Senators defeat Mammoth, extend point streak to 5

OTTAWA -- Leevi Merilainen made 29 saves for the Ottawa Senators, who extended their point streak to five games with a 4-2 win against the Utah Mammoth at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday.

Merilainen was playing in his first game since Oct. 27 for Ottawa, which was coming off a 3-2 overtime win at the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. He kept it a two-goal game at 17:28 of the third period by making a desperation paddle save on Kevin Stenlund while the Mammoth had Vitek Vanecek pulled for the extra attacker.

“I was happy for Leevi tonight,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “That’s two good games in a row.”

Ridly Greig and Jordan Spence each had a goal and an assist, Dylan Cozens had two assists, and Michael Amadio scored for the fourth straight game for the Senators (8-5-3), who are 3-0-2 in their past five games and 6-1-3 in their past 10.

“That was a mature hockey game from the group,” Greig said. “Managed pucks well. Overall, a good 60 minutes.”

Nick Schmaltz and Clayton Keller scored, and Vanecek made 21 saves for the Mammoth (9-7-0), who lost the final three games of a four-game road trip and are 1-5-0 in their past six games overall.

“It’s frustrating, for sure,” Schmaltz said. “I feel like we’re in a good spot after two [periods] in a lot of these games and we're just not finding a way to get the crucial goal.”

Greig gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 13:59 of the first period. Fabian Zetterlund's initial one-timer from the right circle was blocked by Dmitri Simashev, but when Lawson Crouse tried to corral the rebound, it hit the skate of Cozens and deflected up off Vanecek before landing in the crease, where Greig tapped it in.

Keller tied it 1-1 shortly after a power play expired at 17:33. He took a pass from Mikhail Sergachev in the neutral zone, skated down the left wing, and knocked his own rebound five-hole while driving to the net.

Spence put the Senators back in front 2-1 with his first goal of the season at 7:13 of the second period. He scored blocker side with a slap shot from the high slot following a turnover below the goal line by Dylan Guenther.

Spence, who has been a healthy scratch nine times this season, has seven points (one goal, six assists) and a plus-5 rating in seven games.

“It gets to you mentally sometimes (being a healthy scratch), but you’ve just got to take that aside and just focus on yourself every day when you come into the rink," Spence said. "Whether you’re playing or not, I just want to go out there and practice, even at the gym, to just improve on my game. That’s what I have to do. I’ve just got to have a positive mindset every day, and when I do that and when I’m confident on the ice, good things happen.”

Nick Cousins extended the lead to 3-1 at 15:52, stuffing a wraparound under Vanecek’s left pad.

Schmaltz cut it to 3-2 at 18:56. He skated wide down the right wing, made a move to the net around Jake Sanderson, and slid a backhand under Merilainen’s outstretched right pad.

“It’s a tough league,” Schmaltz said. “There’s a lot of good teams out there, and we’ve got to find a way to get back on track and get on a run here.”

Jack McBain thought he had tied it 3-3 just 22 seconds into the third period, but Ottawa challenged the play for goaltender interference, and the call was overturned after a video review.

“It’s adversity and we need to keep our composure and keep pushing through,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said of the disallowed goal. “Right now, there’s always something happening. ... We need to just find a way to be mentally strong and find a way to push the cart across the finish line.”

Amadio made it 4-2 at 3:46. He got inside position on McBain and deflected Thomas Chabot's point shot past Vanecek.

“He always plays a pretty solid game, [Amadio],” Green said. “He’s a real smart player. He can play good and not play his best with his smarts. And I just think he’s done a better job at being a little harder on the puck, on the walls. His wall work tonight was fantastic.”

NOTES: Amadio has scored six goals in 16 games this season. He scored 11 goals in 72 games last season. ... Greig's goal was his first since Oct. 13 (13 games).