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Wild, Senators try to bounce back in Ottawa

Nov 20, 2013 - 3:48 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Neither the Minnesota Wild or Ottawa Senators are happy with their efforts from Tuesday night.

The clubs see a quick turnaround as they are set to square off in Ottawa on Wednesday night with a chance to get back on track.

The Wild had a four-game winning streak and eight-game point streak (7-0-1) snapped with last night's 6-2 loss to the hosting Montreal Canadiens, while the Ottawa Senators lost for the third time in four games with a 5-2 setback to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Minnesota didn't give itself much of a chance, giving up the game's first five goals, including the first three to Montreal forward Max Pacioretty in the second period. Nino Niederreiter finally got the Wild on the board with 5:30 to play, while Dany Heatley added a late power-play goal with two seconds on the clock.

One day after being named the NHL's Third Star for the week ending on Nov. 17, Josh Harding allowed three goals on 19 shots in just over 33 minutes of action. He had gone 3-0-0 with a 1.38 goals against average and .939 save percentage last week.

Darcy Kuemper came on in relief and yielded three goals on nine shots.

"We did not play well. They played very well and that's usually the result," said Wild head coach Mike Yeo. "Hopefully we're a little ticked off. We've been on a good stretch here, but there's no need for us to sit here and look back on that and feel too good about that. Good teams respond, so we have to make sure we respond with a good effort (Wednesday)."

Yeo's decision to pull Harding early likely means the goaltender will get the start tonight over Kuemper. Harding has never started versus the Senators and has faced them just once before in relief. That came back on Feb. 14, 2009 and he faced just two shots, giving up one goal.

Minnesota lost the opener of a four-game road trip and fell to 3-4-2 as the guest this season compared to 10-1-2 at home. The Wild will face a Senators club that returns home after last night's setback in Philadelphia.

Clarke MacArthur and Kyle Turris scored to erase a 2-0 deficit, but the Flyers responded with a pair of goals 23 seconds apart just past the midway point of the third period to seal the outcome.

MacArthur assisted on Turris' fifth goal of the season, while Robin Lehner faced 41 shots, coming up with 37 saves.

"I thought we played a good game," said Lehner. "It's too bad that I couldn't be there for the guys today. I had a bad one today. That's life. I had a bad outing today."

Craig Anderson could get the start tonight for the Sens and is 3-6-2 with a 2.99 GAA in his career versus the Wild.

The Senators will look to extend a six-game series winning streak over the Wild, having not lost to the club since March 16, 2004 in Minnesota. They have won three straight as the guest in this series since.

Ottawa has eight victories and a tie in 11 all-time meetings with Minnesota.