As the Ottawa Senators get ready for only their second game of the season at TD Garden in Boston, the injuries on their back-end are slowly beginning to pile up. This has left the organization needing to brace themselves to test the depth of their roster early.
As the Senators take on the Bruins, they will be without two of their top defencemen: Artem Zub and Jake Sanderson. Zub was last seen earlier this week participating in the morning skate in a non-contact jersey. He was placed on the Injured Reserve list on September 28 while he continues to rehab from a knee injury. Jake Sanderson has been dealing with a lingering and reaggravated injury since the beginning of training camp. Despite dressing for the season opener on Saturday, Sanderson played just 4:29 and did not return after the first period. Head coach Travis Green said Sanderson was sent back to Ottawa for further testing, and although he will miss this two-game road trip, at this time Sanderson is not expected to miss much time.
As a precautionary measure, the Senators called up Calgary native and Belleville Senators defenceman Jorian Donovan. He is expected to be an extra tonight as Cam Crotty is expected to make his season debut for the Senators. The Ottawa native played six regular season games and one playoff game for the Senators last season and earned one assist. He will begin the game in a pairing with Finnish Olympian Nikolas Matinpalo. The duo spent some time together building chemistry during training camp.
The rest of the forward groups and defence pairings remain the same as they were to begin the Toronto game. The top forward line consisting of Warren Foegele, Tim Stützle and Drake Batherson spent 6:40 together in the last game and are expected to continue to build chemistry while we wait for newly acquired top-six winger André Burakovsky to make his Senators regular season debut. Burakovsky was shifted to the Injured Reserve list earlier today to make room for Donovan.
The GPA line
One of the most impressive lines from the first game consisted of Michael Amadio, Shane Pinto and Claude Giroux. Nicknamed the ‘GPA line’ for their high hockey IQ and offensive capabilities, the trio was one of the team's most consistent line pairings last season. With 277:33 minutes together in the 2025-2026 season, they had a 55.75 expected goals percentage. In the season opener, they accounted for four points (one goal, three assists) and had the most minutes together out of any of the other forward line combinations.
The Ottawa Senators have the best third line in Hockey:
— Alex Adams (@alexadamsBTP_) November 24, 2025
Amadio-Pinto-Giroux
Here’s my deep dive on what has made them so effective.#Sens https://t.co/lNfCgNLc2a
Linus Ullmark is expected to make his second straight start between the pipes after his impressive 29 save apperance with a 0.94 save percentage. With Senators set to play their first back-to-back games tonight and tomorrow versus the Detroit Red Wings, it is expected that Samuel Ersson will make his regular season debut in tomorrow’s game.
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