Batherson scores natural hat trick, Senators cruise past Ducks

OTTAWA -- Drake Batherson scored a natural hat trick, including his 100th NHL goal, and had an assist for the Ottawa Senators in a 5-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday.

“The hardest thing in the NHL is trying to play consistently every night,” Batherson said. “For me, it’s been a work in progress. This is my seventh year now and I’m trying to crack down on that and play a 200-foot game. I think when you’re playing good defensively, it leads to some offensive opportunities, and it seems to be going that way right now.”

Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, and Tim Stutzle had two assists for the Senators (13-13-2), who are 3-1-0 in their past four games. Linus Ullmark made 31 saves; he is 4-0-1 in his past five starts.

“All four lines, all six D and ‘Ully’ were playing great,” Stutzle said. “A great team effort and a great team win.”

Cutter Gauthier scored, and John Gibson made 29 saves for Anaheim (10-13-4), which has lost four straight (0-3-1).

“We weren’t skating,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “I mean, they were jumping from the opening face-off, they won face-off battles, they won edge battles, they won puck battles. It’s hard to compete when you’re behind the puck.”

Ottawa was 3-for-5 on the power play; Anaheim was 0-for-5.

“We didn’t have good special teams, but we weren’t good 5-on-5 either,” Cronin said. “I mean, I don’t remember the last game we played it was this bad.”

Ducks forward Leo Carlsson had two hits in 13:35 of ice time in his return after missing six games with an upper-body injury.

“We didn’t execute our passes correctly,” Carlsson said of the team’s performance in the first period. “Us forwards didn’t show up like they did, and that’s how you need to play. Ottawa players just came harder.”

Noah Gregor scored on a pass from Zack Ostapchuk in tight to give the Senators a 1-0 lead at 2:55 of the first period.

“I thought we played strong,” Gregor said of his line with Ostapchuk and Ridly Greig. “We were ready to go right from the jump. We try to just get out there and work hard, play with pace, play competitively, and I thought we did a good job of that tonight.”

Batherson made it 2-0 at 11:15 on a power play. His one-timer from the bottom of the left face-off circle snuck under Gibson’s left pad and video review was needed to confirm that the puck crossed the goal line.

“I had no idea. I kind of put my hands up, trying to sell it,” Batherson said. “I couldn’t see anything. And then Brady came right up to me and said he saw it go in. He was parked right in front. And then we checked between the benches and you could see it was over. It was nice to get one called our way.”

Batherson scored his second power-play goal of the period to push it to 3-0 at 18:25. His centering pass from along the goal line to the left side of the net went in off Cam Fowler’s skate.

“He’s one of those players that, when we talked about our team improving over the course of the summer, he’s really taken it to heart,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said of Batherson. “He’s becoming a player that’s not only a good player in the League, but a player that you can win with. Never mind the goals or the assists or whatever point totals, his play away from the puck has been impressive.”

He then completed the hat trick to make it 4-0 at 10:30 of the second period when his turnaround wrist shot from the left point redirected in off Fowler’s stick.

“I’ve said it to you guys for four years: I think, in my opinion, he’s one of the most underrated players in the League,” Stutzle said of Batherson. “He just does things so well, such a smart player. … He just keeps getting better every year. Honestly, such a great guy, one of my best friends and I’m just really happy for him, the way he’s been playing.”

Tkachuk batted in a saucer pass from Batherson at the edge of the crease on the power play to make it 5-0 at 8:58 of the third.

“They played a [heck] of a game,” Cronin said of Ottawa. “They were flying and their skilled guys made plays. They were physical; Tkachuk set the game off right away when he hammered [Brock] McGinn, like, in the first shift. They just dictated the pace and they won puck battles.”

Gauthier tipped a Mason McTavish shot past Ullmark for the 5-1 final at 12:42.

NOTES: Batherson’s natural hat trick was the 12th in Senators history. He also became the 10th-fastest skater to score 100 goals (337 games) for Ottawa. … The Senators are 11-2-0 this season when scoring first. … Stutzle extended his multiassist streak to three games (six assists), the longest such streak in his NHL career.