The Ottawa Senators started the season on the road as they took on the Carolina Hurricanes, but opening weekend included two home games, including their home opener. There were plenty of celebrations, ceremonies, and a pair of victories that all combined for a very successful weekend.
On-Ice Success
The Senators took on the Philadelphia Flyers in their home opener, and with great performances from Jakob Chychrun, Brady Tkachuk, and Anton Forsberg, the Senators pulled away with a 5-2 victory. Chychrun and Tkachuk each had a pair of goals, Mark Kastelic fought to ignite the crowd, and so many more moments were exciting in the home opener atmosphere that it was.
Related: Takeaways From Senators’ 5-2 Win Against Flyers
The following day, the Senators took on the under-manned Tampa Bay Lightning. With Andrei Vasilevskiy and Steven Stamkos out of the lineup and Matt Tomkins making his NHL debut, it was a great opportunity for the Senators to take advantage, and they did. Tkachuk posted another two-goal performance, Vladimir Tarasenko scored his first as a Senator, and the Sens came out with another 5-2 win.
While the two wins were extremely important to the club, the fans and team made for a fantastic opening weekend. There were plenty of “we want Pinto” chants in hopes that it would pressure the team to sign forward Shane Pinto, plus the ceremonies that welcomed many new and familiar faces back to Ottawa.
Old Faces in the Same Place
The Senators have infamously tarnished a lot of the relationships between the club and the alumni. It was recently announced that Daniel Alfredsson has re-joined the team in a role that has yet to be defined but will be both on the ice in practices and helping out behind the scenes. When he was introduced on the bench along with the rest of the staff, an enormous chant broke out as the fans repeated “Alfie” over and over until the rest of the staff were introduced.
The crowd was just as, if not more, excited to see the legendary Lyndon Slewidge arrive to sing the national anthems. The long-time singer for the Senators was removed from his position in 2016, and while it is uncertain if he will perform full-time or not, it was still up there with the best moments of the night.
Jumping ahead to the second game of the weekend for a moment, they held another ceremonial puck drop involving all of the alumni with retired jersey numbers. Frank Finnigan Junior was there in place of the late Frank Finnigan, a star from the original Senators franchise who had his jersey retired with the modern team, and he was joined by Chris Neil, Chris Phillips, and Alfredsson. Seeing all of these faces back in the Canadian Tire Centre was magical. After all of the burnt bridges between the alumni and the team, it is clear that restoring it is a huge part of what the new owner, Michael Andlauer, has in store for the future of this club.
Back to opening night, one of the coolest puck drops the Senators may have ever had was held. It was expected that Andlauer would appear on the ice as the new owner of the team, but he was joined by all of the previous owners, outside of the late Eugene Melnyk, who was represented by his daughters. Bruce Firestone, Ron Bryden, Anna and Olivia Melnyk, and Andlauer took center stage and dropped the puck. It was a beautiful moment for the team.
Outside of the alumni and ownership groups, there was yet another ceremony celebrating Claude Giroux and his 1000th NHL point.
Giroux Honoured in front of Flyers
Having the Flyers in the building to celebrate Giroux’s 1000th NHL point was perfect. He scored this milestone marker in the second last game of the 2022-23 season, so there wasn’t an opportunity to celebrate then. Alfredsson came out to the ice to award him with a commemorative stick, and Tkachuk followed suit by giving Giroux’s two kids a stick of their own.
While this may be the least exciting part of all of the extracurriculars, it was still an amazing ceremony to celebrate especially with his former team in the house, where he scored 900 of those points.
The weekend as a whole was wildly successful for the Senators. This team is turning a page into a new era, both on the ice and behind the scenes. With the two games totaling almost 36,000 fans, they got their money’s worth with the Senators’ opening weekend.
