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SENATORS 3, KRAKEN 0
The Ottawa Senators couldn’t have scripted a better start to their longest road trip in franchise history.
The Senators extended their winning streak to a season-high four straight by beginning a lengthy nine-game road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night at Climate Pledge Arena.
Goaltender Linus Ullmark made 30 stops for his third shutout of the season and the 11th of his career. Tim Stutzle, Noah Gregor and Shane Pinto did the scoring in what turned out to be a tidy win.
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“It was a really good road win from start to finish,” coach Travis Green told TSN 1200’s Gord Wilson. “I know they had 15 shots in the first, but I thought after the first 10 minutes we played a good 200-foot game.”
This was the first game of a nine-game trip for the Senators because of the 2025 IIHF world junior championship being held at the Canadian Tire Centre and TD Place Arena.
LEANING ON LINUS
With Anton Forsberg likely out until after Christmas with an undisclosed lower-body injury, we’ll be seeing a lot of Ullmark.
He went into Tuesday’s game with a 5-0-1 record in his last six starts with a dazzling 1.55 goals-against average and a .950 save percentage.
This was Ullmark’s fourth straight start and it’s conceivable that he could play every game on this trip. Belleville backup Leevi Merilainen is with the club, but there’s no guarantee he will play.
Ullmark extended his winning streak to six straight by making some key stops early and then holding the fort as the Senators built up their lead with Stutzle putting it away in the third period.
From there, the Senators played a textbook final 20 minutes and the Kraken had no chance to comeback from a three-goal deficit.
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“It’s a gritty win. That’s what it’s,” Ullmark told TSN’s Kenzie Lalonde after the victory. “The first game on these Western road trips is usually always the hardest one with the jet lag that you go through.
“We did a lot of good things throughout 60 minutes. It’s more of a bend-not-break mentality right now. You know you’re going to go through adversity.”
The reality is Ullmark has played a key role in helping this club turn its season around.
SECOND BEST
The Senators pulled out to a 2-0 lead in the second and former Ottawa prospect Joey Daccord would like to have both back.
It’s the 10th time in 31 games the Senators have held the opponent scoreless in the middle frame.
Gregor scored his fourth of the season by firing a shot by Daccord high on the glove side at 12:45 to open up the two-goal advantage.
That came as the Senators had turned the tide in this one.
The Kraken was outplaying them until they finally got on the board in the second on only the 10th shot that Daccord faced.
Pinto, who broke a 19-game drought with two goals in a 3-0 win over Carolina on Friday, has started to heat up with his fourth of the season.
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He fired a shot that beat Daccord through the five-hole at 8:02 of the second to open the scoring.
“It was a while since I scored, but like I said I was doing a lot of good things and eventually you get rewarded,” Pinto said after the second.
The Senators came into this game with a 13-2-0 record when they scored first this season.
Outshot 15-7 in the first period, the Senators were fortunate to be locked in a scoreless tie with the Kraken.
The club had opportunities on Daccord, however, not nearly as many as Ullmark faced in the first 20 minutes. He’s on top of his game but didn’t need to be tested as much as he was.
LONG ROAD AHEAD
The club won’t return home until it hosts the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 9 and the Senators mustn’t take a step back during this difficult stretch if they want to stay in the playoff race.
A comeback 3-2 overtime victory by the Pittsburgh Penguins over the Los Angeles Kings earlier in the night, meant the Senators needed to win this one to maintain a hold on the final wildcard spot in the East.
The Senators moved their record to 6-7-1 on the road this season and with a victory on Thursday in Calgary the club can get its record as a visitor back to .500.
“We stuck with it and we found a way,” Stutzle told Wilson. “We knew it was going to be a hard road trip. We know we’re a good team, we know we can play with anyone and we showed that again tonight.”
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