When the Sens traded Brady Tkachuk last offseason, a lot of people who do not watch the Ottawa Senators had a lot of things to say about the former captain, and very few of those things were entirely accurate. One narrative that kept getting thrown around was that Tkachuk had always “dragged the Sens into the fight.” He was their heartbeat. When they needed a goal, he was the guy they turned to. Apparently.

For most Sens fans – even those who were big Brady fans when he was here – this was news. We had always wanted Brady to be that guy. We expected him to be that guy. He had never been that guy.

Sorry for starting the first recap of the regular season by talking about the guy we’re all sick of hearing about. There’s a point to this, I promise.

Tonight’s season opener in Toronto was a big deal. It was the first game of the season, obviously. It was several new players’ first game with the Sens. It was the team’s first game of the post-Tkachuk era. And it was Thomas Chabot’s first game as captain.

In his first game as captain, Thomas Chabot did something Brady Tkachuk never once managed to do in Ottawa: he dragged his team into the fight.

When Sanderson left the game after just 4:30 of ice time, leaving the Sens with just 5 defenders and their entire first pairing absent, they needed someone to step in and pick up the slack. Chabot did that and more. He played over 27 minutes – nothing new for him – including probably the most minutes he’s ever logged on the penalty kill, and he played quite possibly the best game of his career. It was so easy, watching him play, to see why this team rallies around him.

It wasn’t a perfect game for the Sens, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was exactly what they needed.

What a start to the season.

The shortened preseason has led to some absolutely wild games around the league, as teams are still shaking off the rust and remembering how to play defence. We saw a bit of that at the start of this one, with both teams skating at full speed, giving the game an extremely fast pace. The first Sens shot (and scoring chance) of the new season went to Jordan Spence, and Ullmark made his first big save just a few minutes later. You couldn’t really say either team was playing better than the other. Considering that the Leafs had already played 2 more games than the Sens, I’ll take it.

The one notable thing about the first half of the first period was that Linus Ullmark looked absolutely locked in. The Sens also spent a decent amount of time in the offensive zone, but seemed to struggle with getting close to the net.

The second half of the first period was… less good. The Sens got hemmed in their own zone for a bit, forcing Ullmark to make some more good saves. Thankfully, he was up to the task. Ottawa finally gained the zone with just over a minute left before the buzzer, and who else but the Chabtain himself to finish the play and get the Sens’ first goal of the season? 1-0 Ottawa.

Ô CHABITAINE, NOTRE CHABITAINE 👏 pic.twitter.com/TPTHLeh66G

— Sénateurs d’Ottawa (@SenateursLNH) October 3, 2026

Couldn’t have possibly scripted it any better.

That goal extended the Sens’ record of scoring in the first period of their season opener to 12 consecutive years, tying the league record. Snuck it in just under the wire.

After the goal, many media outlets also started sharing the stat that Chabot has become the first Senator to score in his debut as captain. That is not true, but I’m glad that everyone has seemingly agreed to erase the memory of Brady Tkachuk’s captaincy. It’s better this way.

We got a glorious 20 minutes of basking in the glory of that first goal during the intermission, but unfortunately the Leafs didn’t let the good vibes last into the second period, scoring on their first shift back. 1-1.

Claude Giroux took the first penalty of the game, about seven minutes into the second period. The Leafs wasted no time on the powerplay, and Kirill Marchenko got his first goal as a Maple Leaf. 2-1 Toronto.

Curse you, Alfie!

I should mention at this point that Jake Sanderson left the game 12 minutes into the first period, and did not return. It was at about this point in the game that it became quite obvious that the Sens were missing their entire top pairing and two best defensive defencemen. Let’s just say Ullmark was their best player for a while.

The Sens got a powerplay opportunity of their own, but sadly did not manage to tie the game with the man advantage. On the bright side, right after the powerplay expired, Ullmark made a huge save at one end of the ice and sent the puck up the ice, where Tim Stützle set up Michael Amadio for an easy tap in. 2-2.

What a sauce from Tim 🥫#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/BrzU52uwSm

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 4, 2026

Man, it sure is nice to be able to trust your goaltender to make the important saves.

That goal gave the Sens life, and Thomas Chabot almost scored again, but got tripped right by the net. The Sens got another powerplay, but didn’t score on that one either. The second period ended with a scrum that included Chabot trying to get into a fight for some reason. I think he might have been trying to get a Gordie Howe hat trick, because he already had a goal and an assist. He was not assessed a penalty, but it was a Gordie Howe hat trick in my heart.

Early in the third period, Tyler Kleven tried to take someone’s head off and ended up in the box, leaving Chabot as the only left handed defenceman available. He played the full two minutes, by the way. He broke his stick with 30 seconds left, and Tim Stützle gave him his, dove to block a shot, and then sprinted to the bench to get a new one. This leadership group, man.

The Sens got a scoring chance soon after killing the penalty, but the Leafs pushed Eklund into the net, dislodging it. No penalties were assessed on the play.

Soon after that scoring chance, Marchenko high sticked Stützle, and the Sens went to the powerplay, despite Auston Matthews’s protests that Stützle was selling it a bit (he wasn’t; it was pretty blatant). The second unit finally pulled off a goal, but it happened a split-second after the powerplay expired, with Halliday putting the Sens up by one. 3-2 Ottawa.

Hally puts it away on the doorstep 🔥#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/VntArcM3bd

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 4, 2026

Right after that goal, Amadio got tripped, and the Sens went back to the powerplay. They didn’t score on that one, either, but they did manage to keep the momentum going after it expired, so it wasn’t all bad.

Unfortunately, the makeup call had to come eventually. Eklund got close to OEL, who spun around dramatically and fell to the ice. If Matthews thought Stützle’s reaction to getting high sticked was a dive…

Anyways, the Sens’ penalty kill didn’t even give up a shot on that powerplay, let alone a goal. The next faceoff was in the Sens’ zone, and so the Leafs pulled their goaltender with about 3 minutes left.

We got about two minutes of very stressful hockey, but the Sens weathered the storm, and then spent the final minute hemming the Leafs in their own zone. They held on for the 3-2 regulation win.

Undefeated in the Chabtain era.

Game NotesThomas Chabot was absolutely feeling himself tonight. I don’t know if it’s dad strength or captain strength or what, but he was by far the Sens’ best skater in his 27 minutes of ice time. It felt like he was in on every Sens scoring chance, and he made a lot of really good plays in the defensive zone, too, plus of course all that penalty kill time. Just a perfect game from him, when the Sens desperately needed him to step up in Sanderson’s absence. I’m dead serious when I say he could have had a hat trick. If you don’t believe me, just look at this game impact card:

NHL Game Score Impact Card for Ottawa Senators on 2026-10-03: pic.twitter.com/zW0SDKZ5SM

— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) October 4, 2026
As amazing as Chabot’s performance was, I’m not even sure I can call him the game’s MVP, because Linus Ullmark was that good. He looked like the version of himself we saw in the playoffs, making massive stops to keep the Sens in the game whenever the defence faltered. A year ago, they might have lost this game 7-3.William Eklund came very close to scoring his first goal as a Senator in the first period, and had several good chances on the powerplay. He’s known as a player who gets a lot of scoring chances but can’t really convert on them, and that’s pretty much exactly what we saw. Hopefully if he keeps at it the goals will come eventually.I really liked Spence’s game, too. He was asked to do a lot, with his pairing obviously taking over as the first, and was up to the challenge. He had a couple of good scoring chances.The Pinto line looked great. All three players were noticeable in all three zones. Even Amadio got a goal and looked like he could have had at least one more.Kleven was asked to do a lot, with the Sens short a left handed defenceman, and I didn’t love what I saw. He’s just not very mobile with the puck, and it really stands out on this blueline. I know he’s here to fill a specific role, but every time he’s asked to play up it really shows that he can’t be used outside of a third pairing role.I didn’t love the first line, either. I didn’t feel like I noticed them nearly as much as I should have.Gameflow

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