The Ottawa Senators are back on the road with their only trip at UBS Arena for their third and final meeting of the season against the New York Islanders. The Isles have claimed the season series over the Sens, as both games in Ottawa have resulted in 4-2 losses.
Leevi Merilainen had a tremendous weekend and has been a recommenced NHL Fantasy pickup by their social media crew as he helped his Ottawa Senators earned four of a possible four points in a successful back to back winning weekend for the franchise with wins against Pittsburgh and Dallas.
G41 v Pittsburgh Penguins — Playoff Battle
Period I
Three minutes into the game, Tyler Kleven opened the scoring with what would stand as the eventual game winning goal for his second career goal and of the season from Claude Giroux and Adam Gaudette.
Shane Pinto scored two unanswered goals for the visiting Senators via unique special teams.
Less than two minutes after the initial Kleven winner, Pinto doubled the visitor lead on the powerplay for his seventh goal of the season from Giroux and Thomas Chabot.
In the final minute of the first, Pinto doubled his goal total short handed for his eighth this year from the recently extended Ridly Greig.
Period II
Special teams reign supreme for the Senators as Drake Batherson capitalized on the late Crosby slash for his 14th of the campaign with 41 seconds removed from the second period. Josh Norris and Jake Sanderson joined the production with apples.
The bleeding stopped for the Penguins’ with the Tim Stützle with his 13th goal scored this season from Giroux and Jensen.
Period III
No goals scored and penalties taken. Three shots for the visiting Senators; Pittsburgh had 10 shots for Merilainen’s first career shutout.
Goaltenders
Alex Nedjelkovic allowed five goals on 17 shots faced for a 0.706 save percentage. Tristan Jarry saved all 5 shots.
Leevi Merilainen disallowed all 29 shot attempts by the home Penguins.
Players to Watch
Pittsburgh — Erik Karlsson was a -2 in 23:45TOI with 4 shots and 2 giveaways.
Ottawa — Claude Giroux — three primary assists to get to 18 on the season.
Sens’ Three Stars of the Game
1. Shane Pinto — 2 goals (8)
2. Claude Giroux — 3 assists (18)
3. Tyler Kleven — GWG (2)
OTT PG 42 v Dallas Stars — Streak Swap
The Ottawa Senators extend their winning streak to two consecutive games while snapping the seven game winning streak of the Dallas Stars by the final score of 3-2 in regulation.
Period I
Dallas opened the scoring on the road first with a Robertson goal for his 11th of the year from Roope Hintz and Evgenii Dadonov.
Period II
The Senators lit the lamp twice in a 39 second span from forwards Josh Norris and Tim Stützle.
Norris evened the game at one for his 15th of the year from Drake Batherson and Nick Jensen.
Stützle got the go ahead for his 14th of the year from Jake Sanderson and Claude Giroux.
Period III
Matthew Highmore scored the third unanswered Sens’ goal, which became the eventual game winner. His first goal as a Senator was assisted by Nick Cousins and Shane Pinto.
Dadonov closed the scoring for the visitors in his former team on the powerplay. The ex-Senators’ winger had his 12th of the season from the Zub delay of game. Colin Blackwell and Logan Stankoven had the apples.
Goaltenders
Casey DeSmith allowed three goals on 27 shots against from the home team for a 0.889 save percentage.
Levi Merilainen had both wins on the weekend for the Senators, this effort backstopped 24 of 26 visiting shots for a 0.923 save percentage.
Sens’ Three Stars of the Game
1. Matthew Highmore — GWG; first as Sen
2. Tim Stützle — goal (14)
3. Leevi Merilainen — W; 92.3 SV%
Merilainen had a TSN interview with the big takeaway being
Just happy to be here
The 2020 third round was 2-0-0 with a shutout and 0.963 in the two games with 53 saves on 55 shots against. His efforts have brought the Senators within one of the second wild card and two from first with games in hand.
Ullmark is making progress and is skating on his own away from the club; belief is he may return early.
Rumor mill swirling this morning with Klingberg as a fit for the Senators, Oilers, or Leafs per Darren Dreger of TSN. There is also a belief by Chris Johnston of the Athletic that the Senators may have the pieces to complete an Elias Pettersson trade with the Vancouver Canucks.
Game Preview
The Islanders are on a three game win streak; the Senators are looking for a three game win streak. The Isles have the worst special teams in the league. They also have the 26th ranked offense.
Barzal has a goal and five assists in his last five games; Andres Lee has three goals in his last five. Isaiah George and Ilya Sorokin are back in the lineup for the Islanders; former Senators’ goalie Marcus Hogberg is in the starting crease.
Claude Giroux had four assists in the two games over the weekend; Tim Stützle and Shane Pinto each had two goals over the weekend. Leevi Merilainen is starting for the third straight game.
Projected Lineups
New York Islanders
Anders Lee -- Brock Nelson -- Mathew Barzal
Maxim Tsyplakov -- Bo Horvat -- Kyle Palmieri
Anthony Duclair -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Casey Cizikas
Matt Martin -- Kyle MacLean -- Pierre Engvall
Adam Pelech -- Ryan Pulock
Isaiah George -- Noah Dobson
Dennis Cholowski -- Scott Mayfield
Marcus Hogberg
Ilya Sorokin
Scratched: None
Injured: Semyon Varlamov (lower body), Mike Reilly (heart surgery), Simon Holmstrom (upper body), Hudson Fasching (upper body), Alexander Romanov (upper body)
Ottawa Senators
Brady Tkachuk -- Josh Norris -- Drake Batherson
Claude Giroux -- Tim Stutzle -- Adam Gaudette
Nick Cousins -- Shane Pinto -- Ridly Greig
Matthew Highmore-- Zack Ostapchuk -- Zack MacEwen
Jake Sanderson -- Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot -- Nick Jensen
Tyler Kleven -- Nikolas Matinpalo
Leevi Merilainen
Anton Forsberg
Scratched: Cole Reinhardt, Maxence Guenette
Injured: Linus Ullmark (back), Travis Hamonic (lower body), Jacob Bernard-Docker (high ankle sprain), Michael Amadio (concussion), David Perron (upper body), Noah Gregor (lower body)
Players to Watch
Isles — Brock Nelson — the trade rumors are swirling around him and Noah Dobson when it comes to the Canucks. Nelson is a pending UFA with 25 points in 42 games.
Sens — Matthew Highmore — had first goal with club on Sunday; will that momentum carry over?
Predicted Final Score
NYI - 4
OTT - 5
Gambling Corner
Draft Kings have the Islanders at a -120 favorite to the Senators’ +100.
How to Watch
RDS2 and TSN5 in Canada; MSGSN in the States.
More to come…
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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