The Ottawa Senators' recent hot streak came crashing down on Tuesday night with a 5-0 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves and extended his shutout streak to 164:03. Alexis Lafrenière led the Rangers with a goal and an assist, while the Sens were shut out for the fourth time in ten games.

The Ottawa Senators have reached the midpoint of their season, still alive in hopes of ending their lengthy playoff drought. We’ve put together a midseason assessment of everyone’s performance, including the head coach and general manager.

The Ottawa Senators were a bad act on Broadway. The Senators looked disjointed and didn’t have much going in an embarrassing 5-0 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.

As the Sens started to get some effort in, Josh Norris tripped awkwardly and headed to the dressing room. With the amount of injuries coming in and out lately, this was the last thing the Sens needed. Luckily, Norris seemed to have only needed some fixing up and was back on the bench, for a bit.

The Ottawa Senators are victors of back to back matchups over the weekend with travel. With those points earned, the Senators have climbed to first in the wild card playoff race and have bumped Boston out.

David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists, Pavel Zacha and Morgan Geekie each had a goal and an assist, and Jeremy Swayman made 39 saves for the Bruins (22-19-6), who lost for the seventh time in nine games (2-5-2).

The Ottawa Senators will look to stretch their point streak to six games when they visit the New Jersey Devils on Sunday afternoon in Newark, N.J. Ottawa edged the Boston Bruins 6-5 in a shootout Saturday to improve to 4-0-1 over their last five games.

Nathan Bastian, Paul Cotter and Erik Haula each scored a goals in the Devils' win, while goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 30 saves. Tkachuk responded with a power-play goal for the Senators in the loss.

Ottawa Senators' Jake Sanderson (85), Tim Stutzle (18), and Josh Norris (9) turn to see a fight starting as they celebrate Sanderson's goal against the Boston Bruins during second period NHL hockey action in Ottawa, on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. Credit: AP/Justin Tang

Tim Stützle scored the lone goal in the shootout Saturday to give Ottawa a 6-5 win over the Bruins in a matinee that had the feel, intensity, and nastiness of a playoff game. Stützle’s backbreaker capped a furious comeback by the Senators, who trailed, 5-3, with less than four minutes remaining.

The Ottawa Senators kicked off Hockey Day in Canada in dramatic fashion.

The Senators' shootout win over the Bruins encapsulated everything we love about hockey — beautiful goals, crazy saves, an unbelievable comeback and even some fisticuffs. It was the sport at its purest and best.