Ottawa Senators ring in 2025 with disappointing loss to the Dallas Stars

The Senators don't have many chances to open 2025 with loss in Dallas

Published Jan 02, 2025  •  4 minute read

Jamie Benn #14 of the Dallas Stars skates for a loose puck during the third period against the Ottawa Senators at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Thursday. Photo by Sam Hodde /Getty Images

STARS 4, SENATORS 2

There were no fireworks for the Ottawa Senators in the Lone Star State on Thursday night.

Trying to ring in the New Year with a victory, the Senators came up short by dropped a 4-2 decision to the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center, falling to 4-3-0 on this lengthy road trip.

Though goaltender Leevi Merilainen gave his club a chance to win, the Senators didn’t do enough to score and had few chances as Dallas shut it down in the third period.

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Only Brady Tkachuk and Ridly Greig were able to score, while former Ottawa centre Matt Duchene put it away with his third-period goal. The Senators had only two shots on goal in the third as the Stars shut the door.

Ottawa went 0-for-5 on the power play.

The club closed out December with a 9-3-1 record and needs to carry that into this month. Sitting in the final wild-card spot in the East, the Senators have played their best hockey of the season in the last six weeks.

The Senators came into this game without a win in Dallas since Oct. 29, 2021, and didn’t allow themselves to win with the kind of effort that was necessary.

LEEVI CARRIES THE LOAD

The Senators went back to Merilainen.

He came into this one with a 2-1-0 record in three appearances this season with a 2.60 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage. Merilainen was solid in making 30 stops in a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

Merilainen doesn’t have a lot of National Hockey League experience but he has shown he can get the job done. It’s a lot to ask a rookie to lead your team to victory, but the Senators have no other choice.

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Backup Anton Forsberg will return against the St. Louis Blues and nobody is sure when we might see Linus Ullmark return from a back ailment.

Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger has only faced the Senators three times in his career, but his numbers haven’t been great. He came into this with a 1-1-0 lifetime record in three appearances against Ottawa with a 4.73 GAA and an .818 save percentage.

QUICK STRIKE

You could have praised the Senators for their defensive play in the first 10 minutes of the second period. They didn’t give the Stars much, and the club had few chances.

But as we know anything can change in a matter of a minute or two and suddenly the Senators went to the third period trailing 3-2.

Roope Hintz scored his second of the game after a defensive blunder by Travis Hamonic allowed him to fire it by Merilainen. That capped a stretch of two goals by the Stars in a span of 1:08 to give Dallas the lead.

The Stars tied it up with 9:41 left in the second. Jamie Benn fired a shot that bounced off Travis Hamonic’s skate and beat Merilainen inside the bar to tie it up 2-2 heading to the third.

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There was nothing Merilainen could do on the opening goal by Hintz either at 4:39 of the first on the fourth shot of the game. Hintz was alone in front and tipped it by Merilainen to open the scoring.

The Senators were outshot 17-11 through 40 minutes.

“They did the same thing we did to them in the first. That’s hockey and we’ve got to move past that,” defenceman Thomas Chabot told TSN’s Matt Cullen after the second.

EARLY SCORING

Timely scoring has been a key to the club’s success during this stretch.

The Senators came into this game with a 7-3-0 record in their last 10 games and if that trend continues they’ll make the post-season.

Two goals on two shots only 24 seconds apart gave the Senators a 2-1 lead at 8:09 of the first. Greig continued to hold a hot stick by scoring extending his goal-scoring streak to three straight games.

That was his sixth of the season and it came on a perfect setup from Tkachuk that allowed Greig to beat Oettinger from the slot. This is what the Senators need from Greig who has finally found his game.

Shane Pinto made an unreal play to set up Tkachuk for his 17th of the season to open the scoring. He faked a shot from the circle and then threw the puck to Tkachuk down low and he fired it into a wide-open net.

That came at 7:45 of the first and tied it up 1-1.

“We just capitalized off a turnover on the first one and the second was just a good forecheck,” Tkachuk said.

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