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After an 8-2 beatdown at the hands of the league-best Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night, the Ottawa Senators are falling behind in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

But is the season lost? 

There are very few things to like about the Senators’ game as of late, specifically since the holiday break.

League ranks during that stretch: 

- 2-5-0 (30th)
- 11.5% PP (24th)
- 79.3% PK (17th)
- .825 team sv% (31st)
- 32 goals against (31st)
- 31.3 shots per game (4th)
- 26.1 shots against per game (10th)

Forgive me for beating a dead horse, but the glaring issue all season has been amplified in these seven games since Christmas. The league’s worst goaltending has somehow gotten even worse.

It coincides with starting goalie Linus Ullmark taking a personal leave of absence from the team on December 28th, putting the burden of steadying the ship on Leevi Meriläinen’s shoulders, and the 23-year-old has not been up to the task at all.

He’s been pulled twice in his last three starts, rocking a .857 sv% and 3.67 goals against average since the holiday break. In the two games Meriläinen was pulled, the Senators were forced to rely on their goaltending depth, which President and General Manager Steve Staios claimed he was comfortable with just a few weeks ago.

Hunter Shepard put up a .833 sv% in relief against the Detroit Red Wings and earned the loss.

Mads Søgaard was lit up for 5 goals on 16 shots in relief against the Avalanche and did not finish the game. He was sent to the minors on Saturday with Shepard returning to Ottawa.

Every single goal was from distance tonight. pic.twitter.com/vdrUP7Zi0D

— Jack Richardson (@jackrichrdson) January 9, 2026

In the aftermath of these performances, the Senators signed 37-year-old goaltender James Reimer to a PTO contract with the club’s affiliate in Belleville. Without a timeline on Ullmark’s return and Meriläinen’s consistent struggles, there is reason to believe Reimer will have an opportunity to seize control of the crease in Ottawa. 

If Reimer can step in and provide numbers even slightly below his last two seasons in Detroit and Buffalo, the Senators will win a lot more games.

James Reimer over the past two seasons:

2024-25 | BUF
• 22 GP
• 10-8-2 Record
• .899 SV%
• 7.34 GSAx
• 1 Shutout

2023-24 | DET
• 25 GP
• 11-8-2 Record
• .904 SV%
• 7.06 GSAx
• 2 Shutouts

His numbers are quite solid. Just a matter of whether he can step in mid-season… https://t.co/DHdH9N2cM8pic.twitter.com/Xe5fOT4EGQ

— Everyday Sens (@EverydaySens) January 9, 2026

But has the putrid goaltending done too much damage already?

As of January 10th, the Senators are 6 points back of the second wild card spot in the East, and there are six other teams to jump. It’s not an impossible mountain to climb, but they need to get hot, and they need some help in the standings.

Next 7 games:

Jan. 10 vs Florida Panthers

Jan. 13 vs Vancouver Canucks

Jan. 14 @ New York Rangers

Jan. 17 vs Montreal Canadiens

Jan. 18 @ Detroit Red Wings

Jan. 20 @ Columbus Blue Jackets 

Jan. 22 @ Nashville Predators

This stretch will define the season. Three key divisional matchups and four other games the Senators should have no problem with if they are on their game. Maybe Reimer joins the team for some of these, or Ullmark comes back and finds his game.

But if the goaltending woes continue, the Senators have no chance. 

They just need some saves.

Jack Richardson
The Hockey News - Ottawa

Read more Ottawa Senators news and features at The Hockey News:

Senators Sign Former Leafs Goalie James Reimer To Professional Tryout
Senators GM Steve Staios Condemns 'Fabricated And False Stories' Circulating On Social Media
Batherson Aims To Continue Hot December Into New Year
The Senators' Problems Are Simple And Obvious... The Solution Is Not
There's No Getting Around It: The Senators Need a Goalie
Senators Outshoot Wings But Fall 5-3 To Red Wings on Monday Night

The St. Louis Blues have locked up former Edmonton Oilers defenseman Philip Broberg with a six-year extension carrying an $8 million AAV.

It's a deal that may have Oilers fans frustrated, but it makes sense for both the Blues and Broberg to get this done.

6 MORE YEARS OF PHILIP BROBERG!

DETAILS ➡️ https://t.co/N92LUvyIaypic.twitter.com/iInVIe2EMM

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) January 10, 2026

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St. Louis secures a core piece long term and avoids revisiting the contract if Broberg continues to trend upward, while the 24-year-old positions himself to hit unrestricted free agency at 31 after earning significant money.

Broberg has played all 45 games this season, posting 14 points, and is coming off a strong 2023–24 campaign in which he led Blues defensemen with a plus-21 rating. The former eighth-overall pick has appeared in 194 career NHL games and was recently named to Sweden’s roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

After joining the Blues via an offer sheet from Edmonton, Broberg quickly established himself in St. Louis’ top four. The move clearly paid off, as it’s unlikely he would have landed a contract of this magnitude had he remained with the Oilers.

Bookmark The Hockey News Edmonton Oilers team site to never miss the latest news, game-day coverage, and more.   Add us to your Google News favourites, and never miss a story.

Banged-up Flyers get trounced by red-hot Lightning originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The undermanned Flyers were no match for the scorching Lightning in a 7-2 drubbing Saturday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

The seven goals allowed marked a season worst for the Flyers.

“It’s one of those games,” Rick Tocchet said. “When you play the game long enough, you’re going to have those type of games. But we do need some better efforts. A couple of our guys that we count on to score are turning the puck over too much. You can’t play that way. Too slow, east-west.”

With two goals and two assists, superstar Nikita Kucherov did the most damage for Tampa Bay.

On the Flyers’ side, Garnet Hathaway and Owen Tippett provided the goals. Hathaway recorded his first point of the season with a redirection just 4:15 minutes into the action.

The Flyers (22-13-8) had a three-game point streak halted (2-0-1). Tocchet called the loss a “learning lesson.”

“You learn and then you apply it and then you get better,” the head coach said, “which our team has done.”

Tocchet’s club was without Travis Konecny, Bobby Brink, Jamie Drysdale and Tyson Foerster. More on the team’s injuries here.

“We had to play, not a perfect game, but a smart game,” Tocchet said. “There were chunks of the game that we didn’t. The effort was there, I have no problem with the effort, especially the first 30 [minutes].”

The Lightning (27-13-3) have ripped off nine straight wins, a stretch in which they’ve scored five goals per game.

The Flyers are 0-2-0 in their three-game regular-season series against Tampa Bay. The clubs will wrap things up in two days.

• Samuel Ersson, making his first appearance in January, surrendered the seven goals on 23 shots.

He has given up four or more goals seven times in 16 starts.

“He’s struggling a little bit, you can tell,” Tocchet said. “You’re going to have tough nights. It’s a tough night. To have an NHL career, sometimes you’re going to be in the mud and you’ve got to get yourself out of it, you’ve got to work harder, you’ve got to analyze things. Not just him, anybody.”

Kucherov got Ersson twice in the opening 6:05 minutes of the game. The 2018-19 MVP was left all alone in front for the game-opening marker. Not even two minutes after Hathaway tied it up, Kucherov struck again.

Thirty-five seconds later, Ersson received a Bronx cheer when he made a save. He heard it some more in the third period.

“We’ve got to be better in front of him,” Tippett said. “Those are tough games to play. Obviously I think he deserved better. I don’t know if the sarcastic cheers are really appreciated, but we’ve got to do a better job in front of him and not put him in some of those situations.”

The 26-year-old entered the game with the worst save percentage of his career at .868.

“We’ve got to work with him, we’ve got to help him out, too,” Tocchet said. “Whatever we have to do to help him with the mental or physical. Got to show up the next day, we’ve got practice tomorrow and just be ready to go. That’s the only way you get out of these things.”

Ersson found his footing a bit after the early goals, but Nick Paul extended the Lightning’s lead to 3-1 in the second period. After Ersson made the initial stop, Paul rolled in unimpeded for the rebound opportunity.

Tampa Bay then went off for four goals in the third period to make it a total rout. The Flyers definitely opened up defensively as they pushed for offense, which didn’t help Ersson’s chances.

“In the third, when we’re chasing, we’re trying to create offense and we’re trying to keep our gas on the pedal, that’s when they counterattack, that’s when they’re good,” Hathaway said. “Regardless of the score, we lost.”

Andrei Vasilevskiy, who came in with consecutive shutouts over the Flyers, stopped 18 shots for the Lightning.

“Just an awful third period,” Sean Couturier said. “We’ll just move on. It’s one of those games you’ve got to forget quick.”

• The Flyers began Saturday tied with the Capitals for the NHL’s second-worst power play at 15 percent.

The woes on the man advantage were costly in the club’s 2-1 overtime loss Thursday night to the Maple Leafs.

On Saturday night, the Flyers went 1 for 2. Tippett’s power play goal stopped the third-period bleeding temporarily for the Flyers.

• The Flyers and Tampa Bay meet again Monday back here at Xfinity Mobile Arena (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).

BOSTON (AP) — Pavel Zacha recorded his first career hat trick — one of his goals coming while most of New York’s players were in the locker room at the end of the first period — and the Boston Bruins coasted past the Rangers 10-2 on Saturday.

Marat Khusnutdinov had four goals to go along with Zacha’s three, giving the Bruins their first pair with hat tricks in the same home game in club history.

The Bruins won for the fourth time in five games, avenging a 6-2 blowout loss at home against the Rangers on Nov. 28.

It’s also the first time since 1964 that two Bruins recorded a hat trick in the same game. Fraser Minten had two goals, Charlie McAvoy added one for Boston and David Pastrnak matched a team record with six assists.

Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller scored for the Rangers, who have lost six of seven. Coach Mike Sullivan remained one win short of 500 in his NHL career.

Zacha’s third goal made it 6-1 midway into the second period, prompting Sullivan to pull starting goalie Jonathan Quick.

But it was Zacha’s second that got the most interest.

The Bruins winger fired a shot from the right circle that trickled behind Quick, where defenseman Braden Schneider tried to sweep it clear of the crease before it crossed.

The period ended and most of the Rangers left the bench while the Bruins’ players remained. The goal was awarded after a review.

Khusnutdinov’s first tied at 1 just 2:31 into the first period. His third made it 8-2 in the third.

Bruins winger Morgan Geekie left the game at the end of the first period for a “family matter.”

Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman made a right-pad stop on Vincent Trocheck’s penalty shot.

Up next

Rangers: Host Seattle on Monday night.

Bruins: Host Pittsburgh on Sunday.