Senators vs Predators10.13.25
Ottawa, ON
I'm not gonna lie, all the excitement with the Jays playing October baseball has put hockey on the back burner for the time being. But of course, it's a time-honoured tradition to catch the Senators' home opener, more prudent the last couple years since moving out of Ottawa, since it always coincides with Canadian Thanksgiving and thus family time. This time being a little different, with Ottawa being just a short pit stop before my move from Vancouver to Toronto later in the week.
This is the third home opener I've attended in a row. The matchups have all felt pretty random though, playing the Flyers in 2024 and the Panthers in 2023. The Panthers one makes some sense with the Tkachuk brother rivalry that the media loves to play up. But this year, it's the Predators. Not even a team in the same conference. Guess that's just how the schedule played out. I always get one of the matchup pucks at these games. Hopefully they keep doing that.
They brought out former Senator and Predator Kyle Turris to ring the rally bell before the game. I met him way back in his Senator days at a card show. Super nice guy. But that was about as loud as the building got all night, with the Predators and Senators playing a very sloppy game. Definitely felt like the matinee start time, combined with it being so early in the season, made for some awfully boring hockey. Not to mention, Brady Tkachuk took a nasty hit from behind from Roman Josi and had to leave the game early. It looked like the Sens were going to be shut out until Ridly Greig scored a power play goal with a hair over two minutes left in the game. But two empty netters later, and the Preds walked away with a 4-1 win. Bleh.
