Ottawa Senators Postgame: Batherson Leads Way With Hat Trick

Every now and then, the Ottawa Senators put together a nice, tidy effort that allows their fans to watch them play in a much more relaxed manner. This was one of those nights. The Ottawa Senators dominated early, scored the important first goal, won the special teams battle, and ended beating the Anaheim Ducks, 5-1. Let’s dive into the details!

READ MORE: The Ottawa Senators are Overplaying Claude Giroux

Drake Batherson Hat Trick

This wasn’t exactly the prettiest of hat tricks, but Batherson was rewarded for being a force in the offensive zone and throwing the puck towards the net all night long. Really, he’s been a force all season long, especially on the power play. Two of his goals were with the man advantage, and so was his assist, a sweet feed to Tkachuk down low. He’s now up to 12 goals and 32 points on the season. His seven power play goals are as many as he had all of last season. His 16 power play points rank first on the Senators and tied for fifth league wide.  Oh, and the first goal he scored was his 100th of his career. Talk about a great season so far for Batherson.

Linus Ullmark Shines Yet Again

Make it five straight really good starts for Linus Ullmark. When you go up by three goals early, you can typically expect some type of pushback from the opposition. The Ducks outshot the Senators 16-9 in the second period, but Ullmark stood tall to keep this game out of reach. His save percentage is now over .900, where it should remain for the rest of the season. The good news is that it seems like the Senators have a legitimate number one goalie. The bad news is that Senators fans will now want him to start every single game going forward.

Additional Notes

With the fourth line not contributing as much lately, plus the Sens struggling to win when they don’t score the first, it was nice to kill two birds with one stone with Noah Gregor scoring the first goal of the game. The Senators power play is lethal. Good luck to the opposition trying to figure out who to focus on, with Batherson, Tkachuk, Sanderson, and Stützle all at 12 power points or more. Norris isn’t too shabby either, with four goals and eight points with the extra man. I think this is the third straight recap that I’ve written about Pinto in the same way- solid game, can’t score. Surely his slump will end soon. Right?