Now... where were we?
After ending an eight-year playoff drought last spring, the Ottawa Senators begin a brand new season Thursday night, easing oh, so gently into the new campaign with two road games against heated division rivals and perennial powerhouses.
No biggie.
It’ll be a visit to Tampa tonight against the Lightning, then Sunrise on Saturday to take on the Panthers. The two Florida teams ended their preseasons in ornery fashion — trying to settle old scores and beat the tar out of each other – so as far as compete-level goes, they're both wide awake to open a new year, and looking to make a good impression on their fans.
As the Senators contend with all that, they'll also be without Drake Batherson and Tyler Kleven, both still nursing injuries. If not for their absence, Ottawa’s lineup would look almost identical to the one that bowed out in six games to the Toronto Maple Leafs last May.
But with Batherson sidelined and Adam Gaudette signing in San Jose over the summer, two free agent signings slip into the forward mix and make their Sens debuts tonight. Lars Eller will, of course, be an everyday player in the bottom six, and it looks like Olle Lycksell will slot in tonight as the 12th forward.
On defense, Kleven’s absence means Donovan Sebrango draws in on the third pair beside Nikolas Matinpalo.
That leaves newcomer Jordan Spence, a right shot, on the outside looking in — at least for opening night. Earlier today, THN's Graeme Nichols wrote about Spence starting his Sens career in the press box.
Jordan Spence: A Healthy Scratch For Ottawa Senators Season OpenerThe acquisition of Jordan Spence in the offseason was a move that garnered a lot of praise around the nation's capital because of the shortcomings the Senators had last season with their right-shot depth.
There was some discussion about Spence playing his wrong side in Kleven’s place, but the Sens opted for Sebrango, the natural lefty, who has just two career NHL games under his belt.
If there’s an upside to the 5-foot-11, 188-pound Spence sitting out, it’s that he won’t have to retrieve pucks in the corner against a Tampa forecheck that will include 6-foot-9, 242-pound Curtis Douglas. The 25-year-old Chara-sized forward was claimed off waivers from Utah earlier this week and is expected to make his NHL debut tonight.
Forwards
Tkachuk – Stützle – Zetterlund
Perron – Cozens – Amadio
Greig – Pinto – Giroux
Cousins – Eller – Lycksell
Defense
Sanderson – Zub
Chabot – Jensen
Sebrango – Matinpalo
Goaltenders
Ullmark (starter)
Meriläinen
Forwards
Guentzel – Point – Kucherov
Hagel – Cirelli – Goncalves
Bjorkstrand – Gourde – Chaffee
Geekie – Holmberg – Douglas
Defense
Hedman – Raddysh
McDonagh – Cernak
Lilleberg – Crozier
Goaltenders
Vasilevskiy
Johansson
As for last season, Tampa finished seventh overall in the NHL last season, just five points ahead of Ottawa, their expansion cousins. The two clubs split their four-game season series, 2-2. The game plan remains relatively simple. Keep Tampa's top line in check, and you give yourself a chance. But if they go off, as they often do, it's lights out. No Ottawa player last season had more points than Jake Guentzel (80), Brayden Point (82) and Nikita Kucherov (121).
The Sens went 3-3 in preseason while Tampa finished 6-1, which head coach Jon Cooper put zero stock in.
"I've seen teams in the league that have gone undefeated in the preseason and didn't make the playoffs that year. So you take parts of your game out of the preseason, but the win-loss record is kind of irrelevant, to be honest."
That all changes tonight, as things get real. Faceoff is 7 pm on TSN5.
More Sens Headlines From The Hockey News Ottawa:
Travis Green Says Senators Are 'Headed In the Right Direction'
Senators Send Yakemchuk To The Minors, Place Batherson And Kleven On IR
Sens Land A True NHL Heavyweight In A Deal With The Devils
More Senators Broadcast Changes: Marc Methot Out At TSN
Brady Tkachuk On Starring In Prime Video Show: 'I'm An Open Book To Begin With'
Broadcast Frustrations Resurface For Senators Fans
The Buffalo Sabres embark on their 2025-26 regular season on Thursday against the New York Rangers at KeyBank Center with a certain amount of uncertainty between the pipes, as veteran Alex Lyon will step in for injured starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. The lower-body issues that Luukkonen suffered before training camp and during the Sabres preseason home finale last week has his status in limbo, which means that head coach Lindy Ruff will lean heavily on Lyon in the month of October.
The Sabres are hoping to seize on a home-heavy schedule in October, as they start the campaign with six of their first eight games at KBC, and only one back-to-back contest. Lyon has carried the ball before in the American Hockey League, but could never earn a starter’s role in Philadelphia, where he spent four seasons. The 32-year-old played down the stretch for Florida three years ago, helping the Panthers win the final Eastern Conference playoff spot by a point over the Sabres.
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Lyon turned that opportunity into a two-year deal with Detroit, where he was the primary starter in 2024 and split duties with Cam Talbot last season. The signing with Buffalo gave the Sabres a capable Plan B in case Luukkonen regressed as he did last season, since the Sabres clearly do not want to continue to recall and demote Devon Levi multiple times and allow him to develop in AHL Rochester.
The interesting note is that tonight the Sabres will have a different goalie starting the season opener for the fourth straight season. In 2022-23, veteran Craig Anderson started and the Sabres beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1. In 2023, 22-year-old Devon Levi was given the net to start the season and lost three of first four starts, including the opener to the Rangers 5-1. Last season, after playing well in the second-half of 2024, Luukkonen started the opener of the Global Series in Prague, losing 4-1 to the Devils.
There is a great deal of pressure on the Sabres to get off to a good start and a lot of that will depend on Buffalo playing better defensively, which has been the mantra of training camp, and Lyon being up to the task of being the starter while Luukkonen is out of action.