BOSTON — They’ve been there every step of the way for Clarke MacArthur.

From tying his skates as a kid growing up in Lloydminster, Alta., to driving him to the rink early on Saturday mornings and sending him off to play Bantam AAA as a 15-year-old in Edmonton, they’ve enjoyed his highlights and they’ve been there to lean on during what has been a tough couple of years for the Ottawa Senators’ winger.

Maybe that was why being at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday for a playoff game against the Boston Bruins was so special for parents Dean and Deb MacArthur because, after everything Clarke has been through with wife Jessica and their young family, everybody was fortunate they were there to witness Clarke’s first National Hockey League goal since April 19, 2015.

Sitting with Dion Phaneuf’s parents, Paul and Amber, and Cody Ceci’s family, MacArthur’s family members joined in an exchange of high-fives after MacArthur scored the Senators’ first goal of the game they would eventually win 4-3 in overtime.

“That was a great goal. We were very excited,” Dean MacArthur said Saturday night, before he and Deb made the trek back to Lloydminster on Sunday. “We were holding (tears) back for sure. We were just happy. He said to Deb and I the other day, ‘I need to see if I can score now.’ ”

The past two years haven’t been easy on the MacArthurs. Clarke worked all summer to get back to playing, but received another concussion during training camp. After he failed a baseline test in January, it was decided that he wouldn’t play at all this season.

“It’s a big relief for Deb and I (to see Clarke playing),” Dean MacArthur added. “He’s always been a battler and he’s always wanted to play this game as long as he could. There have been ups and downs for the last (18 months), but, when he failed his baseline test in January, he was devastated.

“He said, ‘Maybe I can’t get back.’ And I said, ‘You know what? Let’s just take a break here, think about things,’ and then his health started to come around. When he wanted to play before the end of the year, ‘I told him, ‘You’re a battler and it would be really great if you could play, but it will be a big disappointment if you can’t.’ That’s the risk he wanted to take, but, if you don’t take risks in this world, you’ll never find out where you’re at.”

Let’s face it, Clarke MacArthur could have walked away after doctors told him in January that he wasn’t going to play this season. Nobody would have faulted him if he decided retirement was his best option.

“He was always very skilled guy with a lot of heart and passion for this game,” Dean MacArthur said. “If you don’t have those two things, the passion and the drive, you’ll never make it. It doesn’t matter how good you are. There’s lots of guys with better skills than him who were first-round picks that don’t finish the journey because they don’t have that real passion for the game.

“If you’re not willing to give up everything to play the game and take some risks and some chances, you’ll never accomplish what you want. You’ll get sidetracked. It’s been a journey and it’s been tough on Jessica and his kids — the not knowing — but I think he’s fine, I really do as far as his physical well-being.”

Just before Clarke returned to the Senators’ lineup for the first time since Oct. 14, 2015, for an April 4 home game against the Detroit Red Wings, he called his parents at 4 p.m. ET to let them know he’d been told to come to the rink to take part in the warmup, and suddenly there he was back on the ice.

“When they interviewed him on TV on the first night, after the first game, oh God, Deb and I were in tears,” Dean said. “Not only would he come back, but can he survive? Those were always questions in our own mind. We never doubted him for a minute.”

Of course, the MacArthurs questioned, just like everybody else did, whether their son would ever get another chance to pull on that No. 16 Senators jersey again.

“We wondered in January after the baseline test,” Dean said. “We thought, you know what, maybe this is going to be over and maybe this journey is done now and we’ll turn to the next chapter.

“Deb was always really good at motivating him and saying, ‘You’re not going to be happy unless you’re flying with hair on fire at Mach 1, so don’t give up yet and see what happens with your health.’ We never pushed him. We knew he had the drive in him. When he went and took those three weeks in Florida (in January), he said, ‘Dad, I just can’t retire. I just can’t not play the game again.’ ”

Focus just on playing now

All Clarke MacArthur wants to do now is focus on playing.

The emotions of the first game back and the first goal are out of the way for the Senators’ winger, so he hopes he can be a regular contributor.

“Emotionally it’s tough because you get so amped up when things happen,” he said Sunday in Boston. “It can drain you. I was able to get back, and that was great, and I was able to get a goal in a big win we had.

“For me, the emotions will calm down now. Now, you want to use the energy you have on the ice.”

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

Twitter: @sungarrioch