Ridly Greig's Empty Netter? Tim Stutzle's Walk-Off Homer? Here are the five Senator goals we won't soon forget.
While the Ottawa Senators have spent much of the offseason trying to patch up their roster, no one has ever questioned the amount of skill they have in their lineup. The club scored a number of highlight-reel goals from last season, but these are the five we'll remember the most.
Interestingly, as the Senators and Red Wings have cranked up their hate-o-meter from a 2 to a 10, three of the five goals were against the Wings.
5: December 9th, 2023, at Detroit, Batherson's perfect saucer pass to Stutzle
Drake Batherson is at the point where he could sell his own line of barbecue sauce in Ottawa. He had a number of incredible saucer passes last season and throughout his young career. But this was our favourite. He not only cracked open a fresh bottle of Bathersauce™, he poured it through two Wings, serving it up on a platter for Stutzle to enjoy.
4. November 16, 2023: Tim Stutzle hits Brady Tkachuk with a no-look pass for an easy tap-in vs Detroit.
In a one-on-one against his former teammate, Alex DeBrincat did a good job of preventing Tim Stutzle from getting a shot away. But as Stutzle stumbled and slid toward the corner, he never gave up possession, and from his knees, he whipped a blind backhand pass toward the net, right onto Tkachuk's stick.
This game actually produced two of the year's five most memorable Senator goals. You know it's a dandy when TSN's Mike Johnson lets out a scream: "Ohhhhh!"
3. March 14, 2024: Claude Giroux ends the shootout in Columbus... with authority.
The Columbus Blue Jackets like to celebrate their goals with a blast from an actual cannon. That cannon had nothing on Claude Giroux's memorable walk-off bomb in a shootout in Columbus back in March. It even brought a huge grin from the normally stoic Jacques Martin.
2. November 16, 2023. Tim Stutzle's walk-off, upper-deck "homer" vs Detroit
Back to November 16th again. We're not going to lie. Several members of our selection committee wanted this goal to be number one. But after many discussions, coin flips, and fistfights, we slotted this one in at number two.
Drake Batherson's centring pass in overtime is tipped into the air, and Stutzle smacks it into the net with a baseball-style swing to win the game with less than two seconds left in overtime. This one also drew another epic Johnson shriek.
We do need to tip our cap to goalie James Reimer. If he doesn't duck out of the way, we're not even talking about this one.
And that brings us the most memorable goal of the season...
1. February 10, 2024: Ridly Greig's Empty-Net Clapper
In a heated contest in February, Toronto was down 4-3 to the Senators and pushing hard for a tying goal. They pulled the goalie and not long after, Sens forward Ridly Greig broke free toward an empty net and rifled home a slap shot, the way an NBA player might dunk emphatically near the end of an NBA game.
Greig got weeks' worth of accolades in Ottawa and weeks' worth of notoriety in Toronto. But no one was more upset than Morgan Rielly, who outweighs Greig by 40 pounds. Rielly could have dropped the gloves and sorted Greig out that way. But instead, he chose to sucker Greig with a crosscheck to the face. The league gave him a six-game suspension and made a point to tell Rielly's defenders that, in considering Rielly's case, Greig's slapshot goal was "utterly irrelevant."
It was a goal that, along with its aftermath, won't soon be forgotten.