OTTAWA – If Tuesday’s home opener was any indication of what’s to come, then this Ottawa Senators’ season is going to be wildly entertaining.
The Senators beat the Boston Bruins at Canadian Tire Centre with seven different players scoring.
Mark Kastelic’s first of the season in the second period held up as the winner, but the fun started before the puck even dropped.
Things got underway with former Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson on hand for the ceremonial puck drop sending the sellout crowd into a frenzy.
Coincidentally, the crowd of 19,811 was the biggest since Alfredsson’s sweater retirement night in 2016.
Fans weren’t the only ones excited to see Alfredsson.
“It was unreal,” said Drake Batherson, who had a goal and two assists on the night. “None of us even knew he was coming and then I was putting my helmet on and heard the crowd going crazy and seen him up on the Jumbotron.
“He’s a legend here. That was unreal to hear the crowd give him that ovation.”
Fans barely had time to catch their breath before the newly acquired Claude Giroux, who calls Ottawa home, opened the scoring.
Ottawa jumped out to a 3-0 lead with Brady Tkachuk, who also finished the night with a goal and two assists, and Batherson picking up first-period goals.
Bergeron opened the Bruins scoring banging in a David Pastrnak rebound late in the period.
A wild second period saw the two teams combine for seven goals.
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Boston got off to a quick start in the second as David Krejci and A.J. Greer scored in a span of 62 seconds to tie the game 3-3 by the two-minute mark of the middle frame.
Ottawa went on to score three goals to regain its three-goal lead making it 6-3.
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Shane Pinto made the most of a two-on-one to have a wide-open net. The Senators then took advantage of some poor defensive coverage by the Bruins with Tim Stutzle, who also had two assists, picking up his first of the season when he was left alone out front. Anton Stralman then had a brutal giveaway behind his net allowing Austin Watson to feed Kastelic out front.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery had nothing but sympathy for goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who stopped 25 shots.
“I thought we hung him out to dry,” said Montgomery. “His first two shots on net are 3-on-2s coming down 100 miles per hour. We didn’t get in anybody’s way and that’s a tough way to start a game on fresh ice.”
The Bruins came back with another pair of goals to make it 6-5 by the end of the period. Nick Foligno buried a rebound by crashing to the net and with 14.5 seconds remaining in the period Pastrnak connected for a power-play goal.
“Obviously, offensively we did all the things we wanted to do tonight, but clearly gave up too much,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith.
“There was a lot of nerves, you could see it on the bench … I thought we played really well in the first two games and didn’t get the results so we’ll just take the win and move on.”
Artem Zub was able to get the insurance marker for the Senators midway through the third when he picked up his own rebound earning a deafening ovation from the crowd.
Coming in, Ottawa had only scored three goals through its first two games. Having all four lines contribute was a welcome sight.
“It creates confidence for us,” said Tkachuk. “We faced adversity in those first two games and couldn’t get it done … it did tonight and all 20 of us took a step and went to the next level to get the job done.”
Anton Forsberg stopped 26 shots for Ottawa and made a few big saves to keep the Bruins at bay.
Boston saw its three-game winning streak come to an end with the loss.
“These games happen every once in a while,” said Pastrnak. “It was obviously our third game in four days. We kept it positive. We came back twice.
“Hockey is a long season. It’s still early and these kinds of games are going to happen. You see it around the league all the time. Just sometimes the puck goes into the net both ways.”
INTERESTING FACT
Tuesday’s opener marked the Senators debut for five new players, but for Claude Giroux, who signed as a free agent, it was a homecoming of sorts as the 34-year-old spent part of his adolescence in Ottawa and returns here each summer.
NOTES
The Senators made one change to their lineup Tuesday as Nick Holden replaced Nikita Zaitsev. Boston’s Anton Stralman made his season debut Tuesday. The defenceman is still dealing with visa issues in the United States, but they were not a factor for him playing in Canada.
UP NEXT
The Senators have Wednesday off before hosting the Washington Capitals on Thursday in the second of a five-game homestand. Boston will return home and host the Anaheim Ducks Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2022.
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