Ottawa Senators' Parker Kelly (45) celebrates his goal as Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Casey DeSmith (1) looks on during second-period NHL hockey action in Ottawa, on Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Drake Batherson had two goals and two assists Saturday night as the Ottawa Senators defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3.
Zach Sanford, Michael Del Zotto, Parker Kelly and Tim Stutzle also scored for the Senators and helped end their four-game losing skid. Jacob Bernard-Docker and Lassi Thomson each picked up their first point in the NHL with assists.
Del Zotto also had an assist while Thomas Chabot had two assists for the Senators (4-9-1) while Filip Gustavsson made 28 saves for the win.
Casey DeSmith started in goal for the Penguins (5-4-4) and turned aside 18 of the 23 shots he faced. Kasperi Kapanen and Evan Rodrigues, with two, scored for the Penguins.
Batherson scored at 9:40 of the third period to give the Senators a comfortable 5-0 lead, but Kapanen and Rodrigues scored at 11:49 and 12:55 respectively before Rodrigues scored again at 15:57 to make it 5-3.
Batherson put the game to bed with an empty net goal at 19:11.
The Senators broke the game open in the second period with fours goals including three in under six minutes.
Sanford opened the scoring at 5:21 beating DeSmith on a rebound. Del Zotto scored his first of the season and first of two power-play goals of the period as he beat DeSmith with a point shot off the faceoff at 10:40.
Just 27 seconds later Kelly scored his first of the year to give the Senators a 3-0 lead. But the biggest goal came from Stutzle, with his first in 16 games dating back to a hat trick he scored May 8 against Winnipeg.
A pass towards the front of the net was blocked but went directly to Stutzle who quickly beat DeSmith short side while on the power play.
The was no scoring in the first period although that wasn’t from lack of opportunities, especially for the Penguins.
Gustavsson stopped Jason Zucker on a breakaway and shortly after the Penguins had a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:38, but not only did they not score, they managed just two shots on goal.
Notes: With several players in COVID-19 protocols, the Senators called up forward Andrew Agozzino and defencemen Jacob Bernard-Docker and Maxence Guenette. Scratches for the Senators were defenceman Nikita Zaitsev along with forwards Agozzino and Scott Sabourin The Penguins were without forwards Sam Lafferty and Dominik Simon as well as goaltender Tristan Jarry.