February 2, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Ottawa Senators center Tim Stutzle (18) celebrates on the bench after scoring against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the third period at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images The Ottawa Senators will try to start another scoring streak when they host the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday afternoon.
The Senators lost 3-2 to the visiting Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday in the opener of a three-game homestand.
Ottawa led 2-1 after the first quarter but was shut out the rest of the way by rookie goaltender Jacob Fowler.
“The margins are so tight this time of year,” Senators forward Drake Batherson said. “It gets harder and harder to score, and it gets harder and harder to win games.”
The loss ended a seven-game winning streak (5-0-2) that helped the Senators maintain a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
“We know it was a big game,” Ottawa forward Tim Stutzle said. “Did we give it our all? Probably not. Should we have scored a point? Probably. There’s so much going on there that we’ve got to keep going.”
Ottawa finished its five-game road trip at 4-0-1.
“We can’t pick and choose who we beat,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “We’re not going to sit there and say we have to beat Montreal and can afford to lose against Calgary because we’re going to lose another game before the end of the year. We played really well (against the Canadiens), and we just have to worry about it after a long road trip.”
The Ducks still lead the Pacific Division with 17 games remaining and are getting closer to securing their first playoff berth in eight years.
But they absorbed a disappointing loss Thursday, taking a 3-1 lead in a 6-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Ducks took a two-goal lead before giving up three straight power play goals and another shorthanded goal. The last two goals came after defender Radko Gudas was given a five-minute major for taking a knee on Auston Matthews, which led to him going down from the game with a lower-body injury. Gudas faces a disciplinary hearing Friday.
“It’s a disappointing loss because we tried to bounce back from last game and we did a perfect job in the first half,” Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville said. “We had half a game where we were basically doing everything right. We had possession, momentum and pace.”
Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier scored another goal on Thursday, giving him 33 points on the season and seven in his last seven games.
Alex Killorn scored in back-to-back games for Anaheim, giving the 14-year veteran his 13th consecutive season with double-digit goals.
Ducks defenseman John Carlson is expected to make his team debut Saturday against the Senators or Sunday in Montreal. He was acquired in a surprise trade deadline deal on March 5, and has yet to play due to a lingering lower-body injury.
With back-to-back sets, the Ducks will likely start each goalie.
Lucas Dostal is 2-1-0 with a 9.32 save percentage and 2.35 goals-against average in four career games against the Senators, while Bill Husso is 2-3-0 with a .881 save percentage and 3.42 GAA in five career games against Ottawa.
–Field level media
