Senators got their first victory of the season as Claude Giroux opened the scoring in his Ottawa homecoming.
The Senators defeated Boston 7-5 for their first victory of the season and give the Bruins’ their first loss as Claude Giroux opened the scoring in his Ottawa homecoming,
The 34-year-old Giroux signed with the Senators as a free agent in the offseason. He spent part of his childhood in Ottawa and has returned to the area for summers.
Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson and Tim Stutzle each had a goal and two assists for Ottawa. Mark Kastelic, Shane Pinto and Artem Zub also scored, and Anton Forsberg stopped 26 shots. Coming into the home opener, Ottawa only had three goals in two road losses.
“Obviously, offensively we did all the things we wanted to do tonight, but clearly gave up too much,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith.
“There was a lot of nerves, you could see it on the bench … I thought we played really well in the first two games and didn’t get the results so we’ll just take the win and move on.”
The Bruins dropped to 3-1. David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron each had a goal and two assists each, David Krejci, Nick Foligno and A.J. Greer also scored and Jeremy Swayman made 26 saves.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery had nothing but sympathy for goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who stopped 25 shots.
“I thought we hung him out to dry,” said Montgomery. “His first two shots on net are 3-on-2s coming down 100 miles per hour. We didn’t get in anybody’s way and that’s a tough way to start a game on fresh ice.”
Tuesday’s opener marked the Senators debut for five new players, but for Claude Giroux, who signed as a free agent, it was a homecoming of sorts as the 34-year-old spent part of his adolescence in Ottawa and returns here each summer.
The Senators have Wednesday off before hosting the Washington Capitals on Thursday in the second of a five-game homestand. Boston will return home and host the Anaheim Ducks Thursday.
