Senators James Reimer Blanks Vancouver For A Shutout

James Reimer played absolutely fantastically for the Senators in a 2-0 shutout victory over the Vancouver Canucks. While he only faced a total of 16 shots, many of those opportunities were grade-A chances. As noted by Bruce Garrioch on X (formerly Twitter), this was Reimer’s first shutout of the season and first shutout since April 8, 2025.

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This victory comes after news broke that Jake Sanderson would be week-to-week with an upper-body injury.

Ottawa signed Reimer, 37, to a cheap one-year contract on January 12, 2026. This was after Linus Ullmark took a leave of absence, and Leevi Merilainen and Mads Sogaard both proved unable to perform at an acceptable level in net during that time. His performance after the signing has been a bright spot for the Senators’ goaltending this season.

Ullmark and Reimer Tandem Looking Solid

The Senators will hope the goaltending tandem of Linus Ullmark and James Reimer can help them secure a playoff spot.

So far this season, the Ottawa Senators rank near the bottom of the league in team save percentage but sit 20th in team goals-against average. The reason for this contrast is that head coach Travis Green has implemented a heavy shot-suppression system. As a result, opposing teams generate fewer chances overall, but the opportunities they do get tend to be high-quality scoring chances.

In just eight games this season, Reimer has a save percentage of 0.882, but has a goals against average of 2.53. While the save percentage makes his stats look worse than they are, the 2.53 goals against average is a really good sign.

Meanwhile, since returning, Ullmark has delivered the results the Senators need. He has a 5-0-2 record in the seven games he has played after his return. In these games, Ullmark has allowed an average of just 2.43 goals against. If both Reimer and Ullmark can continue to perform in the remaining 19 games this season for Ottawa, they will have a chance at making the post-season.

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