The play looked harmless, yet revealing.
Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk received a pass at centre ice while being marked by New Jersey Devils defenceman Brett Pesce. As he turned and lost the puck, he leaned forward. As Tkachuk lifted himself, he put a hand on his left hip before wincing and heading to the bench in pain. Senators fans had every right to feel nervous and wonder when or if the Senators would rest him.
But Tkachuk returned to the Senators bench at the start of the second period. He scored a goal a little over four minutes in and the Senators never trailed in a 3-2 win over the Devils.
That sums up Tkachuk’s return since the 4 Nations Face-Off: an integral piece to the Senators’ puzzle who is producing while playing through pain.
“He’s a competitive guy,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “Loves winning, loves competing, loves his teammates. He’s everything you want in a young captain.”
Tkachuk’s health has been under the microscope since he returned from the 4 Nations break. Tkachuk suffered an injury during Team USA’s final round-robin game against Team Sweden. Right after the event, he told the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast that his “body’s not feeling too great,” before missing his team’s first two games out of the break. Weeks later, Tkachuk couldn’t finish a March 13 game against the Boston Bruins after he “tweaked” his hip, according to Green. And then, one day after a below-standard performance against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, Tkachuk was asked if he was “100 percent healthy.”
“Yup, I’m good,” Tkachuk replied.
Tkachuk finished the game but only played a season-low 13:23 in the victory with most of his third-period shifts lasting around 30 seconds. Only the fourth-line trio of Adam Gaudette, Matthew Highmore and Michael Amadio played fewer minutes for the Sens. Tkachuk added two hits, three shots and one blocked shot in the victory.
Until the Senators accomplish their season-long goal of making the playoffs, their leader’s health — specifically his hip — will be under close watch.
Good things happen when Brady’s battling in front of the net 💪#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/CrXCbXf8AL
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) March 23, 2025
Fabian Zetterlund on the top line
The Senators finally gave Zetterlund a proper opportunity on their top line on Saturday alongside Tkachuk and Tim Stützle. The Swedish forward was given a quick audition during the Sens’ blowout loss to the Avalanche earlier this week. But Green changed his lineup ahead of the matchup, putting Zetterlund up top and moving Claude Giroux down to a third-line role with Shane Pinto and Ridly Greig.
“I think we have a good fit, good chemistry, (we’re) strong on pucks all of us,” Zetterlund said ahead of the game against the Devils. “Tim (Stützle) likes to hold on to it, skate around with it. I’ve just got to find an open spot.
“We’re going to fit each other good. We’re going to bring it tonight.”
Zetterlund performed well enough on the top line, firing two shots on net with a 52.63 Corsi rating at five-on-five. He didn’t record a point, but he helped create space on Tkachuk’s opening goal in the second period and created plays with Stützle. However, the winger hasn’t recorded a point in his first seven games with the Senators — his longest points drought of the season.
Those points can still come for Zetterlund, so it’s not quite panic time yet. But he should still keep his spot on the top line ahead of the Sens’ next game against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. Speaking of Sabres, in this case, former Sabres, Dylan Cozens has seven points in his first eight games with the Senators.
And how did Giroux look?
Giroux didn’t look out of place on the Senators’ new-look third line with Greig and Pinto. They performed the best at five on five of all four lines with a 57.14 Corsi rating, and Giroux’s line also had the best expected goals for rate (0.76) and produced more high-danger chances than any other line.
“We played the way we wanted to, we played to our identity,” Giroux said of his team’s performance. “We had everybody going tonight. It’s a good hockey club on the other side. It wasn’t our best game, but we played well enough to get the win.”
Giroux played the most minutes of any Sens forward (21:32) and chipped in a power-play assist on David Perron’s goal. All three Senators’ goals were second-period net-front redirects. It made up for a weird first-period miss where Giroux stickhandled around Devils goalie Jake Allen before losing the handle on the puck. Devils forward Curtis Lazar kept the puck out with his stick.
“They get a big goal for us tonight,” Green said. “You need that.”
Linus Ullmark shuts down the Devils
It’s been a week since Ullmark capped off his star week with a victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. You may remember him shutting down the Detroit Red Wings with 48 saves before making a save-of-the-year candidate at the expense of the Boston Bruins.
But Ullmark looked fallible in his last two starts for the Sens, allowing four goals in each game against Montreal and Colorado. Green pulled Ullmark against the Avalanche after he allowed four goals on 13 shots in a losing effort. If the Sens were going to stop a losing skid in its track, it meant Ullmark having to step up. He did with a 25-save performance, but he’ll likely thank defenceman Artem Zub for making the biggest save in the game’s dying seconds.
#NJDevils were *this* close to tying the game in the dying seconds.
Looked like it might have been going in, but it hit Noesen’s skate and he couldn’t poke it in before Artem Zub cleared it.
When it rains, it pours. pic.twitter.com/Cs0vjowoEK
— Daniel Amoia (@daniel_amoia) March 23, 2025
Ullmark is 7-4-1 in his last 12 games since returning from the 4 Nations break. His save percentage remains below .900 in that same period (.892 to be exact). But Green praised Ullmark for being “dialed in.”
“Especially (in) the third,” Green said. “You know when you’re up a couple of goals the other team is going to push and they’re going to push hard. And he made some big saves in the third.”
(Photo of Brady Tkachuk celebrating his second-period goal: Ed Mulholland / Imagn Images)
