Linus Ullmark in Vezina form as Senators hang on to defeat Devils

Overcoming a brutal power play early on, the Ottawa Senators broke through offensively in the second period and never looked back, defeating the New Jersey Devils 4-1 at Prudential Center on Monday.

Tim Stützle had a goal and an assist, Shane Pinto and Stephen Halliday each scored, and Linus Ullmark made 29 saves for the Senators (5-1-0), who sit atop the Atlantic Division.

No time to waste. Let’s get to grading.

No shade towards his linemates, but Stützle is doing everything on the top trio right now. The Devils play a physical, aggressive style in the defensive zone, and Stützle remained unfazed, confidently picking up rims and loose pucks along the walls and getting his head up to find teammates in soft areas. After setting up Halliday in the slot for the 2-0 goal on the power play, Stützle dangled his way through multiple opponents on a rush to find Drake Batherson with a nifty drop pass for another Grade A chance. Further proving he really does do it all, Stützle tipped a Thomas Chabot point shot to push it to 3-0, and finished with three blocks. This guy is on fire, and all of it seems so repeatable; he’s working for everything. The power play isn’t even respectable right now and Stützle has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in six games. Only five players have more league wide.

Like everyone, Batherson had his fair share of fumbles and misplays when the Senators bungled eight minutes of power-play time in the first. He got himself open in dangerous spots, brutally robbed by Nico Daws in the second. He had five shot attempts and three hits in 17:33.

The injury to William Eklund combined with slow starts from Fabian Zetterlund and Andre Burakovsky has put the coaching staff in a tough spot with who to slot in at left wing alongside Stützle and Batherson. Foegele, in theory, should work better on that trio than he has — he’s got speed and is a strong forechecker. However, his play with the puck has been abysmal. Receiving a pass from Batherson as the high man on a 3-on-2 in the second, Foegele spun around and threw it into the left corner, not even close to a teammate. He’s not a threat to score; the only shot attempt he had with a goalie in the net during 12:06 of ice time was a weak backhand directly into Daws’ pad that was pressed up against the post and suctioned to the ice.

Perhaps it’s going to take Burakovsky a while to get going. His performance against the Devils wasn’t remotely as egregious as his debut on Saturday, but he was still a non-factor during most of his shifts. Burakovsky finished with zero shot attempts and two blocks in 15:03.

Cozens made two impressive plays to Ridly Greig in the second that easily could’ve wound up in the net. First, he spun around in the right corner to whip a centring feed to Greig, who immediately drew a hooking call. Secondly, Cozens drove wide on Brett Pesce and sent another cross-ice pass over to Greig, who redirected it wide. Cozens had a secondary assist on Halliday’s goal and went 6-for-7 in faceoffs.

Greig did well to shake coverage in scoring areas, twice getting open for glorious feeds in front. He battled hard, mauling Amadeus Lombardi (yep, real name) along the wall to halt a New Jersey cycle in the first. Greig, who had two blocks in 16:22, is fitting in just fine on the second line.

This looked like a performance from 2025-26 for Amadio — a ton of hard work in battles, some great playmaking and zero luck on his own scoring opportunities. Nine seconds into the middle frame, Amadio found Pinto with a nice backhand pass for the 1-0 goal, while Luke Hughes and Timo Meier stared in amazement. Amadio had two steals in one shift shortly after, and later stickhandled his way to the middle of the ice for a slot shot that was snared by Daws. He missed the net on an even better chance on a rush early in the third. Amadio finished the game off with some strong defensive plays while the Devils had an extra attacker on the ice, once outmuscling Jack Hughes in a puck battle at the Sens’ blue line to get a clear.

The shutdown line has certainly had better possession nights — when Pinto, Amadio and Claude Giroux were on the ice at 5-on-5, shot attempts were 21-7 New Jersey — but it took care of key moments against the Devils. Take Pinto’s backcheck on an odd-man rush in the first for example, reaching out to just barely get his blade on a cross-ice pass and have the puck ultimately hop over the intended target’s stick. In a year he believes he’s capable of scoring 30, he got his first by finishing on Amadio’s backhand feed. Pinto drew an interference call and had two blocks in 21:20.

Giving Stützle a run for his money in the playmaking department, Giroux set up Pinto with a slick drop pass on a 3-on-2 in the second and then hit Amadio with a perfect saucer on a 2-on-1 in the third. He did all the hard work on the opening goal, winning a 50-50 puck over Pesce and getting body position on the defender in order to slide it up to Amadio. Though Pinto got his flowers in the above paragraph, Giroux might’ve been the team’s most dedicated backchecker, leading the hustle when the entire line had fallen behind the puck on a Chabot giveaway in the third.

More ambitious on the forecheck, Zetterlund forced multiple turnovers in the first, stealing the puck from Luke Hughes on the right half wall before circling the net and connecting with Halliday. Brenden Dillon caught Zetterlund with his head down and drilled him, somehow getting an interference call despite the Ottawa forward touching the puck 0.1 seconds prior. Nonetheless, Zetterlund played a hungry game and was quicker to fire the puck, leading the Senators with four shots in 11:26.

What a fascinating game from Halliday. His play in the defensive zone was a mixed bag, once blocking two shots at the right point on one shift, another time softly sending the puck back to a New Jersey defenceman when he had time and space to start skating or make a good outlet pass. At the other end, Halliday excelled. In the second, he flustered Dillon with an inside-out deke and got it over to Zetterlund before drawing a slashing penalty when three Devils converged on him. On a later power play, Halliday was left all alone in front when Pesce fell and he beat Daws with a quick snap shot over the left pad and under the glove. Smooth.

No complaints here. The only event all game that Cousins was involved in was a sliding block on Dougie Hamilton in the second. He played nine minutes.

Jake Sanderson needs to hurry back because we’re running out of ways to praise Chabot. Getting in the way of another five shots on Monday, he leads the NHL in blocks per game. He played 27:53 against the Devils; only Zach Werenski has a higher average ice time this season. Chabot’s game wasn’t without error — he had two recorded giveaways and struggled quarterbacking the power play in the first — but he just continues to lead in so many facets. He got the primary assist on Stützle’s goal with a point shot tailormade for a tip. His best play of the contest may have been his effort to tie up Meier at the edge of the crease on a rebound in the third, sprawling to get any part of his body in front of the puck.

Spence initially handled a Devils flip into the neutral zone quite well late in the first, tapping it back to where he imagined Tyler Kleven might be in support, but when his defence partner overshot the puck and a rush ensued Spence hesitated to cover his man, Lombardi, and Ullmark was forced to make a spectacular save. Spence had solid poise at the right point in the ‘O’ zone, once fooling pressing forwards into a fly-by and finding a teammate in the high slot in the second. When Ullmark was down and out as the Devils pressed in the third, Spence made a crucial block with his chest on what would’ve been a sure goal.

On the same shift as the aforementioned cross-up in the neutral zone with Spence, Kleven took an extremely weak cross-checking penalty. It was an even-up call. Kleven iced the puck numerous times. On one shift in the second, he unloaded a bomb on Daws and then hit the left post while activating from the point moments later. During the 6-on-5, Kleven made a great read to intercept a pass in the middle of the slot and fired the puck down into the empty net. He had four blocks in 23:37.

Every second shift it seemed like Yakemchuk was dancing around some poor schmuck in the offensive zone. He made Jesper Bratt look silly around the goal line before getting the puck to Cozens in the slot. And when the Senators forced one too many little passes in hopes of gaining the ‘O’ zone on the power play, mystified by the Devils stacking up at the blue line, Yakemchuk twice went end-to-end, catching New Jersey off guard by taking any space he was given. He played a career-high 22:25.

The Senators were caved in when Stanley was on the ice — shot attempts were 26-2 for New Jersey at 5-on-5 — but there were bright spots in his game. His stretch pass sprung Giroux and Amadio on a 2-on-1 in the third. He made some quality plays heading back for dump-ins, taking the body and lifting sticks to free up the puck for his defence partner swooping in. Though, Stanley got worked physically on some cycles and could’ve had a tighter gap and more active stick defending Arseny Gritsyuk on the 3-1 goal.

Matinpalo left the game after being hit from behind by Anthony Mantha, who received a 5-minute major penalty. There was no update on his status post-game, but coach Travis Green said “it’s pretty obvious what the injury is.” Sounds like a concussion.

Ullmark looks gigantic in the net. We could discuss some individual saves, but the biggest takeaway should be how little twine opposing shooters are seeing right now. He is 5-0-0 with a .948 save percentage through five starts.