Meriläinen Earns Second Shutout in 2-0 win over Isles

As the old expression goes: they don't ask how, they just ask how many. Tonight the Ottawa Senators were far from dominant, but their goalie was slightly more perfect and it earned them the win. Leevi Meriläinen made his third-straight start and made 24 saves for his second shutout in three games, while former Sens-goalie-of-the-future Marcus Högberg made his third start of the season, and first versus his former team, posting 23 saves. Adam Gaudette had the only goal against a goalie, and Jake Sanderson played a career-high 31:46 after Thomas Chabot left in the first period after taking a puck to the face.

The Sens seemingly opened the scoring early in the first with Gaudette getting his first goal in 16 games. However, the Islanders challenged for goalie interference, and, after a 4+ minute review, the refs finally decided to overturn it. I'm not sure what Gaudette could've done with Noah Dobson bulldozing him into Marcus Högberg, but goalie interference has been confusing as hell this year (and every year?!) so I guess it's not unexpected. Take a look and decide for yourself:

That did it for the scoring, and most of the action, in the first. The Sens managed a few dangerous chances, particularly for Tim Stützle and Ridly Greig, but they seemed to have trouble keeping their shots below the crossbar. For the Isles' part, they didn't generate any great chances whatsoever. They had a couple pucks leak through Leevi Meriläinen, but he managed to cover one that trickled in behind and another just squeaked wide, preserving the scoreless first period. Zack MacEwen decided to point out that he was back in the lineup by squaring off against Matt Martin in a first period fight.

In bad news, Thomas Chabot took a puck to the face under the visor and left the ice with a lot of blood flowing. He didn't return, though the team said it was for precautionary reasons, so hopefully he's alright by next game.

Things got worse as early in the period Josh Norris took a shot off the inside of his foot and couldn't put any weight on it, having to hobble off the ice then be helped down the tunnel. Thankfully for Ottawa, he was back on the bench two minutes later. The Islanders did their best to choke the life out of the game, but the Sens did eventually get on the board, with Gaudette's second of the game actually counting – this time an impressive tip on a Tyler Kleven point shot.

The Isles earned the game's first powerplay, but that PP looked every bit like a unit that's converting at a 10.6% clip on the season and is 0 for their last 24. Unfortunately, the Isles did take over momentum and proceeded to get the final 7 shots of the period, but they couldn't score.

It took about five minutes or so, but the Sens finally woke up in the third period and decided that maybe they should start getting some shots again. It was good to see because it looked at the start of the frame like their plan was to turtle with 5 D, which isn't a great notion when up by 1 with a full period to go. Ottawa even got a powerplay of their own when Artem Zub forced Noah Dobson into a holding penalty, but couldn't solve Högberg, who has finally decided to live up to all the potential I saw in him a decade (!) ago. The Batherson-Norris-Tkachuk line generated chances, and Greig also got a great chance off of a drop pass when Nick Jensen (!!) busted in alone, but nothing was going in. Patrick Roy didn't pull a Patrick Roy, waiting until there were under 3 minutes left before he lifted the goalie for an extra attacker, but Ottawa maintained possession and control, and eventually got the insurance empty-netter. A forcheck forced a turnover, they actually got a little bit of almost a cycle going in the offensive zone on the empty net, and then Zub unloaded a slapshot into the empty cage. I don't normally share empty net goal replays, but this one was really funny.

That did it for the game, with the Sens earning a hard-fought two points. Unfortunately, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Boston Bruins both prevailed, so the Sens remain outside of the playoffs looking in. However, Detroit and Pittsburgh both lost, so the Sens put some space between them and the hangers-on. Next game is Thursday, back at home against the red-hot Washington Capitals.

Thoughts:

• This was arguably Kleven's best game in the NHL. With the Chabot injury, he was pressed into a lot of action, playing 22:42, the first time in his career over 20 minutes. He also got an assist from a well-placed point shot and was credited with 4 blocks, at least 2 of which stuck out in my mind as key ones. You love to see a guy rise to the occasion when he's forced into extra minutes because of injury.
• Tim Stützle was buzzing all night. Though he didn't show up on the scoresheet, he had a very good game in my mind, especially since he gets Giroux + odds and ends on his line, while the Batherson-Norris-Tkachuk (who looked great in their own right) trio stacks the talent.
• Sanderson played a career high as well and looked good. One of my favourite moments was, when the Sens had a powerplay and a chance to ice it, he played the full 2 minutes of the PP because Chabot was hurt. You'd think he might take the chance to rest given how much he was gonna get leaned on in the final 9 minutes, but no, he just took on the extra ice time, no worries.
• Meriläinen looks quite poised to me. What stands out to me is his glove hand. While many goalies do the Statue of Liberty windmill when making a big save, he hardly seems to have any recoil at all. He just casually plucks the puck out of the air through traffic and holds onto it like it wasn't just flying in at 120 km/h.
• I'm happy for Högberg if he's found his game. He showed a lot of promise in the SHL, but he looked like he just wasn't ready when he got forced into action for the Sens because of injuries / because Matt Murray also wasn't good. Amazingly he came into this game with a .950 save percentage and a 1.50 GAA, and both of those improved despite the loss.
• A win is a win, but the Sens can't get just 24 shots on goal against the second-worst team in the league. A game like they played tonight won't cut it against an actually good team like the Capitals. At least they showed up and beat a team they should've beaten.

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