Statement performances from Senators' Sanderson, Stützle in win over Tkachuk's Panthers

That felt like healing for this fanbase.

Backed by a sellout crowd that never stopped rolling out new chants for Brady Tkachuk’s return, the Ottawa Senators defeated the Florida Panthers 5-1 at Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday.

Tim Stützle and Stephen Halliday each had a goal and an assist, Jake Sanderson had two assists and Linus Ullmark made 17 saves for the Senators (7-3-0).

What a game.

No time to waste. Let’s get to grading.

In a physical, emotional game that turned downright nasty at times, Stützle rose above it all. He just kept moving his legs, and Florida had no answer for him. When Stützle hammered a pass from Sanderson into a wide open cage on the power play, Brady Tkachuk’s opening goal was left in the past. The German dazzled offensively, darting to the middle on the rush to drag two Panthers with him before dropping it to Halliday for an electric 5-1 snipe. By the end of the game, Stützle had ensured that his former captain’s brief first-period triumph was a mere footnote on a magical night.

In the early stages of the game, Giroux helped establish Ottawa’s offensive-zone presence, holding onto pucks and getting his teammates involved once he had support. He turned nothing into something, defence into offence, once laying out to get a stick on an errant Carter Yakemchuk pass that most definitely would’ve been gathered by Aaron Ekblad for an odd-man rush the other way. Instead, Giroux was able to poke it to Zetterlund in the high slot for a scoring chance. Giroux’s 2-1 goal is another high IQ play, utilizing three screens in Akira Schmid’s line of vision and picking the perfect spot to place a wrister. He drew a trip and a high-stick, and went 4-for-5 in draws.

What a dog. Cozens fearlessly drove to the hard areas and never shied away from contact. He faced it all head-on. He was one of many Senators to receive a cheap shot from a Panther, getting sucker punched by Matthew Tkachuk (shocker) while wrapped up in a skirmish with Brady Tkachuk near the Ottawa bench. Cozens set a great screen on the 2-1 goal, literally climbing onto Dmitry Kulikov as they battled away in front to make sure that Giroux had a bit of net to aim at. Cozens’ feed to Foegele for the 4-1 tally was the cherry on top and well-earned. He was a dog. A total dog.

What an animal. After taking an outrageous swinging slash from noted goon Radko Gudas, Pinto drew a call the next shift, getting a couple shots off at the goal mouth before having Gudas cross-check him from behind. The Senators would score on the ensuing power play. Pinto feasted on cross-ice passes and centring feeds, intercepting several pucks to thwart the Florida attack and go the other way. He rolled off a hit from Brady Tkachuk in the defensive zone late in the third and moments later took a stretch pass from Sanderson before accidentally-on-purpose sliding it past Schmid on a partial break. He seemed to have endless gas in the tank, skating pucks to safety at the end of long shifts and putting up quite the fight in board play. He was an animal. A total animal.

What a monster. (Sensing a theme?) He was uncompromising, perhaps playing Brady Tkachuk harder than any other Senator — and that’s saying something. Greig seem to truly aggravate his former captain, and the fans ate it up. Greig blew up Kulikov with a clean hit and then fed Sam Bennett a few rights in a spirited tilt seconds later, laughing when Bennett tried to get in some of his own after the fight was over. He was a monster. A total monster.

What a menace. This is the kind of environment Cousins thrives in. He hunted puck carriers with the sole objective of ramming them through a wall. He laid a big hit on Cole Scwhindt to get things started in the first and ran Seth Jones in the second, the crowd popping with every collision. Cousins was involved in 10 hits (four given, six taken) and even got two shots off in just 8:03 of ice time. He was a menace. A total menace.

Zetterlund’s stat line of one hit and one shot in 12:45 doesn’t tell a tenth of the story. He was a beast on the forecheck and had opponents bounce off of him all night, like when he knocked Sam Reinhart on his butt with a reverse hit in the third. Zetterlund was super sturdy in board battles, once winning a puck behind the goal and swinging it out in front for Stützle on the door step in the second.

Foegele had numerous scoring chances during the first 45 minutes, but just didn’t look all that dangerous, like when he skated in on a partial break in the third and Schmid handled a wrister with his glove. But Foegele’s resolve helped him break through. On that same shift, he got the puck on the left half wall in the ‘D’ zone and fought off a check to make an outlet pass. Foegele sped up ice to join Cozens on a 2-on-3 rush, took a centring feed and made it count for the 4-1 marker. He had six shot attempts in 14:31, and for the first time this season he looked like he somewhat belonged in the top six.

Batherson was in this one from the very beginning, sliding to block a shot with his skate on his first shift. He received the worst slashing penalty of all time, as Gustav Forsling’s stick snapped in half when he came down hard on Batherson’s stick. Batherson kept it moving on the rush that led to Foegele’s goal, recording a secondary assist, and was a team-high plus-3.

Amadio definitely wasn’t a detriment — the shutdown line kept Florida’s top trio rather quiet with six shot attempts against in around eight minutes together — but he just wasn’t as engaged as the rest of the team. He was one of a select few players who didn’t quite have their best stuff.

Halliday remained cool while utter chaos erupted all around him. It might not exactly have been his style of play out there with everyone running around trying to kill each other, but Ottawa benefitted big time from his playmaking and offensive instincts. Boko Imama tried to take a chunk out of him with a dirty cross-check in the first, but Halliday had the last laugh, going bar-south on a wicked wrister on the rush to make it 5-1.

In a fight he wasn’t favoured in, Hodgson went toe-to-toe with Imama and even got the takedown. The Senators played a tad more confidently after that. Hodgson had three hits in 6:57 and even had a couple quality puck touches. We’ll just act like his slashing penalty in the third never happened. He was inserted into the lineup in Andre Burakovsky’s place to play a specific role, and he did not make coach Travis Green regret the decision.

Every single shift felt like a highlight. The Senators missed Sanderson’s elusiveness on the power play dearly. Florida pressured the point aggressively on its first few penalty kills, and Sanderson slyly evaded sticks and contact, either slipping away with his agility or ripping a pass to open space. Ahead of the 1-1 goal, Sanderson, recognizing that Eetu Luostarinen had broken his stick, took more space and played closely to the flailing forward, getting off a point-blank wrister and subsequently feeding Stützle. Sanderson’s speed changes everything at even strength. He showed zero signs of a lingering injury, once bolting up the ice to perform a give-and-go with Halliday before whipping a spinning backhand feed to Cozens at the edge of the crease. This team is dramatically different with him in the lineup.

Zub was the first one to rough up Brady Tkachuk, burying him in the corner on the opening sequence and delighting the home fans. He took a tripping penalty trying to defend a scoring chance in the slot after he and Halliday got mixed up with who was covering the puck carrier and open man. When Gudas was up to no good in a first-period scrum, Zub took exception, screaming words at the Florida Dman we may not repeat here. You rarely see Zub get angry. Gudas just does that to people.

Kleven almost killed a man in the second, catching Forsling with his head turned in the neutral zone. He made swift D-to-D passes and strong clears on the penalty kill, and had four blocks and three hits in 22:08. He poked the puck off Brady Tkachuk’s stick to stamp out a Florida push in the second, which led to Giroux’s goal at the other end.

Spence fired a smart shot-for-rebound in the first that resulted in a Giroux Grade A chance in the slot. He had two shots and two hits in 18:58.

Matinpalo took a high-sticking penalty in the first, one of his few blemishes. He absorbed a bunch of hits in order to keep the puck moving in the breakout. In the second, Matinpalo stepped up on a Brady Tkachuk rim, skated away from pressure and laid it off to Giroux for the 2-1 goal.

Yakemchuk struggled to keep a snug gap with opposing forwards, often caught flat footed when they hit the zone with momentum. One can appreciate him giving Brady Tkachuk the business with seconds remaining in the middle frame, but he must know that removing an opponent’s helmet so brazenly is going to get called 90 percent of the time. Four big blocks for the kid, though.

Fingers crossed that Ullmark’s lower-body strain isn’t as bad as it seemed. He tracked cross-ice passes really well; a lot of what looked to be dangerous chances hit him in the chest and middle of the pads because he squared up so quickly. Ullmark robbed Niko Mikkola in the second after the defenceman was allowed to skate down Main Street and collect his own rebound.

The Senators could not have shut things down more efficiently for their cold netminder. Ersson faced a single shot in the final 16:25 of regulation.