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.

Finally, a Battle of Ontario with meaning. The Ottawa Senators woke up on Friday on the outside looking in at the final wild-card spot in the East as they prepared to face the arch-rival Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.

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

A goal? What’s that? It's easy for Ottawa Senators fans to forget what a goal looks like now that their team has gone 137 minutes without scoring.

Tim Stutzle scored the only goal in the shootout and had a goal and an assist, Norris scored twice, and Merilainen made 23 saves for the Senators (23-18-4), who are 4-0-1 in their past five games.

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 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.

Former Ottawa Senator Joonas Korppisalo pitched a shutout against his old team and the Bruins won 2-0 t the Garden.

Can the Senators bounce back from an awful game against the Rangers on Tuesday? They'll face the Bruins for the second time this week, this time in Boston.

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.

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.