The Ottawa Senators’ regular-season finale was quite the ride.
A Thursday night goals fest against the Carolina Hurricanes served as the final test for both clubs before the playoffs. While Carolina’s playoff streak reaches its seventh season, the Senators’ seven-year post-season drought ends when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday.
Taking a 3-0 lead, conceding five unanswered goals and coming back to win 7-5 was a rollercoaster game fitting for Ottawa’s rollercoaster journey back to the playoffs – even if it took longer to reach this point than captain Brady Tkachuk expected.
“Definitely not seven years,” Tkachuk said post-game. “But everything happens for a reason, and (it) just sets the stage that much better.”
The Senators scored three times in the first period Thursday night. Eight years ago, the Senators nearly won three rounds in the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs, ousting the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers before the Pittsburgh Penguins eliminated them in overtime of Game 7. Ottawa entered the 2017-18 campaign riding high, with then-GM Pierre Dorion even acquiring center Matt Duchene in a three-team blockbuster.
Then came the fall.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored for the Hurricanes 11 seconds after Ottawa’s third goal Thursday night. The Senators lost 16 of 19 games after returning from the 2017 NHL Global Series in Sweden.
Skyler Brind’Amour cut the Sens’ lead to one with his first career NHL goal. The Senators traded Derick Brassard, Dion Phaneuf and Mike Hoffman to begin the teardown in 2018.
Andrei Svechnikov tied the game 50 seconds into the second period. With Erik Karlsson’s contract expiring at the end of the 2018-19 season, Ottawa traded its captain to the San Jose Sharks before training camp even began that year.
Jack Roslovic gave Carolina the lead. An Uber driver posted footage of Sens players criticizing a former assistant coach in November 2018, saying they haven’t paid attention in meetings and that there were no fixes for the penalty kill.
Tyson Jost took advantage of a giveaway to increase the Senators’ deficit. In 2019, the team traded Mark Stone, Duchene and Ryan Dzingel.
Ottawa finished near or at the bottom of the NHL standings for five straight years. Attendance fell to an average of 12,618 fans in 2019-20 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The Sens got to within six points of a playoff spot in 2022-23 before finishing 26th in 2023-24 – and learning they must forfeit a first-round pick for their role in a 2021 Evgenii Dadonov trade that led to a 2022 Dadonov trade being invalidated.
The franchise underwent major changes during this time.
In 2023, Michael Andlauer bought a majority stake in the Senators from the estate of Eugene Melnyk, who passed away in March 2022. Melnyk’s two daughters, Anna and Olivia, retained a 10-percent stake.
Steve Staios became president of hockey operations ahead of the 2023-24 season. He took over GM duties from Dorion in November 2023 following the announcement of the Dadonov trade penalty.
D.J. Smith, who coached the team for most of the rebuild, was replaced by interim coach Jacques Martin and, in 2024-25, new coach Travis Green.
By the time they joined the fold, many of the pieces were in place to set the stage.
The fall in 2017-18 led to Tkachuk. The Karlsson trade led to Tim Stutzle and Josh Norris (moved to Buffalo at this year’s trade deadline for Dylan Cozens.) The rebuilding led to Jake Sanderson, Shane Pinto, Ridly Greig and Tyler Kleven, all who recorded at least a point on Thursday.
The years of resetting gave much of those players, as well as Thomas Chabot (18th overall in 2015) and Drake Batherson (121st overall in 2017), time to develop.
Then came the rise.
Adam Gaudette cut the deficit to one on Thursday night. The Senators signed Claude Giroux in 2022.
Batherson deked out Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen to tie the game. Last June, the Sens acquired Linus Ullmark from the Bruins as their new starting goaltender. He signed a four-year contract extension, and his 25 wins this season are the most of any Sens goalie since Craig Anderson’s 25 in 2016-17.
Batherson scored again to give Ottawa a new lead. The Senators clinched a playoff spot nine days earlier.
As a bonus, Stutzle stickhandled past three Hurricanes skaters and beat Andersen blocker-side for a 7-5 lead. Ric Flair “woos” popped up throughout the arena, and the crowd gave a standing ovation as the clock ticked down on the regular season.
Ottawa’s season was a rollercoaster as well – one with multiple loops. They had a five-game winless streak in November, a six-game winning streak in December, six losses in seven games from late December to early January, five wins in six games afterward, a five-game win streak, a five-game losing skid and a six-game win streak.
The ride now leads to the first round against the Atlantic Division winners, the Maple Leafs. They, too, recovered from a two-goal deficit to win on Thursday night. (And yes, fans in Ottawa chanted “Leafs suck” on more than one occasion and had signssaying the same.)
Brady Tkachuk said he’ll be good to go for Game 1. He played his first game since March 30 but left the game early as a precaution after getting high-sticked.
“I worry in advance for some of the defense on Toronto,” older brother Matthew Tkachuk told Carol Schram on Monday. “I think Brady is going to have a lot of built-up anger over not playing in playoffs for the last few years, so he's going to be ready to go. Him when he's at his best, when he's physical and that skilled, he's a nightmare to play against.”
As for how Brady Tkachuk thinks this series will go down after Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz predicted it to be a “blood bath…”
“We’ll just have to wait and see,” Tkachuk said.
The Senators, the Leafs and the rest of the NHL will just have to wait and see whether there’s higher ground for this rollercoaster to climb.
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