More Goals Becomes Off-Season Priority For Senators

 With the Ottawa Senators now in ‘over-and-out’ mode, thoughts go to the future and where the organization needs to show improvement. After making a jump into the playoffs this year after seven away, it’s attractive to get drawn into the romantic notion that this type of success is now a

Leafs Continue to Wilt in Elimination Chances

 The Toronto Maple Leafs – ‘from stranglehold to strangled?’ Pretty graphic image but let’s see if it holds. “Anytime you lose one or two (games), the pressure is on,” offered up Ottawa forward Dylan Cozens after the Senators turned the tables on this series with a 4-0 win Tuesday night

Ottawa Senators’ Resurgence: A Gritty Return to Playoff Relevance

 Finally back in postseason play for the first time since 2017, the Ottawa Senators bounced back into the spotlight of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This is not merely a rebound but a revitalization that embodies a focused, configured hockey team poised to rekindle its flame on the NHL stage. A Season

ToonieBet and Ottawa Senators Team Up to Power Up the Fan Experience

 The energy of hockey nights in Ottawa is reaching new heights. This season, the Ottawa Senators have a partner that is as passionate about the excitement of the game as the team's fans themselves. Soft2Bet's ToonieBet brand has become the official online casino of the legendary Senators. It goes far

Habs and Sens Bringing the God’s-Honest Heat

 To be perfectly honest, you need to sell this one a little better. People, a.k.a. hockey fanatics in Eastern Canada, are absolutely clamoring for a return to (and of) the ‘Battle of Ontario’ in the post-season. You know – the time of year when the intensity ramps up and the

Ottawa’s Kissin’ Cozens in Big Deal with Buffalo

 For the past two seasons (at the very least) the cry from disgruntled Ottawa Senators followers growing exhausted with another playoff-less spring was essentially – ‘Gotta start tinkering with the team’s core!’ Tinker, meet trade deadline. Gone on this Friday is core, core-member Josh Norris. One of captain Brady Tkachuk’s

Who’s Going Shopping?

 Putting something down on paper prior to the NHL trade deadline is – for the writer/prognosticator – akin to running in front of the thresher. Basically, you’re praying for a peaceful, quiet 24 hours afterwards so that everything you scripted doesn’t get sucked in and becomes dated or obsolete. It

Senators Now Chasing Instead of Chased

 Well, nobody said it was going to be easy. While hockey prognosticators across the board continue to state with confidence that the Ottawa Senators will be playoff bound come the middle of April, doubt is starting to creep in. That’s what a five-game losing streak can do to you. And

Knock, Knock, Knocking on Heaven’s Door?

 Right into the guts of winter and right into the guts of hockey season. Early February, brothers and sisters, and it’s the best time to be a fan of the NHL. Here are a few examples as to why.   OTTAWA REJOICES, THERE’S MOVEMENT FORWARD INSTEAD OF BACKWARD: A genuinely

Nordiques-Senators fiasco could and should have been avoided

 About 25 years ago I was living in a tidy little brownstone apartment building in downtown Toronto (Yonge and Eglinton to be precise). The guy who resided directly above my place made a lot of noise. I mean – a LOT of noise. Eventually I moved my carcass along to

NHL Betting Preview: Senators vs. Capitals Odds, Predictions & Best Bets

 The Ottawa Senators will be the host of the game with the Washington Capitals on Thursday, January 30th, at the Canadian Tire Centre, and it is expected to be the NHL's most thrilling game on that day. The participants at this event are currently the highest in their form, and

Playoff Race Steams Ahead

 Blue Monday, the most depressing day in the calendar year, just zipped past us. Longer days enjoyed with the sun and (potentially, hopefully) warmer temperatures are on the way. And to further lighten the mood? Playoff races. And this year’s shaping up to be more contentious than in recent memory.

Senators Mid-Season Report: Some Good, Some Not So Good

 Bring on the grind. The Ottawa Senators plowed through an incredibly taxing road run with a few nicks and a few ticks. They also picked up a few wins, particularly at the start, but ended the nine-game slog with a string of defeats. Now the real fun begins as the

Sens Head Into New Year Swimming in Uncharted Waters

 One of these things isn’t quite like the other(s). That’s if recent past history is brought into the equation. When we dip into where the trio of teams in this corner’s highly (self)promoted Holy Trinity of Eastern Ontario sit heading into a brand spanking new year, one has changed while

Senators Lighting up Fans’ Christmas Trees

 In the immortal words of All Elite Wrestling notable Maxwell Jacob Friedman: “I’m better than you, and you know it!” In the mortal words of the Ottawa Senators up until the month of December (well, Dec. 5th to put a nail in it): “You’re better than me, and we all

Road Swing to Determine Senator Playoff Hopes

 At the very least, the Ottawa Senators have placed themselves into a potentially opportunistic position. So, when we look back at the most recent homestand and hand it a grading: Mission accomplished. Now the demanding work truly begins. With the world junior tournament taking over the friendly confines of the

Hope Remains for Senators, but it’s Dimming

 Another pointlessly disappointing post-Christmas slog through winter and spring, or an unexpected turnaround on deck for a franchise much more used to the former? As Tom Jones and Donny Osmond would sing – ‘I’m leavin’ it all up to you.’ Here we are; here we sit, in all-too-familiar territory for

Sens, Habs and Leafs Headed in Different Directions

 No matter how well your team is going, as an NHL general manager, worry and anxiety are common bedfellows. Teams can be one major injury or a couple of poor goaltending outings away from singing sayonara to the post-season. Here in Eastern Ontario – and readers of this space will

Senators’ November: A Waltz to Forget

 The good? Tim Stutzle’s dancing like he’s Fred Astaire. The bad? The rest of the team’s dancing like Elaine Benes. This has not been a November to remember for the Ottawa Senators and – really - this mini-slump rich with bad rhythm and a few poorly timed one-step and two-step

On Battles and JR . . .

 This week, it’s a little game of questions in search of answers. Let’s get it rolling.   WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE ‘BATTLE OF ONTARIO?’ Seriously, where have you been? When Ottawa and its Senators travel to Toronto to face its Maple Leafs tonight, there just doesn’t appear to be any

The Ghosts of Ottawa’s Goalie Graveyard Rear Up Again

 One of my favourite things to bounce around my mouth is this word: Bailiwick. Definition – “one's sphere of operations or particular area of interest.” Contextually this week, we’re using it to address the netminding graveyard known as the Ottawa Senators. A ‘particular area of interest?’ You betcha. Tuesday night’s

Early season look at Senators shows improvement

 It’s a smallish sample size, no doubt. Still, a 4-2 record six games into this youngish season gives birth to optimism. Make that optimism . . . about . . . change. The Ottawa Senators godawful recent history of poor starts to the year has been documented ad nauseum. Pretty

The good and the bad among Senators, Habs and Leafs

 Known collectively on this particular page as the Holy Trinity of Eastern Ontario, the Ottawa Senators and their chief rivals in Montreal and Toronto are off and running (some faster than others) in the drag race known as the 2024-25 NHL season. As we’ve discovered though, it’s not so much

Senators need to avoid slow start (again)

 Heard kind of an odd statement coming out of the mouth of one of my choice hockey insiders this morning. (And one Ottawa Senator fans would take issue with, no doubt). Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman relayed to his co-host, Stittsville resident Kyle Bukauskas, that Buffalo –

New rink and new look for Ottawa’s Senators

 It’s pre-season . . . or exhibition . . . whatever or whichever you prefer calling it, but it’s still the National Hockey League and it’s here. Ottawa opened its ‘before-regular-season-hits’ schedule Sunday night with a pretty wild 6-5 overtime win in Toronto. We’ll get to that and a couple