Batherson breaks tie late in 3rd, Senators edge Ducks

ANAHEIM -- Drake Batherson broke a tie with 1:58 remaining in the third period for the Ottawa Senators in a 3-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Thursday.

Jake Sanderson took a wrist shot from the left point and Batherson tipped it into the net from in front to give Ottawa a 3-2 lead.

"We were just throwing pucks on net there two or three times in a row," Batherson said. "Just lucky to get a stick on it and it found its way in."

Nick Cousins and Shane Pinto also scored, and Linus Ullmark made 23 saves for the Senators (10-6-4), who have won two of three and have points in eight of their past nine (5-1-3).

It was the opener of a seven-game road trip for Ottawa.

"It's a huge trip," Senators forward Dylan Cozens said. "It's great to start with a win and get two points right away, so we'll enjoy it tonight, but we've got lots more games ahead."

Beckett Sennecke and Mason McTavish scored for the Ducks (13-7-1), who had won six straight at home, including a 4-3 victory against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday. Petr Mrazek made 22 saves.

“Hung in there until the last two minutes, when they got the go-ahead goal there," McTavish said. "It was a decent effort from us, but it would have been a lot better if we got at least a point.”

Cousins gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 16:39 of the first period on the rush, scoring on a one-timer from above the hash marks off a backhanded pass from Nick Jensen.

Anaheim then scored twice in a 1:26 span of the second period to move ahead 2-1.

Sennecke tied it 1-1 at 13:08 off a feed from Cutter Gauthier. Leo Carlsson passed the puck into the middle to Gauthier, who whiffed on a shot attempt, but the puck continued through the legs of Senators defenseman Artem Zub. Gauthier then stepped around Zub and backhanded a centering pass to Sennecke, who scored from the opposite post.

It was the seventh goal and 15th point of the season for Sennecke, tying him for the NHL rookie lead in both categories.

"He's dangerous," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said of Sennecke. "He's dangerous with the puck, he's dangerous off the rush, his play recognition. ... I think there are other parts of his game, when he's coming up with loose pucks, or he's influencing pucks, he's starting to do more of that."

McTavish gave Anaheim a 2-1 lead at 14:34, finishing a feed from Chris Kreider on a 2-on-1 break.

Pinto’s power-play goal tied it 2-2 with 58 seconds remaining in the period. He scored from in close with six seconds left on the man-advantage after Mrazek missed a poke check.

"We stall ourselves with penalties that are untimely," Quenneville said. "We've got to get that out of our game."

Stephen Halliday, playing in his first NHL game, earned the primary assist on the goal.

"Obviously, a really skilled, high-hockey IQ player," Batherson said of Halliday. "He makes that play through the seam, saucer pass right on the tape. Impressive stuff."

Even with an early power play for the Ducks, neither team had a shot on goal for nearly seven minutes at the start of the game and Anaheim was eventually outshot 10-3 in the first period.

“I think we played smart (in the) first period," said Mrazek, who made his fifth start of the season. "We gave them some power plays, but I think we skated well. We gave them a couple chances, but I think we managed the game.”

The Senators hit the post three times in the second period, including twice in 24 seconds during a long possession in the Anaheim zone, leading to a tripping penalty on Carlsson, who hit the post on a breakaway coming out of the penalty box.

"There were some stretches where we played really well, had lots of good possessions, we were rolling lines over," Cozens said. "They pushed back, they got the lead, but we kept battling and found a way to get a gritty one."

NOTES: Batherson recorded his 19th game-winning goal since making his NHL debut in 2018-19, the second most among all Senators skaters behind only Brady Tkachuk (25). … Ottawa defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo left in the second period after crashing into the boards. Green did not have an update. ... The Ducks were trying to win seven in a row at home for the first time since March 14-April 6, 2018. ... Kreider played his 900th NHL game. ... Gauthier extended his home point streak to seven games (four goals, nine assists).