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Overcoming a brutal power play early on, the Ottawa Senators broke through offensively in the second period and never looked back, defeating the New Jersey Devils 4-1 at Prudential Center on Monday.
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Tim Stützle had a goal and an assist, Shane Pinto and Stephen Halliday each scored, and Linus Ullmark made 29 saves for the Senators (5-1-0), who sit atop the Atlantic Division.
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No time to waste. Let’s get to grading.
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Forwards
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Tim Stützle: A+
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No shade towards his linemates, but Stützle is doing everything on the top trio right now. The Devils play a physical, aggressive style in the defensive zone, and Stützle remained unfazed, confidently picking up rims and loose pucks along the walls and getting his head up to find teammates in soft areas. After setting up Halliday in the slot for the 2-0 goal on the power play, Stützle dangled his way through multiple opponents on a rush to find Drake Batherson with a nifty drop pass for another Grade A chance. Further proving he really does do it all, Stützle tipped a Thomas Chabot point shot to push it to 3-0, and finished with three blocks. This guy is on fire, and all of it seems so repeatable; he’s working for everything. The power play isn’t even respectable right now and Stützle has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in six games. Only five players have more league wide.
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Drake Batherson: B
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Like everyone, Batherson had his fair share of fumbles and misplays when the Senators bungled eight minutes of power-play time in the first. He got himself open in dangerous spots, brutally robbed by Nico Daws in the second. He had five shot attempts and three hits in 17:33.
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Warren Foegele: C
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The injury to William Eklund combined with slow starts from Fabian Zetterlund and Andre Burakovsky has put the coaching staff in a tough spot with who to slot in at left wing alongside Stützle and Batherson. Foegele, in theory, should work better on that trio than he has — he’s got speed and is a strong forechecker. However, his play with the puck has been abysmal. Receiving a pass from Batherson as the high man on a 3-on-2 in the second, Foegele spun around and threw it into the left corner, not even close to a teammate. He’s not a threat to score; the only shot attempt he had with a goalie in the net during 12:06 of ice time was a weak backhand directly into Daws’ pad that was pressed up against the post and suctioned to the ice.
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Andre Burakovsky: C-
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Perhaps it’s going to take Burakovsky a while to get going. His performance against the Devils wasn’t remotely as egregious as his debut on Saturday, but he was still a non-factor during most of his shifts. Burakovsky finished with zero shot attempts and two blocks in 15:03.
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Dylan Cozens: B
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Cozens made two impressive plays to Ridly Greig in the second that easily could’ve wound up in the net. First, he spun around in the right corner to whip a centring feed to Greig, who immediately drew a hooking call. Secondly, Cozens drove wide on Brett Pesce and sent another cross-ice pass over to Greig, who redirected it wide. Cozens had a secondary assist on Halliday’s goal and went 6-for-7 in faceoffs.
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Ridly Greig: B-
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Greig did well to shake coverage in scoring areas, twice getting open for glorious feeds in front. He battled hard, mauling Amadeus Lombardi (yep, real name) along the wall to halt a New Jersey cycle in the first. Greig, who had two blocks in 16:22, is fitting in just fine on the second line.
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Michael Amadio: A-
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This looked like a performance from 2025-26 for Amadio — a ton of hard work in battles, some great playmaking and zero luck on his own scoring opportunities. Nine seconds into the middle frame, Amadio found Pinto with a nice backhand pass for the 1-0 goal, while Luke Hughes and Timo Meier stared in amazement. Amadio had two steals in one shift shortly after, and later stickhandled his way to the middle of the ice for a slot shot that was snared by Daws. He missed the net on an even better chance on a rush early in the third. Amadio finished the game off with some strong defensive plays while the Devils had an extra attacker on the ice, once outmuscling Jack Hughes in a puck battle at the Sens’ blue line to get a clear.
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Shane Pinto: B+
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The shutdown line has certainly had better possession nights — when Pinto, Amadio and Claude Giroux were on the ice at 5-on-5, shot attempts were 21-7 New Jersey — but it took care of key moments against the Devils. Take Pinto’s backcheck on an odd-man rush in the first for example, reaching out to just barely get his blade on a cross-ice pass and have the puck ultimately hop over the intended target’s stick. In a year he believes he’s capable of scoring 30, he got his first by finishing on Amadio’s backhand feed. Pinto drew an interference call and had two blocks in 21:20.
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Claude Giroux: A
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Giving Stützle a run for his money in the playmaking department, Giroux set up Pinto with a slick drop pass on a 3-on-2 in the second and then hit Amadio with a perfect saucer on a 2-on-1 in the third. He did all the hard work on the opening goal, winning a 50-50 puck over Pesce and getting body position on the defender in order to slide it up to Amadio. Though Pinto got his flowers in the above paragraph, Giroux might’ve been the team’s most dedicated backchecker, leading the hustle when the whole line had actually fallen back the puck on a Chabot free gift in the 3rd.
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Fabian Zetterlund: B
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More enthusiastic on the forecheck, Zetterlund required several turnovers in the very first, taking the puck from Luke Hughes on the best half wall before circling around the internet and getting in touch with Halliday. Brenden Dillon captured Zetterlund with his head down and drilled him, in some way getting a disturbance call regardless of the Ottawa forward touching the puck 0.1 seconds prior. Zetterlund played a starving video game and was quicker to fire the puck, leading the Senators with 4 shots in 11:26.
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Stephen Halliday: A-
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What an interesting video game from Halliday. His play in the protective zone was a variety, when obstructing 2 chance ats the ideal point on one shift, another time gently sending out the puck back to a New Jersey defenceman when he had time and area to begin skating or make an excellent outlet pass. At the other end, Halliday stood out. In the 2nd, he flustered Dillon with an inside-out deke and got it over to Zetterlund before drawing a slashing charge when 3 Devils assembled on him. On a later power play, Halliday was left all alone in front when Pesce fell and he beat Daws with a fast breeze shot over the left pad and under the glove. Smooth.
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Nick Cousins: B
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No grievances here. The only occasion all video game that Cousins was associated with was a moving block on Dougie Hamilton in the 2nd. He played 9 minutes.
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Defencemen
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Thomas Chabot: A-
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Jake Sanderson requires to rush back due to the fact that we’re lacking methods to applaud Chabot. Obstructing of another 5 shots on Monday, he leads the NHL in blocks per video game. He played 27:53 versus the Devils; just Zach Werenski has a greater typical ice time this season. Chabot’s video game wasn’t without mistake– he had actually 2 tape-recorded free gifts and had a hard time quarterbacking the power play in the very first– however he simply continues to lead in many aspects. He got the main help on Stützle’s objective with a point shot tailormade for a pointer. His finest play of the contest might have been his effort to bind Meier at the edge of the crease on a rebound in the 3rd, stretching to get any part of his body in front of the puck.
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Jordan Spence: B –
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Spence at first dealt with a Devils turn into the neutral zone rather well late in the very first, tapping it back to where he pictured Tyler Kleven may be in assistance, however when his defence partner overshot the puck and a rush occurred Spence was reluctant to cover his male, Lombardi, and Ullmark was required to make an amazing conserve. Spence had strong grace at the ideal point in the ‘O ‘zone, as soon as deceiving pushing forwards into a fly-by and discovering a colleague in the high slot in the 2nd. When Ullmark was down and out as the Devils pushed in the 3rd, Spence made a vital block with his chest on what would’ve been a sure objective.
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Tyler Kleven: B-
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On the very same shift as the abovementioned cross-up in the neutral zone with Spence, Kleven took an incredibly weak cross-checking charge. It was an even-up call. Kleven iced the puck many times. On one shift in the 2nd, he unloaded a bomb on Daws and after that struck the left post while triggering from the point minutes later on. Throughout the 6-on-5, Kleven made a fantastic read to obstruct a pass in the middle of the slot and fired the puck down into the empty internet. He had 4 blocks in 23:37.
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Carter Yakemchuk: B +
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Every 2nd shift it looked like Yakemchuk was dancing around some bad schmuck in the offending zone. He made Jesper Bratt look ridiculous around the objective line before getting the puck to Cozens in the slot. And when the Senators required one a lot of little passes in hopes of getting the’O’ zone on the power play, perplexed by the Devils accumulating at the blue line, Yakemchuk two times went end-to-end, capturing New Jersey off guard by taking any area he was provided. He played a career-high 22:25.
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Hoyt Stanley: C-
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The Senators were collapsed when Stanley was on the ice– shot efforts were 26-2 for New Jersey at 5-on-5– however there were brilliant areas in his video game. His stretch pass sprung Giroux and Amadio on a 2-on-1 in the 3rd. He made some quality plays heading back for dump-ins, taking the body and lifting adheres to maximize the puck for his defence partner diving in. Stanley got worked physically on some cycles and might’ve had a tighter space and more active stick protecting Arseny Gritsyuk on the 3-1 objective.
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Nikolas Matinpalo: N/A
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Matinpalo left the video game after being struck from behind by Anthony Mantha, who got a 5-minute significant charge. There was no upgrade on his status post-game, however coach Travis Green stated “it’s quite apparent what the injury is.” Seems like a concussion.
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Goalie
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Linus Ullmark: A
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Ullmark looks massive in the web. We might go over some private conserves, however the most significant takeaway needs to be how little twine opposing shooters are seeing today. He is 5-0-0 with a. 948 conserve portion through 5 starts.
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