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Before playing his first game in an Ottawa Senators uniform Friday, Brady Tkachuk was asked if he would have extra motivation playing against the Montreal Canadiens.

The Canadiens, you see, passed on Tkachuk in order to select Jesperi Kotkaniemi third overall at June’s NHL entry draft. The Senators then snatched Tkachuk with the fourth choice.

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“I don’t really think about it like that,” Tkachuk said. “One team is rivals with another team.”

But after watching Tkachuk bulldoze his way through the Canadiens during the Senators 4-0 romp at Place Bell Laval to open the rookie tournament, you can’t help but wonder if the draft slight was somewhere in the back of his mind.

Tkachuk scored a pair of second-period goals — the first after a set of nifty dekes in the slot, the second on a 5-on-3 power-play advantage — and threw his body around from the opening shift onwards.

It’s but one rookie game in what is shaping up to be an extended audition for Tkachuk to crack the Senators lineup, but it was quite the dazzling, dominating debut. When he was on the ice, he was noticeable. One way or another.