NEWARK — The Ottawa Senators are blasting out of the gates despite a rash of early-season injuries, improving to 5-1-0 with a 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils in New Jersey on Monday night. The win was Ottawa's fifth in 10 nights and its sixth game of the season, with the Senators having now played more than all but five NHL teams despite being the last club to open the season on Oct. 3.
Ottawa has absorbed hits to arguably its two most important players. All-world defenseman Jake Sanderson did not play against the Devils and has seen fewer than five minutes of action this season after departing the season-opening win versus Toronto early. Goaltender Linus Ullmark stopped 29 of 30 shots to beat New Jersey, but he also had to leave a win in Boston early last week with an injury scare that turned out to be of minor consequence. Biggest offseason acquisition William Eklund, the former San Jose Shark who in a roundabout way is the replacement for departed former captain Brady Tkachuk, is expected to miss an extended period with an ankle injury sustained Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Tim Stutzle scored his fifth goal of the campaign in the win over the Devils and leads the offense with 10 points through six outings. Ullmark, after finishing strong last season, carries a league-best .948 save percentage. New captain Thomas Chabot has four points while averaging 27:14 of ice time per game, second in the NHL only to Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski at 29:35. With Sanderson out and Artem Zub missing all season on the blue line, rookie Carter Yakemchuk, the seventh-overall pick in 2024, has stepped into regular duty and shown he can hold his own.
Around the league, offense is driving the early standings. Seattle, Edmonton and Colorado are the only clubs averaging more than four goals per game, with Colorado at 5.20, Edmonton at five and Seattle at 4.33. The Kraken have twice scored six against Calgary and added six in Detroit on Friday and five in Washington on Sunday, getting four goals from Frederick Gaudreau, three from newcomer Mackie Samoskevich and two each from Shane Wright and Berkly Catton. In New York, Alexis Lafreniere celebrated his 25th birthday Saturday by scoring his fifth goal of the season as the Rangers, without Igor Shesterkin, drubbed the Vancouver Canucks 6-2. The 2020 first-overall pick, who scored 28 goals in 2023-24, is averaging nearly two minutes more per night than in past seasons with top-six minutes and first power-play duty.
Ottawa now has a chance to build on the hot start, with five of its next six games at home in the competitive Atlantic Division. Edmonton sits at 4-0-1 and will try to complete a three-game sweep of California on Tuesday in Los Angeles against the Kings, while Philadelphia's minus-15 goal differential at five-on-five is worse than every team except Calgary at minus-16.