Tim Stützle didn't have dinner with Brady Tkachuk, and the Senators star hasn't seen his former teammate since his return to Ottawa.
That was the word this morning. In a few hours, Tkachuk pulls on a Florida Panthers sweater for a 7:30 puck drop in a building that knows him well.
No dinner, no catch-up, no hallway hug. Just a 6-3-0 Ottawa team trying to shake off Saturday's 3-1 loss in Philadelphia.
And Stützle doesn't need a reunion to get fired up. He leads the Senators with 12 points in nine games, double anyone else on the roster.
He's doing it at both ends, too. A shorthanded goal, a game-winner and a +5 rating tell you he's driving play, not just collecting power play helpers.
At an $8,350,000 cap hit, that's exactly the kind of return Steve Staios is paying for.
Brady Tkachuk carries six goals in five games into Ottawa
Meanwhile, the other half of that missed dinner is scorching. Brady Tkachuk has 10 points this season, and every one of them came in his last five games.
Two of those goals came on the power play, where he's also picked up 3 assists. For a forward who opened the year quiet, the timing for Ottawa is brutal.
It's a bit like bumping into your ex at a wedding. Except your ex has been scoring all week, and the wedding comes with a scoreboard.
Florida walks in riding a three-game win streak, capped by an 8-3 dismantling of Seattle on Saturday.
Matthew Tkachuk is rolling as well, with 11 points over his last five. Paul Maurice gets two hot brothers against a blue line missing Thomas Chabot.
Chabot is dealing with an upper-body injury and isn't expected back until at least Oct. 27. That stings when Carter Yakemchuk has gone minus-7 over his last five games.
Ottawa's edge, on paper, sits in the crease. Linus Ullmark carries a .945 save percentage, and Florida is without Jacob Markstrom until at least Nov. 4.
Akira Schmid sits at .878. Would you want to face Stützle in this mood with numbers like that?
If skipping dinner was a message, it's the right one. Friendships can wait until summer, and this one clearly can.
Both teams go again tomorrow night, Ottawa at home against San Jose and Florida in Pittsburgh. A back-to-back leaves zero room for a slow start.
It's the first meeting between these clubs this season, and both sit at 12 points. Florida holds third in the division, Ottawa fourth.
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Stützle says he hasn't seen Tkachuk yet. Around 7:30, he won't have much of a choice.
Was Tim Stützle right to skip dinner with Brady Tkachuk before tonight's game?
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