Drake Batherson’s goal with under two minutes to play in regulation gave the Ottawa Senators a 3–2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night. It was a memorable evening for Senators rookie Stephen Halliday, who not only played his first NHL game but also recorded a gorgeous assist on Shane Pinto’s game-tying goal.
The Senators got on the board first. Late in the first period, Dylan Cozens sprinted down the left wing and dropped the puck to Nick Jensen, who dropped it to Nick Cousins. Cousins unleashed a slap shot that beat Petr Mrazek to make it 1–0 Ottawa.
The Senators controlled the play and had the lion’s share of the chances in the first and early in the second, but Mrazek was excellent and kept the score close, allowing his teammates to find their legs after playing Boston 24 hours earlier.
The Ducks finally pushed back on a goal by Bennett Senecke after some rough Ottawa defense. Anaheim's Leo Carlsson broke into the Senators’ zone, leading a three-on-three rush. Cozens peeled away to attack Carlsson, who was already covered. Carlsson fed Cutter Gauthier for a 2 on 1 with Sennecke, bearing down on Artem Zub.
Gauthier actually fanned on his shot attempt, but Zub, who was poke checking and backing in too far, allowed Gauthier to regroup and finish the play, passing the puck over to Sennecke who tied the game at 1.
A minute and a half later, the Ducks made it 2–1 when Chris Kreider dished a perfect saucer pass to Mason McTavish, who was sprinting to the far post and redirected the puck past Linus Ullmark.
But with under a minute left in the period, Shane Pinto scored his 10th of the season to tie the game 2–2. Driving to the net, he was poke-checked by Mrazek, but the puck deflected off Pinto’s shin pad and in. He was set up by Stephen Halliday on a perfect pass — Halliday’s first NHL point in his first NHL game.
The Senators had a great chance with under six minutes to play in the third. Claude Giroux had a semi-breakaway, and realized he was about to be caught, so he dropped it back to Michael Amadio who got it to Pinto who was denied by Mrazek.
Finally, with just under two minutes to play, Jake Sanderson’s shot from the left point was deflected in by Drake Batherson, and that stood up as the winning goal, despite the Ducks' best efforts.
They had a couple of great chances at the end, but Ullmark made a tremendous skate save on Sennecke, who was in close. Then Troy Terry looked poised to score the game-tying goal on a cross-ice pass and one-timer, but his stick shaft exploded, denying him what probably would have been an easy equalizer.
The Sens may gave endured another injury loss on the blue line. Nikolas Matinpalo took a hard hit from Radko Gudas as he was taking a shot and the Sens defenseman slid hard, back first, into the end boards. Head coach Travis Green, as is custom, had no information on the injury after the game.
The Senators now improve to 10-6-4, one point out of first in the Atlantic. They'll be at San Jose on Saturday afternoon at 7 pm Eastern.