The Minnesota Wild started their four-game road trip with a dominating effort on Sunday night. But that momentum didn’t carry over as a sloppy effort led to a 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators.
The Wild came into the game shorthanded as Matt Dumba and Mats Zuccarello sat out with upper-body injuries. Things got worse when the Wild got off to a slow start, allowing a goal to Thomas Chabot on Ottawa’s first shot of the game.
Minnesota continued their sloppy play when Brady Tkachuk scored a power-play goal to put the Senators ahead 2-0. But just when the game appeared to be getting away, Kevin Fiala put the Wild on the board with his 17th goal of the season.
THIS WAS TWO NICE BY #22 pic.twitter.com/WspHfKN2Fk
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) February 23, 2022
The rally continued when Jared Spurgeon tied the game midway through the second period. After Tim Stutzle put Ottawa back on top, Jon Merrill netted with his fourth goal of the year at 4:32 of the third period to tie the game at 3-3.
MERRILL MAKES IT 3-3. #mnwild pic.twitter.com/a0m0mzxSIw
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) February 23, 2022
But the Wild just didn’t have the energy they had in Edmonton. Cam Talbot had another rough night, allowing four goals on 33 shots and Minnesota’s sloppy play bit them again with 5:45 to go, when Chabot scored his second goal of the night off Calen Addison’s stick to put Ottawa up for good.
chabot wires it, it deflects off addison’s stick and ottawa has the lead pic.twitter.com/PMPGDZItBh
— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) February 23, 2022
The Wild tried to mount one last comeback but a tripping penalty on Jordan Greenway with 3:24 to go didn’t allow Dean Evason to pull Talbot. Although the Wild mounted a late flurry, they couldn’t find the equalizer and lost to the Senators for the first time in their past nine meetings.
Minnesota will continue its four-game Canadian road trip on Thursday when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs.
