After making his return to the Canadian Tire Centre two weeks ago in a 5-1 win for the Ottawa Senators, the Tkachuk brothers addressed the feeling surrounding Brady’s return.
Speaking on their Wingmen podcast, Matthew commented on the club’s announcement of a 17,010-ticket sellout on the night of Brady’s return.
“That was one of the better regular-season games, for sure. One that I can remember. Playoffs are a little different,” Matthew said. “It was good. It was a loud 15,000. They say it was sold out. I was there. I had my eyes. That was not sold out.
“But they were loud. They were passionate. It started in warmups. It’s good. Those games are really fun to play. The result sucks.”
Brady scored the only goal of the game for the Panthers, assisted by Matthew, as the Senators’ faithful serenaded their former captain with a series of creative chants and jeers, such as, “You eat crayons.”
After scoring the opening goal, Brady skated past the Ottawa bench and, in as Sens majority owner Michael Andlauer publicly revealed, said, “Some things never change, eh boys?”
“There’s been a lot of goals scored in that building. My thought was that it was just another one and that I just did it on the other side. I’ve had a lot of memories of scoring in that building before,” Brady said.
“So, I don’t know where that kind of got misconstrued, that it was about something else other than the fact I’ve scored in this building before. It was just the same feeling on the other side. There was no siren, no horn, and just a lot of silence. That was the most different part, just the silence.”
Brady, 27, has eight goals and eight assists in 15 games in his first season with the Panthers. He was acquired via trade from Ottawa after he requested a trade from the franchise that drafted him fourth overall in 2018, and that he captained since 2021.
The fans did not give Tkachuk a warm welcome, booing him as he came onto the ice for warm-ups and every time he touched the puck.
“That was a game I was super excited for. It was one I looked at right away when the schedule came out. It wasn’t the result we wanted, and I was disappointed afterward, but it was great to get back there. I had dinner with the guys the night before,” Brady said.
“It was unique. It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. I knew it was going to be an emotional game, going back to a place where I spent eight years and built so many relationships.”
Ottawa (9-6-1) currently sits one point ahead of the Panthers (8-5-2) in the Atlantic Division standings.