Stützle fires Senators to victory

The last league games in the NHL took place on Thursday night into Friday morning, before many professionals headed to Italy for the Olympic Games.

February 06, 2026

From: apa/dpa

Germany's national ice hockey player Tim Stützle is heading to the Olympic Games on a high note. The 24-year-old scored the winning goal for the Ottawa Senators in their last NHL game before departing for Italy. Stützle netted the decisive overtime goal against the Philadelphia Flyers, securing a 2-1 victory and giving his team their fifth win in the last six games.

Stützle finished off a pass from captain Brady Tkachuk just 47 seconds into overtime, beating defenseman Travis Sanheim in the process. The German scored in his fifth straight game and now has 61 points in 57 games. Currently 12th in the Eastern Conference, the Senators still have a chance to make the playoffs.

However, Stützle's focus first is on the Olympic Games. The forward will face Denmark with the German national ice hockey team in their opening match on February 12th.

Matthew Tkachuk (left) and Brandon Hagel (right) let their fists do the talking. © APA / MIKE CARLSON

The Tampa Bay Lightning, meanwhile, headed into the Olympic break with their tenth consecutive home win in the National Hockey League (NHL). They celebrated a 6-1 victory over the Florida Panthers in front of their home crowd on Thursday. The hosts were significantly more efficient in a game with 167 penalty minutes and could rely on goaltender Andrei Vasilevsky, who stopped 33 shots. Nikita Kucherov recorded his tenth consecutive point.

Keywords hockey NHL Ottawa Senators Tim Stützle