The Ottawa Senators put the Calgary Flames in their place on Thursday night, but it wasn’t easy.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Senators found a way to win in a game they couldn’t afford to lose with a 4-3 shootout victory over the Flames in front of 16,790 at the Canadian Tire Centre.

Drake Batherson, in his 400th career game, scored in the skills contest to secure the win.

Jake Sanderson scored late to send it to overtime, while Lars Eller and Artem Zub also chipped in with goals. Linus Ullmark gave the club a chance to win with 27 stops as the Flames refused to go quietly into the night.

Sanderson tied it up with 2:49 left in the game as the Flames opted not to challenge for interference by Batherson on the goal. That was Sanderson’s third of the year, and it atoned for a mistake earlier in the period that had given the Flames the lead.

A turnover by Sanderson allowed the Flames to create an odd-man rush. That led to a give-and-go between Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri, who fired it by Ullmark on the glove side at 8:16 of the third to give the Flames the lead.

“I’m not gonna lie, I was pretty pissed off making that play,” he said.
“It’s a bad play, but you’ve gotta turn the page. The past is the past, and you’ve got to keep going.”

A MONTH IN THE BOOKS

The Senators closed out October with a  6-5-1 record.

Trying to win six games in the month for the first time since the club went 7-5-0 to start the 2011-12 campaign, the Senators are in the playoff picture, and that’s good news after a rocky start to the year.

Coming off a 7-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, the Senators had to clean up their act and make life more difficult for the Flames.

The Flames didn’t give them a whole lot, which meant this wasn’t the most exciting game people have witnessed.

“That was two teams that weren’t giving up a lot,” coach Travis Green said. “They were clogging up the neutral zone. We had come back three times. It was nice, it was a nice two points.

“It was just a choppy game. It seems like there was a lot of talking with the refs. There wasn’t a lot of flow to the game.  Both teams were checking pretty well, not a lot of great chances. That was a grinding game, a gritty game. It wasn’t the prettiest game of hockey you’re going to see.”

Down 2-1 in the second, Zub tied it up with his second of the year. He fired a shot from the point that its way through Calgary goalie Devin Cooley. Batherson had an assist on that one.

ULLMARK REGRETS HIS WORDS

Ullmark was critical of the club’s maturity in the loss to the Hawks, but he did allow six goals on 19 shots. The Senators weren’t good enough, and he wasn’t either, but he took it all back after this win.

“I came out a little hot after the last game, and said some things I regretted afterwards. I got to eat them up today because I felt we played a mature game today,” Ullmark said.

He made his 10th start in 12 games against the Flames with a 4-4-1 record coming into the game, a 3.44 goals-against average and an .844 save percentage.

Ullmark should have had high confidence against Calgary. He came into this with a 5-1-2 record with a 2.58 GAA and a .926 save percentage career mark against the Flames.

He doesn’t have to be super-human. He just has to make the necessary stops for this club to have a chance at success. His performance in this game was fine, for the most part.

NEVER A DULL MOMENT

The Senators never make it easy on themselves.

The Flames scored twice on the powerplay in the first. Matt Coronato gave his club a 2-1 lead by pushing home a loose puck in the crease home. That’s the 14th goal the Senators have given up on the penalty kill.

Trailing 1-0,  Eller tied it up with a shorthanded effort at 7:37 of the first. It was the 10th of his career with his fifth different team. He went to the net to pick up a huge rebound by Cooley after Shane Pinto did a good job on an odd-man rush.

For the 10th time in 12 games, the Senators gave up the opening goal. With Ridly Greig in the box serving a double-minor for high sticking, Yegor Sharangovich fired it by Ullmark at 5:51. That appeared to hit Dylan Cozens on the way into the net.

The Senators have the second-worst penalty kill in the league, and if that doesn’t improve, the playoffs will be a difficult task.

Green did make a couple of changes.

Acquired from the Los Angeles Kings for a pick in June, Jordan Spence, 24, has posted four assists in the four games he’s played. He’s sat because Green wanted Nikolas Matinpalo’s size in the lineup.

Spence played 15 minutes and 15 seconds.

“I’m always going to try to bring the offensive game, but I want to be solid defensively,” Spence said. “Just make the simple play. If I’m in the offensive zone, I’ll try to take the opportunity to score or make plays.”

bgarrioch@postmedia.com