at seven wins, a .945 save percentage, and a 1.33 goals-against average, second in the league in GAA.

Foegele made it 4-1 at 7:58. Cozens around Vilmanis, Foegele five-hole from the left circle, Drake Batherson the other assist. Halliday made it 5-1 at 14:57, a snap over Schmid's glove after a drop from Stützle.

The NHL recap called both of those short-handed and said it was the 10th time Ottawa had scored two short-handed goals in a period, the first since Jan. 30, 2025. The gamecenter landing tagged both as even strength (situation code 1551). ESPN's scoring plays do not mark shorthand. The box `shorthandedGoals` rows are 0. That is the line we scored.

Green told NHL.com he did not remember rating a game where every player got a like. Seth Jones has 10 assists in a five-game point streak, the notes said. Brady Tkachuk has 11 points in five games. Matthew's point streak is nine (three goals, 12 assists). Radko Gudas returned after three games out.

AthX Engine on a 5-1 that started 1-0 Florida

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) scored Halliday at 9.40 (a goal, an assist, four shots, one block). Stützle is 8.10 with the power-play bonus. Sanderson is 7.90. Foegele is 6.90. Pinto is 5.70. Giroux is 5.20. Brady Tkachuk is 4.80. Jones is 4.80. Ullmark's win, 17 saves, and one goal against land at 8.60. Ersson is 0.40. Schmid is 4.00.

Ottawa's team line is 22.00. Florida's 1-5 floors at 0.00.

Fantasy points measure the box. Price is what traders will pay for Stützle in a building that spent the night yelling at the former captain, and for a Panthers road trip that still has Pittsburgh on Thursday. They are not the same number.

Track Stützle, Sanderson, Brady Tkachuk, and both clubs on the marketplace. San Jose visits Ottawa on Thursday. Florida is in Pittsburgh.

*Sources: AP recap (ESPN), ESPN box score, NHL.com recap, Panthers.com, NHL.com scoreboard, ESPN NHL scoreboard. AthX Engine fantasy points scored from NHL gamecenter box 2026020153. Information only; not financial advice.*