OTTAWA -- Tim Stutzle and Stephen Halliday each had a goal and an assist, and the Ottawa Senators defeated the Florida Panthers 5-1 in Brady Tkachuk's return to Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday.

Tkachuk, who played eight seasons with the Senators, including five as captain, had a goal in his first game in Ottawa since being traded to Florida on June 21.

Claude Giroux, Shane Pinto and Warren Foegele also scored for the Senators (7-3-0), who have won two of their past three games. Linus Ullmark allowed one goal on 18 shots before exiting at 3:25 of the third period.

Samuel Ersson made one save in relief.

Ottawa coach Travis Green said Ullmark has a lower-body strain and will be reassessed Thursday. The Senators goalie leads the NHL in wins (seven) and save percentage (.945) and is second in goals-against average (1.33)

Jake Sanderson had two assists in his return to the lineup after missing the past eight games with a lower-body injury he sustained in Ottawa's season-opening 3-2 win at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 3.

“It was awesome,” Sanderson said. “I think for me, just huge relief off my shoulders to get out there, and yeah, massive win for sure."

Praising the crowd's atmosphere, Sanderson said: “I think I didn't expect it to be that much. A little crazy, but you know what?

Like we got great fans. They're passionate.

You know they want to see our team do good and win. So you know, like I said before, they brought the energy tonight, and you know it's awesome to see everyone on their feet at the end of the game.”

Akira Schmid made 25 saves for the Panthers (5-3-2), who had won three straight, and will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second game of a back-to-back on Thursday.

"I don't think we ever got to (our game),” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “We were behind the play in the first.

We just lost so many face-offs. The second period, we spent too much time in the penalty box.

The defining feature of our game is our forecheck. I don't think we ever got to it.”

Brady Tkachuk scored on Florida's first shot of the game to make it 1-0 at 10:00 of the first period on the power play. He received a pass from his brother Matthew down low on the right side before putting a wrist shot under Ullmark's right arm.

“It was just nice to be back,” Brady Tkachuk said. “Of course, not the outcome that we wanted, but start of a road trip.

Just gotta bounce back, move on to tomorrow.”

Stutzle tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 14:13. Sanderson fed a pass to Stutzle in the right face-off circle, where he one-timed it into an open net.

“I think great team effort,” Stutzle said. “Just stuck to our game for 60 minutes.

I think that was probably the most full 60 minutes we played all year. Really proud of the guys.

Stuck with it and didn't take too many penalties and just kept playing all game.”

Giroux gave the Senators a 2-1 lead at 9:34 of the second period, burying a wrist shot past a screened Schmid from between the circles.

“It felt like a playoff game,” Giroux said. “You know, came out to fans' standing ovation.

It was a lot of energy in the building, and we played a pretty solid game tonight.”

Pinto pushed the lead to 3-1 at 17:18. He caught a pass in stride from Sanderson, powered past Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola into the offensive zone, and had the puck deflect off his skate after an attempted deke before it trickled in under Schmid's right pad.

“I think all of us took a hit to make a play tonight,” Pinto said. “I think that's how we had to break out the puck, and everyone bought into that.

And I think that was the mindset all night from everyone.”

Foegele put the Senators up 4-1 while short-handed at 7:58 of the third period. Dylan Cozens made a slick move around Florida defenseman Sandis Vilmanis to set up Foegele at the edge of the left circle, where he snapped the puck five-hole.

On a short-handed rush, Halliday took a drop pass from Stutzle and lifted a shot over Schmid's glove from the right circle for the 5-1 final at 14:57.

“We rate our players after every game,” Green said. “I don't remember ever rating a game where every player we liked.

Tonight, everyone was good.

NOTES: Stutzle scored his 38th career power-play goal and tied Jochen Hecht for the third-most by a German player in NHL history. Sanderson (305 games) became the second-fastest Ottawa defenseman to 40 career multipoint games, behind Erik Karlsson (233 games).

It was the 10th time the Senators scored multiple short-handed goals in a single period in franchise history and first since Jan. 30, 2025 (two in the second period).

Panthers defenseman Seth Jones has 10 assists in a five-game point streak. Brady Tkachuk has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in a five-game streak.

Matthew Tkachuk extended his point streak to nine games (three goals, 12 assists). Florida defenseman Radko Gudas was minus-2 and had one block and four hits in 17:03 of ice time in his return to the lineup after missing three games with a lower-body injury.

Cooper Black dressed as the backup goalie for the Panthers after being recalled from Charlotte of the American Hockey League along with forward Cole Schwindt on Tuesday.