{"id":417091,"date":"2026-01-20T02:58:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T02:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/417091\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T02:58:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T02:58:15","slug":"ottawa-senators-week-ahead-schedule-storylines-ullmarks-status-reimers-debut-playoffs-or-bust-and-more-the-hockey-writers-ottawa-senators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/417091\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa Senators Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines – Ullmark’s Status, Reimer’s Debut, Playoffs or Bust and More – The Hockey Writers – Ottawa Senators"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ottawa Senators are entering a critical week in their push for a playoff spot, following back-to-back tough losses to divisional rivals over the weekend. Here are the key storylines and their upcoming schedule for the week of Jan. 19-26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Ullmark\u2019s Status & Reimer\u2019s Debut<\/p>\n

The most pressing issue for Ottawa is keeping the puck out of its net. Despite elite defensive metrics (low expected goals against), the Senators rank near the bottom of the league in team save percentage.<\/p>\n

Star goaltender Linus Ullmark has been away on personal leave. However, reports indicate he is traveling with the team<\/a> on their current road trip and could return to the crease soon. His return is viewed as vital to saving their season. <\/p>\n

In Ullmark\u2019s absence, rookie Leevi Merilainen has struggled<\/a> to make the necessary stops, including allowing six goals against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Senators signed goalie James Reimer to a one-year contract, and he made his debut Sunday against the Detroit Red Wings. Although the Sens lost in overtime, Reimer\u2019s debut was largely seen as positive, and hopes are high that he can help bring some stability to the crease<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayoffs or Bust\u201d Anxiety <\/p>\n

The Senators are walking a tightrope in the Eastern Conference standings. They recently dropped two pivotal overtime games: a 6-5 loss to the Canadiens on Jan. 17 and a 4-3 loss to the Red Wings the next day.<\/p>\n

They remain just a few points out of a Wild Card spot, but these dropped points against teams like Detroit that they are chasing have made the path steeper. General manager Steve Staios is expected to be a buyer at the deadline, but the team needs to stay in the race until then.<\/p>\n

Elite Production from St\u00fctzle & Tkachuk Continues<\/p>\n

While the backend struggles, the top stars are delivering.<\/p>\n

Tim St\u00fctzle has been playing some of the best hockey of his career, recently riding a 13-game point streak and driving the team\u2019s offense<\/a> with elite 200-foot play.<\/p>\n

Brady Tkachuk continues to produce at a high rate, though the frustration of recent losses is palpable given the \u201cmust-win\u201d nature of this season for the core group.<\/p>\n

\nSenators Schedule Jan 19 \u2013 26\n<\/p>\n

DateDayOpponentLocationTime (ET)ContextJan 20TueColumbus Blue JacketsAway7:00 PMA \u201cmust-win\u201d against a lower-seeded team to stop the bleeding.Jan 22ThuNashville PredatorsAway8:00 PMTough road test against a heavy Western Conference team.Jan 24SatCarolina HurricanesHome7:00 PMReturn to Canadian Tire Centre; a major test against a top contender.Jan 25SunVegas Golden KnightsHome5:00 PMSecond half of a back-to-back; fatigue will be a factor.<\/p>\n

AI tools were used to support the creation or distribution of this content, however, it has been carefully edited and fact-checked by a member of The Hockey Writers editorial team. For more information on our use of AI, please visit our Editorial Standards<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ottawa Senators are entering a critical week in their push for a playoff spot, following back-to-back tough…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5104],"tags":[536,5,6874,539,4,72,25,5157,73,681],"class_list":{"0":"post-417091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa-senators","8":"tag-brady-tkachuk","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-james-reimer","11":"tag-linus-ullmark","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-ottawa","14":"tag-ottawa-senators","15":"tag-ottawasenators","16":"tag-senators","17":"tag-tim-stutzle"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115925189558367010","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}