Ottawa’s strong start took a worrying turn Wednesday night when Linus Ullmark exited the Senators’ game against the Florida Panthers in the third period with an apparent lower-body injury.
The trouble came just a few minutes into the final frame. After turning aside a shot from distance, Ullmark pushed to his left and then quickly collapsed into the butterfly position. He remained down for several minutes while a scuffle broke out between the benches, before eventually leaving the ice with help from the Senators’ training staff and Claude Giroux.
Before getting hurt, the Swedish goalie had handled 17 shots, stopping 16 of them across more than 43 minutes. The only puck that beat him came off the stick of former captain Brady Tkachuk. Samuel Ersson took over from there and was barely tested, making one save as Ottawa rolled to a 5-1 win.
The injury is another frustrating chapter for Senators fans who have seen Ullmark miss time since being acquired by Ottawa in 2024. He has played in more than half of the team’s games in each of his first two seasons, but injuries have repeatedly interrupted his stint, along with a personal leave of absence last season. He had already missed time this year after an injury against the Boston Bruins earlier this month kept him out for one game.
There was no immediate report on the severity of the injury, but if Ullmark is forced to miss an extended stretch, the Senators could be facing a problem. Through eight games, the 33-year-old has gone 7-1-0 with a 1.33 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage, numbers that have been a major reason behind Ottawa’s hot start.
In Other News...
Senators Fans Turned Brady Tkachuks Return Into Something Personal
Brady Tkachuks first night back in Ottawa as a Panther had all the ingredients for a charged homecoming, even before the scoreboard got away from Florida. Canadian Tire Centre buzzed from the opening shifts, with Senators fans eager to see their former captain in a setting that felt a lot more personal than a routine regular-season matchup, and Tkachuk even gave them an early jolt by scoring the games first goal.
The temperature only rose as the night wore on, with the crowd turning on him in a way that made the reunion feel less like a welcome-back and more like a reckoning. Ottawas fans made their feelings clear throughout the night, and by the end of it the building had been fully swept up in a lopsided win that left Tkachuk with an ugly stat line and a memory he is not likely to forget anytime soon. [Read more 🡒]
Senators Fans Just Turned Brady Tkachuks Return Into A Real Rivalry
Brady Tkachuks return to Ottawa on Oct. 21 had the kind of edge that usually only shows up in playoff hockey, not a regular-season stop in October. The former Senators captain came back in a Florida Panthers uniform and immediately drew the kind of reaction that made it clear how little time has passed since his move, with Ottawa fans greeting him with boos and chants throughout the night.
The atmosphere around the game felt bigger than one players homecoming, and thats the part worth watching now. Ottawa and Florida have already started to look like teams with some genuine bad blood, and Tkachuks first trip back only sharpened it. If this is the tone the building sets whenever the Panthers come through, the next meeting figures to carry a lot more than just two points. [Read more 🡒]
Senators Panthers Tension Just Carried Over After The Final Horn
The after-effects of the Senators-Panthers game did not stop at the final horn. The NHL Department of Player Safety stepped in Monday with fines on both sides, underscoring how much tension lingered from a matchup that already had plenty of edge.
Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk was fined $5,000 for roughing Dylan Cozens, while Ottawas Nick Cousins was hit with a $4,091.49 penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct while on the bench. Both amounts are the maximum allowed under the current collective bargaining agreement, a reminder that the league saw enough to act even after the game itself was over. [Read more 🡒]