The Ottawa Senators will try to extend their winning streak to five games when they face the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
Ottawa started its longest road trip in team history (nine games) with a 3-0 win against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night. The Flames, however, blew a 3-1 lead in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins.
Linus Ullmark made 30 saves for his third shutout of the season with Ottawa. He has won his last six starts, allowing just five goals in that span.
“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 also made 32 saves in a 3-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Dec. 13. With Anton Forsberg likely out until after Christmas due to injury, Ullmark is expected to start his fifth straight game on Thursday.
Pinto, Noah Gregor, and Tim Stutzle each scored for the Senators, who have won six of their last seven games. Pinto’s goal on Tuesday was his third 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 are now 14-2-0 when scoring first this season.
Due to 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. With Tuesday’s win, they improved their road record to 6-7-1.
In Calgary, David Pastrnak scored with 38 seconds left in overtime to give Boston a 4-3 win over the Flames on Tuesday.
Matt Coronato, Nazem Kadri, and Ryan Lomberg scored for the Flames, who have lost four of their last six games and eight of their last 11. Dustin Wolf made 31 saves as Calgary dropped to 11-4-2 at home.
Kadri’s goal put the Flames up 2-0 in the second period, and he has now scored in four straight games, matching his NHL career-long streak.
“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 of Calgary’s issues has been winning faceoffs. According to the Calgary Herald, the Flames have won the faceoff battle just five times in 32 games this season. Their season-long faceoff success rate is 44.6 percent, which ranks them among the bottom five teams in 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.”
