Senators Visit Devils Monday, Looking To Build On Fast Start

The Senators will look to continue their strong start to the 2026-27 NHL season when they visit the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Monday night.

The Senators (4-1-0) have collected eight of a possible 10 points through their first five games, despite dealing with key injuries to Jake Sanderson, William Eklund, and Artem Zub.

New Jersey (2-2-0), meanwhile, is coming off a 4-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. 

Monday's game is scheduled for 7 p.m., and much to the chagrin of a lot of Sens fans who don't have the channel, the game will only be available in English on Sportsnet+.

Compounding the frustration for some fans was the fact that Thursday's broadcast of the Sens' home opener was blacked out for them. As they turned on the game against the Flyers, some were greeted by the "not available in your region" message despite the fact they live in Ottawa.

Blacking out Sens games on TSN 5 to a lot of homes that should have access has been an issue for Bell Media for multiple years now.

Recent Performances

The Sens' most recent outing wasn't a textbook performance, but they still found a way to nab two more points in Saturday's 3-2 shootout victory over the Nashville Predators.

The Senators went more than 22 minutes without registering a shot on goal and trailed 2-0 before Tim Stützle got them on the board with a power-play goal. Drake Batherson then tied the game with just 1:23 remaining in regulation, scoring with Linus Ullmark on the bench for an extra attacker.

Stützle assisted on the equalizer and scored in the shootout, while Shane Pinto supplied the deciding shootout goal. He's been the Sens' most productive player so far, putting up four goals and eight points through five games.

Ullmark has been a major factor in the Sens' defensive success. He has won all four of his decisions and enters Monday with a league-leading .942 save percentage.

The Devils You Know

Unlike the Senators, who are 3 for 24 on the power play, the Devils got their going with three power play goals in Saturday's 4-1 win over Vancouver. Nico Hischier scored twice with the man advantage, including the 200th goal of his NHL career.

Jesper Bratt and Jesper Boqvist also scored for New Jersey, while goaltender Jake Allen stopped 20 of 21 shots in his 500th NHL game.

The Devils had lost their previous two games, 6-0 to the New York Islanders and a 5-3 loss to Utah.

Injury Updates

Defenceman Jake Sanderson missed much of preseason with a nagging injury, and has been shut down completely since suffering a lower body injury nine days ago in the season opener in Toronto. The previous Saturday, Sanderson was also pulled from the preseason finale, so the club is going to be extra cautious this time.

William Eklund is expected to miss an extended period after suffering an ankle injury against Philadelphia on Thursday.

Andre Burakovsky returned to the lineup against Nashville after missing the first four games of the season.

The Senators have also been playing without defenceman Artem Zub, who has yet to make his season debut. Zub is skating in a regular jersey, but since he also suffered a setback in preseason, there will be an abundance of caution there as well.

For the Devils, former Senator Connor Brown has an injury that's listed as a day-to-day thing. Nick Bjugstad has been placed n LTIR with a pectoral injury. And Seamus Casey just had knee surgery and will be out 6-8 weeks.

Lineups

Sens head coach Travis Green has given Fabian Zetterlund a long, early season look at top six duty, but with 0 goals and 2 assists in 5 games, he's going to suit up on the fourth line on Monday night.

Warren Foegele takes his spot on the top two lines on Monday, skating with Drake Batherson and Tim Stutzle. Andre Burakovsky, who made his season debut on Saturday, will play with Dylan Cozens and Ridly Greig.

The team has Giroux-Pinto-Amadio listed as the third line, probably out of force of habit, but it's clearly ahead of the Cozens line by a long shot, whether you're measuring by offensive production or two-way play.

With Cam Crotty moving to injured reserve following what the club described as an illness, Hoyt Stanley remains in the lineup. Jorian Donovan was called up on Saturday to act as the seventh D.

Linus Ullmark, riding a perfect 4-0 start, is expected to start in goal against Nico Daws for Jersey. That means Sam Ersson will likely start on Tuesday back in Ottawa.

Past And Present

New Jersey won two of the three meetings between the clubs (2-1-0) during the 2025-26 regular season. Monday's game will be the first of three again this season. They will meet again on December 3 in Ottawa and March 2 in New Jersey.

Both teams will play two games in he next two nights with travel in between.

The Senators will return home to face the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., while the Devils travel to Detroit to face the Red Wings.

The Sens' challenge is to maintain their winning ways and keep banking points, while dealing with injuries and being swamped with a busy early-season schedule.

Game Info

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa