Brady Tkachuk scored, skated past the Senators bench and said something, and the Florida Panthers winger's words are already making the rounds.
According to Michael Andlauer on @ComingInHotSens, Tkachuk told the Ottawa bench, "Some things never change eh boys," as he glided by after scoring.
Classic Tkachuk. He doesn't just celebrate a goal, he addresses the room.
Florida has no time to dwell on it. The Panthers are at Winnipeg tonight, and Tkachuk arrives with 7 goals and 5 assists through 12 games this season.
Ottawa picked him fourth overall in 2018, so the Sens know this player better than most. That history is why a one-line crack on the way past the bench lands the way it does.
Nathan Murdock took to X today and asked whether this is the most deserved humiliation trial in human history.
Tkachuk's season has had an edge to it, and not only in the box score. He has 17 penalty minutes and three power-play goals, which is exactly the mix Florida wants from him.
The Panthers sit 6-4-2 and 15th in the NHL, sixth in the Atlantic. Middle of the pack is not where this franchise is used to living.
Panthers need Tkachuk's swagger to become standings points
Florida's goal differential is -2, with 34 scored and 36 allowed. A team that gives up more than it scores can't survive on attitude alone.
Still, the Panthers won 3-2 at Chicago on Sunday, and Paul Maurice will take any momentum he can get heading into Winnipeg.
Ottawa, meanwhile, is 8-4-0 and second in the Atlantic under Andrew Campbell. The Senators are not sitting at the bottom looking up, so the sting of a barb like this is real.
Tkachuk is also on an $8,208,714 cap hit through 2027-2028, with no extension signed. Every fiery moment he produces now builds the case for whatever comes next.
Does Florida want the agitator or the scorer? Bill Zito has so far gotten both, and the Panthers will need both at the same time if they want to climb out of 15th.
Was Brady Tkachuk right to talk to the Senators bench after scoring?
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