The Ottawa Senators brought in some insurance for their blueline on Saturday.
Remember all that talk about the Senators having too many defencemen when newcomer Jordan Spence was scratched to start this National Hockey League season? That’s not the case as Ottawa prepares to close out the month of November with a game against the Dallas Stars on Sunday night.
The Senators recalled Dennis Gilbert, who was acquired two weeks ago from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Max Guenette, from their American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville on Saturday, and that’s presumably because someone else may not be available.
Blueliner Tyler Kleven was on the ice at the American Airlines Center in Dallas for the Senators’ skate on Saturday, but we’ll have to wait to see if he’s available against the Stars after he blocked a shot early in the 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Friday.
The Senators did receive some good news on the injury front on Saturday, when winger Ridly Greig rejoined the group after sidelined for two weeks with an unspecified ailment. Head coach Travis Green told the club’s website after practice that Greig could play on Sunday.
“That’s good. That’s positive. Possibility of having him on Sunday, so that’s good to have him back,” Green said.
Though Kleven finished the game against the Blues with 18 minutes 34 seconds of ice time even after he left the game briefly in the first period, he would have gone for further examination after the game.
Losing another defenceman would be another blow to a blue-line group that was already being tested by the absence of alternate captain Thomas Chabot. He’s back on the shelf indefinitely with an upper-body muscle ailment after he was reinjured in last Saturday’s contest against the San Jose Sharks.
Chabot missed three games after he was injured while reaching for a puck against the Stars at home on Nov. 11. He resumed skating when the Senators arrived in California and was given the green light to face the Sharks.
The original timetable for Chabot was two weeks, but he felt well enough to return, so the decision was made to allow him to play.
But Chabot didn’t finish the game against San Jose, injured late in the third period, and was sent back to Ottawa. He was listed as day-to-day, but on Saturday he was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Nov. 22 to make room for Gilbert on the roster.
No matter what the lineup looks like, the Senators can close out a November to remember in the game against the Stars.
That’s welcome news because in recent history November has been a month on the calendar they’d just as soon forget.
The Senators, who will wrap up the Western Conference portion of their seven-game road trip with a 6 p.m. ET puck drop, have posted a 6-3-3 record this month and were sitting in third place in the Atlantic Division heading into Saturday night’s action.
Green was pleased to get some practice time after Friday’s loss to the Blues.
“I thought our details were a little sloppy, and it ended up costing us two points,” Green said. “It was good to get on the ice and have a good practice (Saturday). We have to get back to a full 60-minute game and commit to the parts of the game that we know work for us.”
The last time the Senators had a record of .500 or better in November was in 2019-20, when they closed out the month 8-8-0. Since then, the November record has routinely been ugly, and even in 2024 the Senators were 5-8-1, though they go on to make the playoffs after the regular season.
If you’re wondering why the Senators have made a turnaround this November, the answer is that there are several factors involved, but the biggest difference has been the goaltending of Linus Ullmark.
He got off to a shaky start to the year, but has righted his ship and is giving the club the kind of netminding it needs to make it back to the playoffs for a second straight year.
Numbers don’t always tell the whole story, but in this case they don’t lie.
Ullmark closed out October with a 5-4-1 record in nine starts along with a 3.36 goals-against average and an .862 save percentage. In November, he’s 8-4-1 in 13 starts with a 2.42 average and a .902 save percentage.
“For Linus, I don’t think he’s ever stopped believing or whatever,” Green said after the dramatic 4-3 shootout victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
“There has been a lot of talk about him not having a great game, but I think his games have looked really sharp here for probably the last three weeks. I’m not surprised to see him have a performance like that. We have full confidence in him.”
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