Make it five straight wins for the Ottawa Senators. Drake Batherson had two goals and an assist on Thursday night as the Senators defeated the Boston Bruins 5-3 at Canadian Tire Centre.

With 22 saves against his old team, Linus Ullmark wasn't all that busy on the night, at least not compared to his 48-save performance on Monday against the Detroit Red Wings.

But he faced a high percentage of quality chances in the second half of the game, and his save on Boston's Mason Lohrei won't soon be forgotten.

Ullmark was feeling so good he attempted a goalie goal but missed. 

It didn't go quite as well for Ullmark's old running mate, Jeremy Swayman, who was yanked in favour of former Senator Joonas Korpisalo after the first period.

The Senators were good and ready for this contest, jumping out to a 4-1 lead in the first on goals by Shane Pinto, Tyler Kleven, Drake Batherson, and Ridly Greig.

Batherson got another one in the second period, sandwiched between a pair of Bruins' goals from David Pastrnak and Marat Khusnutdinov.

Claude Giroux put the game away with a late empty-net goal, making a winner of head coach Travis Green in his 400th game as an NHL head coach.

Sens captain Brady Tkachuk's final shift came with almost seven minutes still left in the game. Green said afterward that Tkachuk had tweaked his hip and didn't seem fazed by it. But the coach is always intentionally vague about injuries.

The victory expands the Senators' lead in the Eastern Conference Wild Card race. They hold the first wild card spot, now five points up on the Columbus Blue Jackets and the New York Rangers. Columbus lost 4-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Rangers beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 in overtime.

The Sens are now 6-0-1 in their last seven games, 10 games above .500. That's prompted some fans to start looking up in the standings instead of down. Ottawa now trails third-place Tampa Bay by four points after the Lightning lost to the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in a shootout on Thursday.

The Senators now get ready for a couple of road games against old familiar rivals. They're in Toronto on Saturday and in Montreal on Tuesday.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa

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