Brady Tkachuk smiles through the boos and scores in his first game back in Ottawa, but the Senators rout the Panthers 5-1

Brady Tkachuk heard the boos from the moment his skates hit the ice for warmups. The former Ottawa Senators captain came back to the capital Wednesday night for the first time since forcing a trade to the Florida Panthers. He answered with a smile and a goal.

It was not enough for Florida. The Senators scored the last five goals and beat the Panthers 5-1.

Tkachuk asked to be traded last spring, only weeks after publicly pledging his commitment to the franchise. Ottawa sent him to Florida in a June blockbuster, where he joined his older brother Matthew on a team that has won two Stanley Cups.

A hostile welcome

Fans booed him during the starting lineups, chanted "Brady sucks" before the anthems and drowned out a "Welcome Back" tribute video during the first TV timeout. Tkachuk raised his stick to the crowd anyway. Several of his old No. 7 Senators sweaters were thrown onto the ice. He had pledged to donate any of them to a local Boys & Girls Club.

"Were they ruthless?" Tkachuk joked afterward. "No, it was good. Shows the passion that they have." He added that one chapter had closed and an exciting new one had begun.

He scored on a power play halfway through the first period, on Florida's first shot of the game. Tim Stutzle tied it on a power play before the first intermission and Ottawa pulled away from there. Tkachuk spent time in the penalty box for roughing his former teammate Nick Cousins and took two more roughing penalties in the third period.

Eight years in Ottawa

"There's a lot of ups and downs, but nothing but great things that I've experienced here and my family experienced here as well," Tkachuk said of his time with the Senators. "It felt nice. But at the end of the day, it wasn't the outcome that we wanted as a team."

He also said he made his own decision to leave, not his brother or his father, NHL great Keith Tkachuk. "It's pretty easy now. It's over and done with," he said. "It's a thing of the past."

Ullmark hurt

Senators goalie Linus Ullmark left in the third period after a collision with Matthew Tkachuk. Ottawa coach Travis Green said Ullmark was being evaluated for a lower-body injury.