OTTAWA - The Ottawa Senators had good reason to celebrate, and just as much to worry.
Ottawa (39-26-10) moved back into the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with a 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, but lost yet another defenceman.
Tyler Kleven joined a growing list after taking a shot up high and leaving the game in the first period. When asked for an update post-game, head coach Travis Green didn鈥檛 seem overly optimistic.
鈥淗e鈥檚 still getting checked out,鈥 he said. 鈥淗ope for the best, not expecting it to be great.鈥
Ottawa's blue line has been decimated since March 7.
The bad luck started with Jake Sanderson going down with an upper-body injury, followed by Nick Jensen suffering a torn meniscus. Dennis Gilbert was next with an upper-body injury, then Thomas Chabot broke his arm and Carter Yakemchuk entered concussion protocol after a big hit.
Ottawa has now used 13 different defencemen amid the injury parade.
鈥淭his is some of the most insane things I鈥檝e seen,鈥 said captain Brady Tkachuk. 鈥淚t truly is just unfortunate. This is probably the most adversity that we鈥檝e faced as a group. It鈥檚 crazy what keeps happening, but credit to the guys that have been called up and guys that have had to elevate their roles. Everyone鈥檚 stepping up and playing really solid for us.鈥
Despite being short-handed, the Senators found a way to win Thursday. Jordan Spence led the way on the blue line, playing a career-high 30 minutes 48 seconds.
鈥淎 real unbelievable effort out of our defence,鈥 said Green. 鈥淎sking a lot out of a lot of players. Players we don鈥檛 know very well and, man, they all played well.鈥
Green added there鈥檚 a lot of coaching happening on the fly, with players taking on new roles and adjusting to the developing circumstances.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, meanwhile, rued the missed opportunity.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 all we talked about,鈥 said Ruff. 鈥淭hey were down to five, and we didn鈥檛 stress them out enough.鈥
Not only did the Senators hold off the Sabres (46-22-8), Ottawa's victory prevented Buffalo (46-22-8) from clinching its first playoff berth since 2011, the longest drought in the NHL.
鈥淭hey took over the game the last two periods,鈥 said Ruff. 鈥淭hey outskated, they out-competed. Their desperation level was higher than ours, as simple as that.鈥
After losing their last three games, the Senators rose to the occasion, as did goaltender Linus Ullmark.
Ullmark has been under scrutiny after choosing not to play against the Tampa Bay Lightning last Saturday because he needed a rest. He was then pulled Tuesday after allowing five goals on 16 shots against the Florida Panthers.
On Thursday, Ullmark was solid, stopping 21 shots and coming up with a huge save on Bowen Byram at the end of the second period with the game tied 1-1.
鈥淚t was a gutsy win,鈥 said Ullmark. 鈥淭he five 鈥楧鈥 that were still in the game did a great job of defending together with our forward core, and I think that we, you know, kind of deserve this one.鈥
With seven games remaining and a playoff berth far from locked in, the Senators will need similar efforts down the stretch.
Green admitted he challenged his team following two subpar efforts in Florida 鈥 and liked the response.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 win games like this unless you鈥檝e got everyone playing the right way,鈥 Green said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 just playing to win.鈥
Ottawa plays back-to-back home games this weekend against the Minnesota Wild and the Carolina Hurricanes.
This report by 国产诱惑福利 was first published April 3, 2026.
