Leevi Merilainen started for the second consecutive day and the 22-year-old rookie made 24 saves to help the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 victory against the visiting Dallas Stars on Sunday afternoon, ending their seven-game winning streak.
Merilainen made 29 saves in a 5-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, earning his first NHL shutout in his sixth start.
Josh Norris and Tim Stutzle scored 39 seconds apart in the second period and Matthew Highmore tallied in the opening minute of the third for the Senators, who have won two in a row following a four-game skid.
Evgenii Dadonov had a goal and an assist, Jason Robertson also scored and Casey DeSmith made 25 saves for the Stars, who also had their nine-game point streak snapped (8-0-1), their longest in three seasons under coach Pete DeBoer.
Robertson scored his 11th goal of the season to give Dallas a 1-0 lead at 4:31 of the first period.
Roope Hintz made a backhand centering pass to a trailing Robertson, who stopped the puck and shot it past Merilainen from the slot.
Norris tied it 1-1 at 3:14 of the second frame.
Drake Batherson brought the puck down the wall in the Dallas zone before saucering a centering pass to Norris, who redirected the puck past DeSmith from out of the air.
Stutzle then gave the Senators a 2-1 lead at 3:53.
Matt Dumba blocked a centering attempt by Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson as he drove to the net, but Sanderson got the puck back, went behind the Stars’ net and centered a pass to Stutzle for the one-timer from the bottom of the right circle.
Hintz appeared to tie it for Dallas at 12:05 of the second while on a power play, but the Senators challenged for offsides and the goal was disallowed following a review.
Highmore scored off a short feed from Nick Cousins 21 seconds into the third to extend the lead to 3-1.
It was Highmore’s first goal with the Senators and first in the NHL since April 21, 2022, when he played for the Vancouver Canucks.
The Senators were called for delay of game after the puck went over the glass with 1:59 left. Dallas pulled DeSmith for the extra attacker, and Dadonov scored on the 6-on-4 to cut it to 3-2 with 53 seconds left before the Senators held on.
–Field Level Media
