The Ottawa Senators hope a new head coach and a new goaltender will help end their playoff drought as they open the 2024-25 season against the visiting Florida Panthers on Thursday night.
Ottawa hired coach Travis Green in May after a 37-41-4 season that was good for seventh place in the Atlantic Division. Green went 141-159-35 in stints with the Vancouver Canucks and New Jersey Devils and is charged with getting the Senators to the postseason for the first time since 2017.
“I’ve liked our training camp and I’ve liked the group since I took over,” Green said. “After I’ve seen them, I think our group is hungry and eager to learn. They’ve been working hard and they’re excited to get going Thursday.”
A big part of that quest will be goaltender Linus Ullmark, acquired in a trade with the Bruins for Joonas Korpisalo, forward Mark Kastelic and a first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Ullmark, 31, was 22-10-7 with a 2.57 goals-against average, .915 save percentage and two shutouts in 40 games (39 starts) for Boston last season. He signed a four-year, $33 million extension on Wednesday.
The Senators have used 17 goaltenders since their last playoff appearance, according to NHL.com.
Ottawa also added veteran David Perron. The 36-year-old forward has 768 points (310 goals, 458 assists) in 1,131 NHL games and has scored at least 16 goals in each of the past eight seasons.
“It’s exciting. We’re starting to get ready to push forward for the good part now,” Perron said of the opener. “We can start applying the things we’ve been learning here for the last couple of weeks with Travis.”
The Senators’ top line will likely consist of Brady Tkachuk (a career-high 37 goals last season), Tim Stutzle and Claude Giroux. Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub form the top defensive pair.
Ottawa opens with four of its first five games at home.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers picked up where they left off, scoring four goals in the first period of a 6-4 win against the visiting Bruins on Tuesday. The Panthers raised their Stanley Cup banner before the game.
“You would like to think you will know what your team will look like in the opening game, and you never do,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “That is what keeps you awake the night before the opener. But we looked right, and fast, and quick.”
Sam Bennett scored twice, and Sam Reinhart and Evan Rodrigues each had a goal and an assist for the Panthers. Eleven different skaters recorded at least one point and Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves.
Bennett scored his second goal of the game to make it 4-1 with 26 seconds left in the first period.
“It’s an emotional start to the season,” Bennett said. “Seeing that banner going up, shoulder to shoulder with all the guys, was a special moment. I think it definitely gave us a little juice to start the season off. We came out flying. We were back to our style of hockey right away.”
Thursday’s game kicks off a four-game road trip for Florida.
–Field Level Media