Leevi Merilainen authored his second shutout in three starts Tuesday night, recording 24 saves to lead the visiting Ottawa Senators to a 2-0 win over the New York Islanders in Elmont, N.Y.
Ottawa has won three straight games — all started by Merilainen. The Finnish netminder stopped all 29 shots he faced Saturday in the Senators’ 5-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Adam Gaudette scored in the second and Artem Zub had an empty-netter in the third for the Senators, who are one point out of the second wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Goalie Marcus Hogberg, who made his second straight start with Ilya Sorokin sidelined by an illness, recorded 25 saves as the Islanders had their season-high three-game winning streak snapped. New York is in last place in the Metropolitan Division and in 15th place in the Eastern Conference.
Gaudette appeared to give the Senators the 1-0 lead just 1:42 in when Claude Giroux’s shot bounced off him and trickled past Hogberg. However, the Islanders challenged the play and the goal was taken off the board due to goalie interference by Gaudette, who crashed into Hogberg.
Gaudette finally snapped the scoreless tie 8:42 into the second period to end a sequence that began with Hogberg turning back a shot by Brady Tkachuk. The Senators retained possession and worked the puck around to Tyler Kleven, whose shot from the slot glanced off Gaudette’s stick as he jostled for position in front of Hogberg.
The Islanders outshot the Senators 9-7 in the second and continued controlling the pace early in the third. Kyle Palmieri couldn’t get the puck on his stick for a potential point-blank rebound opportunity after Merilainen turned aside a shot by Pulock a little over four minutes into the period.
The Senators followed with 11 unanswered shots over seven minutes but couldn’t double the lead. The Islanders had three of the next four shots and pulled Hogberg with about three minutes left, but Merilainen gloved Brock Nelson’s shot with 1:53 left before Zub scored 29 seconds later.
–Field Level Media
