The Ottawa Senators are one month into their 2024-25 season. As the team is playing the Boston Bruins tonight at 7 p.m. ET at TD Garden, the Senators currently have a 6-7-0 record.
The Senators headed into this season with high expectations to make the playoffs for the first time since 2017. The Senators have shown their potential this season to make the playoffs, but have gotten off to a rough start in November.
If the Senators are going to prevent the season from spiraling bad, they need to improve immediately. A new article about the Senators should give them motivation to turn their season around and not fall further in the standings.
Senators' first month of 2024-25 season has been labeled as "decent"
Bleacher Report's Sara Civian wrote an article yesterday titled "1 Word for Every NHL Team After 1st Month of the Season." Civian's one word one the Senators was labeled as "decent."
"The Senators looked like they were heading towards disappointment once again, but they're showing us now there's still hope." Civian said.
The Senators' potential was on full display one month into the season when they scored eight goals in a game in two of the first nine games to start the season. However, the Senators' offense has dropped off ever since with a 1-3-0 November record and scoring seven goals in the four games after scoring 25 goals in the final five games of October.
One key reason the Senators have had any bit of success to start this season is due to their dynamic duo of Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk. Stutzle leads the Senators with 13 assists and 19 points, and Tkachuk leads the Senators with seven goals. Tkachuk has recorded at least one point in 11 of the 13 games played this season.
The offense has gotten a huge boost from Drake Batherson, Claude Giroux and Adam Gaudette. Batherson and Gaudette are tied for second on the team with Stutzle with six goals, and Giroux has 11 points this season.
Defenseman Nick Jensen has been a big surprise with six points and having the highest +/- rating on the team with a +9 rating. However, Civian was critical of one area that needs to be better for Ottawa.
"Linus Ullmark's presence in the net hasn't been perfect, but it's been visibly stabilizing for the younger-skewing roster and he's settling in," Civian said.
Ullmark certainly has had his struggles this season. Ullmark has a 2-4-0 record with a 3.02 goals against average and a .892 save percentage. Meanwhile, Anton Forsberg has been better with a 3-3-0 record with a 2.72 goals against average and .905 save percentage. Forsberg also has recorded two shutouts to Ullmark's zero. If the Senators are going to get better, Ullmark needs to start living up to the hype he had in Boston.
The Senators by no means are out of the playoff race right now, but they need to turn around their season quickly with their start one month into the season. Civian concluded her thoughts on the Senators by saying "we should still keep our eyes on Ottawa this month."