{"id":506314,"date":"2026-03-16T15:45:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T15:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/506314\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T15:45:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T15:45:31","slug":"surging-ottawa-senators-back-in-playoff-race-after-weekend-sweep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/506314\/","title":{"rendered":"Surging Ottawa Senators back in playoff race after weekend sweep"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NHL\u2019s Eastern Conference playoffs are heating up, and the Ottawa Senators<\/a> have put themselves right in the thick of the race thanks to a strong post-Olympic push.<\/p>\n

After a weekend sweep of the Anaheim Ducks<\/a> and San Jose Sharks<\/a>, Ottawa sits just three points back of the Detroit Red Wings<\/a> for the second wild card spot with one game in hand.<\/p>\n

The Sens have dropped just one regulation game since the Olympic break, going 6-1-2 over that span. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo one wants it more than the guys in the room,\u201d Ottawa coach Travis Green<\/a> said via NHL.com<\/a> after Sunday\u2019s 7-4 win over the Sharks. \u201cWe\u2019re trying, hoping we can get there. It\u2019s an old cliche, you can only win the next game, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re worried about.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just like how we just stuck with the game,\u201d Green said. \u201cThings weren\u2019t going exactly how we planned. Sometimes that happens, but we just kept playing, having trust in our game that we would come out on the right side.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"East Standings 03-16-26 <\/p>\n

The Senators\u2019 surge has come right as the Red Wings have struggled out of the break, going 3-4-2 and are without centres Dylan Larkin<\/a> and Andrew Copp<\/a> due to injury. <\/p>\n

Trade deadline addition Warren Foegele<\/a> has been a big part of the Sens\u2019 recent play, scoring two goals and adding one assist in five games since being moved from the Los Angeles Kings<\/a>, including a goal and assist on Sunday against the Sharks. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a great team effort,\u201d Foegele said. \u201cGuys are battling hard, and it\u2019s a lot more fun winning than losing. I think we were just trying to attack the net a little bit more, be a little bit more direct and try to get inside. You never know if it\u2019s going to go in if you don\u2019t shoot it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goaltender Linus Ullmark<\/a> started both games in the back-to-back and earned both weekend wins and stopped a combined 42 shots across both contests, including a 2-0 shutout win over the Ducks on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Senators have three games coming up this week, all against Eastern Conference rivals, starting with the Washington Capitals<\/a> on Wednesday, followed by the New York Islanders<\/a> and Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> on Thursday and Saturday.<\/p>\n

A crucial showdown with the Red Wings looms next Tuesday on the second end of a back-to-back on the road.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ottawa Senators Schedule 03-16-26 <\/p>\n

Ottawa has 16 games remaining in the regular season, with all but one against Eastern Conference opponents. The lone exception is an April 4 game against Quinn Hughes<\/a> and the Minnesota Wild<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last season, the Senators made the playoffs as the first wild card team, finishing with a 45-30-7 record and 97 points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NHL\u2019s Eastern Conference playoffs are heating up, and the Ottawa Senators have put themselves right in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[463,464],"tags":[4759,5,4,60,33540,14,104,718],"class_list":{"0":"post-506314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl-playoffs","8":"category-stanley-cup-playoffs","9":"tag-apple-news","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-nhl-playoffs","13":"tag-ottawa-senators-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-9","14":"tag-stanley-cup","15":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","16":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116239632630980284","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506314","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=506314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}