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Batherson scores in debut as Senators stymie Red Wings in 2-1 victory

OTTAWA — Drake Batherson's NHL debut couldn't have gone any better. The Ottawa Senators rookie scored the game-winner in a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.
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OTTAWA — Drake Batherson's NHL debut couldn't have gone any better.

The Ottawa Senators rookie scored the game-winner in a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.

"Coming in today and having all my family here to see my first goal in my first game was a lot of emotion," said Batherson.

"I was pretty nervous, but more excited, and for that to happen was great. The crowd's reaction really did it for me. It was pretty loud after that. It's a day I'll never forget."

Not to be overshadowed was Craig Anderson's 34-save performance, which included stopping two third-period penalty shots, a first in Senators' history.

"You'd have to go back in the record books to see how many times that's happened," said Anderson, who made his league-leading 17th appearance. "It's one of those things. Stay focused, a call's a call and just get focused on that breakaway."

Cody Ceci also scored for the Senators (8-8-3), who held their opponent to three goals or less for the first time in seven games.

"We haven't done that that much this year," Anderson said.

"It was a great job by our guys holding down the fort. We limited, as best we could, odd-man rushes and our D-zone play was a lot better, so I think we're going in the right direction."

Michael Rasmussen scored the lone goal for the Red Wings (8-9-2), who saw their four-game winning streak snapped. Jimmy Howard made 34 saves.

Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill said the difference-maker was the Red Wings' inability to capitalize with the man advantage. Detroit was scoreless in two chances.

"The whole game in my opinion comes down to power play," said Blashill. "Our power play, when we had a chance to do something in the second period, we were no good on it and that's unacceptable and to me that's the whole difference."

Blashill also acknowledged Anderson's clutch performance.

"Those are real players taking the penalty shots, so good for Craig Anderson," added Blashill. "He's been a good goalie in the league for a long time. He made two critical plays at critical moments."

Trailing 2-1, Detroit had its first penalty shot midway through the third when Andreas Athanasiou was pulled down by Ceci.

Seven minutes later, Anderson came up big on another penalty shot after Rasmussen was pulled down by Chris Wideman. Anderson denied Rasmussen's attempt to go five-hole, earning him cheers from the 13,402 on hand at the Canadian Tire Centre.

Trailing 1-0, the Red Wings tied the game early in the second as Mike Green fired a shot from the blue-line that Rasmussen tipped in front.

Ottawa regained the lead with a power-play goal as Batherson jumped on a loose puck off the faceoff and beat Howard.

The Senators opened the scoring early in the second as Dylan DeMelo fired home a rebound, but the goal was called back due to goaltender interference.

However, Ottawa made up for it in nearly identical fashion as Ceci jumped on a Matt Duchene rebound with 39 seconds remaining in the period.

Rookie Brady Tkachuk also had his first NHL fight after taking offence to Justin Abdelkader giving Mark Stone an elbow to the face.

"We know he's not going to back down," said Senators coach Guy Boucher. "We knew it was only a matter of time before he had a fight and it was (Thursday). What you've got to like is it wasn't a staged fight. I don't like those. He stood up for a teammate."

The Senators are back in action Saturday as they host the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Notes: Zack Smith returned to Ottawa's lineup after missing the last nine games with facial fractures. Christian Jaros and Max McCormick were a healthy scratch for Ottawa, while Luke Witkowski was for Detroit.

Lisa Wallace , The Canadian Press