The game was a blend of farewell to the chief and the dawn of a new era in Ottawa Senators history. Eugene Melnyk, the man who owned the Senators for nearly two decades, was remembered in a ceremony prior to the Senators’ first home game since Melnyk’s death last Monday. The owner was honoured fittingly, in a 5-2 win over the visiting Detroit Red Wings, to complete the home-and-home sweep vs. Detroit. That Josh Norris would score a hat trick, the second consecutive three-goal effort by a Senators player against Detroit in these two games (Mathieu Joseph had three on Friday), put a punctuation mark on a rousing afternoon in a nearly full Canadian Tire Centre. Norris says he hadn’t scored a hat trick since his peewee hockey days. As fans walked through the arena parking lots, they noted the flags at half mast to honour Melnyk, before walking into the gates to be met with boxes of bizarre giveaway merch – ‘Happy New Years’ hats and noise-makers. Melnyk himself would have gotten a chu...