The Ottawa Senators had one of those nights that seemed to contain everything at once: control, collapse, survival, and a little bit of rescue work at the end.
They were up and rolling for roughly the first 15 minutes against the Los Angeles Kings before the whole thing went sideways. Then it turned ugly fast, with the Senators giving up five unanswered goals - four of them in a miserable second period. But after all that, Ottawa still managed to claw back enough to steal a point in a loss that had already looked buried.
Dylan Cozens, Tim Stützle and Drake Batherson each finished with three points for Ottawa, which fell to 8-5-1 and dropped a second straight game for the first time this season. Jonas Johansson made his third consecutive start and was pulled after surrendering four goals on 16 shots. Samuel Ersson came on in relief and stopped 20.
Ottawa opened the scoring when Stützle got the puck in the corner, used his skating to separate from Mikey Anderson, and slipped it to Zetterlund for a one-timer that produced Tyler Kleven’s rebound finish for the 1-0 lead. Later, with the Senators trying to find some kind of foothold in the third, Stützle delivered again - this time with a no-look backhand feed to Cozens for the 5-2 goal.
He also helped set up the 5-4 goal by moving skate-to-stick in the slot and creating the rebound that Cozens buried. It wasn’t a perfect night for Stützle, but Ottawa doesn’t come back into that game without his quick hands and vision.
Batherson was central to Ottawa’s best work, too. He tried to get Burakovsky his first goal in a Senators sweater by sending a pass toward the low slot for a tip chance in the first period, then set him up again moments later with a slick seam pass on a rush.
Burakovsky couldn’t corral the first feed, then missed the net high on the second. A little later, just before he exited with an injury, Burakovsky put up a weak backhand from the corner that Darcy Kuemper touched for a shot on goal - only his third shot in eight games with Ottawa.
It was not a clean fit.
Batherson also scored twice himself. His bar-down wrister from the top of the slot made it 5-3, and he followed that with a smart, sharp feed to Shane Pinto for the 5-5 goal after noticing Pinto had briefly slipped free in front.
Batherson dropped to one knee to get enough on the one-touch pass, taking advantage of the Kings’ lapse. He added a cross-check penalty and finished with three shots in 18:57 of ice time.
Cozens, meanwhile, had a rougher first half before finding his way into the game. Early on, he was knocked off the puck too easily and lost too many board battles, even reaching with one hand on his stick near the Kings’ bench at one point.
But like much of the remaining forward group, he came alive in the third. After Stützle’s centring pass caromed to him off Byfield’s skate, Cozens slipped past a stickcheck and snapped a shot to the far side on Kuemper.
He then scored again by pouncing on a loose puck while Joel Edmundson and Trevor Moore tried to keep him from getting to it.
In Other News...
Brandt Clarke Hit Gives Kings Fans Plenty To Be Furious About
The moment at Crypto.com Arena had all the ingredients to set off Kings fans, even before the frustration fully set in. Ottawa forward Hayden Hodgson, whose NHL experience has mostly come in the role of an enforcer, went after Brandt Clarke with a boarding penalty that brought a major call and a game misconduct, leaving Los Angeles with a chance to settle things on the scoreboard after the initial flashpoint.
Clarke stayed on the ice and the Kings made the most of the power play, which only added to the sense that the play itself was going to be remembered far longer than the call. For Los Angeles, the broader concern was less about the immediate damage and more about watching one of its young defensemen absorb a hit like that and keep going, even as the officials sorted out the fallout. [Read more 🡒]
Reign Return Home Facing A Big Lineup Test Against Tucson
The Ontario Reign are back home for a quick two-game set against Tucson after a tough road trip that ended with consecutive losses, and the timing does not make the lineup puzzle any easier. The Roadrunners arrive with a reputation for being dangerous on special teams, so Ontario will need a sharper start and a cleaner overall game to get back on track.
The Reign will also have to do it without their leading goal scorer, Martin Chromiak, after his call-up to the NHL, which opens up even more responsibility for the rest of the forward group. On the other side of the roster shuffle, Jared Wright has been sent back to Ontario and is expected to suit up, while Erik Portillo is projected to get the start in net as the Reign try to settle things down at home. [Read more 🡒]
Brandt Clarke Injury Leaves Kings Facing An Unsettling New Question
Brandt Clarkes night ended abruptly against Ottawa after the Kings defenseman suffered an upper-body injury and did not return following a hit from Senators forward Hayden Hodgson. Clarke had already picked up an assist before leaving, offering one more reminder of how important his puck-moving presence has become on the blue line.
The sequence itself was ugly enough to change the tone of the game, with Hodgson assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct on the play. What made the aftermath even more uneasy for Los Angeles was the silence that followed, as head coach Peter Laviolette did not offer an update on Clarkes condition after the game. [Read more 🡒]