Drake Batherson scored a hat trick and recorded four points to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 7-4 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday at Canadian Tire Centre.
Ottawa built an early lead during the first period. Batherson opened the scoring with a wrist shot at 5:34, and Tim Stützle followed at 6:40 with another wrist shot to make it 2-0. Batherson scored his second of the game on a wrist shot 1:47 into the second period before Will Cuylle got New York on the board with a shorthanded snap shot at 10:07. Dylan Cozens answered quickly with a deflection at 11:21 for his first goal of the season, restoring a three-goal cushion for Ottawa at 4-1.
The Rangers fought back late in the middle frame. J.T. Miller connected on a snap shot at 12:54, and Alexis Lafrenière scored with a wrist shot at 19:34 to pull New York within one. In the third period, Jake Sanderson tallied his first goal of the season on a backhand at 13:38 to push the Senators ahead 5-3. Pavel Dorofeyev scored on a snap shot at 15:32 to cut the deficit to 5-4, but Michael Amadio deposited a wrist shot into an empty net at 18:47, and Batherson completed his hat trick with an unassisted empty-net deflection at 19:48.
Jonas Johansson earned the win for the Senators with 24 saves on 28 shots and chipped in with an assist on Amadio's late goal. Dylan Garand took the loss for New York, stopping 17 of 22 shots. Neither team scored on the man advantage, as the Rangers went 0 for 2 on the power play and the Senators finished 0 for 3.
With the win, the Senators improved their record to 8-4-0 on the season and took the opening contest of the season series against New York. The Rangers dropped to 7-5-1 and extended their winless streak to two games.
Next up, the Rangers host the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, while the Senators visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.
