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Pre-Scout: Oilers host Sens team with rejuvenated Ullmark and Tkachuk under siege
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Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Michael Menzies
Mar 3, 2026, 13:00 ESTUpdated: Mar 3, 2026, 13:38 EST
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With as boisterous a personality as Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk has, the grand irony of his Team USA gold medal at the Olympics turning into a media interrogation upon his return to Canada’s capital dominated headlines around the team last week.
Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson won gold, of course, over the likes of Connor McDavid and Team Canada, as these competitors will butt heads again on Tuesday night, when the Edmonton Oilers host the Senators.
Luckily for Brady’s sake, it’s a hockey game, not a math test.
But the math for the Sens needs to improve with victories to make the playoffs a reality this season. Heading into Tuesday, Ottawa is five points back of the last wild card spot, and analysts figure the team needs a .740 win percentage to have a chance.
The beginning of five straight on the road went off with a satisfying win over rival Toronto Maple Leafs, who were simply overmatched and beaten pillar to post 5-2.
“I thought it was a great game,” said forward Dylan Cozens, who had a goal and two assists.
The 25-year-old is resurfacing as a legitimate top offensive weapon. Cozens has 46 points in 59 games this season, his best offensive year since his career year of 68 points in 2022-23. 
“We came out right from puck drop, ready to go. I think we didn’t give up much either and found the back of the net, which is big. I think it was a great 60 minutes.”

Oilers add a Connor, need a D

Meanwhile, the Edmonton Oilers play their first home game in about a month. Not since the loss to the Leafs on Feb. 3 have Oilers fans been able to watch their team in person.
But consistency has been elusive. Overall, the Oilers have lost five of their last six games, and just scored 17 goals on a three-game road trip, only to win once and end Jim Hillier’s career in Los Angeles.
Defensive structure – not just for a sequence, not just for a period – eludes them, as they’ve allowed the most goals in the NHL in their last 10 games. 
Enter Connor Murphy, whom the Oilers acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday, whose bread and butter is stops and sandpaper. Murphy, however, won’t lace up the skates tonight, expected to arrive in Edmonton late in the afternoon.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, meanwhile, skated different pairs at practice before the deal was finalized, with Walman-Bouchard, Nurse-Ekholm, and Ekholm-Stastney together.
The Murphy addition comes along with Josh Samanski likely surviving the salary cap gymnastics and is really intended to play with the Oilers, with Isaac Howard going right back down. All cap machinations from the team with spreadsheets in the front office.
Before the trade happened, GM Stan Bowman spoke for 20 minutes to the media. While he was coy about what trades could come, he didn’t absolve the team from poor defensive play.
“The biggest way we’re going to be a better team is that – we got a lot of good players here, and they’re talented. It’s a talented group. I think there’s more from within,” said Bowman.
It’s high time. The Oilers officially slipped into the eighth spot in the Western Conference on Monday night as the Kraken snapped the Hurricanes’ 12-game point streak in a 2-1 win to take third spot in the Pacific. Nashville and Los Angeles both lost in regulation.
The Oilers play twice this week at home, and this will be the last time before the trade deadline on Friday.

Ullmark back to form?

Other teams are exceeding the Oilers’ desire to play a two-way game as of late. For Ottawa, so much of what plagued them early in the season was one of the worst save percentage runs in the modern era of the NHL.
At one point, they were close to the expansion Senators’ level.
While Tkachuk’s drama has stolen the spotlight, the controversy surrounding goaltender Linus Ullmark just weeks ago was ugly, while he was away on mental health leave.
The former Vezina Trophy winner did return and has been really good since: 3-0-1, .918 save percentage, 1.75 goals against average. Those numbers from Ullmark are much closer to his career averages. He will be the biggest factor if the team can threaten a run. 
Leon Draisaitl’s German teammate Tim Stützle has been fighting illness since returning from Milano, finally practicing on Monday. But he still played on Saturday, and even extended his point streak to nine games, accruing 12 points in that span. He’s the team leader in points with 63. 

Notes:

  • OTT record: 29-22-8. EDM record: 29-24-8. Eerily similar. 
  • Despite where they sit in the standings, insider Elliotte Friedman believes the Sens will be busy at the deadline, saying they, “think they are better than their record indicates.”
  • As if another Tkachuk needed to weigh in, father Keith thinks the team needs to add at the deadline too. In conversation with the Missin’ Curfew podcast recently, he said, “I think Ottawa has to be in a position to be a buyer, to help these guys out, to get them some more help. And that’s what I expect from them. And I expect them to be in the playoffs.” Sound like a threat? Brady’s contract expires in 2028.
  • Drake Batherson is coming off of a two-goal game, notching his 21st of the season and 51st point. This is his fourth straight 20-goal season.
  • David Perron hasn’t played since Jan. 20 due to a sports hernia.
  • Mattias Janmark is expected to have season-ending shoulder surgery soon.
  • Despite being 23rd in the league in goals against, averaging 3.19, the Senators all the fewest shots on goal per game, just 24.4.
  • Edmonton again could have its way with the Senators PK. OTT is just 73.1 per cent.
  • These two teams are top-four in the league in faceoff win percentage. OTT is third at 54.8 per cent, EDM is fourth at 52.8.
  • Tristan Jarry is expected to start, but I’ve seen no official decision. Jarry hasn’t played since being pulled after allowing five goals against the Anaheim Ducks last Wednesday, dropping his save percentage with the Oilers to .863.
  • The Oilers defeated the Sens 3-2 in overtime back on Oct. 21, thanks to a Jake Walman blast. If he does stay up, Isaac Howard scored his first career NHL goal in that game.
  • Edmonton has won six of their last seven vs. Ottawa.
Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and has been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, he also collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues.

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