By Canadian Press

Merilainen comes up big in Senators’ crease, again

Jan 12, 2025 | 7:54 PM

OTTAWA — At 186 pounds, Leevi Merilainen may not be the most physically imposing goalie, but his recent composure and poise have provided the Ottawa Senators with plenty of confidence.

The quiet Finnish goaltender has been a pleasant surprise for the Senators (21-18-3) as they look to stay the course while starter Linus Ullmark remains sidelined with a back injury.

Merilainen is 4-2-0 through six games, with a .913 save percentage. Sunday, the 22-year-old was instrumental in leading the Senators to a 3-2 win over the red-hot Dallas Stars.

The Stars (27-14-1) came in riding a seven-game winning streak and Merilainen held them off for most of the game. Evgenii Dadonov was able to make it a one-goal game scoring a power-play goal with 52.7 seconds remaining.

The night before, Merilainen posted a 29-save performance in a 5-0 win against Pittsburgh for his first career shutout and was given the back-to-back assignment for his efforts. This marked Merilainen’s first home game and he was asked how it felt to play in front of the home fans.

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“Almost even better to finally play at home and get a win here,” he said. “Of course, the fans were on our side so that’s one thing that, yeah, that was fun.”

The Senators have been getting solid contributions from the players they’ve needed to lean on from the American Hockey League while they deal with injuries.

“I’ve got to give those guys credit,” said Ottawa coach Travis Green. “They’ve all come in and done a great job for us. You learn as you go along, as a coach that you’ve got to put some faith in the players that are coming up, and we’ve tried to do that.

“Give them minutes when you deserve it. They’ve done a good job.”

Matthew Highmore’s early third-period goal proved to be the winner. Highmore was recalled from the AHL’s Belleville Senators on Friday.

“Yeah, listen, all I want to do is help the team and be part of wins. Big win for the group tonight,” said Highmore. “A lot of fun out there.”

The goal was Highmore’s first since April 21, 2022, when he was a member of the Vancouver Canucks.

Highmore has seen firsthand what Merilainen is capable of with the two of them playing for the AHL Belleville Senators.

“Leevi has been tremendous,” said Highmore. “From the time that I met him last year in Belleville, until, you know, the last two games up here with him, he’s been a spectacular rock back there, and just a guy that competes really hard and really happy to see his success.

“When you know him, his demeanour is really calm. He’s a confident guy, believes in himself and I think that shows.”

Both teams were playing the back half of back-to-backs and while the Stars got the early jump with Jason Robertson opening the scoring early in the first, the Senators seemed to get better as the game progressed.

“I liked our first period,” said Stars coach Pete DeBoer. “Thought we played really well. I thought they upped their intensity and physicality in the second, and I thought we didn’t go with them.”

Josh Norris of the Senators tied the game early in the second taking a pass from Drake Batherson and scoring from mid-air for his first in six games. Ottawa took the lead 39 seconds later when Casey DeSmith was caught out of position providing Tim Stutzle lots of room for his 14th of the season. DeSmith made 25 saves.

“They came out playing better than we did,” said Dallas forward Wyatt Johnson. “A little bit of everything; winning more battles, some turnovers for us. Such a hard league to win in and you need to show up every period, especially the starts of periods because that’s when you can really grab momentum.

“You’ve got to be able to bring it for a full 60 minutes pretty much to win.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 12, 2025.

Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press

<!– Photo: 168b360748cf0e2d431bb6e25dbed99f9e9bbb9b99f1e1beb1a09be1ea2f197b.jpg, Caption:

Ottawa Senators goaltender Leevi Merilainen (1) keeps an eye on the rebound after a save as teammate Thomas Chabot (72) checks Dallas Stars’ Roope Hintz (24) at the crease during third period NHL hockey action in Ottawa, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

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