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Senators outlast Wild

Dec 17, 2010 - 3:59 AM St. Paul, MN (Sports Network) - Pascal Leclaire made 23 saves to help the Ottawa Senators edge the Minnesota Wild, 3-1, at Xcel Energy Center.

Chris Kelly, Daniel Alfredsson and Nick Foligno each had a goal for the Senators, who won for just the fifth time in 16 games. Erik Karlsson had three assists in the win.

"The first period we started off good then we got on our heels," said Alfredsson. "They were skating pretty good but we were able to kill some big penalties. It was an interesting game and luckily we were able to pull it out."

Kyle Brodziak scored the lone goal for the Wild, who have dropped their past two and seven of nine. Jose Theodore stopped 22-of-24 shots in the loss.

Minnesota took a 1-0 lead on a pretty play in the first period. Martin Havlat skated the puck into the Ottawa end and from the left point dished it straight down for Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who fed the puck out front where Brodziak tipped it into the net at the 3:36 mark.

Ottawa tied the game at the 6:11 mark of the second period on the power play as a shot from the right point found its way through traffic and Alfredsson was able to bury the rebound from the left side for his 10th goal of the season.

Kyle Brodziak had scored to potentially give the Wild the lead, but the team was called for too many men on the ice and Foligno scored moments later.

The Sens took a 2-1 lead with another power-play goal at 11:21 of the second when Karlsson sent a slap pass from the left circle over to the right where Foligno one-timed it home.

Leclaire stopped all seven shots he saw in the third period and Kelly sealed the win in the final moments with his empty-net goal.

Game Notes

Minnesota plays at Calgary on Saturday...The Senators have won five straight against the Wild...Ottawa plays in Colorado on Friday...Ottawa was 2-for-2 on the power play while the Wild were 0-for-3.