Merilainen, a rookie who is 5-1-1 in his past seven starts, stretched to make a pad save on a Logan Cooley bat to keep it 3-1 at 18:14 of the third period. He stopped Nick Schmaltz point blank in the slot 13 seconds later.
“I don’t think it was by any means our best game or our cleanest game, but we just found a way to win,” Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said. “Leevi made some huge saves for us. You know, it’s nice, all those lessons we learned, just finding a way to win any way we can.”
Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist, Tim Stutzle had two assists, and Tkachuk and Ridly Greig each scored for the Senators (26-20-4), who won both games of a back-to-back after a 2-1 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
“It wasn’t that great, the first two periods,” Giroux said. “I feel like we were still defending OK, and our goalie made some big saves for us to keep us in it. But it was 1-1 after two and it didn’t feel like it. I think in the third we kind of cranked it up a level and played a little better.”
Clayton Keller scored to extend his point streak to seven games, and Karel Vejmelka made 24 saves for Utah (21-21-7), which has lost two straight.
“They check well,” Utah defenseman Olli Maatta said of Ottawa. “Obviously, in the neutral zone and on the forecheck they’re on top of guys. I think we could’ve done a better job putting it behind [them] like we did in the first and second period, playing in their end. I think when you have to defend for a long time in your own zone, something’s going to open up. I don’t think we stuck with it enough.”
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