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“I said the same thing about Anaheim the other day, but Anaheim, they started early, people are still at work. It filled up later. I’d say the same thing about the fans in Anaheim. So I’m not just saying it because it’s Ottawa.”

The truth is, not only did the 18,615 who attended Wednesday’s 5-1 victory over the Penguins represent a full house, they raised the roof.

“Definitely it’s the loudest I’ve heard the crowd here,” Zack Smith, a seven-year veteran who is one of the longest serving current Senators, said on Thursday. “It was nice to get off to a good start and get the crowd into it. It was nice to be in front of our home crowd again.”

Senators centre Derick Brassard, who was born in Hull, was also moved by the raucous support the Senators received.

“Yeah, it’s awesome, just the buzz around town,” began Brassard. “The fans (Wednesday night) gave us a lot of energy. It means so much for the team, and for all the guys that grew up around here. We’re all in this together, and we’re going to try to push towards our goal. We’re just … we’re right there. We feel like we’re really close and we can beat anyone.”

Asked if he felt Ottawa was getting a “bad rap of boring fans cheering for a boring hockey team,” Brassard scoffed.

“I didn’t see that yesterday,” he said. “Oh, I’ve heard it, but sometimes people are saying whatever, and depending on where it’s coming from, they’re maybe just a little jealous that we’re here right now.

“Our fans have been supporting us all year long. They’ve always been behind our team and the atmosphere was just great (Wednesday).”

So great, Brassard said, that the fans and their roaring reception pushed the Senators to victory.

“On the road, we played some good games, but it’s hard to create some momentum shift after shift,” he said. “When you look at our first 10 minutes (Wednesday), we created some momentum because of that. The crowd was into it. We just kept rolling the lines and everyone was skating and making plays.

“It’s so easy for us to kind of create some energy in making plays.”

That sounds like pretty good fan support, doesn’t it?

ALSO: Senators unleash offence to dominate Penguins and take series lead

Photo by Wayne Cuddington / Postmedia