Thomas Chabot (2), Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle scored for Ottawa (19-26-5) while Anton Forsberg made 40 saves. Kevin Fiala, Jared Spurgeon and Jon Merrill had goals for the Wild (31-14-3) as Cam Talbot stopped 30 shots.
"That was a big heavy team that is playing really well," Tkachuk said. "It was a gutsy effort by our group."
After missing four games through injury, Chabot returned to the Sens lineup tonight and had the game-winner in the third period.
"You realize how good a guy is when you haven't seen him in a little bit and he comes back and does all the things he does tonight," Sens head coach D.J. Smith said. "Certainly, we missed him."
Ottawa built itself a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes and it started with Chabot as he wired home a wrister from the slot at 2:09 for his fourth of the season.
The lead was doubled at 17:05 as Tkachuk scored his 17th of the year on the power play as from the left goal line, he spun, shot and scored to make it 2-0.
However, the Wild mounted a comeback in the second. Fiala's 17th of the campaign got Minnesota on the board at 6:31 before Spurgeon tied the game as he was the trail man on an odd-man rush and was able to pick his spot past Forsberg for his fifth.
The Sens made sure to get out of the period ahead though as Stützle scored in his third straight game after Josh Brown's point shot hit the skate of Ryan Hartman and fell to the German who riffled home his 12th for a 3-2 lead.
"We expected a push back in the second period from them but it was a fun game, a tight game, and we're happy with the outcome," Tkachuk said.
Minnesota again pegged the Sens back, this time as Merrill picked his spot high over Forsberg from the left circle at 4:32 of the third, before Chabot won the game with his fourth career game-winner at 14:15 as his shot from the blue line hit the stick of Calen Addison and beat Talbot.
While Chabot returned to the Sens lineup tonight, he also played in his 300th NHL game to become just the third d-man in Sens history to reach that milestone. With 177 career points, Chabot is just the second blueliner in franchise history to record 175 or more points in his first 300 games with the club.
"It's great to be back and in my 300th game, it was special," Chabot said. "I take a lot of pride in that and it's nice to get out here and put in a great effort like we did as a team and still stick to it and find a way to win the game."
The Sens are back in action Saturday when they close out their four-game homestand when they host Montreal at 7 p.m.
