Stephen Halliday tapped a shot past goalie Sergei Bobrovsky midway through the third period, propelling the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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The Senators’ victory was overshadowed by the loss of defenseman Jake Sanderson. The d-man played only 4:29 and didn’t return for the second period.
Game Summary
The Senators got on the board first after Thomas Chabot popped in a rebound off Claude Giroux’s shot with 68 seconds remaining in the opening period. The goal tied a NHL record for most consecutive seasons scoring at least one goal in the first period of a season-opener.
Toronto took the game over in the second period. Auston Matthews redirected Morgan Rielly’s point shot 33 seconds n, followed by Kirill Marchenko’s power play marker. Marchenko parked alone in front of Senators goalie Linus Ullmark and went forehand, backhand.
Despite being outshot 14-4 in the middle frame, Tim Stützle took a Chabot pass up ice, saucering it to Michael Amadio to even the score at two.
Playing in only their first game five days into the 2026-27 NHL campaign, it was the Senators who carried the play in the final period, outshooting Toronto 16-5. But it was Halliday notching the game-winner two seconds after a high-sticking penalty to Marchenko concluded.
Senators Game Thoughts
Now you “C” it
Thomas Chabot’s life has been a whirlwind the past 10 days. His wife, Marion, gave birth to daughter Romy on September 24. He was awarded the Senators captaincy Monday. Then he opens the scoring in the Senators’ season lid-lifter Saturday, with his parents in attendance at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
In addition to his goal, Chabot added an assist, blocked seven shots, and received 27:06 of ice time, mainly due to the absence of Sanderson. Possibly more impressive was the 29-year-old’s positive analytical impact. Chabot finished with a 57.1% Corsi. The Senators blueliner was on the ice for six more Senators shot attempts than his Maple Leafs counterparts, remarkable due to Toronto recording 22 more even-strength shot attempts than Ottawa.
Ullmark stands tall
After a great second half to last season and a strong playoff in spite of his team being swept, Linus Ullmark was solid in the Senators opener.
Making 27 saves, Ullmark was steady throughout the contest. His pad stop off Leafs Darren Raddysh was the classic save that turned into a goal the other way. Ullmark stuck out his right pad with the puck landing directly on Chabot’s stick, which ultimately led to Amadio’s game-tying goal.
Yes, the Leafs connected with six posts, but goalie enthusiasts will say Ullmark didn’t give his opponents room to shoot.
Little details
While Marchenko tallied a PP goal, the Senators penalty kill did the job when needed, especially when William Eklund was penalized in the final five minutes. Tim Stützle broke up several plays and laid out to block a shot, one of Ottawa’s four PK’s.
Last season the Senators finished tied for tops in the league in faceoff percentage (54.5%). Their work on draws didn’t go unnoticed Saturday. The team won three consecutive faceoffs late in the game after the Leafs had pulled Bobrovsky for a sixth attacker.
Ottawa ended the night at 57% between the dots, with veteran Claude Giroux winning 10 of 12 draws to go with his pair of assists.
Sanderson injury
Though the Senators won, they sustained a loss when Jake Sanderson didn’t return to the ice after the first period. Sanderson who has skated little since the start of training camp, played a portion of one preseason game a week ago, and participated in first practice Friday.
It appears Ottawa’s no. 1 defenseman will miss an unknown period of time after “re-aggravating” a lower-body injury.
“We’ll know more in the next few days, but I think “Sandy” was smart enough to pull himself early enough that he didn’t re-aggravate too badly. He just felt that it was coming and took himself out. That was a smart thing to do,” said Senators head coach Travis Green postgame.
The club will now head to Boston Monday without the services of Sanderson and Artem Zub who’s currently out due to a knee injury sustained in Game One of last season’s playoffs.
There is some good news: Zub did skate Friday, albeit in a non-contact jersey.
Once again, it’ll be next man up on the Senators blue line.
