Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk was acknowledged before Thursday’s game for winning a gold medal with Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
Midway through the Feb. 26 home game against the Detroit Red Wings, Tkachuk had a bloody nose and a trip to the penalty box.
At the 7:40 mark of the second period, Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson delivered a big hit that sent Tkachuk to the ice. The puck wasn’t nearby, so Edvinsson was assessed two minutes for interference, plus five minutes for fighting as Ottawa’s Dylan Cozens dropped the gloves in defense of his teammate.
But Tkachuk also received a 10-minute misconduct penalty, apparently for chirping at Edvinsson after he went to the penalty box.
Both continued to argue with each other while in the penalty box.
Tkachuk scored the game’s opening goal, but Detroit captain Dylan Larkin, another Team USA standout, scored twice in the Red Wings’ 2-1 overtime win.
The day was a busy one for Tkachuk, who was making his first appearance since the Olympics. He answered questions after practice about the gold medal experience plus a White House TikTok video in which his voice was dubbed over to make it sound like he was insulting Canadians.
Tkachuk called the video, which included artificial intelligence, ‘clearly fake because it’s not my voice and not my lips moving.’
He added: ‘It’s not my voice. It’s not what I was saying. I would never say that. It’s not who I am. So, I guess I don’t like that video.’