Why Thomas Chabot’s goal against the Leafs was so symbolic for Senators

“It was awesome, I’m not going to lie,” Chabot said.

Published Oct 03, 2026  •  Last updated 26 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

The Ottawa Senators announced on Sept. 29, 2026, that Thomas Chabot is the Senators' 11th team captain. Thomas poses for a photo at the Canadian Tire Centre Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia Network

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If you’re a captain of the Ottawa Senators, you stick it to the Maple Leafs.

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Daniel Alfredsson certainly understood that, Brady Tkachuk took it literally, and now count Thomas Chabot in that number.

In his first game with the ‘C’ for the Sens, in the wake of a sad summer when Tkachuk was granted a trade to Florida and Alfredsson joined Toronto’s coaching staff, Chabot had the opening goal in a 3-2 win to open another Battle of Ontario series.

“It was awesome, I’m not going to lie,” said Chabot, who jumped on one of the few Sergei Bobrovsky rebounds. “I’m never one to make it about myself, but scoring the first one (in Ottawa’s first game of the schedule) was pretty cool. My parents were in the building, too. It’s been special last couple of days.”

“I liked the way we stuck with it tonight (down 2-1 and without top defenceman Jake Sanderson after a first-period injury). We’re tight, man, we have so much fun, during the game, after the game and all day long. We had an unreal (team road) dinner last night, a really fun way to start the year.”

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Thomas Chabot of the Ottawa Senators scores against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the first period at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Oct. 3, 2026. Photo by Kevin Sousa /Getty Images

Beating the Leafs will do that, with Alfredsson on the other bench, though his name was not mentioned after the game, a topic that can go on the back burner now until his return to Ottawa on January 20.

“If you’re going to wait a week to start and you had to pick the spot to play, if it wasn’t at home, it would probably be (Toronto),” said Ottawa coach Travis Green. “Any time you play the Leafs in this building there’s going to be a little more emotion.”

It was exactly 25 years ago Saturday in the same rink that Alfredsson assisted on Todd White’s winning goal in a 5-4 Senators decision to start the 2001-02 campaign. Green, then a Leaf, had an assist in the match, while Mats Sundin, the Toronto captain who wooed Alfredsson away to be Toronto’s associate coach as its current senior advisor, had a goal and assist.

Ottawa, always a buzzsaw bunch, was the last of 32 NHL teams to start its journey.

“It was fun to be at home all week and at 7 p.m. watch (other teams) on TV,” said Chabot. “But you want to be out there. The week was long, but we put in the work that was able to (pay off) today.”

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The only complication from a night when the Sens turned the screws on the Leafs in the third period, out-shooting them 16-5 and preventing Bobrovsky from leaving the net with enough time to set up a 6-on-5, was the Sanderson injury. Green said that Sanderson pulled himself out of the game because of an undisclosed lower body injury, likely related to a previous issue he has dealt with. He will be re-evaluated in a few days.

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