Senators 3, Sharks 2 — Ottawa Finds Another Gear in

Sometimes, long road trips tell you something about a team’s backbone, and this one in San Jose said plenty about the Ottawa Senators. They didn’t start poorly, exactly, but they didn’t look sharp either. Passes were a little off, the timing a bit muddled. Then Tim Stutzle and the top group settled in, and suddenly Ottawa looked like a team that had decided it wasn’t going to let a middling night slip away. The rally wasn’t dramatic; it was the slow, steady method of a team that’s starting to trust its own structure.

What’s Important About the Senators Is Their Pushback

What struck me most was the sense of calm. Even when John Klingberg and Barclay Goodrow pushed the Sharks ahead, nobody on Ottawa’s bench looked rattled. Travis Green has been preaching “gritty, layered hockey,” and for the second straight night, the Senators played exactly that. By the time Dylan Cozens redirected that power-play pass from Tim Stutzle, and later when Fabian Zetterlund tied the game on a clean wrist shot, the Senators were generating the kind of territorial pressure that makes coaches nod quietly to themselves. It was the kind of honest hockey that travels well.

Key Points from the Senators’ Perspective

Key Point 1. Tim Stutzle Was the Senators’ Difference Maker. Tim Stutzle’s night won’t show up as flashy in the box score—one goal and one assist—but he tilted the game. His third-period goal was a pure hustle. Following Nick Cousins, Stutzle poked the rebound over the line and refused to assume the whistle was coming. That’s the kind of competitive edge that separates good players from the ones you build around.

Key Point 2. Linus Ullmark Has Found His Quiet Control. Linus Ullmark only had to make 17 saves, but every one mattered. Ottawa had stretches where they hemmed San Jose in, but when the Sharks found a seam, Ullmark stood up calmly. You want your goaltender to give you the breathing room to come back, and he did exactly that.

Key Point 3. The Senators’ Depth Scoring Mattered. Dylan Cozens scoring early and Fabian Zetterlund tying it late tells you Ottawa isn’t leaning solely on the top line. Zetterlund’s goal was confident and without hesitation, a player who saw an opening and used it.

Final Comment About Ottawa

The Senators are 5-1-1 in their last seven for a reason: they’re starting to believe in the way they play. Nights like this—road rink, down a goal, nothing fancy—are the ones that build real teams.