OTTAWA ON THE BRIGHTSIDE in BRADY'S RETURN.

Ahead of Brady Tkachuk’s highly anticipated return to the Canadian Tire Centre, the only question that mattered was: how would Ottawa show up?

Whether it was the 17,010 in attendance or the 20 players who dressed for the Senators, Ottawa answered that question resoundingly.

Senators fans, many of whom arrived wearing doctored Tkachuk jerseys, showed up en masse and created a fervour reminiscent of a student section at a major collegiate sporting event.

From the outset of the pregame warmups, where the Panthers’ end was surrounded by tasteful posters and fans wearing Goonies ‘Sloth’ masks, the Panthers were serenaded with boos that crescendoed with each Brady Tkachuk practice shot.

The tone of the night was set.

The fans rose to the occasion, well, on two occasions if you count the standing ovation in response to Lars Eller’s welcome-back greeting.

They brought their A-game, but what about the players?

“It was probably our most complete, not probably, it was our most complete game of the year,” head coach Travis Green stated, correcting himself after the game. “Certain moments, or certain games in the year bring out what you hope is your best. Two good teams going at it in an emotional game. It was very physical, and there wasn't a lot of room. You really had to want to be in the battle tonight if you wanted to win that game.”

The Senators wanted it.

After Florida controlled most of the play for the first five minutes, the Senators responded with five strong minutes of their own before one bad Carter Yakemchuk turnover proved costly. The rookie defenceman’s unforced error created a Florida chance that Artem Zub was forced to mitigate by taking a tripping penalty. Nine seconds later, Brady Tkachuk scored on the power play.

That sequence of events could have easily shifted momentum and let the air out of the building. The villain and centre of attention had scored to give the Panthers an early lead. On the very next shift, Hayden Hodgson fought Boko Imama, and after taking down the former Senator, shouted at the Florida bench before doing a celebratory Chris Neil-esque raise-the-roof gesture to encourage the fans.

From that moment on, the Senators never looked back, replying with goals from Tim Stützle (power play), Claude Giroux, Shane Pinto, Warren Foegele and Stephen Halliday.

“It's very rare that you go through your lineup after a game, and like everyone's game (when evaluating),” explained coach Green. “In the regular season, we play a lot of games. Different guys are tired from night to night. We rate our players after every game, and I don’t remember ever rating a game where every player we liked.”

Renowned for their physicality and tenacious play, the Senators not only matched it, but understood that to make plays, they had to absorb contact.

“Especially with the way they forecheck, all of us took a hit to make a play tonight,” Shane Pinto stated. “That's how we had to break out the puck, and everyone bought into that. That was the mindset all night from everyone, and obviously, some guys took a few big hits, but I thought we broke the puck out extremely well and that fed our game the whole night.”

That willingness to take a hit played a role, but it cannot be overstated how important the return of Jake Sanderson was to the blue line.

Despite their record, the Senators have struggled to retrieve and break the pucks out of their own end cleanly. Although recent attention has focused on the forward group’s struggles to produce outside of Tim Stützle, offence begins in the defensive end with execution and clean exits.

Without them, the Senators have spent too much time defending in their own end.

Against Florida at five-on-five per Natural Stat Trick’s game log, the Senators generated 56.72 percent of the shots (CF%), 65.52 percent of the shots on goal (SF%), 100 percent of the total goals (4-0, GF%), and 58.89 percent of the expected goals (xGF%).

It was a dominant performance, but unsurprisingly, it coincided with the reunion of one of the league’s best analytical defensive pairings from last season. Thanks to their respective injuries and recoveries, Wednesday night’s game represented the first opportunity to get Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub back together.

The pairing took on tough matchups and came out even in many shot and scoring-chance metrics, but, almost as importantly, their presence affected the slotting of the other two pairings. Tyler Kleven was reunited with Jordan Spence in Thomas Chabot’s absence, but rookie Carter Yakemchuk played a more limited and insulated role on the third pairing.

When Kleven and Spence were on the ice, the Senators directed 13 shots on goal to the Panthers’ 3 (81.3 CF%) per Money Puck.

After the morning skate, Spence emphasized the importance of Sanderson’s return to the defensive corps in terms of slotting and his play.

“It does a lot, to be honest with you,” Spence agreed. “When he's on the ice, he makes things happen, and if that's in the defensive zone or in the offensive zone, he logs a lot of minutes. You can really see how elite he is on the ice. So obviously, with him missing games and not being able to play, that's a big piece we didn't have. Everyone's pretty pumped up because he brings a lot to our team.”

The energy from Sanderson’s return certainly helped, but what was really impressive about their victory was that the Senators were not overwhelmed by the moment.

In their first opportunity to send a message to their former captain, who essentially quit and walked away from a young core he once believed in, they played like they had a collective chip on their shoulder. They played like they had something to prove.

And when the final horn sounded, and the Senators spilled into their dressing room where the players blasted The Killers’ ‘Mr. Brightside’.

It was the final salvo and a fitting end to an entertaining night.

One last middle finger before the Senators turned the page.

Ullmark Injury

If there was any blemish to the night, it rested solely in Linus Ullmark’s injury. The Senators’ goaltender suffered an undisclosed lower-body strain three and a half minutes into the third period, when he made a right pad kick save. When Ullmark got up to reset and reposition to his right for the rebound, it appeared that he aggravated either his hip or upper leg area.

After remaining down in a save position, Ullmark was ultimately assisted off the ice by a trainer and Claude Giroux. Ullmark was seen walking out of the arena after the game without any assistance.

Should the goaltender miss any time, it would represent a significant blow to the Senators’ competitiveness. Through the team’s first 10 games, he has unquestionably been the team’s most valuable player. Thanks to the injuries on the blue line and their impact on the Senators’ shot and goal metrics, their record and success have largely been predicated on Ullmark's performance.

Evolving-Hockey rates Ullmark as having the third-highest goals saved above expected mark (9.42 GSAx) in the entire NHL behind Boston’s Jeremy Swayman and Dallas’ Jake Oettinger. Conversely, backup goaltender Samuel Ersson has not been particularly strong in his limited appearances, recording the league’s fourth-lowest mark (-4.63 GSAx).

Crowd Chants

The Senators crowd almost generated more chants last night than the Florida Panthers had shots on goal (19).

1. F*** You, Brady
2. Little Brother
3. Brady Sucks
4. We Don’t Need You
5. Traitor
6. Brady’s Ugly
7. Who’s Your Daddy?
8. You’re a Sellout
9. Matthew’s Better
10. Matthew’s Bridesmaid
11. Brady’s Balding
12. Timmy’s Better
13. Overrated
14. You Can’t Read
15. You Eat Crayons
16. F*** Your Podcast

When asked after the game whether the chants were ruthless, Brady Tkachuk downplayed them while appreciating Senators fans.

“No, it was good,” he countered. “It shows a passion that they have. No, it’s one chapter closed, and as I said, it’s an exciting new chapter that we're living in. It was nice being part of this passionate fan base.”