Senators get off to a strong start despite being battered by injuries to key players

After a tumultuous summer that included trading captain Brady Tkachuk, the Ottawa Senators started the season without winger Andre Burakovsky, lost top defenseman Jake Sanderson to injury six shifts into opening night and won't have forward William Eklund for the next two months after he underwent surgery to repair torn tendons in his left ankle.

“I feel like every game we have somebody going down,” leading scorer Tim Stützle said.

Ottawa has dressed 24 skaters — only Philadelphia has more — and already piled up more than 40 man-games lost to injury. Yet the Senators have won six of their first nine games to get the post-Tkachuk era off to a strong start.

“It’s been a lot,” coach Travis Green said. “But it’s a pretty focused group, a pretty determined group, and we’ve never been a team to talk about injuries or let it deter what we’re all about.”

Forward Shane Pinto pointed to positivity throughout the locker room. There are plenty of good vibes in Canada's capital as a result.

“If we don't have our game for a little bit of a stretch, I think we find it,” Pinto said. "It's been pretty consistent. And, obviously, Linus has been pretty good.”

Linus Ullmark has been in net for all six victories. He ranks second in the NHL with a 1.33 goals-against average and .945 save percentage among goaltenders with at least four appearances.

The 33-year-old from Sweden has indeed been pretty good. He just doesn't want to talk about it.

“I don’t really care about my start of the season,” Ullmark said last week after stopping 29 of 30 shots to beat New Jersey. “I think it’s good that we guys have won a whole lot of games now starting off the season. It brings a lot of confidence to our game.”

Depth has been tested and come through, especially on the blue line, which relies on 21-year-olds Carter Yakemchuk and Hoyt Stanley to play significant minutes in the absences of Sanderson, Artem Zub and Nikolas Matinpalo.

“You’ve got to have young players that can go into the lineup and play,” Green said. “Hoyt Stanley’s come a long way from training camp. Probably going into the year, didn’t expect him to be ready to play games, but he’s been fast-tracked by himself playing well and injuries.”

Green also deserves credit. The Senators made the playoffs in each of his first two seasons in charge and are again a contender.

On Monday, he was rewarded with an extension that keeps him under contract through the 2030-31 NHL season.

“When I was in the search to identify our head coach two years ago, it was clear to me that Travis had the qualities to move our team forward," general manager Steve Staios said in a statement announcing the agreements with Green and multiple assistants. "I have watched him implement systems and structures that have reinforced my belief in his coaching abilities. We share the same vision and philosophy and are confident we can continue to build on our team.”

Stützle, who began the week tied for 11th in the league with 12 points, said he and his teammates trust the inexperienced players who are entering the lineup. The ability to plug and play is a credit to Green and his staff's game plan and systems.

“There’s going to be mistakes out there by every single guy, but I think that we’ve done a good job kind of bailing each other out and helping each other,” Stützle said. “If we are structured, there’s not a lot a plays going to the inside. I think it’s good for us if we play detailed, and that can happen — mistakes out there — but we kind of cover them up.”

Part of making up for Tkachuk’s departure included trading for Eklund in a deal with San Jose and acquiring Burakovsky from Chicago. But much of the core, including new captain Thomas Chabot, has been together for quite some time and can draw from recent success.

“I think we built on it last year: just kind of being hard to play against,” Pinto said. “This year, we hit the ground running with it. We've just got to keep building on it.”

Ullmark praised Staios for accumulating talent since taking over control of hockey operations nearly three years ago, including prospects who have been pressed into duty sooner than expected and made this hot start possible.

"Once they get their chance, they take them," Ullmark said. “It is going to be interesting to see going forward, as well, if we can keep this level up for the whole season.”

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Ottawa Senators' Tim Stutzle (18) celebrates his goal against the Nashville Predators during second period of an NHL hockey game in Ottawa, Ontario, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (Keito Newman/The Canadian Press via AP)

Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark makes a save during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J., Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Ottawa Senators' Thomas Chabot, right, celebrates a goal by teammate Tim Stützle during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J., Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Ottawa Senators' Linus Ullmark walks to the ice before an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Ottawa Senators' Shane Pinto (12), second from right, celebrates his goal with teammates during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J., Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Six games into a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations, the Los Angeles Rams are having existential crises instead.

The Rams (2-4) have played significantly better than their record by many statistical measures, but they've also failed at their biggest moments. Their injuries are already mounting, and their big-picture margin for error has almost vanished halfway through October.

It's enough to make Sean McVay philosophical after his Rams' latest monumental failure in a game they had no business losing.

“We’re going to continue to fight,” McVay said Monday after LA's embarrassing 18-16 home loss to the Arizona Cardinals. “We’re going to continue to swing. These moments force you to learn a lot about yourself and about the people around you.”

McVay didn't disagree with the notion that the Rams might have still been affected by their heartbreaking overtime loss to the Buffalo Bills six days earlier while they stumbled and bumbled their way through Sunday's two-point loss to a rebuilding NFC West rival.

The veteran coach prides himself on building a positive working environment for his players, so the Rams' pervading absence of passion or poise hits him personally.

“I think the overall energy, the edge and the consistent way that we expect to be able to play, we could do a better job of that,” McVay said. “I feel tremendously responsible. I think that’s one of your jobs as a coach is to try to get your group as ready to go and be able to have that energy and that vibe. There were some things, just based on my expectations for the group, and I think that they would agree, that that was lacking.”

To make this predicament even worse, the Rams' latest defeat came packaged with several disquieting injuries.

Star receiver Davante Adams (hamstring) is out for at least six weeks and quite possibly more, while defensive tackle Poona Ford (triceps) is out for the season and defensive tackle Kobie Turner (groin) will miss a few games on injured reserve.

Even if McVay rights the Rams' emotional ship, even if Matthew Stafford rediscovers the swashbuckling flair with which he won an MVP award last season, and even if the Rams overcome their mounting injury woes, the math is simple: They can't afford to have many more down weeks if they hope even to make the playoffs, let alone contend for a title.

That's not what this supposed super team expected a mere six weeks ago — but nothing gets McVay's full attention like a complicated obstacle.

“This has presented a bunch of different challenges, but that’s what you sign up for,” he said. “You don’t just sign up for all the good moments. What makes it worth it is because it is hard. This is a good, challenging moment, and this is where we’re going to lean in.”

The LA defense didn't underperform against the undertalented Cardinals, holding them to 4.8 yards per play and allowing no touchdowns on five trips inside the red zone despite a huge time of possession disparity caused by the Rams offense's ineptitude.

An offense run by a coach of McVay's stature should not struggle in as many basic aspects as this one did Sunday — and much of that awfulness was due to McVay's erratic play-calling and Stafford's inconsistent decisions. All-Pro receiver Puka Nacua, who caught 17 passes last week, somehow received only three targets against Arizona before the Rams' desperate final drive.

Kyren Williams appeared to express postgame frustration with his lack of snaps down the stretch against Arizona, but McVay said the running back came to him later and smoothed it over, saying he was just emotional after a loss. Williams is averaging 4.9 yards per carry, and he has been one of the league's top pass-catching running backs. If he could break more chunk-yardage plays, he would be having a monster season.

The pass rush expected from the Rams’ loaded defensive front has not materialized in Myles Garrett’s absence. Los Angeles has only eight sacks, second fewest in the NFL, after failing to drop the eminently sackable Jacoby Brissett on Sunday. The Rams are posting a strong quarterback pressure rate, but they need more finishes.

Along with the losses of Adams, Turner and Ford, the Rams will have their third kicker in three games this week after Blake Grupe's season-ending knee injury, which occurred because LA's abysmal special teams coverage unit forced the 5-foot-7 Grupe to make a tackle. Garrett is also not returning to practice this week, meaning he will miss his sixth straight game.

9 — The Rams' combined margin of defeat in their three most recent losses, with two decided in the final seconds of regulation and the third in overtime.

There's so much to do before the Rams head to Vegas: Identify a new starting receiver to replace Adams, whether internally or through trade; sign a kicker and instruct him to show caution in making tackles, no matter how badly the players in front of him are doing their jobs; decide who will play extra snaps on the defensive line to make up for the holes left by Ford and Turner.

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Los Angeles Rams tight end Tyler Higbee, left, dives forward in front of Arizona Cardinals cornerback Max Melton during the second half of an NFL football game in Inglewood, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, left, has his face mask grabbed by Arizona Cardinals linebacker Jack Gibbens during the second half of an NFL football game in Inglewood, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay speaks at a news conference after an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals in Inglewood, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) reacts toward teammates during the second half of an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals in Inglewood, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)