The Ottawa Senators host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, Nov. 15, for the first time in nearly a year, but there is some familiarity on both sides. Jordan Spence faced his former team for the first time since being traded at the 2025 NHL Draft, while on the other end of the ice, former Senators backup Anton Forsberg started for the Kings.
The two teams entered the game with identical records of 9 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses, were ranked identically in their respective divisions, and had won three of their last four games. Unsurprisingly, the match proved to be a tight affair. Neither the Kings nor the Senators wanted to give the other side a chance to build momentum, so the game was decided by just one goal in the first quarter.
game review
The Kings’ reputation as a stingy road team was on full display in Ottawa, and the Senators struggled early to break through Los Angeles’ incessant attempts to block shots, force turnovers and prevent any sort of scoring opportunity. The Senators didn’t finally get their first shot on goal until just after midway through the first quarter, and despite two power-play opportunities, ended up with just four shots on goal and no goals.
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However, the Senators responded in kind, limiting the Kings to just one more field goal, but it was enough to give Los Angeles the lead. Nearly 10 minutes into the game, Alex Laferriere blocked defender Mikey Anderson’s shot past Senators goalie Linus Ullmark.
The second quarter continued to be a subpar game; Ottawa took six shots to the Kings’ two throughout the game, but Forsberg was unable to make a single shot. Los Angeles prevented the Senators from gaining any space or generating any sustained offensive zone time. Every time the Senators tried to start something, the Kings were ready at the blue line. However, despite the pressure, the Senators had some good chances and were able to control the puck better
One big moment was when Drew Doughty caught Claude Giroux’s shot at the ankle while trying to push a Senators player out of the goalie’s crease. Soon, he was limping back to the bench, visibly in pain. After enduring several minutes of discomfort, he finally walked back to the locker room and announced at halftime that he would not return to the game.
The Senators entered the third quarter with energy and quickly took control of the game, but the Kings remained committed to blocking as many shots and preventing scoring opportunities as possible. That led to some frustration when, about eight minutes into the game, Spence bumped into Phillip Danault and was tripped while trying to get around the journeyman defensive center. Four minutes later, Artem Zub was called upon to high guard Quinton Byfield after his stick hit him high. Byfield tried to force a double minor by showing the referee some blood in his mouth, but the two-minute penalty stood.
In both cases, the Senators expertly eliminated penalties and even had a great short-handed scoring opportunity, but at the last second Tim Stutzler elected to pass the puck to a partially blocked Derek Batherson, and the Senators winger fumbled the ball. Ullmark tied it with two minutes left, and although the Senators once again had their best chance of the entire game, Forsberg held firm and the Kings defense gave up few good chances en route to a 1-0 victory.
