Tkachuk, Ullmark lead Senators to 4-1 win over Devils

OTTAWA — In his first game in 35 days, Linus Ullmark made 26 saves to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.

Ullmark was making his first start since taking personal leave on Dec. 28.

Brady Tkachuk, Dylan Cozens, Tim Stutzle and Shane Pinto each scored. The Senators (26-21-7) are riding a three-game winning streak with three games remaining before the Olympic break. Tkachuk also had two assists.

Timo Meier scored the lone goal for the Devils (28-25-2), while Jake Allen stopped 30 shots.

Tied 1-1 Cozens gave the Senators — playing their final home game before the break — the lead scoring a power-play goal 37 seconds into the third period.

New Jersey believed it had tied the game with a Connor Brown power-play goal with 3:58 remaining, but after a review the goal was disallowed due to a hand pass.

Less than two minutes later Stutzle scored to provide the insurance marker and Pinto added an empty-net goal.

The game remained tied 1-1 after 40 minutes.

Ullmark stopped Nico Hischier from in close and made a big glove save on Dougie Hamilton, while Allen was equal to the task stopping Stutzle and Fabian Zetterlund.

Ullmark was tested early in the game and made a couple saves on Brown and Cody Glass to settle in.

Ottawa opened the scoring on the power play. Down low Drake Batherson spotted Tkachuk in the faceoff circle and the captain wristed a shot under Allen’s left pad for his 14th of the season.

The Devils tied the game late in the period when Glass won a battle for the puck and backhanded a pass from behind the net to Meier who one-timed it past Ullmark.

Ottawa’s Thomas Chabot left the game in the third period and did not return for precautionary reasons. The Devils were without Jack Hughes, who is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

TAKEAWAYS

Senators: Ottawa’s special teams came up big with two power-play goals and killed five penalties.

Devils: New Jersey’s power play failed to produce in five opportunities.

KEY MOMENT

Retired NFL quarterback Eli Manning was at the Senators game and presented a fan a gift certificate for best quarterback celebration as part of an in-game promotion.

KEY STAT

Cozens’ power-play goal was his 100th career goal.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

Senators: Visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2026.