Spence scores his first with Senators as father looks on

OTTAWA – Jordan Spence couldn’t have picked a better time to score his first of the season.

With the Ottawa Senators hosting the father’s trip, Adam Spence had the opportunity to see his son score his first goal as a member of the Ottawa Senators and first of the season.

With just nine NHL goals to his credit and having spent the first four years of his career in Los Angeles, the younger Spence believes this is the first NHL goal his father will have seen in person making it that much more special.

“It felt really good,” admitted Spence. “I think I’ve had good chances throughout the seven games that I had, especially in the first game, and, you know, obviously putting that in felt really good.”

The 24-year-old, acquired in a trade at the NHL Entry Draft, has been in and out of the lineup but has made the most of his opportunities.

In just his seventh game of the season, Spence started the night paired with Tyler Kleven before being moved up alongside Thomas Chabot, finishing with a season-high 20:01 of ice time.

Spence scored on his first shift with Chabot and went on to play the remainder of the game by his side.

Head coach Travis Green gave credit to assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner for the change. Green said he felt some of the pairings were struggling after the first period and Baumgartner made the switch and it paid off. 

Chabot said he felt the transition was seamless and the pair did well and credited Spence for his play.

“The poise he has, the vision, the hockey sense he’s got is amazing,” Chabot said. 

Being in and out of the lineup has its challenges and Spence admitted it’s not always easy.

“It gets to you mentally sometimes, but, you know, you’ve just to take that aside and just focus on yourself every day when you come into the rink,” Spence said.

“Either you’re playing or not. I just want to go out there and practise and even at the gym to just improve on my game and that’s what I have to do. I just have to have a positive mindset every day.”

Like most players Spence wants to be in the lineup every game. The Senators currently carry seven defencemen and Spence and Nikolas Matinpalo are each fighting for opportunities.

To this point Green seems to be making decisions based on the opponent and what he’s looking for as far as matchups. Spence, listed at five-foot-11 and 188 pounds is on the lighter side of the six-foot-three, 213-pound Matinpalo.

At the end of the day Spence says he just wants to make the right play and if an opportunity for physicality presents itself, he won’t shy away.

“You know, I’m not a big guy, but if the hits there I’m gonna hit,” he said. “And I’ve been like that ever since I was up in the NHL.”

With his father, who calls Prince Edward Island home, here until next Sunday he would love to have the opportunity to play a few more games with his personal cheering squad on hand.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2025.