Saturday’s crushing 6-5 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens finally revealed what felt inevitable with each passing game: The league’s worst goaltending is finally starting to break the Ottawa Senators.
Jake Sanderson led a 2nd period offensive outburst, assisting on 3 of the Senators’ 4 goals, and added his own goal to make it a 5-3 game midway through the 3rd period, tying a career high for points in a game with 4.
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It was probably the best game of his career. He completely put the team on his back at both ends of the ice.
But instead of sheepishly answering questions from the media about his remarkable performance, the Senators’ star defenseman had to talk about how yet another game that his team deserved to win didn’t go their way.
Goaltender Leevi Meriläinen, making his 10th consecutive start and 11th consecutive appearance for the Senators in just three weeks, was dreadful.
It was his worst performance in the 11-straight games, in which he’s rocking a .847 save percentage. He cost the Senators another game as the team tries to claw back into the playoff race.
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And Sanderson is making headlines for finally showing a glimpse into the mindset of the dressing room through this stretch.
Postgame, he said “Leevi made some good saves, but you know, I think at the end of the day, you gotta make more than 10 saves to win a game.”
It’s the type of quote that makes you want to see the video to see if the player misspoke.
He certainly didn’t. Sanderson was fuming. The silence after that bomb of a quote couldn’t be more telling.
It’s notable because players are usually quick to defend their goaltenders.
Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle had Meriläinen’s back after the loss. Tkachuk said the team needs to do more to help him. Stützle voiced his displeasure that the goaltending would even be brought into question.
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But watch their reactions on the Canadiens’ tying goal.
Those are not players who feel like they need to be better for their goalie. They deserve credit for sticking by their guy, but it’s obviously for show.
It doesn’t mean Sanderson should catch heat for being transparent either.
He doesn’t strike me as the kind of star player who is out of touch with his locker room. He was being as blunt as he could without directly saying it.
Saturday’s loss was just a punctuation mark on an issue that has been simmering all season, and has come to a boil in the new year. The goaltending has been breaking this team’s spirit for weeks.
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And it falls on the front office.
Their negligence to address the most glaring issue on their otherwise impressive roster is making this a lost season in Ottawa.
Despite his putrid numbers, Meriläinen has been overplayed by the Senators. 11 appearances in 21 days is unheard of in today’s NHL, let alone for a developing goaltender who is struggling mightily.
Linus Ullmark’s status is the elephant in the room for this discussion, even though he wasn’t exactly having a Vezina-calibre season before taking personal leave from the team. And his reported attendance at games as early as a week into his leave, coupled with what we’ve watched in the crease in his absence, is strange.
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James Reimer has been dressing as the back-up for 2 games now. If he isn’t ready now, when will he be?
Meriläinen feels like a pitcher who just keeps giving up home runs, so there are relievers warming up in the bullpen, but he gets left in the game because the analytics say to do so.
It’s dinger, after dinger, after dinger. The other team just keeps rounding the bases while Meriläinen withers away on the mound.
Last week, I wrote about how the pressure is rising on President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Steve Staios.
Pressure Begins To Rise On Ottawa Senators GM Steve Staios
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So why does one OT loss after back-to-back wins make the situation feel more dire?
Because it happened against Montreal, at home, in a game celebrating 30 years of the Canadian Tire Centre, while the building was flooded with Canadiens fans.
Tkachuk, Stützle, Dylan Cozens and Sanderson each had emphatic celebrations for their goals. The Senators get fired up for these games. They hate that their building gets taken over.
Sanderson was also candid when he was asked about the crowd.
This quote is the one that should be making the headlines.
The way this game unfolded, with such a strong presence of the opposing team’s fans in the crowd, is a boiling point for this team’s star players.
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You can’t embrace that atmosphere if you can’t buy a save.
Enough is enough. Someone needs to relieve Meriläinen.
Jack Richardson
The Hockey News Ottawa
