Winners of four of five, the Ottawa Senators have opened the 2026-27 season with their best start since 2014-15. There have been several reasons for the Senators quick start out of the gate. The goaltending of Linus Ullmark, Tim Stützle‘s stellar play, an improved penalty kill, and the ability to overcome injuries are a few, but the buzzword being tossed around the room is that the team is simply a “mature” group.
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Minus Brady Tkachuk, many pundits assumed losing their captain would be a big loss. However, it’s had the opposite effect. Players have banded together, working harder, developing an “all for one” attitude.
“Mature” wins
Witness the past two games. A tired Senators group playing their third game in four nights squeaked out a 2-1 over Philadelphia Thursday.
Carter Yakemchuk broke a 1-1 tie with a third-period power-play blast.
Despite being outplayed in portions throughout, Ottawa didn’t stray from their game plan. But it was their final-minute effort that saw Dylan Cozens save a goal with shot block at the side of Senators’ crease and another from Shane Pinto. Then it was Ullmark who shut the door, making three key saves in the waning seconds.
Senators head coach Travis Green called it a “greasy” win.
The Nashville Predators and Ottawa played a similar game Saturday, in that it was a tight defensive battle.
Once again, the Senators played a patient game waiting to strike. Trailing 2-0 after the opening frame, Stützle notched a PP marker midway through the second period. But it wasn’t until Pinto’s shot glanced in off Drake Batherson with only 1:23 to go on regulation and Ullmark on the bench to even the contest.
The Senators were victorious in a shootout with Stützle/Pinto scoring goals. Ottawa wouldn’t have made it to the shootout if not for an outstanding glove save by Ullmark off Predators’ Roman Josi, who exited the penalty box retrieving a breakaway pass.
Green said postgame, “I think they believe they can win any night, every night, and I think they understand the way we play, the identity that we want to play with, and the urgency that we want to play with.”
Adding, “I think you know a lot of us been around for a while now. What we built the last two years, I think we’re just a more mature group, and I thought we worked hard all night and stuck with it.”
“I think last year we probably lose that game and we just found a way to have our best tonight,” noted Pinto
Despite trailing and playing through a stretch from late in the middle period until six minutes remaining, the team failed to tally a shot on goal, Pinto explained, “I don’t even know if we weren’t too negative on the bench. I think we just kept on saying “keep going.” Yeah, there wasn’t any doubt really. I think we were pretty upbeat on the bench, and we thought we were going to get one, and we got one, and just found a way.”
Senators injuries not an excuse
Since going through a rash of injuries, especially to their blue line corps last season, the team developed a next-man mentality.
Green has spoken on multiple occasions his players haven’t allowed excuses to creep into their mindset.
Through five games this season, star defenseman Jake Sanderson has played only 4:29. His d-man partner, Artem Zub is yet to play, but is making strides for a return. Rookie Hoyt Stanley, Ottawa’s 2023 108th overall Entry Draft selection, has been an adequate stop-gap.
Forward Andre Burakovsky made his Senators debut Saturday. William Eklund sustained an ankle injury Thursday and is expected to miss upwards of eight weeks. A key acquisition, Eklund, fresh off a multi-point performance Tuesday in Detroit, was just beginning to find chemistry alongside Stützle and Drake Batherson.
Improved PK
Last season, the Senators finished 29th out of 32 teams (75.9%) on the penalty kill. The PK was actually the NHL’s worst two-thirds of the year until assistant coach Mike Yeo took control of the unit.
It’s early, but Ottawa’s PK is displaying signs of improvement, ranking 18th. The Senators PK would likely perform slightly better if the team can learn to stay out of the penalty box. Ottawa averages 4.6 opposition power play opportunities per game, tops in the league.
Stellar Stützle
It’s only a five-game window into the 2026-27 campaign, but if this trend continues, Stützle may reach career highs in all offensive categories. In those five contests, the 24-year-old has registered four goals and four assists. Just as important, Stützle is playing in all situations, including becoming a penalty kill stalwart. The native of Germany currently possesses a personal-best face-off success rate (58.2%).
Stützle is also averaging a career-high 21:57 time-on-ice per game, seventh among all NHL forwards, including playing 26:06 Saturday.
Ullmark Stands tall
Linus Ullmark’s game-saving glove stop off Predators Roman Josi helped preserve Ottawa’s shootout win this weekend. Ullmark is continuing where he left off last season.
Winning all four starts, the third-year Sen ranks tied for 1st in Wins (4), 2nd in Goals Against Average (1.34), 3rd in Save Percentage for goaltenders playing three games or more (.942).
His four-game win streak is his best to open a season since 2022-23 with the Boston Bruins when he won a Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goalie.
The Senators play back-to-back games starting Monday in New Jersey to face the Devils, returning to Ottawa Tuesday to meet the St. Louis Blues.
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