One of the most highly anticipated home openers in Ottawa Senators history lived up to the hype Tuesday night.
The Sens defeated the Boston Bruins in a 7-5 barn burner in front of a raucous crowd at the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, Ontario.
Franchise legend Daniel Alfredsson got the crowd fired up before the game started. "Alfie, Alfie, Alfie," chants rained down from the crowd as the former captain conducted the ceremonial faceoff.
"It was outstanding. It was playoff (like) and just the noise when we scored early," head coach D.J. Smith said postgame, according to Postmedia's Bruce Garrioch. "The noise from Alfredsson carried into the opening period."
The much-awaited contest stemmed from a busy offseason in Canada's capital in which the club acquired marquee forwards Alex DeBrincat and Claude Giroux and veteran goaltender Cam Talbot to support its young, burgeoning core.
The excitement drew 19,811 fans to a building that's capacity is listed at 18,652, marking the team's first sold-out home opener since 2015. The Senators ranked last in the league in both average attendance and capacity percentage in 2021-22 and 2019-20.
"That was pretty amazing. I don't think in all the rinks I've felt that excited for a game before," captain Brady Tkachuk said. "A credit to all the fans that came out because that was an amazing experience."
He added: "If you can't get excited for that game, that energy, that crowd, I don't know what's wrong with you."
The Senators clearly fed off the crowd, jumping to an early 3-0 lead, including two goals in the opening 3:09 of the game. But the Bruins refused to go away, tying things up at 3-3 and coming within a goal of Ottawa's 6-5 lead at one point. Ultimately, the Sens hung on for their first victory of the campaign.
"The fans got their money's worth," forward Drake Batherson said. "It was a crazy game. We got two points. We could have played better defensively, but it's the third game of the year, we're going to get better, and it's just nice to get the win."
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