Brady Tkachuk steps up with biggest game of season for Senators

OTTAWA — Your captain is supposed to lead you into the playoff fight.

Along those same lines, it took literally one second for Brady Tkachuk to get into a fight in Ottawa's most important game of the season.

From the first second to the dying seconds, Tkachuk was on a mission on Thursday, leading the Senators to a big 3-2 win over the New York Islanders.

Capping it off was a season-saving goal with 11 seconds left on the scoreboard for Ottawa's No. 7. It was the kind of last-minute goal Daniel Alfredsson used to specialize in and has been passed on to the next generation of Senators captains.

“I was ready to go through a wall," Tkachuk told reporters after the game.

On a night when the Senators’ playoff lives were on life support, Tkachuk was Ottawa’s pulse.

“It's just too important of a year to not be at my best. But for me, I just tried setting the tone,” Tkachuk added.

If the Senators had lost to the Islanders, their playoff chances would have sunk to 26 per cent; instead, they’re back up to 45 per cent, according to Moneypuck.com, thanks to the Tkaptain.

His coach prophesied it.

“Expecting a big game out of Brady tonight,” Senators coach Travis Green said before the game.

 “To see him do that tonight, that's why he's the leader of this team. That's why he's such an elite player,” defenceman Thomas Chabot said after the game.

It was the first game all season where Tkachuk looked like his fullest form, the ultimate unicorn who can beat you with a punch and a gut-punch of a goal.

But he hadn’t been doing that recently and wasn’t there the previous night, in Washington, in a deflating 4-1 loss.

Tkachuk was angry.

"It's been a very long time since I've gotten into a fight and just needed to, I guess, get some anger out," he said.

Tkachuk's first fight of the season silences any doubts about his passion for his team.

There was plenty of negative chatter in Sens nation after Tkachuk’s performance in Washington, where he produced zero hits and burned his team with a particularly bad shift.

“I didn't like my game last night. So, yeah, I try not to let things sit and fester, I needed a bounce-back,” said Tkachuk post-game on Thursday.

It’s been a whirlwind season for the captain. From having his first surgery on his right thumb, which limited his ability to fight until last night, to achieving his dream of winning an Olympic gold medal, starting a podcast and the off-ice drama that has, rightly or wrongly, attached itself to Tkachuk.

“It was definitely an emotional roller-coaster. You achieve a childhood dream,” said Tkachuk. “So, mentally, it was a lot, a lot to process, lots to digest, and you only have three days to kind of get back in game shape. When you win the Stanley Cup, you have three months.”

His ice-time is down to a career low, some of which is a byproduct of how good his team is, so that it can now roll four lines effectively. At the same time, you’d think, in a playoff race in tight games, Tkachuk’s ice time would increase, not decrease.

The leader of the Senators explained how the travel, the emotional exhaustion, matched with physical ailments had made it a long season for him. Specifically, after flying to Italy, back to the U.S. for celebrations, and then heading off on a West Coast trip with his Sens.

“He's gone through a lot,” said Green.

“It’s been an emotional, probably, month-and-a-half. Six, seven weeks. Has he been the best version of himself since he’s been back? I don’t think he has been every night. I think there’s some fatigue. But … we’re lucky to have him.

"As far as emotions, mentally, there's probably some fatigue, some physical fatigue."

That would exhaust you and me. It’s an explanation, not an excuse.

Yet, it felt like the always energetic, infectious personality of Tkachuk had laid dormant. The charisma hadn’t been at a typical Tkachuk level. The always physical Tkachuk wasn’t fighting either and he’s been hitting at the lowest rate of his entire career too.

The hallmark of his game wasn't the same.

However, Tkachuk’s stats have been really good. He has been almost a point-per-game player, with 47 points in 48 games. He's helped revitalize Dylan Cozens' game, he's been very good, no doubt. But there is an unquantifiable it-factor that has rarely been present.

“I believe there's probably another level still,” said Green, pre-game.

Tkachuk was on another level on Thursday.

Ottawa’s commander threw a massive hit trying to annihilate an Islander in his first full shift after his fight. Tkachuk also disrupted pucks, lobbed onto Ilya Sorokin, trying to jam a puck in and capped it off with a Brady-esque greasy goal.

“He's probably one of the best players in the league, if not probably the best power forward in the NHL,” said Chabot.

He led by example and silenced the outside forces.

It was the old Brady, the one Senators fans fell in love with.

This is the first time it has taken Tkachuk 48 games to get into his first fight of the season.

Only since the Olympics has the brace from his surgically repaired thumb been removed, allowing him to fight. Before that, he couldn’t.

“It's the first time having surgery, and you know, that was a whole new experience, you don't want to sit out again and re-hurt it,” said Tkachuk, explaining why he hadn’t been fighting.

Tkachuk knew earlier in the day that he’d square off with Anders Lee.

“I had a feeling he might (fight),” said Green.

You wonder how vital the ability to intimidate and invigorate himself with a fight is to his core identity.

Ever since Tkachuk entered the league, the imprint of his game has been his ability to throw the flippers around. Imagine honing your craft a certain way for your whole life, only for you to have to change what made you great.

We are our best when we can be ourselves.

The hope for the Senators is that his fighting chains are off, and we’ll now see the best version of Tkachuk.

The Senators may still be searching for a playoff spot; in their most important game of the season, they found the best version of their captain.