“That’s probably the greatest comeback I’ve ever been a part of. Such a crazy game with high emotions, like a playoff game,” says goalie Leevi Merilainen.
Published Jan 18, 2025 • Last updated 6 hours ago • 4 minute read
SENATORS 6, BRUINS 5 (SO)
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The Ottawa Senators kicked off Hockey Day in Canada in dramatic fashion.
The Senators refused to go down without a fight, erasing a two-goal lead late in the third period to send it to overtime before Tim Stutzle scored the winner in the shootout to secure a 6-5 victory over the Boston Bruins in front of a sellout crowd of 18,768 at the Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday afternoon.
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Goaltender Leevi Merilainen, who stopped all three shooters in the skills contest, gave up five goals for the first time in his career but the Senators scored six and moved into the final wildcard spot in the National Hockey League’s Eastern Conference.
“It was an emotional game in a lot of different ways. It was a big game with a lot of ups and downs. That’s a character win,” Ottawa head coach Travis Green said.
Josh Norris scored his second goal of the game to tie it up with 12 seconds left in the third period. Defenceman Nick Jensen had cued the comeback by pulling the Senators within a goal at 16:47.
Both of those came with Merilainen on the bench in favour of an extra attacker.
Stutzle and Adam Gaudette also chipped in with goals in regulation.
This contest had a postseason-type feel between two teams trying to book ticket to the playoffs. Every point means a lot.
“If that’s what it’s going to take to get two points, then that’s what it’s going to take,” Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said. “I’ve never played in a playoff game before, but I feel like that emulated it pretty solid tonight.”
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OFFENCE WAS NO ISSUE
The Senators are No. 24 in the National Hockey League in goal scoring.
The last issue anybody thought this club would have is putting the puck in the net. We should preface this by saying up the situation until this one was that the Senators had been playing better defensively.
The issue wasn’t scoring in this one, it was trying to keep the puck out of the Ottawa net. Vinni Lettieri gave Boston a two-goal advantage in the third period and at that point it looked like that was all she wrote for the Senators.
“It was fun and the crowd was great,” Norris said. “There were a couple of crazy momentum swings. I’m proud of the guys because we hung in there.”
The game started to unravel in the second period. Nick Cousins got into it with Boston’s Brad Marchand and that scrum resulted in a power play for the Senators.
That allowed Norris to tie it up 3-3 at 5:41, but the nastiness didn’t stop. Zack Ostapchuk dropped the gloves against former Ottawa centre Mark Kastelic later.
Less than eight minutes into the first period, the Senators had a 2-0 lead on seven shots. Stutzle fired home a fortunate rebound off a Boston skate for his 15th goal of the season.
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Gaudette opened the scoring with his 15th of the season. He was all alone in front and had no issue putting the puck into a wide-open net at 1:47.
A TOUGH DAY
The Bruins are a contender every year because they refuse to roll over.
It looked like this day would be a walk in the park when Ottawa took that 2-0 lead. Not so fast. The Bruins