Leevi Merilainen notched 30 saves for his first career shutout and Shane Pinto scored twice in the Ottawa Senators’ 5-0 win over the host Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.
Tyler Kleven, Drake Batherson and Tim Stutzle added goals and Claude Giroux had three assists for the Senators, who snapped an 0-3-1 skid.
Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 12 of 17 shots before being replaced by Tristan Jarry 7:06 into the second period. Jarry made five saves for the Penguins, who are 1-2-3 in their last six.
Ottawa led 3-0 after the first period.
The Senators scored on their first two shots. Kleven’s shot from the point deflected off the stick of the Penguins’ Noel Acciari at 3:16. Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan challenged goaltender interference but the goal was upheld.
That meant a two-minute delay of game penalty, and Pinto capitalized with two seconds left on the power play on a one-timer from the top inside edge of the right circle for his first goal of the contest.
Pinto’s short-handed goal with 56 seconds left in the first made it 3-0. He beat Nedeljkovic from the right circle on a two-on-one rush.
Batherson made it 4-0 with a power-play goal 41 seconds into the second period and Stutzle scored 7:06 into the middle period.
There was a near line brawl about seven minutes into a penalty-filled opening period that began with an altercation between the Senators’ Nick Cousins and the Penguins’ Michael Bunting. They each received double minor penalties for roughing, while Pittsburgh’s P.O. Joseph and Ottawa’s Zack Ostapchuk each got a minor for roughing. It was the first of several scrums in the period.
Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin missed his third game with an upper-body injury.
–Field Level Media
Nestor Cortes bounced back from a historically bad start with six innings of one-hit ball, combining with three relievers to pace the Milwaukee Brewers to a 1-0 victory over the…
Shaedon Sharpe, a native of London, Ontario, matched his career best with 36 points and the visiting Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Toronto Raptors 112-103 on Thursday night. The Trail…
Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki each registered a goal and an assist as the Montreal Canadiens beat the visiting Boston Bruins 4-1 on Thursday. Montreal (36-30-9, 81 points) never looked…
Shaedon Sharpe has big night in native Canada as Blazers top Raptors
Canadiens gain rare win over Bruins, build wild-card lead
Senators hold off Lightning, inch closer to playoff berth
Paolo Banchero’s big performance sends Magic past Wizards