Senators Capitalize on Wild Mistakes Take 3-1 Win

The Minnesota Wild and Ottawa Senators met for the first time this season on Sunday evening, Dec. 29 in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Wild, who’d been hit hard by injuries the last few weeks, were dealt another blow as Kirill Kaprizov was listed day-to-day with a lower-body injury before their game against the Dallas Stars on Dec. 27. However, they got some excellent news as Joel Eriksson Ek was removed from the injured list and was in the lineup against the Senators. 

Related: 3 Takeaways From the Wild’s 3-2 OT Win Over Stars

The Senators were on the second half of a back-to-back and were no strangers to the injury problems. Due to injuries, they were without David Perron, Anton Forsberg, Michael Amadio, Linus Ullmark, and Artem Zub. The goaltending matchup was between Filip Gustavsson for the Wild and Leevi Meriläinen for the Senators. 

The game started in the Wild’s favor, but it shifted to the Senators’ control in the second period, and they took the 3-1 win. This moved the Wild to a record of 22-11-4 and the Senators to 19-15-2. 

Game Recap

The first period was pretty even until late in the period when the Wild’s Declan Chisholm took a shot near the point, and Frédérick Gaudreau tipped it to put their team on the board first. Marcus Foligno set up the pass to Chisholm and received the secondary assist on the goal. They held the lead and ended the period 1-0. 

The Senators started the second period under two minutes in with a goal by Ridly Greig to tie the game at one. He knocked in a shot at the post, but Gustavsson could not get across the net in time to make the save, and Brady Tkachuk and Travis Hamonic assisted him. The Senators maintained control of the second period, ending with a tie of 1-1.

The Senators also converted in the third, this time on the power play with a goal by Josh Norris. Jake Sanderson and Drake Batherson assisted him to take a 2-1 lead late in the third period. The Senators added an empty net goal with under a minute to go to take a 3-1 lead. Claude Giroux scored the goal and was unassisted as he capitalized on a Wild turnover.   

The Wild will stay home for one more game to end 2024 as they host the Nashville Predators on Tuesday evening, Dec. 31, in their annual New Year’s Eve game. On the other side, the Senators will have the following three days off until they enter another back-to-back on the road, with the first game on Jan. 2 against the Dallas Stars to start off 2025.