Senators rally past Hurricanes with 4 goals in 3rd

OTTAWA -- Drake Batherson had two goals and an assist for the Ottawa Senators, who scored four times in the third period to rally for a 7-5 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

“The fans got their money’s worth,” Batherson said. “It wasn’t our best game, but we found a way.”

Adam Gaudette scored twice, and Dylan Cozens and Tim Stutzle each had a goal and two assists for the Senators (45-30-7), who went 6-1-1 in their final eight games of the regular season. Jake Sanderson had two assists and Linus Ullmark made 28 saves.

“I’m really happy with the way our group has played (this season),” said coach Travis Green, who is in his first season with Ottawa. “You come into a new job, you’re not quite sure, you don’t know the players, and from Day 1, I’ve said, like, they’ve been very coachable and they’ve got a burning desire to win, and they’ve done nothing but show that.”

Brady Tkachuk, who was making his return after missing eight games with an upper-body injury, did not play in the third period for precautionary reasons. Tkachuk appeared to be in discomfort after taking a high stick from Carolina forward Mark Jankowski at 14:53 of the second period. His final shift of the game was on the ensuing power play.

“Took a couple of sticks in the face,” Tkachuk said. “The plan was that I wasn’t going to play much tonight, just get my legs underneath me. It was a [coach, doctor and trainer] decision. To be honest, I got everything I needed out of tonight. I felt good. Just precautionary and nothing to worry about.”

When asked if he will be ready to play in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, Tkachuk said, “Yeah, no issues.”

Skyler Brind'Amour, who is the son of Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour, scored his first NHL goal, and Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and an assist for Carolina (47-30-5), which lost seven of its final eight games of the regular season (1-6-1). Frederik Andersen made 25 saves.

“We left him out to dry there a little bit,” Rod Brind’Amour said of Andersen. “They made nice plays. I mean, that’s their team. They’ve got skill and if you give them power plays you’ve got no chance. So, too many and like I said, we left him out to kind of hang out on a lot of those penalties. But other than that, he made some good saves.”

Gaudette cut it to 5-4 at 4:17 of the third period, scoring his second goal of the game with a quick shot off a face-off win by Stutzle in the left circle.

“It feels good to find the score sheet like that and play some good minutes tonight in different situations," Gaudette said. "Confidencewise, it’s huge, especially this time of the year going into the playoffs.”

Batherson tied it 5-5 at 10:01, lifting a backhand over Andersen from in front after Brind'Amour turned the puck over while trying to clear the zone. Batherson then gave the Senators a 6-5 lead at 13:38, scoring a power-play goal with a one-timer off a centering pass from Stutzle, who was skating behind the net.

“Lots of confidence that we could come back, and that’s exactly what we did,” Batherson said. “Scored some goals, timely in the game, and the guys made some plays and we found a way to win.”

Stutzle scored another power-play goal on an individual effort at 18:48 for the 7-5 final.

Ottawa was 3-for-9 on the power play. Carolina was 1-for-3.

“That was tough,” Rod Brind’Amour said. “I’d like to obviously end on a different note than that. That’s just tough to be a part of, but it is what it is. We’re moving on.”

Gaudette gave the Senators a 1-0 lead at 11:55 of the first period when he beat Andersen blocker side with a curl-and-drag wrist shot from the top of the right circle.

Cozens made it 2-0 at 16:35. He took a pass from Batherson in the high slot and scored with a wrist shot over Andersen’s blocker on a power play.

Shane Pinto pushed it to 3-0 at 17:22. He got behind the defense and took a lead pass from Michael Amadio just inside the blue line before scoring glove side on a breakaway.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi responded 11 seconds later to cut it to 3-1. He scored with a wrist shot short side on Ullmark from the top of the right circle.

Brind’Amour cut it to 3-2 at 19:18, jamming in the rebound of William Carrier's initial shot in the crease.

“Right now, it doesn’t really sink in too much because it’s a loss,” Rod Brind’Amour said of his son’s goal. “He did turn it over on the one goal, so that cost us a goal. It’s been a long journey for him, and I’m happy that he can at least say that he tucked one in, so that’s good.”

Svechnikov scored a power-play goal with a one-timer off a pass from Logan Stankoven 50 seconds into the second period to tie it 3-3.

Jack Roslovic gave the Hurricanes a 4-3 lead at 4:05. He beat Ullmark blocker side on a partial breakaway after the rebound of Claude Giroux's shot at the other end caromed all the way around the boards into the neutral zone.

Tyson Jost scored with a one-timer off a pass from Taylor Hall to make it 5-3 at 6:32.

“The last three or five games it’s been kind of hard, you pretty much play for nothing but still try to focus," Svechnikov said. "That’s the hard part, to get yourself going. It’s always nice to get them away and focus on the playoffs.”

NOTES: Brind’Amour is the fifth player in NHL history to score a goal with his father as his head coach. The others: Adam Lowry (Dave Lowry), Kevin Dineen (Bill Dineen), and Muzz and Lynn Patrick (Lester Patrick). ... Batherson had 68 points (26 goals, 42 assists) this season, an NHL career high. He also ended the season on a seven-game point streak (five goals, four assists). ... The Senators earned their third multigoal, third-period comeback win of the season. Only the Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins and Colorado Avalanche had more with four.