Batherson, Senators defeat Flames 4-3 in shootout

Updated Mar. 8, 2021 1:50 a.m. ET
Associated Press

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Drake Batherson scored the shootout winner to give the Ottawa Senators a 4-3 victory over the Calgary Flames on Sunday night.

Connor Brown, Ryan Dzingel and Colin White scored in regulation for the Senators.

“I thought we played a good game even when (the Flames) made their push in the third,” White said. “We hung in there and won it.”

Mark Giordano, Johnny Gaudreau, and Noah Hanifin scored for Calgary.

ADVERTISEMENT

Matt Murray made 30 saves for Ottawa, earning his seventh win of the season.

“He was solid. He looked calm back there tonight. He was seeing everything. The only goals (Calgary) got were a deflection and a rebound goal that came right back to the guy. He gave us every opportunity to win,” Senators head coach D.J. Smith said post-game.

Jacob Markstrom made 18 saves for Calgary.

The Senators have now won three of five against the Flames this season. Ottawa also has five wins in their last eight games.

Calgary earned just one point from the game, leaving the Flames three behind the Montreal Canadiens for fourth place in the North Division.

“It stings right now,” Flames defenseman Mark Giordano said. “We know how important these points are. We’ve got to come out better than we did. Obviously, in the third we had a great push. But we’ve got to find a way to get two points in games. That’s the bottom line right now.”

Brown scored the first goal of the game with 6:12 to play in the first period. He fired the puck from behind the right face off circle. The puck deflected off a Flames defenseman before sliding through Markstrom’s legs.

Dzingel scored for the second consecutive game, giving the Senators a 2-0 advantage before the intermission. He finished a 2-on-1 play, taking a pass from Chris Tierney and tapping the puck past Markstrom.

Giordano scored his third of the season, firing a shot that deflected off Senators’ forward Josh Norris before beating Murray.

The Senators restored their two-goal advantage on White’s seventh goal of the season less than four minutes later.

Gaudreau scored in the third period to pull the Flames within a goal. It was his 11th of the season. The Flames tied the game on a goal from Hanifin with over eight minutes to go in regulation. It was the second goal in two games for the Flames defenseman.

NOTES: The Flames had eight power-play chances Sunday night, but only scored once with the man advantage. ... The Senators were 0 for 2 with a man advantage. ... Sunday night’s game once again saw Ryan Huska coach for the Flames. Calgary hasn’t yet won a game since firing head coach Geoff Ward before the weekend. Incoming head coach Darryl Sutter will officially take over Monday.

UP NEXT

Senators: Open a three-game set at Edmonton on Monday night.

Flames: Host Montreal Canadiens in the first game of a two-game series on Thursday.

___

More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

share