Yahoo Sports Hitting Paved Road: Ottawa Senators Finally Find Success Away From Home
When the Ottawa Senators embarked on this nine-game holiday road trip, most fans felt like anything around .500 on this trip would be about as much as they could ask for. After all, we're talking about a team that hasn't had a winning record on the road since 2017, and in most of those years, they didn't even come close to .500.
Here's how the Sens have fared on the road in the past seven seasons:
2023-24: 16-23-1
2022-23: 15-21-5
2021-22: 18-20-3
2020-21: 9-18-1
2019-20: 7-21-6
2018-19: 11-28-2
2017-18: 12-24-5
By contrast, the Senators have been above .500 at home in four of their past five seasons.
After a 5-4 overtime win in Vancouver on Saturday night, the Senators not only have six straight wins, they have a four game road winning streak going, and that leaves them a game over .500 on the road at 8-7-1. It's just the latest in a series of impressive facts and stats that marry up nicely with the visual evidence of a turnaround.
So fans probably have loftier expectations for this nine-game holiday road trip than they did when the Senators left. After facing the Oilers tonight in Edmonton, the Senators are off for five days, which includes the Christmas break, and then it's five road games on the other side.
If the Senators win tonight, it'll be their first seven-game winning streak since March of 2015. It could also vault them into third in the Atlantic, depending on how Tampa fares against Florida.
Last night in Vancouver, Leevi Merilainen got his first NHL win in his first NHL game in a year and a half. The piping hot Linus Ullmark is expected to reclaim the Ottawa net on Sunday.
Linus has had his Charlie Brown Christmas security blanket covering the Senators net these past three weeks. He's won seven games in a row for the Senators, two shy of the franchise record (Brian Elliott and Andrew Hammond) and allowed only seven goals in the process.
The Oilers will be on a back-to-back situation this evening as well, Edmonton had an emotional 3-2 overtime win over the San Jose Sharks.
Michael Amadio will miss the game with a head injury after taking an elbow to the head from Canucks defenceman Vincent Desharnais. His spot on the roster will be taken by Cole Reinhardt.
Brady Tkachuk -- Tim Stutzle -- Claude Giroux
Ridly Greig -- Joshua Norris -- Drake Batherson
Nick Cousins -- Shane Pinto -- Noah Gregor
Cole Reinhardt -- Zack Ostapchuk -- Adam Gaudette
Thomas Chabot -- Nick Jensen
Jake Sanderson -- Travis Hamonic
Tyler Kleven -- Jacob Bernard-Docker
Game time is 8pm Eastern.
Like this article? Read more at The Hockey News Ottawa
Related: Former Ottawa Senator Returns To The Ice Following Heart Surgery
