Merilainen makes 24 saves, Senators blank Islanders

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Leevi Merilainen made 24 saves for the Ottawa Senators in a 2-0 win against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Tuesday.

It was Merilainen's second shutout in his past three starts. He made 29 saves in a 5-0 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.

“He's doing an excellent job right now, and we're so happy for him,” Ottawa defenseman Tyler Kleven said. “He works so hard every day. I watched it all last year in Belleville (Ottawa’s American Hockey League affiliate). I knew he was a good goalie, and now he's getting this opportunity here in Ottawa and he's just playing his game and being who he is. So, it's great to see.”

Adam Gaudette and Artem Zub scored for the Senators (22-18-3), who have won three straight.

“I think it was just about staying with it,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “We talked about how, in these types of games, details and puck battles are really going to matter. Every inch of the ice is important, and I know we had buy-in from everyone.”

Marcus Hogberg made 25 saves in his second straight start for the Islanders (17-19-7), who had their three-game winning streak end.

New York was shut out for the sixth time this season.

“I’m going to give them some credit, they did a good job boxing us out,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “But, I mean, we didn't go to the net enough. We didn't generate enough offense by throwing pucks at the net. Maybe we tried to be a little too perfect.”

Gaudette thought he scored the opening goal for Ottawa at 1:42 of the first period, but New York challenged the play for goaltender interference, and the call was reversed after a video review.

Gaudette did, however, make it 1-0 at 8:42 of the second period by redirecting Kleven's point shot over Hogberg’s blocker from the top of the crease.

“It felt good for sure,” said Gaudette, who ended a 15-game goal drought. “Everybody gets cold streaks. That's the way it is, in the game and in life. So, what you got to do is just keep your head down, keep working and eventually it'll go in.”

Merilainen kept Ottawa in front at 4:20 of the third period when he kicked out his left pad to stop Ryan Pulock's wrist shot from the slot. He then stopped Brock Nelson off the rush at 12:40 with his blocker.

Zub scored into an empty net at 18:36 of the third for the 2-0 final.

“There wasn’t a ton in the game,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said. “It was one of those night where I don’t think we did a ton wrong. We didn’t do enough special to break through and put one in. It felt like a choppy game. We tried to push through and play a little simpler in the third. That’s how we tried to play the whole game, but we just couldn’t create enough.”

Ottawa defenseman Thomas Chabot left the game at 9:50 of the first period after he took a point shot from Adam Pelech to the face. There was no update postgame.

“When Chabot went out, the guys really stepped up,” Green said. “Kleven played a lot more minutes than he’s really used to. Really, all five guys back there were impressive. Zub had seven blocked shots. His game is starting to round out into shape now that he’s playing a lot, and we can see how effective he can be.”

NOTES: The Islanders were 0-for-1 on the power play and are 0-for-25 with the man-advantage in their past 14 games. Their last power-play goal came in a 4-2 win against the Senators on Dec. 8. ... Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury, and forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau missed the game because of an illness. ... Islanders forward Marc Gatcomb, who was recalled on an emergency basis from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League, played 7:27 in his NHL debut. ... Senators forwards Shane Pinto (two goals, two assists), Drake Batherson (one goal, two assists) and Josh Norris (one goal, two assists) each extended his point streak to three games.