Sanderson’s OT winner keeps Senators rolling through the West
There is no stopping these Ottawa Senators.
The Senators are the National Hockey League’s hottest team after they extended their winning streak to six straight games with a dramatic 5-4 overtime victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night at Rogers Arena.
Defenceman Jake Sanderson completed a three-point night by scoring the winner only 14 seconds into OT.
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Goaltender Leevi Merilainen picked his first NHL victory with 21 stops while Shane Pinto had a two-goal effort. Josh Norris and Claude Giroux also chipped in with goals.
“We were very resilient. We just stuck to our guns and got the job done,” Sanderson told TSN 1200’s Gord Wilson.
It’s the first time since March 2017 that the Senators have won six consecutive games and that’s the last time this club made the playoffs with only one game left before the holiday break begins.
The Senators did a solid job with timely goals on Vancouver goalie Kevin Lankinen. They had to survive a third-period comeback by the Canucks, who outshot Ottawa 11-2 in the final frame.
A double-minor to Vancouver’s Noah Juulsen for high-sticking Nick Cousins looked like it would be pivotal, but an untimely interference call to Giroux ended that possibility.
Ottawa came into this game with five straight losses to the Canucks and Ottawa’s last win against Vancouver was on April 19, 2022.
The club will have to make changes against the Oilers after winger Michael Amadio left the game in the third following an elbow to the head from Vincent Desharnais.
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Amadio is in concussion protocol and coach Travis Green told Wilson that he’d get a further update when he got on the plane.
The Senators have forward Cole Reinhardt on the trip.
The time finally came for Linus Ullmark to get a rest.
The Senators likely would have preferred to stick with the hot hand, but Merailainen was given his first start of the year, which was also the third start of his NHL career. The 22-year-old Meralinen has a 2.43 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage.
He faced the Carolina Hurricanes in a 3-2 overtime loss on April 4, 2023, and dropped a game to the Florida Panthers 48 hours later. Merilainen came into this game with a 4.23 GAA and a .878 save percentage.
“It’s been so long since I’ve played and I’m just happy to get the first win,” Merilainen said. “I felt really good.”
Meriainen needed help from his friends.
Defenceman Thomas Chabot pulled one off the goal line, which would have tied it up 4-4 in the third. Later, Brock Boeser tied it up with a rebound at 15:08 of the third.
A shorthanded effort by Norris, the club’s third of the season, gave the Senators a 4-3 lead at 15:30 of the second, which was just a great goal to watch.
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That came after Jake DeBrusk had tied it up 3-3 at 13:36 of the period and it was the third goal Merilainen allowed on nine shots.
After Merilainen surrendered two goals late in the first, Pinto restored the lead to 3-2 with his second of the night and fifth in five games at 4:24 of the second.
The first period left fans with mixed emotions.
The Senators got off to the kind of start they wanted even pulled out to a two-goal advantage. But before the buzzer sounded to end the first 20 minutes, the Canucks had battled back to tie it up at 2-2.
Goals by Quinn Hughes and Boeser in a span of 1:38 allowed the Canucks to get back into this one. Hughes shot from the point found its way through Merilainen and he’d want that one back.
That came with only 18 seconds left in the first.
Pinto’s first of the game gave the club a 2-0 lead. He took a perfect feed from Amadio on an odd-man rush and deposited it into an empty net at 16:20 of the first.
“My linemates have been good for me,” Pinto said. “It’s been good to get back on the scoresheet.”
Giroux’s eighth of the year and first in seven games opened the scoring only 1:45 into the first. He tipped a shot from the point by Lankinen and the Senators came into this with a 14-2-0 record when scoring first.
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“I really liked our first period and I liked how we responded in the second,” Green told Wilson. “We knew they going to push late and when Amadio left we got shot on the bench. We found a way.”
Green shifted his lines around and started with the group that finished the Calgary game. That’s because the Senators forwards weren’t good enough and Ullmark saved the game.
Ridly Greig was allowed to play in the top six after a strong effort against the Flames. He hasn’t shown in the past he can maintain a spot in that role but he deserved the opportunity.
That meant Adam Gaudette was moved back to the fourth line. He went into the game without a goal in five games. He did get powerplay time and had two great opportunities in the first six minutes.
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