Sens pound Pens 5-0 in Leevi Merilainen's first shutout

Leevi Merilainen notched 29 saves for his first career shutout and Shane Pinto scored twice in the Ottawa Senators' 5-0 win over the host Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.

Tyler Kleven, Drake Batherson and Tim Stutzle added goals and Claude Giroux had three assists for the Senators, who snapped out of an 0-3-1 rut.

Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 12 of 17 shots before being replaced by Tristan Jarry in the second period. Jarry made five saves for the Penguins, who are 1-2-3 in their past six games.

Ottawa led 3-0 after the first period.

The Senators scored on each of their first two shots. Kleven's shot from the point deflected off the stick of the Penguins' Noel Acciari and went into the back of the net at 3:16 of the first. Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan challenged the play for goaltender interference, but the goal was upheld.

That meant a two-minute delay of game penalty for the Penguins, and Pinto capitalized with two seconds left on the man advantage on a one-timer from the top inside edge of the right circle for his first goal of the contest.

Pinto's short-handed goal with 56 seconds left in the first made it 3-0. The forward beat Nedeljkovic from the right circle on a two-on-one rush.

Batherson made it 4-0 with a power-play goal 41 seconds into the second period, and Stutzle scored 7:06 into the middle period.

There was a near-line brawl about seven minutes into a penalty-filled opening period that began with an altercation between the Senators' Nick Cousins and the Penguins' Michael Bunting. They each received double minor penalties for roughing, while Pittsburgh's P.O Joseph and Ottawa's Zack Ostapchuk each got a minor for roughing. It was the first of several scrums in the period.

Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin missed his third straight game due to an upper-body injury.

--Field Level Media