The Ottawa Senators closed out 2025 with a thud.

The Senators extended their winless streak to three straight with an awful 4-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets in front of a sellout of 17,902 fans on Monday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.

“Not very good. There wasn’t a lot of good in that game tonight,” said a frustrated coach, Travis Green. “I don’t say that very often, but that was probably one of our worst games of the year.

“We’ve played well. We haven’t had a stinker for a while. I can’t explain it. We were a half step behind everywhere, the passing wasn’t very good, and usually, when you’re not skating well, you’re going to be late to a lot of places. I thought we looked slow tonight.”

Only Jake Sanderson was able to score for the Senators, who were chasing most of the game and didn’t create many scoring chances. Overall, it felt like a ho-hum night in a lot of ways for the Senators.

Some fans even booed as the club left the ice.

“The opportunities they got we kind of gave to them,” said Sanderson. “It’s frustrating. You can hear some boos coming down at the end of the game, and you never want to hear that. You never want to see the fans leave the game early, so it’s on us to come together and figure it out.”

With top goaltender Linus Ullmark granted a leave of absence to deal with personal issues, Leevi Merilainen made his 10th start of the season, and it marked the first time in his career that he had faced the Blue Jackets.

Jet Greaves, who made 21 stops in a 4-2 win over the Islanders on Sunday at home, was in the net for Columbus on the second night of a back-to-back. He was solid when he needed to be, but wasn’t tested a whole lot.

The Senators didn’t look desperate enough to win, and closed the month of December with a 6-6-1 record. These are losses the club can’t afford with the standings so tight.

Kirill Marchenko put it away for Columbus late in the third.

CARRY THE BALL

It’s Merilainen’s net now, and this wasn’t a great start as he allowed four goals on just 22 shots.

The Senators will have to rely on their backup to carry the ball until Ullmark returns, and nobody is certain how long that will be. He will be given as much time as he needs, which means Senators have to focus on trying to stay in the race with Merilainen.

Merilainen wasn’t pleased with Denton Mateychuk’s effort at 1:55 of the third that gave the Jackets a 3-1 lead. It looked like Boone Jenner may have interfered with him on the play, but the Senators didn’t challenge.

“He (the official) explained that my hand was out of the crease and that’s why that’s not interference, even though in my opinion it still is,” Merilainen said. “I can’t do anything about it.”

Merilainen needs help from his teammates. The much-maligned penalty kill held the Jackets to 0-for-3 through 40 minutes, but the Senators’ power play was 0-for-4 and only had five shots on net.

The Senators weren’t clicking with the man advantage and looked out of sync.

SHIFTING THE ROSTER

Centre Shane Pinto returned after missing 12 games with a lower-body injury.

“A little rusty,” said Pinto. “It’s been a few weeks. As the games go on, I will feel better and better. Hopefully, I can help contribute.”

The most surprising decision was veteran defenceman Nick Jensen being a scratch. He’s back from off-season hip surgery and has struggled to find consistency lately.

That move was made with Tyler Kleven back from an ankle injury.

Down 2-0, Sanderson got Ottawa on the board with his eighth goal of the season. He beat a screened Greaves through the five-hole at 8:16, and an assist by Tim Stutzle extended his point-scoring streak to 10 games.

Green told TSN’s Claire Hanna midway through the second that he felt the club was getting chances, but admitted the way the Senators started was less than ideal.

“I didn’t like our first period,” Green said.

Only 1:21 into the second, Merilainen gave up one he’d want back. Damon Severson one-timed a pass by Merilainen on the stick side from just inside the blue line to give the Jackets a 2-0 lead.

A TRAP GAME

Given the adversity the Jackets had to battle to get to Ottawa with travel issues, the Senators needed to take advantage of a tired team. It was hard to tell which team arrived late.

Trailing 1-0 after the first, the Senators weren’t at their best. They started well enough, but then put the heat on Merilainen to make the stops. Ottawa was outshot 12-7 and was lucky to only be down by a goal.

Jenner scored his 11th career goal against the Senators in 28 games when he opened the scoring at 15:58. He redirected a shot in front of Merilainen, leaving the goaltender with no chance.

So frustrated was rugged winger Kurtis MacDermid that he tried to fire up the bench by dropping the gloves with old foe Mathieu Olivier on the next shift. It was a short fight, but the Senators needed a spark.

“The tensions are high. These guys are right there with us in the standings,” winger Nick Cousins said after the first. “This is a big one here for us at home.”

They’re all big, and given what the Jackets went through, the Senators had to be better.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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