As former Senators head coach Guy Boucher used to say “Rest is a weapon.” And after playing four games in six days the current Ottawa Senators hope Boucher’s catch phrase rings true as the team concluded its unofficial close to the first half of the 2025-26 NHL season Tuesday versus Buffalo.
The Senators dropped a hard-fought 3-2 decision to Buffalo in overtime. Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram appeared to fan on his shot causing the puck to flutter, handcuffing Senators goalie Linus Ullmark.
The Sabres win was their inexplicably sixth straight over the Senators dating back to the start of the 2024-25 campaign. The good news for Ottawa; the team picked up a much-needed point despite the loss and have garnered nine of a possible 10 over their past five outings (4-0-1). The Senators’ downfall is dropping a point to an Atlantic Division rival in a heated race.
A welcomed break
Ottawa’s second hottest player in December, Drake Batherson is relishing the three-day NHL holiday break. Batherson has registered six goals, nine assists in 11 games during the month of December to date.
“I mean, it’s been a busy schedule, obviously, with the Olympics. So it’s nice you get two, three days fully off. I think it’s gonna be nice for the body coming in January,” said Batherson postgame Tuesday.
Senators head coach Travis Green echoed Batherson’s comments noting his club is barely out of a stretch of spending 21 of 26 days away from home. The Senators have played 11 of their past 17 games on the road.
Neither are wrong, straight out their short respite, the team travels to Toronto Saturday to face the Maple Leafs then play six more games in 11 days.
NHL schedule makers’ not kind to Senators
This 11 days may not even be the Senators toughest stretch in future. From January 1 through February 5 prior to NHL players heading to Milan, Ottawa is scheduled to play 19 games in only 36 days. The final three of those are on the road. And upon returning to action post-Olympics, the Senators play one game at home before heading out on an extended five-game Western Canada trip which actually opens in Toronto prior to heading West. The lengthy sojourn also includes a trip from Calgary to Seattle and back to Vancouver.
Due to this odd scheduling anomaly, Senators’ fans will only see their squad play at the Candian Tire Centre three times between January 31 through March 11.
https://hockeyhotstove.com/category/bloggers/murray-pam
Tight standings in the East
Granted many teams are in the same boat possessing busy schedules in this Olympic year, the Senators will need to remain with the Eastern Conference pack throughout.
At 41 points (18-13-5) the team is currently one point out of a Wildcard position and trail Tampa Bay by two points for third-place in the Atlantic Division race.
The Senators recorded 40 points at the same 36-game juncture last season and were sitting in the final Wildcard spot. The difference this season is the remarkable improvement of the Detroit Red Wings, currently tops in the Atlantic at 47 points and the Montreal Canadiens who’ve seen a 10-point increase (45 points) at their 37-game mark.
The Ottawa Senators do have some great news on the horizon with centre Shane Pinto and defenseman Tyler Kleven set to return from injury in the coming days.
Pinto led Ottawa in goals (12) at the time of his injury December versus the New York Rangers. Having missed nine games, Pinto has since been usurped by Tim Stützle (17) and Batherson (14). Stützle is currently on a heater in the midst of an eight-game point streak, compiling seven goals, eight assists over this period.
Kleven has missed the past two games with a lower leg/ankle injury.
