The Ottawa Senators will go for their fifth straight win when they visit the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
Ottawa opened the longest road trip in franchise history (nine games) with a 3-0 win against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night, while the Flames squandered a 3-1 lead in a 4-3 overtime loss to visiting Boston.
Linus Ullmark made 30 saves in his third shutout of the season for Ottawa. He has won each of his past six starts, allowing just five goals during the stretch.
“The past six games (from Ullmark) have been nuts. It’s been crazy to watch,” forward Shane Pinto said. “We’re just lucky to have him.”
Ullmark became the fifth goaltender in Senators history to record shutouts in consecutive road games. He made 32 saves at the Carolina Hurricanes in a 3-0 win on Dec. 13. With Anton Forsberg likely out until after Christmas with an injury, Ullmark looks to make his fifth straight start Thursday.
Pinto, Noah Gregor and Tim Stutzle each scored for the Senators, who have won six of their past seven. It was Pinto’s third goal in as many games after going 19 games without scoring.
“I don’t think anyone’s surprised when (Pinto) scores,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “He’s capable of scoring, obviously, more than he has. He knows that, we know that, and confidence is a funny thing. Once you get one goal, usually guys like that start to score a little more.”
The Senators improved to 14-2-0 when they score first this season.
Because of the 2025 IIHF world junior championship being held at the Canadian Tire Centre and TD Place Arena, Ottawa will be on the road for their next eight games. They improved their road mark to 6-7-1 with Tuesday’s win.
In Calgary, David Pastrnak scored with 38 seconds left in overtime to lift visiting Boston past the Flames on Tuesday.
Matt Coronato, Nazem Kadri and Ryan Lomberg scored for the Flames, who have lost four of six and eight of 11. Dustin Wolf made 31 saves as Calgary fell to 11-4-2 at home.
Kadri’s goal made it 2-0 in the second period, and he has scored in four straight games to match his NHL career long.
“To me, it was like a tale of two games,” said Flames coach Ryan Huska. “The first half, I really liked our game. I thought we had them on the run for a lot of the beginning portion of the game. And then I thought they flipped the script on us. They had us on the run.”
The Bruins outshot the Flames 15-5 in the third period and 4-0 in overtime.
One problem for Calgary has been at the faceoff dot. According to the Calgary Herald, in 32 games so far this season, the Flames have won the faceoff battle just five times. Their season-long success rate is 44.6 percent, in the bottom five of the league.
“It is an area that we have to get better in,” Huska said. “We got away with it in the first period. If you’re not starting with the puck ever, you’re chasing the game the whole time. It has not been a strength for us this year, but I know it can get better.”
–Field Level Media
