Ottawa goalie Brian Elliott was pulled after giving up three first-period goals, but the Senators came back to beat the Minnesota Wild 5-3 on Saturday. (Tom Olmscheid/Associated Press)It was supposed to be a boring game pitting the beleaguered offence of the Ottawa Senators against the Minnesota Wild's stingy defence.
But the two teams deviated from the script and combined to put on one of the most entertaining displays in the NHL this season.
Daniel Alfredsson's short-handed goal in the third period capped an amazing comeback as the Senators skated to a thrilling 5-3 win over the Wild on Saturday night.
Down 3-0 in the first period, the Senators replied with three goals in the middle frame before Alfredsson snapped a shot home early in the third to give Ottawa the win in the middle contest of a five-game road trip.
Saturday's victory also gave the Senators their first four-game winning streak since a six-game run in December 2007.
"When we were down 3-0 we knew it would be tough, but it was an upbeat locker-room," Alfredsson said. "It's a pretty impressive win."
Senators coach Cory Clouston lauded his players for not throwing in the towel.
"They're a group that believes right now. We've been down a couple times in the last few games and we've been able to squeak out some points," Clouston said. "All the credit goes to those guys. They went out and executed and got results."
The Wild came out flying from the opening faceoff and scored a trio of goals in the first 13 minutes.
Owen Nolan fed a streaking Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who fired a wrist shot from the slot by Senators goalie Brian Elliott at 1:15. Nolan scored on the power play eight minutes later, re-directing a Brent Burns pass by Elliott.
James Sheppard made a nice move to get by two Ottawa players and then made a perfect pass back to Nolan, who notched his second goal and third point of the period with a wrist shot from in close at 13:13.
That was enough for Clouston to pull Elliott, who gave up three goals on 12 shots, in favour of Alex Auld.
The Wild were cruising and appeared to have things well in control, but the Senators buckled down defensively and continuously stormed Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom's net in the second, netting three goals in a 6:22 span.
Brian Lee wired a wicked wrist shot by a prone Backstrom at 12:39, and Antoine Vermette beat Backstrom on the blocker side four minutes later to make it a 3-2 game.
Ottawa completed the comeback while playing short-handed when Chris Phillips scored with a backhander on a two-on-one with 59 seconds left in the period.
The Wild pulled a goaltending switch of their own at the start of the third period, replacing Backstrom with backup Josh Harding.
Harding was given a rude awakening, as Alfredsson scored a short-handed goal at 2:29 to give Ottawa its first lead of the game.
Alfredsson intercepted a cross-ice pass and went in 2-on-1 with Mike Fisher before firing a shot that Harding stopped. The Minnesota backup couldn't control the rebound, though, as the puck popped up in the air, and came back down off Harding's arm and into the net.
Minnesota furiously pressed for the equalizer, but Dany Heatley scored an empty-net goal with 21 seconds left in regulation to seal the win for Ottawa.
"It goes back quite a ways since we've had a win like this," Phillips said. "It's a big lift for a team that for the most part this year has struggled. To come back against a team that is known for their defensive play, it's that much harder.
"But it feels that much better when you can come back on a team like that."
The Senators continue their road trip Monday against the Nashville Predators before wrapping things up the following night against the Colorado Avalanche.
With files from Associated Press
