Here’s a bit of perspective:

Despite all the negative energy swirling around the Senators at the moment, do you know they have equivalent records in the last 10 games as the Florida Panthers (4-5-1), a better goal differential (-6 to -8), and only two points separate them?

Yes, Florida’s missed their top two players since basically the start of the season in Tkachuk and Barkov, but the Sens have three of their top-five (Chabot, Tkachuk, and Pinto) for a decent stretch, too.

There’s still plenty of hockey to be played, folks, and here’s hoping that the team puts together a positive performance on home ice tonight.

Sens lines

Here’s how the Senators lined up at the morning skate today. Most established lines are back together, with Eller, Greig, and Cousins making up the fourth-line for the suddenly healthy forward corps.

Tkachuk-Stutzle-Zetterlund
Perron-Cozens-Batherson
Amadio-Pinto-Giroux
Eller-Greig-Cousins

Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Jensen
Kleven-Spence

Halliday, Matinpalo, MacDermid extra

— Murray Pam (@pammerhockey.bsky.social) 2026-01-10T15:34:46.430ZPanthers lines

Here’s how the Panthers lined up at practice. They’re missing a ton of players: Tkachuk, Barkov, Marchand, Gadjovich, Schwindt, Nosek, Jones, and Kulikov.

#FlaPanthers first rushes this AM:

Luostarinen – Lundell – Reinhart
Verhaeghe – Bennett – Greer
Boqvist – Rodrigues – Samoskevich
Vilmanis – Kunin – Studnicka

Looks like Vilmanis might make his NHL debut tonight, but we’ll see what Coach says in a bit.

— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) January 10, 2026
Game notesAs of writing, there’s been no indication of who’s starting in net for Ottawa. I’d imagine it’s Meriläinen vs Bobrovsky, but we’ll see. Florida beat Colorado 2-1, but then lost 4-1 to Toronto and 6-2 to the Canadiens. Hockey, everyone!37-year-old Brad Marchand is having an extremely impressive season, and made it impossible to not include him on the Olympic team. He leads the Panthers in every meaningful category while playing alongside his 2025 playoffs line with Luostarinen and Lundell or new linemates, Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe. The Sens avoid him tonight, as he’s sidelined with a day-to-day injury, and will hope to capitalize on his absence. On Ottawa’s end, I’m glad to see Travis Green return to line combinations that were working at 5-on-5. It’s interesting that Ridly Greig has kept his spot at centre, and I’d be curious when and where him and Eller take faceoffs given that Ridly has taken his fair share of defensive zone draws. Statistics

Game 44SenatorsPanthers
Category#Rank#Rank
Goals/GP3.1611th3.0219th
Goals against/GP3.3727th3.2323rd
Shots/GP28.414th29.37th
Shots against/GP25.54th26.36th
Powerplay %23.67th17.522nd
Penalty Kill %73.431st836th
Corsi % (5v5 SVA)52.695th51.38th
xGF% (5v5 SVA)53.675th51.0111th

SenatorsPanthers
CategoryPlayer#Player#
GoalsStützle19Marchand, Reinhart23
AssistsStützle26Marchand23
PointsStützle45Marchand46
ShotsStützle106Marchand115
TOI/GPSanderson25:12Jones23:29