18 Jan 2025; Ottawa, Ontario, Can; Ottawa Senators center Tim Stutzle (18) moves the puck out of the reach of Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) to score in a shootout at the Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory credit: Marc Desrosiers-Imagn images The Ottawa Senators will have little time to celebrate their latest big win when they host the Utah Hockey Club on Sunday.
It is the third weekend in a row that the Senators have played back-to-back games. Coach Travis Green’s Team is 5-0-0 in those games, including a scrappy 2-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
“These are tough,” Green said moments after Saturday’s win. “It’s not just a hard-fought game, but it’s an emotional game. Your emotional energy is very high during these games, and we’ve talked about that. It’s easier said than done. You have to enjoy it a little bit and then recover for tomorrow.”
Shane Pinto scored the future goal midway through the third period against the Maple Leafs.
Tim Stutzle, who leads the team with 46 points (16 goals, 30 assists), scored a power-play goal for a team that entered Saturday’s game amid a 1-of-19 stretch with the man advantage.
Ottawa also saw the return of defensemen Jake Sanderson, who missed Thursday’s loss in Boston with an upper-body injury, and Travis Hamonic, who was sidelined for three weeks with a lower-body injury.
However, Green will have to mix up his lineup again after Nick Cousins left Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury that resulted from a knee-on-knee collision with Toronto’s Jacob Quillan. Green did not have an update on the extent of Cousins’ injury but admitted he would miss some action.
Green also complemented Matthew Highmore, who filled his cousin’s place in the third row. That line was tasked with defending against the Maple Leafs’ first line, and Highmore also had the primary assist on Pinto’s goals.
Utah wraps up a three-game road trip on Sunday. The club saw its three-game winning streak snapped Friday in a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, who scored the game’s final three goals in the third period.
Coach Andre Tourigny told reporters after the game that he was pleased with his team’s effort against the Western Conference’s top team, despite the result.
“We played a good team, played hard (and) played the right way,” Tourigny said. “I think in the long run, we’ll get a reward. Maybe I’m wrong, but I believe in that group, and I’m sure our players believe in themselves as well. I have no doubt about that.”
Center Clayton Keller leads Utah with 53 points (17 goals, 36 assists) and has earned at least one in each of his last six games. He has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in that span and assisted on both goals in the loss to the Jets.
Center Nick Schmaltz, who is second on the team with 29 assists, has recorded at least one point in each of the past eight games. He scored his 10th goal of the season on Friday.
Utah will once again be without its top defenseman, as Mikhail Sergachev did not make the trip due to an upper-body injury. He is averaging 25:45 of ice time per game and ranks fifth in points with 30 (eight goals, 22 assists) on the team.
Winger Dylan Guenther, fourth on the team with 34 points (16 goals, 18 assists), also remains on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.
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