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I Watched This Game: Meriläinen is winning the Canucks' goaltending battle

Daniel Wagner
Daniel Wagner
|
Oct 16 2026, 5:12 am
I Watched This Game: Meriläinen is winning the Canucks' goaltending battle
Sam Navarro/Imagn Images

There’s one question that Vancouver Canucks fans have to be asking after the last couple of games: how could the Ottawa Senators let Leevi Meriläinen go?

Meriläinen has been marvelous for the Canucks in the last two games, including Thursday’s game against the Florida Panthers. He may have lost both starts, but he’s winning the battle with Kevin Lankinen to be the Canucks’ starting goaltender.

Besides, the losses have hardly been his fault: the Canucks were badly outshot in both games, and he stood on his head to give his team a chance to win. Among the 45 goaltenders who have appeared in at least three NHL games this season, Meriläinen ranks seventh in save percentage at .926; Lankinen ranks dead last at .786.

It’s a little early to anoint Meriläinen the Canucks’ goaltender of the future, but the 24-year-old Finn certainly looks like he has the potential to be a legitimate NHL goaltender.

So, why did the Senators put him on waivers?

Well, you see, they had to make room for one of the worst goaltenders in the NHL.

The Senators went looking for a backup for number-one goaltender Linus Ullmark and landed on trading a fifth-round pick for Samuel Ersson, who they then signed to a two-year, $4.4 million contract.

Statistically speaking, Ersson has legitimately been one of the worst goaltenders in the NHL over the past few seasons, with some truly ugly underlying numbers.

Last season with the Philadelphia Flyers, Ersson posted an .870 save percentage — second-worst in the NHL among goaltenders with at least 20 games played — and he lost his starting job to Dan Vladar.

The Senators were hoping that Ersson could find his game with a new team, but the early returns haven’t been great: Ersson has given up 11 goals in his first two starts and has an .829 save percentage to start the season.

Why on earth would the Senators bring in Ersson to replace Meriläinen as Ullmark’s backup?

Here’s the thing: just one goaltender who played at least 20 games in the NHL last season had a worse save percentage than Ersson: Leevi Meriläinen.

While the choice to go with Ersson can be questioned, it’s understandable why the Senators might have lost faith in Meriläinen last season: he was terrible, with a horrifying .860 save percentage. Meriläinen was the only goaltender to whom Ersson would be an upgrade.

The Canucks took a chance on Meriläinen and, so far, it’s paying off. But he still has to prove he can be consistent in the NHL, especially under a heavy workload, before anyone can call him the Canucks’ goaltender of the future.

But he certainly looked like a number-one goaltender when I watched this game.

  • The Panthers dominated the opening period, outshooting the Canucks 15-to-7, but Leevi “Merlin” Meriläinen was magical, stopping every shot he faced to give the Canucks the chance to take the lead against the flow of play.
  • “It’s always fun when you get some action out there,” said Meriläinen. “I like it that way.”
  • “Since day one when he came in here, he’s been unreal,” said defenceman Elias Pettersson of Meriläinen. “He played so well tonight. All credit to him.”
  • It took over seven minutes before the Canucks got their first shot on goal, but Liam Öhgren made it count. Linus Karlsson pursued the puck like a bat out of hell, picking the pocket of Bokondji Imama and sending the puck to a wide-open Öhgren in the slot. Öhgren had the time to carefully dust off the puck — and even give it a quick spit-shine — before fooling Akira Schmid with a snapshot through the five-hole.

  • The Canucks didn’t exactly ease Filip Chytil into action in his return from injury. Chytil was third among Canucks forwards in ice time and played in every situation, including about a minute of ice time on the penalty kill. Chytil has essentially never killed penalties in the NHL, so that was the most interesting wrinkle since the one Madeleine L’Engle wrote about.
  • “It was a great return back into the lineup for him,” said head coach Manny Malhotra. “His ability to transport the puck changes the dynamic of our group, for sure.”
  • Chytil even chipped in offensively. Late in the first, Tom Willander held the puck on the boards long enough for Chytil to dig it out, then Chytil sent a backhand pass onto the tape of Elias “Dunk” Pettersson, as he smartly activated at just the right time for a wide-open chance in the slot. Pettersson made no mistake, beating the sliding Schmid just inside the post on the glove side.

  • I’m offering up the “Dunk” nickname because Pettersson bears a passing resemblance to Ser Duncan the Tall from A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, both in appearance and in demeanour. Like Ser Duncan, Pettersson is an uncommonly large lad, but also kindhearted.
  • The latter quality was shown when he accidentally sent Eetu Luostarinen careening into the boards while defending a rush. As Luostarinen lay on the ice in pain, Pettersson was the first one to his side to make sure he was okay.

  • The Canucks were significantly better in the second period, as they repeatedly broke up rushes and offensive zone cycles and turned the puck up ice. It was a much more low-event approach, as the Canucks only had four shots themselves, but it thoroughly frustrated the Panthers’ offence.
  • Of course, the Canucks might have had at least one more shot on net if Elias Pettersson (F) hadn’t been robbed of a breakaway by referee Francois St. Laurent. Somehow, St. Laurent ran right into Pettersson as Jonathan “Letterkenny” Lekkerimäki hit him with a breakaway pass; the official even grabbed a fistful of Pettersson’s jersey to prevent himself from falling, which didn’t help Pettersson’s efforts to keep his balance.

  • No wonder referees have trouble calling penalties: they can’t even see players who are five feet away from them.
  • Pettersson had another chance to extend the lead early in the third period, as Lekkerimäki picked off a pass in the defensive zone and burst the other way. He set up Pettersson coming down the right wing, but his shot hit the outside of the net. Pettersson then set up Jake DeBrusk on the doorstep, but Schmid turned him away like a house that forgot to buy Halloween candy.
  • This was a great performance by Lekkerimäki, even if he didn’t hit the scoresheet. He was incredibly crafty with his stickwork on the forecheck and he put himself in good spots defensively to pick off passes and disrupt the Panthers’ possession game. This might have been Lekkerimäki’s best game off the puck.

  • The Canucks held the two-goal lead until midway through the third, when Brady Tkachuk began picking away at it like a new scab. After he got away with some typical Tkachukian shenanigans that went uncalled by the officials, Brady took a drop pass from Aaron Ekblad and beat Meriläinen from distance with a one-timer.
  • With just seconds remaining, the Panthers tied the game with a very Brady sequel. With the net empty for the extra attacker, Brady was open on the right side, and was even more open when his brother, Matthew, practically tackled “Dunk” Pettersson in front of the net. With the puck bouncing so it was hard for Meriläinen to read, Brady volleyed it off the far post and in.

  • A couple of minutes into overtime, Brady Tkachuk completed his second hat trick in two games. Zeev Buium, who was stuck on the ice for nearly two full minutes, left far too large a gap on Tkachuk, then allowed him to walk right around him for the Grade-Aiest of Grade-A chances. He beat Meriläinen past the glove and the hats rained down.

  • The Canucks were 12 seconds away from the win, so that’s a tough way to lose. The biggest challenge for both the players and the coaching staff this season will be maintaining the positivity and growth mindset while repeatedly facing setbacks in the results.
  • “We want to make sure that the belief in what we’re doing and what we’re trying to do here doesn’t waver,” said Malhotra. “It’s much more difficult when you’re not closing games out the way we had the opportunity to do tonight. But we’ll take the positives where we can — the overall game that we brought forward today was much better.”
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