Game Day Preview Wide 5

The Ottawa Senators will host the Nashville Predators on Saturday night for their second home game of the season. The Sens will welcome Andre Burakovsky back to the lineup, who will make his Sens debut on a line with Tim Stützle and Drake Batherson.

“They have a lot of skill up front. Lots of experience, talented forward group, and they're a very good forechecking team. And they've had a good road trip so far, with one point in Toronto and [a win in] Montreal,” said Thomas Chabot about the Predators after morning skate.

“So we know they'll be coming, they'll be ready. And it's on us, I think it's on us to play the game, our style of hockey, and put a lot of pressure [on], and don't let them come in our zone and make plays. And if we do that, we'll have a good chance of winning.” 

The Senators are coming off a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night, when Carter Yakemchuk scored the winner on a power play late in the third period. Chabot says that the Sens need to get to the dirty areas of the ice to convert on more opportunities.

“Last game, we obviously didn’t do as well. We had a couple good chances, but I think it's just simplifying a little bit. At times [it felt] like we had some good possession time, made some good plays, but it's almost just getting into the net and kind of getting that greasy goal [mentality] kind of going, and then things kind of open up,” said Chabot.

“That’s kind of what the conversation was this morning, was more about stop looking for the perfect play and try and get it to the net.”

Loose Pucks

The Senators have started the 2026-27 season with a 3-1-0 record. With a win versus Nashville on Saturday, Ottawa would have four wins in their first five games for the first since the 2014-15 season.

The Senators have started with at least four wins in their first five games on five other instances in franchise history (1999–00, 2000–01, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2014–15).

Linus Ullmark has enjoyed a stellar start to the 2026-27 campaign, winning his first three decisions. It’s just the third time in his career he has started the season by winning at least his first three decisions of a season. 

Ullmark’s longest winning streak to start a season is eight games, accomplished in the 2022-23 campaign when he won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top netminder.

The Faceoff

 Andre Burakovsky will make his season debut against Nashville. Burakovsky has played 20 games against the Predators, third on the Senators to Claude Giroux (27) and Warren Foegele (34). Burakovsky has scored five goals, eight assists, and has a plus-minus rating of +1 in those 20 games.

The Predators are closing out a three-game Canadian road trip. On Tuesday, the Preds lost 5-4 in overtime to the Toronto Maple Leafs. On Thursday, they defeated the Montreal Canadiens.

The Sens face the Predators on Saturday night. Jackson Starr previews the game in Sens Today.

Watch and Listen

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