The Senators understand the buzz around Brady Tkachuk's return tonight and believe it will be an emotional, spirited contest, but say they're more focused on themselves and getting back to their game after a loss to the Flyers.
Kirill Marchenko was booed by Columbus fans every time he touched the puck in his return to Nationwide Arena on Tuesday. The Leafs winger also took a couple big hits, including from spurned linemate Adam Fantilli. "Happy to win. I can take so many hits if we win," Marchenko said with a smile. "It's so nice."
Asked about Easton Cowan's development, Morgan Rielly refused to answer because the 21-year-old winger was listening close by. But Cowan and coach Jim Hiller were more than happy to praise Rielly after the defenceman delivered a "vintage Morgan" three-assist performance.
Easton Cowan produced three points on Tuesday, including his first career shorthanded goal. "I can't say enough good things about him," gushed coach Jim Hiller, who recently promoted the sophomore winger to Toronto's top line. "Honestly, he's exceeded my expectations, and I had high expectations for him."
Jake McCabe left Tuesday's game after getting high sticked in the eye area by Kent Johnson. "We held him out for precautionary reasons," said coach Jim Hiller. "I bumped into him, seems to be doing okay." With McCabe out, Marshall Rifai played more than expected and scored his first career NHL goal.
Anthony Cirelli scored twice, Nikita Kucherov had three points to tie Tampa Bay's career scoring record, and the Lightning extended their strong start by beating the Golden Knights.
Evan Bouchard scored on a power play at 3:32 of overtime to give the Oilers a victory over the Wild. Connor McDavid set up Bouchard's goal for his third assist of the game, pushing his NHL-leading points total to 26 and extending his season-opening points streak to nine games.
Freddy Gaudreau and Bobby McMann scored for Seattle in a shootout as the Kraken defeated the Red Wings after blowing a three-goal lead in the third period.
Is 200 points a realistic target for Connor McDavid amid his blazing-hot start? TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joins SportsCentre to give his thoughts.
Logan Stankoven and Nikolaj Ehlers each scored twice and had an assist and the Hurricanes beat Vancouver to take the NHL points lead and hand the Canucks their eighth straight loss.
Philip Broberg scored on a power play at 8:47 of the third period to break a tie in the Blues' victory over the Jets. St. Louis snapped a two-game losing streak to improve to 4-4-1.
Macklin Celebrini stole the show with two goals, including the overtime winner as the Sharks defeated the Canadiens.
Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist in his 700th NHL game and the Maple Leafs scored four straight goals in the second period to beat the Blue Jackets for their second road victory of the season.
Adrian Kempe scored twice and the Kings got their first win of the season, rallying from an early deficit to beat the Capitals. Artemi Panarin, Erik Gustafsson and Scott Laughton also scored for Los Angeles, and former Capitals goalie Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves.
Arseny Gritsyuk scored for the third straight game, Jake Allen made 18 of his 31 saves in the third period and the Devils earned a victory over the Avalanche. The 34-year-old Allen, honoured before puck drop for playing his 500th career game earlier this month, improved to 4-2-0.
Mikko Rantanen scored in overtime to complete a hat trick, and the Stars beat Boston to snap the Bruins' five-game winning streak. It was the 11th career three-goal game for Rantanen and his first in the regular season since joining the Stars in a trade during the 2024-25 season.
Ondrej Palat, Viktor Eklund and Simon Holmstrom scored first-period goals and the Islanders beat the Ducks for their second straight victory. Ilya Sorokin made 15 saves to help New York improve to 3-0-1 in its last four games.
After scoring his eighth goal in 11 games, TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joins SportsCentre to share the main reason for Auston Matthews' best start in years, and assess Kirill Marchenko's fit so far in Toronto.
TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joins SportsCentre to share how concerned he is by the lack of production from the Jets' bottom three lines, and how GM Kevin Cheveldayoff should handle the upcoming roster decision on Connor Hellebuyck with the goaltender's suspension from the club set to be lifted.
After scoring twice and adding an assist Tuesday night, TSN Hockey analyst Frankie Corrado joins Laura Diakun to discuss Macklin Celebrini continued success against the Canadiens in his career, and the Canadiens' inability to close teams out this season.
Brady Tkachuk admitted he is nervous to return to Ottawa for the first time since he requested a trade, and is well aware that the game has been circled on many people's calendars. How loud will Senators fans be in Tkachuk's return on Wednesday? Mike Johnson, Bryan Hayes and Bruce Garrioch join Domino's That's Hockey to discuss.
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