Jake Sanderson did not maintain again from criticizing Ottawa Senators goaltender Leevi Merilainen’s efficiency throughout their 6-5 time beyond regulation 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 targets in 65 seconds within the last 5 minutes.
Merilainen’s off evening noticed him report simply 13 saves from 19 photographs from the Canadiens. His final purpose was a Cole Caufield slapshot 33 seconds into time beyond regulation. Sanderson spoke to reporters throughout his postgame press convention, not directly blaming the Finnish skilled for the loss.
“I feel Leevi made some good saves,” Sanderson stated. “However I feel, on the finish of the day, you have to make greater than 10 saves to win a recreation.”
Followers on social media have been stunned to see Sanderson, as one of many leaders of the group, signed to an eight-year, $64.4 million contract, name out the rookie goaltender publicly.
Listed here are a number of reactions on X:
“Locker room is damaged in Ottawa,” a fan stated.
“He’s not flawed however what a d**okay transfer throwing your goalie beneath the bus like that lmao,” a fan wrote.
“Probably not certain what he’s speaking about, Merilainen made 13 saves (which is greater than 10),” a fan famous.
“Look: his efficiency was not nice. Buuuuut he’s a rookie and his group left him out to dry. Not going to enhance dressing room chemistry with these feedback,” a fan said.
“That’s not being an excellent teammate! Clearly declaring 1 man. Actual leaders don’t say stuff like that,” a fan commented.
“The Ullmark drama broke the group! GM by no means changed him! Fireable offence!!” a fan added.
The Ottawa Senators have reportedly been in the midst of a clubhouse disaster since Jan. 7. Linus Ullmark, as alleged by a X person by the identify of ‘Fred Nolan’, revealed private particulars of himself and his teammates to his accomplice, who alerted the others. The person claimed it resulted in Ullmark being requested to be faraway from the group. He has been on private go away since Dec. 29.
Captain Brady Tkachuk and the Senators administration overtly known as out such baseless claims. Ullmark was reportedly again skating with the group this previous week and is anticipated to make a return quickly.
Travis Inexperienced and Tim Stutzle give opposing viewpoints to Jake Sanderson’s feedback
Head coach Travis Inexperienced, although extra lenient than Sanderson, believed that Merilainen might have carried out higher on the three targets he let in through the dying moments of the sport.
“It is onerous to offer him a cross,” Inexperienced stated throughout his postgame presser. “I am certain he’d prefer to have one or two again. I really feel unhealthy for him.”
Nonetheless, centerman Tim Stutzle shared the blame with Merilainen, dismissing any criticism of the younger goalie.
“I do not know why we’re speaking about this,” Stutzle stated. “Leevi’s been enjoying nice. He is been enjoying plenty of hockey. It is all the time each time anyone scores, all people blames the goalie. However we’ve his again. We have to play higher in entrance of him and do not hand over high-danger scoring possibilities.”
Captain Brady Tkachuk too chimed in along with his views throughout his media scrum.
“It’s simple to criticize but it surely’s not about a person on this sport, it’s about the entire group and we gotta do a greater job serving to him,” he stated. “He’s going to have an incredible lengthy profession forward of him. He’s an unbelievable goalie and unbelievable individual. The message is it’s not only one individual win or lose a recreation, it’s the entire group.”
Goaltending has been a critical situation for the Senators this season. They ranked final within the NHL with a .865 save share and twenty ninth with a 3.34 Objectives Towards Common. Merilainen has an 8-10-1 report, which is barely higher than Ullmark’s, who has gone 14-8-5 this season.
Edited by R. Nikhil Parshy
