The Ottawa Senators will turn to backup goaltender Leevi Meriläinen on Monday night when the Columbus Blue Jackets come to town, a day after starter Linus Ullmark was granted a leave of absence from the team due to personal reasons.
Other changes to the lineup from Saturday’s loss in Toronto include the return of Tyler Kleven, who missed three games with a lower-body injury, and the re-insertion of Kurtis MacDermid in place of Xavier Bourgault, who was loaned to Belleville on Sunday after skating in his first NHL game.
“I think the only thing we say as a group is we’re there for him, we support him, you don’t want to see any of your teammates, friends go through any of this,” said alternate captain Thomas Chabot on Monday morning about Ullmark.
“From top to bottom [in] the organization to us players in the room, we’re all there with him and we’re going to support him as best we can.”
Captain Brady Tkachuk echoed Chabot’s sentiments. “Whenever you have a teammate going through something like that, he knows that our whole team, our whole organization's backing him,” said Tkachuk.
When Ullmark was injured in December and January last season, Meriläinen stepped up in a big way. Despite having just three career NHL starts before that stretch, the Finn went 7-2-1 with two shutouts to rally the Senators.
“I guess that’s the good thing about having two good goaltenders, you’ve seen it last year when Leevi took over,” said Chabot. “But, I mean, you don’t want to put extra pressure on Leevi… you want to make it as easy as it can be for him.”
Tkachuk said that the belief in that locker room is that the team has full belief in each other and that it’s each player’s job to be at their best individually.
“I don’t think that changes, I think that’s where we’re successful, is not giving up much,” answered Tkachuk when asked if his absence puts more emphasis on team defence.
“[Meriläinen] doesn’t say much, but he’s a stone-cold killer,” added Tkachuk.
“I wouldn’t say you wouldn’t know, but he’s an ultra-competitor, he wants to win so bad. He’s not going to be the most vocal guy in the room, but it just shows out there how much he grinds, how much he battles, and how much he wants to win.”
