As the NHL’s Olympic break winds down, the Ottawa Senators find themselves in a familiar spot: chasing the playoff pack with little margin for error. While several key names - Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson for Team USA, Tim Stützle with Germany, Nikolas Matinpalo for Finland, Lars Eller for Denmark, and Mads Sogaard holding it down in net for the Danish squad - continue to compete overseas, the rest of the roster is gearing up for a critical stretch run.
The last time we saw this group in action, they were grinding out a 2-1 win on the road against the Philadelphia Flyers back on February 5. That win capped a strong stretch - five victories in their last six - and gave the team a jolt of momentum heading into the break.
But now, with just 25 games left on the calendar and a six-point gap between them and the final Wild Card spot in the East, the Senators are skating uphill. The math is straightforward but daunting: Ottawa likely needs to win 19 of those final 25 games to realistically stay in the playoff conversation. That’s a tall order, especially with only one of their first five games after the break coming at home.
Still, there’s reason for cautious optimism. Before the pause, the Senators were starting to look like the team many expected them to be - structured, competitive, and finally stringing together consistent efforts. The challenge now is sustaining that level of play without much room for error.
The upcoming matchup against the Detroit Red Wings on February 26 isn’t just the first game back - it’s a tone-setter. How the Sens come out of the gate could say a lot about whether this group is truly ready to make a late-season push or if the playoff dream will fade before March even arrives.
With key contributors still overseas and the pressure mounting, the Senators are entering crunch time. The pieces are there. The question is whether they can put them together quickly enough to make a legitimate run.