Wild get four goals in third, pull away from Senators

ST. PAUL, Minn. --Alex Stalock made 33 saves, and the Minnesota Wild extended their point streak to eight games with a 7-2 win against the Ottawa Senators at Xcel Energy Center on Friday.

Seven players scored for Minnesota (11-11-4), which is 5-0-3 during its point streak and 7-2-4 in November.
"I'm hoping it continues," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It's the first game that hasn't been a one-goal game it seems like in a long time. I hope it was a little bit of a confidence booster."
WATCH: [All Senators vs. Wild highlights]
Nicholas Paul and Brady Tkachuk scored, and Anders Nilsson made 28 saves for Ottawa (11-14-1), which has lost three in a row after going 7-2-0 in its previous nine games.
"It was just a poor effort by us all around," Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki said. "Even when we came out of the first and we're up 1-0, I don't even know if we deserved that. It wasn't our best hockey. … We came out even worse in the second and they took it to us."
Paul redirected Nikita Zaitsev's shot off Stalock's arm to give the Senators a 1-0 lead at 15:37 of the first period.

Ryan Donato tied it 1-1 at 9:43 of the second period, gathering a loose puck following a turnover by Senators defenseman Erik Brannstrom and scoring top shelf with a backhand from in front.
Tkachuk scored 54 seconds later with a one-timer that beat Stalock five-hole to make it 2-1 at 10:37, but Jared Spurgeon, who also had two assists, scored 28 seconds after that to tie it 2-2 at 11:05.

Zach Parise put Minnesota ahead 3-2 at 13:56 when he shot the puck off Nilsson at the right post. He has three goals in the past three games and seven goals in the past eight.
"I'm getting more looks," Parise said. "Now I feel like every game there's a chance, one, two, three chances. At least you can tell yourself, just be patient, you'll get a look, you'll get one more. If you get one, you'll get another one."

Luke Kunin scored on a breakaway at 4:34 of the third period to make it 4-2.
After Jonas Brodin poked a pass away from Dylan DeMelo in the neutral zone, Ryan Hartman gathered the puck and skated to the left circle, stopped on a dime, and beat Nilsson glove side with a wrist shot to make it 5-2 at 6:32.
Eric Staal, playing his 1,200th NHL game, scored on a rebound during a 4-on-3 power play to extend the lead to 6-2 at 10:50, and Jason Zucker converted off a give-and-go to make it 7-2 at 11:38.
"This isn't indicative of the way we play," Senators coach D.J. Smith said. "I thought we glided too much tonight. We're a team that works and skates and I didn't think we did that tonight. We probably got what we deserved."

They said it

"We just didn't play well at all, simple as that. We're in the game, and every goal was just a missed assignment. Obviously, you have to tip your hat, a couple goals they had good sticks on the forecheck, but we just weren't engaged, mental errors and things we weren't doing. For a long time [we had been] playing good hockey. It's unfortunate we couldn't keep it rolling, but now that we kind of dropped the ball we have to get back on the horse." -- Senators defenseman Dylan DeMelo
"We win three or four more in a row, then I'll go, 'Oh man, we're getting closer.' So if we just play the right way and do the right things, then the points automatically come up and we don't have to be begging and looking. They'll just be there." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Need to know

Senators forward Vladislav Namestnikov had three shots in 12:01 of ice time in his return after missing three games because of a back injury. … Ottawa forward Artem Anisimov was minus-2 in 13:05 of ice time after missing the previous 10 games because of a groin injury. … Spurgeon was plus-5 and has five points (one goal, four assists) in the past four games. … Wild defenseman Ryan Suter also was plus-5. … Donato has three points (two goals, one assist) during a three-game point streak.

What's next

Senators:At the Calgary Flames on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN360, CITY, SNW, TVAS, NHL.TV)
Wild:Host the Dallas Stars on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-N, FS-WI, FS-SW+, NHL.TV)