Senators fall to Oilers 3-1

The Ottawa Senators were unable to win their seventh straight as they fell to the Edmonton Oilers by a score of 3-1. Nick Cousins scored the lone goal for the Senators, while goaltender Leevi Meriläinen entered the game after the first period in relief of Linus Ullmark.

The first period started off scoreless for the majority of play, but the Edmonton Oilers opened the scoring with 5:34 remaining in the first frame. It was Viktor Arvidsson with his third goal of the season to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead late into the period.

The remainder of the first period was scoreless, and the Senators headed into the first intermission down by one.

To kick things off in the second period, there was a change in net as goaltender Leevi Meriläinen entered the game in relief of Linus Ullmark. Ullmark sustained an upper body injury during the first period and was unavailable for the remainder of the game.

A sneaky takeaway at the blue-line by forward Nick Cousins saw him tie the game at 1-1 with his fifth goal of the season just 25 seconds into the second period.

After an even 15 minutes of play, the Edmonton Oilers took advantage of a power play opportunity following a slashing penalty on Brady Tkachuk. Forward Zach Hyman scored his 13th of the season at 14:04 into the second period to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead.

Just moments later, the Oilers nearly doubled their lead, but Leevi Meriläinen had other plans as he shut the door on Jeff Skinner for what looked like a sure goal.

A late high-sticking penalty against Ridly Greig at 16:25 saw the Senators go onto a four-minute penalty kill for the remainder of the period, which the Senators were able to successfully kill off.

The Oilers extended their lead to 3-1 at 1:37 into the third period when Adam Henrique scored his third goal of the season.

While Leevi Merilainen shut the door on the Oilers for the remainder of the period, Senators were unable to answer back and fell to Edmonton by a score of 3-1.

Tonight’s game was the Senators’ last before their holiday break. The team will return to play on Saturday, December 28 when they head to Winnipeg to take on the Winnipeg Jets for the first time this season.

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