The Ottawa Senators started off their longest road trip of the season on a high note.

Drake Batherson saved the night by potting the winner with only 1:58 left in the third period to lead the Senators to a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night at the Honda Center.

It was nice way to start a journey that will see the Senators visit seven cities and cover more than 10,000 kilometres. Shane Pinto and Nick Cousins also scored for Ottawa, while Linus Ullmark was solid in the net.

Batherson tipped a shot from the point by Jake Sanderson past Anaheim goalie Peter Mrazek to secure a key two points.

“I was just lucky enough to get a stick on it and it’s found its way in,” Batherson said. “We’ve struggled on these trips in the past, coming out here and getting used to the time change, so getting a win is huge. I think we’re going to get better the more we get used to it.”

Not all the news was good, though, the Senators finished the game without defenceman Nikolas Matinpalo after he was slammed into the boards by Ducks’ captain Radko Gudas in the third.

The club does have Lassi Thomson on the road and he could be pressed into duty against the San Jose on Saturday.

LONG ROAD AHEAD

Through 40 minutes, the Senators and Ducks were tied 2-2, thanks to a late goal by Pinto going to the third.

“Resilient group tonight. I didn’t like the start of our game but the powerplay gave us some some momentum. We had a lot of good looks, and when that happens you can start feeling that maybe it’s not your night, but give them credit, they stuck with it,” said coach Travis Green.

He made a great effort getting to the net and then squeezed it through Mrazek on the powerplay with 58 seconds left in the second periodto right the ship for Ottawa heading to the third.

The Ducks are the NHL’s second-highest scoring team, which meant the Senators had to be at their best defensively. That wasn’t the case on the goal that gave Anaheim a brief 2-1 lead.

Defenceman Nick Jensen got caught up ice, and that set up a 2-on-1 for the Ducks. Mason McTavish fired him his fourth of the year after taking a pass from Chris Kreider to beat Ullmark on the stick side.

That was Anaheim’s second goal in a span of 1:26, which isn’t ideal.

ULLMARK MAKES KEY STOPS

This was Ullmark’s 16th start of the season, and he’s striving to get his numbers back to respectability. He came into this game with a 1-1-3 record in his last five starts and only two wins in his last seven games.

He had a 6-5-4 record, a 3.08 goals-against average and a .872 save percentage coming into this one. Ullmark stopped 23-of-25 shots in this one and posted a .920 save percentage.

He did have some help with stop by Artem Zub in the dying seconds in the dying seconds with the Ducks trying to tie it.

Ullmark had no chance on the effort by the Ducks to tie it up 1-1 at 13:08 of the second. Cutter Gauthier whiffed on a shot, picked up the loose puck and sent it across to Bennett Senecke, who fired it into a wide open net.

Up to that point, Ullmark had also gotten a little bit of help from the posts.

Ullmark was able to play with the lead for the first 33 minutes. The Senators completely outplayed the Ducks in the first and outshot them 9-4. Mrazek had to make some big stops to keep Ottawa at bay.

The Senators opened the scoring for the eighth time this season when Cousins fired a blast by Mrazek at 16:39 of the first. That was the fourth of the year for Cousins and his 200th career point.

“The other (Cozens) made the play, I was just fortunate to put it in the back of the net,” Cousins told TSN’s Kenzie Lalonde after the first.

HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU, KID

Centre Stephen Halliday, called up on Tuesday from the club’s American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville, made his NHL debut.

Halliday, 23, was selected No. 104 by the Senators in the 2022 draft and has taken a long road to get here. The Ajax native spent two years at Ohio State University and parts of three seasons in Belleville.

He suited up because forward Ridly Greig is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. Of course, Halliday took his rookie lap to start warmup, and his parents, James and Amanda, were in town for the game.

“It means a lot. They’ve been with me throughout the ups and downs of my career so it means a lot for them to fly across the country. I’m really happy they’re here,” said Halliday.

Just for good measure, Halliday picked up his first NHL point by helping to set up Pinto for his effort that tied it up in the second. Halliday played just minutes and 28 seconds because the bench was shortened in a tight game.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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