Tonight was Star Wars Night at Canadian Tire Centre and the night of Jacques Martin’s induction into the Ottawa Senators Ring of Honour. It was a nice ceremony for an enormously influential figure in Sens history, and with the shelf life of coaches in the modern NHL, Jacques stands a good chance of remaining the franchise leader in games coached for quite some time. As for the game, the only lineup change came on defence with a swap of Ni(c)k’s, with Matinpalo in for Jensen.
Tonight was the first game with Mike Yeo running the penalty kill, taking over from Nolan Baumgartner and they got tested early with Jake Sanderson getting his stick up on Andrei Svechnikov. The penalty kill looked strong, stopping the Hurricanes at the blue line. The Sens then inexplicably started making a line change while Carolina had the puck and Jalen Chatfield sprung Mark Jankowski, who broke into the zone 2-on-0 with William Carrier and set Carrier up for the easy tap in goal. 1-0 Carolina.
Janko ➡️ Cares pic.twitter.com/GkdGTRsPas
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 25, 2026
The Sens seemed a bit taken aback by the Hurricanes goal and looked slow to pucks. Two minutes later, and Seth Jarvis beat Reimer on a stoppable shot. 2-0 Carolina.
WHAT A PASS, NIKI 🔥 pic.twitter.com/8R9zzJCWIi
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 25, 2026
That goal finally woke the Sens up from their slumber, with some prolonged possession sequences leading to a powerplay after rookie defenceman Alexander Nikishin slashed Dylan Cozens. While the powerplay started poorly – Carolina had two chances shorthanded to extend the lead, including a Chatfield post – the Sens regrouped and got some good chances but did not score.
The rest of the period was tilted towards the Sens with the team outshooting the Hurricanes 10-0 and it seemed that they would claw their way back into the game. That is, until Taylor Hall beat Reimer five-hole on a harmless looking shot that an ECHL goalie should have saved, a back-breaker with only a minute left in the period. 3-0 Carolina.
Blaker with the pass 🤝 Hallsy with the finish pic.twitter.com/CSnB5jwqiv
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 25, 2026
Despite the terrible third goal, Reimer started the second period, probably due to the fact that the Sens would be playing again 24 hours from now. He was still fighting the puck and looking tense on some of the Carolina shots. Sean Walker interfered with Tim Stützle sending the Sens back to the powerplay and the team looked as frustrated as the fans as they couldn’t beat Brandon Bussi. Shortly after, Jake Sanderson took a second high-sticking penalty, sending Carolina back to the powerplay. Only ten seconds into the penalty kill, it appeared that the Sens were going to break out two on one, but the refs inexplicably called Claude Giroux for “tripping” Seth Jarvis, even though Jarvis fell completely on his own. With almost two full minutes on the penalty kill, the Sens started strong again, shutting the Hurricanes down until Andrei Svechnikov threw a low danger puck in front from the corner that bounced off of Tyler Kleven and through Reimer’s five hole, again. 4-0 Carolina.
Andrei Svechnikov on the two-man advantage to give the Carolina Hurricanes the four-goal lead in a…unique way #CarolinaCulture #Sens #NHL pic.twitter.com/Vwaztbpke5
— Queen of the Puck (@rbarkleyhockey) January 25, 2026
The Sens killed off the rest of the penalty but the Hurricanes lead seemed insurmountable. The one solace came from a Stützle goal on a nice Sanderson pass, breaking Bussi’s shutout. 4-1 Carolina.
8️⃣5️⃣ ➡️ 1️⃣8️⃣#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/CYM6ay6D8r
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) January 25, 2026
The Sens continued getting chances but couldn’t close the gap, ending the second period down three. The third period was a textbook example of score effects, with the Hurricanes taking their foot off of the gas and the Sens getting plenty of shots but being unable to solve Bussi and the Hurricanes defence. The Sens have less than a day to recuperate before facing off against a fresh Vegas squad tomorrow night. 4-1 Carolina FINAL.
Game NotesThe team looked very sloppy tonight. A ton of missed passes, pucks into skates, bobbling pucks, falling all over the ice. Simply an unacceptable performance from a team that needs all the points it can get. The shot clock flattered the team as they got lots of chances in the third but couldn’t convert. Too little, way too late.Stephen Halliday built off of his first NHL goal on Thursday tonight, making some good defensive plays on the fourth line and looking very comfortable in the lineup. He should play in Belleville during the Olympic break but should not be back in the AHL afterwards. Play him down the stretch and set him up for success in a full-time role next season.Game Flow
Heat Map