Jake Sanderson didn’t hold back from criticizing Ottawa Senators goaltender Leevi Merilainen’s performance during their 6-5 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. The Senators led 5-3 with little over 12 minutes left on the clock. Habs drove in two goals in 65 seconds in the final five minutes.
Merilainen’s off night saw him record just 13 saves from 19 shots from the Canadiens. His last goal was a Cole Caufield slapshot 33 seconds into overtime. Sanderson spoke to reporters during his postgame press conference, indirectly blaming the Finnish professional for the loss.
“I think Leevi made some good saves,” Sanderson said. “But I think, at the end of the day, you’ve got to make more than 10 saves to win a game.”
Fans on social media were surprised to see Sanderson, as one of the leaders of the group, signed to an eight-year, $64.4 million contract, call out the rookie goaltender publicly.
Here are a few reactions on X:
“Locker room is broken in Ottawa,” a fan said.
“He’s not wrong but what a d**k move throwing your goalie under the bus like that lmao,” a fan wrote.
“Not really sure what he’s talking about, Merilainen made 13 saves (which is more than 10),” a fan noted.
“Look: his performance was not great. Buuuuut he’s a rookie and his team left him out to dry. Not going to improve dressing room chemistry with these comments,” a fan stated.
“That’s not being a good teammate! Clearly pointing out 1 guy. Real leaders don’t say stuff like that,” a fan commented.
“The Ullmark drama broke the team! GM never replaced him! Fireable offence!!” a fan added.
The Ottawa Senators have reportedly been in the middle of a clubhouse crisis since Jan. 7. Linus Ullmark, as alleged by a X user by the name of ‘Fred Nolan’, revealed personal details of himself and his teammates to his partner, who alerted the others. The user claimed it resulted in Ullmark being asked to be removed from the team. He has been on personal leave since Dec. 29.
Captain Brady Tkachuk and the Senators management openly called out such baseless claims. Ullmark was reportedly back skating with the team this past week and is expected to make a return soon.
Travis Green and Tim Stutzle give opposing viewpoints to Jake Sanderson’s comments
Head coach Travis Green, though more lenient than Sanderson, believed that Merilainen could have done better on the three goals he let in during the dying moments of the game.
“It’s hard to give him a pass,” Green said during his postgame presser. “I’m sure he’d like to have one or two back. I feel bad for him.”
However, centerman Tim Stutzle shared the blame with Merilainen, dismissing any criticism of the young goalie.
“I don’t know why we’re talking about this,” Stutzle said. “Leevi’s been playing great. He’s been playing a lot of hockey. It’s always every time somebody scores, everybody blames the goalie. But we have his back. We’ve got to play better in front of him and don’t give up high-danger scoring chances.”
Captain Brady Tkachuk too chimed in with his views during his media scrum.
“It’s easy to criticize but it’s not about an individual in this sport, it’s about the whole team and we gotta do a better job helping him,” he said. “He’s going to have an amazing long career ahead of him. He’s an unbelievable goalie and unbelievable person. The message is it’s not just one person win or lose a game, it’s the whole team.”
Goaltending has been a serious issue for the Senators this season. They ranked last in the NHL with a .865 save percentage and 29th with a 3.34 Goals Against Average. Merilainen has an 8-10-1 record, which is slightly better than Ullmark’s, who has gone 14-8-5 this season.
Edited by R. Nikhil Parshy
