The Edmonton Oilers will play their final game before the NHL’s Christmas break on Sunday evening when they host the red-hot Ottawa Senators.
1. The Sens have completely turned their season around since the last time they faced the Oilers just over one month ago. Edmonton beat Ottawa in the nation’s capital by a score of 5-2 on November 19, which was the second defeat in what wound up being a five-game losing skid that put their record at 8-11-1.
The team is currently riding a season-long six-game winning streak and they occupy the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference standings with an 18-13-2 record.
2. The key for Ottawa during this stretch has been excellent goaltending. Their six consecutive wins have come against the Anaheim Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes, Pittsburgh Penguins, Seattle Kraken, Calgary Flames, and Vancouver Canucks and they’ve only allowed nine goals over those games.
The Sens called up goaltender Leevi Merlainen to make his season debut on Saturday night in Vancouver and he turned aside 21 of 25 shots in the 5-4 victory. Linus Ullmark started Ottawa’s five games before that and stopped 147 of 152 shots across five wins.
3. It’s safe to say acquiring Ullmark from the Boston Bruins and signing him to a four-year, $33 million extension has been an excellent move for Ottawa. The 2022-23 Vezina Trophy winner has a .916 save percentage in his first season with the team and the Sens rank 11th in the NHL in terms of goals against.
Keeping the puck out of the net has been a major issue for the Sens over the past few seasons. Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg both posted .890 save percentages in 2023-24 and the team finished 26th in goals against.
The last time they finished in the top half of the league in terms of goals against was 2016-17, which is also the last time Ottawa made the playoffs. Craig Anderson posted a .926 save percentage that season and led the team on a surprising run to the Eastern Conference Final.
4. The Sens rank 10th in the NHL with 104 goals for this season thanks in part to a strong power play that’s scored on 23.9 percent of its opportunities.
Tim Stutzle is leading the way offensively in Ottawa with 11 goals and 39 points over 33 games. Captain Brady Tkachuk leads the team with 16 goals while Drake Batherson, Josh Norris, and Adam Gaudette each have 13 goals.
Those five aforementioned players have combined for 66 goals this season and 23 of them have come with the man advantage.
