Batherson stars as Senators shut out Canadiens 4-0
MONTREAL (AP) — Drake Batherson had two goals and an assist, and the Ottawa Senators beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-0 on Saturday.
Artem Zub and Nikita Zaitsev also scored for last-place Ottawa, which had dropped five of six. Brady Tkachuk and Josh Norris each had two assists.
Batherson followed the Canadiens religiously growing up in Nova Scotia.
“I remember playing in this building in my rookie year and I was so fired up,” Batherson said. “This is a team I grew up watching every single game.”
Matt Murray made 23 saves in his first shutout of the season and No. 12 for his career.
Montreal lost for the fifth time in seven games. It has managed just 11 goals during the tough stretch.
Carey Price finished with 11 saves for the Canadiens, who were coming off a 2-1 victory over Calgary on Friday. Price returned to the lineup after missing six games with a lower-body injury.
“We just need to find some consistency,” Price said. “Everybody in the league wants to find that. Everybody in this league wants to win and everybody’s playing hard.
“We’ve just got to find a way to do it on a nightly basis.”
The rebuilding Senators improved to 5-3-0 against the Canadiens this season, with three of their six road wins in 2021 coming at the Bell Centre.
Batherson has 11 points in eight games against Montreal this year.
“I get fired up coming to the play the Canadiens,” he said. “There’s so much history here.”
Zub put Ottawa ahead to stay when he buried a wrist shot from the top of the slot 3:03 into the first period. It was Zub’s third of the season.
Batherson made it 2-0 at 13:12 in the second period. He took a feed from Brady Tkachuk and fooled Price with a five-hole shot for his 14th goal.
Batherson added a power-play goal in the third, and Zaitsev tacked on an empty-netter.
“We showed a lot of maturity,” Murray said. “We played the game the right way for 60 minutes.”
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Senators forward Shane Pinto made his NHL debut. He got an assist on Zaitsev’s goal for his first point.
Pinto is the fifth Ottawa player to make his NHL debut this season.
“The first one’s out of the way,” Pinto said. “It’s good to settle in.”
UP NEXT
Senators: Visit Calgary on Monday night.
Canadiens: Open a five-game trip Monday night at Edmonton.
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