OTTAWA — The Ottawa Senators's playoff push will face a critical test as they head out on a five-game road trip without their top two goaltenders.
Head coach Travis Green said on Friday that Linus Ullmark would not travel with the Senators to Winnipeg but Anton Forsberg, who also remains sidelined, will join the team on the road.
Ullmark, who left the 3-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 22 after the first period due to back tightness, continues to deal with the same issue.
“No update,” said Green. “Like I said, he tweaked his back, still not good enough to skate.”
Forsberg, who has been out since Dec. 14, skated ahead of practice on Friday but wasn't yet game-ready. To fill the void, the Senators recalled Leevi Merilainen and Mads Sogaard from their American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville, Ont.
The Senators (18-14-2) had finally been gaining momentum, having gone 3-0-1 through the first half of their gruelling nine-game road trip, which stretches through December and into January because the Canadian Tire Centre is hosting the world junior championships. The team was making the most of a difficult schedule reaching a playoff spot for the first time since the 2016-17 season when the league shut down for the Christmas break.
Merilainen had been with the team on the first half of the trip and was in goal for a 5-4 overtime win against the Vancouver Canucks.
Sogaard has seen minimal action of late after suffering an injury Oct. 20 and only getting back into game action Dec. 13. He’s 0-3-0 in his last three starts for Ottawa.
“We have all the trust in anyone who’s in the net,” said captain Brady Tkachuk. ”(Sogaard), (Merilainen), it’s both guys that have won in the NHL before. I think it’s going to be our job to make their jobs as easy as possible and be good defensively and help them out in any way that we can.”
Ottawa’s recent success, highlighted by an 8-2-1 record in December to this point, was largely driven by Ullmark, who delivered a stellar 7-0-1 performance in net. His absence, coupled with Forsberg’s uncertainty, leaves the Senators relying on their depth in goal as they prepare for a daunting stretch of games.
The road trip resumes Saturday against the league-leading Winnipeg Jets, followed by a back-to-back against the second-place Minnesota Wild. Ottawa then has three days off before resuming action with back-to-back games against the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues before concluding the trip with a game against the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 7.
The Senators will need to continue their strong play — and find ways to win — despite the adversity if they hope to remain in playoff contention.
The Senators believe if they continue to play at the level they were executing before the break they will find themselves in a good position.
“Our mindset’s not going to change with who’s in goal,” said Green. “We don’t all of a sudden say 'Linus is in net let’s play run and gun hockey,' or 'he’s not in net let’s play real defensive hockey.'
"We want to play a good 200-foot game no matter who’s playing goal for us.”
While they remain outwardly confident this team knows the challenge that lies ahead. They’ve dealt with adversity before and will need to rely on one another to get through this next stretch.
“Don’t get off script too much,” said Drake Batherson, when asked how they plan to deal with this turn of events. “Just keep going. I think we were in a good flow there before the break.
"So, just try to find that in game one there in Winnipeg against a good team and go from there.”
Notes: Michael Amadio is expected to be out for a “little bit more”. Both David Perron (upper body) and Artem Zub (broken foot) skated Friday, but their return remains uncertain.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 27, 2024.
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press
