Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Ottawa

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
OTTAWA -- Following a seven-goal offensive outburst to start its Canadian road trip on Sunday night, the Wild heads East to continue its sojourn against the Ottawa Senators Tuesday at Canadian Tire Centre.
Minnesota tied a franchise record by scoring four times in the first period against the Oilers, setting the tone in a dominant 7-3 victory, a win that snapped a brief two-game skid.
The Wild led 4-1 after 20 minutes and 6-2 after two periods in a game that was never really in doubt.
"We talked in between the periods that we have to stay aggressive but intelligently aggressive," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "We want to push to score goals and we want to push for offense. But you have to be very mindful that they can come in waves in a hurry and we did a real good job."
It marked the sixth time this season the Wild has scored seven goals in a game, second-most in the NHL behind the Colorado Avalanche.
Perhaps more importantly, however, the Wild held the explosive Oilers in check offensively. Edmonton's third goal of the night came in the final minutes of regulation with the game already decided.
"We were on the right side. We were on the right side of the puck all night in all 3 zones but especially in the D zone. We really took care of being between the net and the players and nobody really got behind us," Evason said. "Obviously you can look at some of the goals as of late and people were getting in behind us and we were losing people. We didn't do that tonight. We were very mindful of where everybody was on the ice and it led to offense."
Kevin Fiala led the way offensively for Minnesota in Edmonton, scoring a pair of goals and assisting on another. Linemate Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist and Freddy Gaudreau chipped in with a helper as well.
Fiala is red-hot, tallying 22 points over his past 18 games, including 12 goals during that span, which has largely come since Boldy's NHL arrival. The rookie from Boston College is averaging a point-per-game over his first 16 games in the league. He already has five multi-point efforts in those games.
Gaudreau has a point per over his past five and has already shattered previous career highs offensively.
"I think it's just the trust we have in each other," Boldy said. "I think it doesn't matter where we are, who's down low in the D zone or getting pucks out and obviously offensive zone I think is where we all strive the most, just being offensive players and wanting to score, we're kind of creative that way where we can find each other in certain spots."
Kaapo Kahkonen earned the win in goal for the Wild on Sunday, improving to 8-1-1 over his past 10 starts. In the one regulation defeat during that stretch, he allowed just one goal in a 2-0 loss to Winnipeg two weeks ago.
The win moved Kahkonen past Pekka Rinne for most victories by a Finnish-born rookie goaltender (31).
Ottawa is coming off a one-goal loss to the New York Rangers at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday. The Sens lost in overtime to the Bruins the night before, and despite its sixth-place standing in the Atlantic Division, Ottawa has been far more competitive this season than in years prior.
Few clubs have been more active out of the All-Star break than Ottawa, which will wrap up a stretch of 10 games in 16 nights on Tuesday against the Wild. The Senators are 4-4-1 in the first nine games of that span, including wins over Washington and Carolina.
The Sens boast one of the top young cores in the NHL in Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, Josh Norris and Tim Stützle, who rank as Ottawa's top four point producers this season. Batherson (ankle) and Norris (shoulder) are on injured reserve, however, and won't play on Tuesday.
Tkachuk has a team-high 36 points, including 16 goals. Norris has a team-best 18 goals while Batherson and defenseman Thomas Chabot lead the club with 21 assists.
Chabot has missed the past handful of games with an undisclosed injury, but could return to the lineup against the Wild.
After a brutal start to the season for goaltender Matt Murray, which resulted in him being placed on waivers and sent to the American Hockey League, he's been much better since returning to Ottawa.
Since Jan. 13, Murray is 5-3-2 with a 2.01 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage.
The game Tuesday marks the second and final matchup between the clubs this season. The Wild won 5-4 in overtime back on Nov. 2 in St. Paul, rallying from a one-goal deficit in the third period to win on Kirill Kaprizov's tally in the extra session.
Marcus Foligno scored twice for Minnesota while Fiala and Kaprizov had multi-point efforts. Cam Talbot made 24 saves to earn the win. Norris and Batherson each had a goal and an assist to pace the Senators.
The Wild enters riding a nine-game win streak against the
Senators, its second-longest active win streak against an NHL opponent.
Minnesota has earned points in 13 of its last 16 contests against Ottawa (11-3-2) dating back to Oct. 11, 2011 and is on a five-game point streak at Canadian Tire Centre (4-0-1).