Game Recap: Senators 2, Wild 1

Anton Forsberg made 24 saves, including stopping a penalty shot and had an assist when the Ottawa Senators defeated the Minnesota Wild, 2-1 in a shootout at Avicii Arena on Saturday in Stockholm in the third game of the 2023 NHL Global Series Sweden presented by Fastenal.

The Senators (8-7-0) won their third straight game and second here following a 5-4 overtime win against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.

"We're in a spot where we need to win every game now to get back on track and it was a good trip to get the group together," Forsberg, a native of Harnosand, Sweden, said. "I think we've done it pretty well with having team dinners and stuff. The guys have had some fun and obviously with four points getting out of here, it couldn't have been better."

Marco Rossi scored, and Filip Gustavsson made 30 saves for the Wild (5-8-3), who have lost four in a row (0-3-1) and play the Toronto Maple Leafs here Sunday in the final game of the Global Series.

"What are you going to do?" Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "We play at 2 o'clock tomorrow but it has to be positive and we believe it was. The group, they know they played hard, they played well. We didn't get the result which was disappointing, but the process is correct. You just have to keep doing it over and over again and believe that the process will allow you to have success."

Erik Brannstrom, a native of Eksjo, Sweden, scored for Ottawa. It was his first goal of the season in his 200th NHL game.

"That's the way we have to play to give ourselves a chance every night, away from the puck," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. "I thought our defensive zone was as good as it's been. Our neutral zone, we broke the puck out, we did a lot of really good things. We ended up winning the game but even if we lost, I'd be up here saying the same thing. I thought as a group we were more connected and we looked a lot more organized tonight."

Forsberg stopped Marcus Johansson on a penalty shot at 3:38 of the second period to keep the score 0-0. The shot was awarded when Brannstrom closed his hand on the puck in the goal crease.

"I think D.J. said it before the game that it was going to be a tight one and we were going to win 2-1 so I guess he knew something that we didn't tonight but it was a tight game," said Josh Norris, who scored the only goal of the shootout. "There wasn't a ton of room out there. They play hard and Forsberg made a lot of good saves, and we got two points so it was a good win."

Gustavsson, a native of Skelleftea, Sweden, has not won in his past five appearances since defeating the Edmonton Oilers 7-4 on October 24. He had allowed 17 goals against in his past four appearances but Evason said he thought Gustavsson showed improvement.

"Gustavsson was real good," Evason said. "When he had to be, he was there. I agree, he looked very calm, wasn't out of position and most of the saves were smothered. He definitely looked more like himself for sure."

Rossi gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 6:22 of the second when he deflected Brock Faber's point shot at the top of the goal crease.

Brannstrom tied it 1-1 at 3:22 of the third period when he took a slapshot from the top of the left faceoff circle after getting a stretch pass from Forsberg in the neutral zone, who got an assist.

"It's a set play by us," Brannstrom joked. "No it's not. It was a good pass by him, so it was nice to see it go in."

Gustavsson said the focus now must be on putting forward a similar effort against Toronto on Sunday.

"We're here to get four points," Gustavsson said. "We're one point down so we have to get another two tomorrow."

The Wild were coming off an 8-3 loss to the Dallas Stars last Sunday in which they allowed five power-play goals and two short-handed goals. The penalty kill was 4-for-4 on Saturday.

"For sure this is a big step forward," Wild forward Marcus Foligno said. "It kind of starts with the penalty kill doing a good job. It just was more of a smarter game, straight lines and not trying to give teams momentum with our bad puck management so we did a lot better job."

NOTES: The Wild were without forward Ryan Hartman, who did not play because of an illness. Evason said he was not sure if Hartman would be available to play against the Maple Leafs on Sunday. … Forsberg became the first Sweden-born goalie to win in 16 regular-season NHL games played in the country. ... Senators defenseman Jakob Chychrun played his 400th NHL game and did not have a point. He has 187 points (67 goals, 120 assists).