Drake Batherson scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period as the Ottawa Senators put a dent in the visiting Vancouver Canucks’ playoff hopes with a 2-1 victory Monday night.
Josh Norris also scored for the last-place Senators (18-27-4, 40 points) and Brady Tkachuk had two assists. Goaltender Marcus Hogberg made 25 saves.
It was Ottawa’s second victory in the past three games with the Canucks after splitting a pair of contests last week in Vancouver. The teams wrap up their four-game, home-and-home series Wednesday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Olli Juolevi scored the lone goal for the Canucks (19-20-3, 41 points), who have won three of five games since an 18-day pause because of a COVID-19 outbreak in which 22 players and four staff members tested positive. Goalie Braden Holtby stopped 25 of 27 shots.
The Canucks are sixth in the seven-team North Division, 10 points behind Montreal for the fourth and final playoff berth. The Canadiens won 2-1 at Calgary on Monday.
Batherson’s goal, his 17th of the season to tie Connor Brown for the team lead, came at 11:41 of the second. The Canucks turned over the puck behind their own net, with Tkachuk charging into the right wing corner to track it down. He made a no-look, backhanded pass to Batherson at the top of the right faceoff circle and his quick wrist shot beat Holtby to make it 2-1.
The Senators scored the game’s first goal at 10:22 of the first.
Tkachuk stole a Vancouver pass at the opposing blue line and skated down the ice on a two-on-one break before shoveling a pass to Norris. The forward pulled up in the right faceoff circle, waited for the diving defenseman to slide by, and scored on a wrister.
The Canucks tied it 14:07 of the first as Juolevi took a wrist shot from the left point that made its way through a maze of players in front of the net and into the upper right corner of the goal.
–Field Level Media