The Belleville Senators wrapped up their back-to-back weekend set in Springfield with a 1–0 shutout win over the Thunderbirds, led by a 40-save gem from Leevi Merilainen.
Just over ten minutes into the first frame, Belleville once again opened the scoring. A dump-in by Scott Harrington was picked up along the boards by Garret Pilon, who sent a pass out front to Jan Jenik for his sixth goal of the year and a 1-0 lead.
Despite being outshot 16-7, the Senators showed resilience early in this second game of a back-to-back with energy to spare.
A scoreless second period saw the Senators continue to pressure the Thunderbirds. Along with generating offensive chances, Belleville took away passing lanes, holding Springfield to nine shots and carrying a 1-0 lead into the third.
The final period featured big plays at both ends and came right down to the final seconds.
Over the last twenty minutes, the Senators killed two penalties while Merilainen came up clutch, stopping all 15 shots in the frame and 40 overall to secure the win, a shutout, and a 1-0 final score.
This marked the third time this season that Belleville has recorded a shutout, with the other two coming from Jackson Parsons and Mads Sogaard.
Belleville will see Springfield again on March 21st to wrap up the two-game season series at CAA Arena, with puck drop set for 7:00 p.m.
The Senators will have just under a week to rest before heading back on the road to open another weekend back-to-back in Cleveland against the Monsters (AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets) at Rocket Arena, getting underway Friday night at 7:00 p.m.
