When the 2024-25 season arrived for the Ottawa Senators, it marked an important one as the team was looking to end their seven-year playoff drought. Optimism for the Senators this season was due to a "breakthrough."
The Senators ended October strong with an 8-1 win against the St. Louis Blues, then November came. November was a struggling month for the Senators as they went 5-8-1, highlighted by a five-game losing streak.
When this past Friday arrived, the Senators got their "report card" for their first two months of the season. Since the report card came out, the Senators have silenced critics.
Senators report card through first two months of season was a C-
On Dec. 13, Bleacher Report's Adam Gretz posted an article titled "Report Cards for Every NHL Team After 2 Months into the 2024-25 Season." The grade for the Senators given by Gretz was a C-.
When talking about the Senators, Linus Ullmark was the first player Gretz mentioned. Gretz mentioned how trading for Ullmark gave the Senators hope of being in a playoff position for the first time since 2017. However, Gretz was critical of Ullmark's play in goal of the Senators hoping they'd be in a playoff position.
"He hasn't done that, and he has actually been one of the biggest concerns through the first quarter of the season," Gretz said.
Over the past two games, Ullmark has silenced Gretz. Ullmark has won his last two starts in two consecutive nights. Ullmark recorded his second shutout as a Senator on Friday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Last night, Ullmark made 25 saves and made key saves to help the Senators defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime. Over his last seven starts, Ullmark has posted a 6-0-1 record.
Gretz also was critical of the Senators depth this season.
"The Senators are not scoring enough goals due to a lack of depth after their front-line players," Gretz said.
Sure, the Senators rely heavily on their superstar duo of Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle to win, but the Senators have three other players with 10 goals or more on the roster. Adam Gaudette has been a huge surprise with scoring 13 goals this season. Drake Batherson has taken off this season with 13 of his 32 points this season being goals, and Josh Norris also has 12 goals and 20 points this season.
The Senators do need another key scorer to raise their game, but Shane Pinto, Nick Jensen and Thomas Chabot have all ended their long goal droughts over the past two games. Claude Giroux also has seven goals this season.
The Senators are now in the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference with 32 points due to a 15-13-2 record. After the Senators' 3-2 win last night against the Penguins, they won three consecutive games for the first time this season.