Drake Batherson supplied the finishing touch at Canadian Tire Centre, scoring three times and adding an assist as the Ottawa Senators held off the New York Rangers 7-4 on Saturday. His third goal arrived in unusual fashion: Batherson blocked Adam Fox’s point shot, then watched the puck roll the length of the ice into an empty net with 12 seconds left.
Batherson drives Ottawa’s early surge
The Senators built a three-goal cushion early, then survived two determined Rangers pushes before sealing the result with two empty-netters. Ottawa improved to 8-4-0 and has taken three of its last five games.
- Batherson opened the scoring at 5:34 of the first period, taking Jake Sanderson’s feed from the slot and beating Dylan Garand on the blocker side.
- Tim Stutzle made it 2-0 only 1:06 later, tapping in Fabian Zetterlund’s pass at the net front. It was Stutzle’s third consecutive game with a goal.
- Batherson’s second came 1:47 into the second period after Dylan Cozens sent a quick kick-pass into the low slot.
- Cozens redirected a Batherson shot at 11:21 of the middle frame for a 4-1 Ottawa lead.
- Sanderson scored on a backhand rebound at 13:38 of the third, putting Ottawa ahead 5-3.
- Michael Amadio scored into the empty net at 18:46, before Batherson completed his hat trick at 19:48.
“It was a strange way to get it, but I’ll take it,” Batherson said of the empty-net hat-trick goal. “We came out very well in the first, then they got back into it and it stayed close right until the end.”
Sanderson finished with a goal and two assists, while Cozens and Amadio each posted a goal and an assist. Batherson’s three home hat tricks now match Dany Heatley and Marian Hossa for the most in Senators history.
Rangers claw back but cannot catch Ottawa
New York fell to 7-5-1, losing for the fourth time in five outings and dropping its second straight game. The Rangers were repeatedly able to cut into Ottawa’s lead, but never found the tying goal.
- Will Cuylle got New York on the board with a short-handed goal at 10:07 of the second. Noah Laba started a 2-on-1 after a blocked pass and found Cuylle alone in front.
- J.T. Miller made it 4-2 at 12:54, knocking home a loose, bouncing puck after Fox sent a shot toward the crease.
- During 4-on-4 play, Alexis Lafreniere converted Miller’s pass on a 2-on-1 at 19:34, bringing the Rangers within 4-3.
- Pavel Dorofeyev one-timed Cuylle’s feed at 15:32 of the third to pull New York within one again, at 5-4.
Miller and Cuylle each had a goal and an assist, and Fox added two helpers. Fox has seven assists over his past three games, including four in Thursday’s 5-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“The compete and the way we fought back were encouraging,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. “But it is tough to win when you spend the night trying to chase the game.”
Cuylle said Ottawa had the better opening stretch, while the Rangers found more of their game later. Miller pointed to Ottawa’s edge in puck battles and physical play, saying those wins created more open ice for the Senators.
Johansson earns first Ottawa win
Jonas Johansson made 24 saves and picked up an assist in his Senators debut. Ottawa acquired the goaltender from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sept. 25, and Saturday marked his first victory with the club.
“It felt great,” Johansson said. “It was a tight one and it could have gone either way, but we finished strong.”
Batherson credited Johansson with several timely stops that kept Ottawa in front through New York’s comeback attempts. Garand stopped 17 shots for the Rangers.
Senators coach Travis Green liked the way his club established the game’s tone in the first period, but said there would still be video work ahead after the weekend.
“You want to enjoy a win like this,” Green said. “We’ll still look at certain sequences on Monday, as we always do, but the group did a tremendous job getting the result.”
Notebook
- Stutzle’s opening-period marker was his League-leading sixth first-period goal this season.
- Sanderson’s goal was his first of the season and the 40th of his NHL career, making him the sixth defenseman in Senators history to reach that mark.
- Fox has recorded six points across consecutive games four times in his NHL career. Among Rangers defensemen, only Hockey Hall of Famer Brian Leetch has done it more often, with eight such stretches.
- Sanderson called it an important home win before Ottawa begins a lengthy road trip, praising the Saturday crowd and the Senators’ ability to keep pressing after the Rangers made it a one-goal game twice.
