Merilainen masterful in shutout performance to lead Sens past Amerks

The Belleville Senators did what they had to do on Friday night at CAA Arena, knocking off the Rochester Americans (AHL affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres) 5-0 to collect a couple more points in the race for the Calder Cup Playoffs. The only problem is both teams that Belleville is chasing, the Syracuse Crunch (AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning) and Cleveland Monsters (AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets), also won on Friday, keeping the Senators four points off the pace.

For the first time in a while, the Senators jumped out to a multi-goal lead after 20 minutes. Xavier Bourgault started things off at 4:36, smashing his 10th goal of the season past Felix Sandstrom on a powerful power play one-timer, assisted by Phil Daoust and Garrett Pilon. Six minutes later, Tristen Robins fought his way down the right wing wall, ducked under a check and fed a pass across to the goalmouth, where Wyatt Bongiovanni tapped in his 19th goal of the season to extend the lead. Tyler Boucher earned the second assist on the play. Then, about six and a half minutes after that, Oskar Pettersson flew off the Belleville bench, intercepted a pass by Kale Clauge and snapped a wrist shot past Sandstrom. The goal was Pettersson’s sixth of the season and snapped a 23-game pointless drought for the 21-year-old Swede.

The Senators would finish the game’s scoring in the second period, with the second goals of the night by both Pettersson and Bongiovanni at 2:38 and 14:53 respectively. Pettersson finished off a play from Jamieson Rees and Djibril Toure, while Bongiovanni scored on a three-on-one with assists to Robins again, and Jorian Donovan.

Leevi Merilainen was fantastic for the Senators throughout the night, stopping all 20 shots he faced, and earning his fourth shutout of the season. It was the sixth career shutout for the 21-year-old Finn, who also has three National Hockey League shutouts with Ottawa this season.

Belleville and Rochester will play game seven of their eight-game season series tomorrow night at CAA Arena. It’s also the second of three straight games between the two North Division rivals.

You can see tonight’s complete box score by clicking here.

Fast Facts:

• #5 Wyatt Bongiovanni scored his 20th goal of the season and had five shots on net, with a plus-three rating. He was named the first star of the game.
• #11 Jorian Donovan collected his ninth assist of the season.
• #13 Xavier Bourgault scored his 10th goal of the season to stretch his point streak to three games.
• #14 Tristen Robins picked up his 15th and 16th assists.
• #19 Jamieson Rees notched his ninth assist.
• #20 Phil Daoust regsitered his 13th assist and has three points (one goal, two assists) in his last two games.
• #22 Garrett Pilon collected his 31st assist of the season.
• #32 Oskar Pettersson scored his sixth and seventh goals of the campaign and was named second star.
• #33 Djibril Toure notched his third assist.
• #35 Leevi Merilain stopped all 20 shots he faced to earn his fourth shutout of the season and his 15th win. He’s the fifth Belleville goaltender to record 15 wins a season. He was named third star.

Highlights:

Postgame Availabilities:

Sound Bytes:

Oskar Pettersson on the team’s overall performance:

“I think we started off great from the very first minute of the game, a sixty minute full team effort. I mean, we’re up five goals and you see [Keean Washkurak] throwing himself, last shift, blocking a huge shot to make sure that Leevi gets the shutout, so a great team effort, but now we’ve got to keep it moving on and do it again tomorrow.”

Wyatt Bongiovanni on the significance of the win:

“It was a good win for us. Obviously it’s a desperate time of the year, the final games, they’re all playoff games, and our staff, our team, we all challenged ourselves to really put our best foot forward tonight, and it went well for us.”

Bongiovanni on his chemistry with Tristen Robins setting up both of his goals:

“He was good, [Tyler Boucher] was good, I thought our D were active, they had good gaps all night and really allowed us forwards to play quick transition, quick north, it was good, an all around effort. I think for us it’s going to be just continuing that momentum.”

Pettersson on the play leading to his second goal:

I thought it was a good shift from our line ,a good cycle in the o-zone, and I saw [Jamieson Rees] there, he got it down low, and I know he’s capable of making skilled plays, we’ve played with each other for quite a long time now, so I know what kind of plays he’s going to make. So I’m just trying to get open. There were a lot of bodies in front, so their goalie couldn’t really see it; I was just trying to get it away as quickly as possible. I didn’t even see it go in, but happy it ended up in the net.”

Up Next:

• Saturday, April 5, 2025 – Belleville Senators vs Rochester Americans – 7:00 p.m. (CAA Arena) (Faceoffs and Fossils Night)
• Wednesday, April 9, 2025 – Belleville Senators @ Rochester Americans – 7:05 p.m. (Blue Cross Arena)
• Friday, April 11, 2025 – Belleville Senators @ Springfield Thunderbirds – 7:00 p.m. (MassMutual Center)
• Saturday, April 12, 2025 – Belleville Senators @ Providence Bruins – 7:05 p.m. (Amica Mutual Pavillion)

Tickets for all 2024-25 Belleville Sens home games are now on sale via Ticketmaster, by emailing tickets@bellevillesens.com, or at the Belleville Sens Box Office at CAA Arena during select hours.

Fans looking for details on other ticketing options can click the following links for more on  becoming a season seat member, purchasing a flex pack membership, or putting down a deposit for a group experience. More information on those ticket options, plus details on premium seating and Business Elite packages is available by visiting the Belleville Sens website or emailing tickets@bellevillesens.com.

—

Visit the Belleville Sens website: www.bellevillesens.com
Engage with the Belleville Sens on Twitter: @BellevilleSens
Like the Belleville Sens on Facebook: www.facebook.com/BellevilleSens
Follow the Belleville Sens on Instagram: @BellevilleSens
Listen to the Belleville Sens on Mixlr: www.bellevillesens.mixlr.com