Jake Sanderson was back and looked like himself. The rest of the game was harder to watch.

The Ottawa Senators looked like a team that needed a few minutes to get their feet under them. Minnesota came out buzzing and were all over Ottawa in the defensive zone early. It was Linus Ullmark who held back the tide, turning aside a pair of dangerous looks from Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello before the Sens could find their legs.

Once they did, Ottawa shouldered some of the momentum and started making Minnesota uncomfortable in their own end. Jake Sanderson ripped the puck from the blue line with enough strength to suggest his shoulder is feeling much better. Those good feelings didn’t last long, though, and the opening goal was a tough one for Ottawa to swallow.

All Jonas Brodin had to do was send a medium-strength wrister directly at Ullmark’s pads, where it bounced right in front of the net. Nikolas Matinpalo, backsliding into the crease, caught the puck on his skate and redirected it across the line to make it 1-0 Wild.

right where we want it pic.twitter.com/kmaI8oR9m3

— x – Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 4, 2026

Ottawa had their chances to answer. Sanderson sprung Tkachuk and Dylan Cozens for a two-on-one that Brady couldn’t convert – one of several looks he’d generate early, finishing the period with five shots on net. Nick Cousins had a shot that left the puck sitting tantalizingly in an empty crease, but Minnesota scrambled it away before anyone could pull the trigger.

The Sens kept pressing, and when Joel Eriksson Ek grabbed Claude Giroux they had a power play to show for it. Sanderson was at it again with another big shot and the Sens had some chances in tight, but nothing came of it.

Then came the killer: Jordan Spence, who has been so solid through this injury-laden stretch, gave the puck away at the blue line to Zuccarello, who slid it across to Ryan Hartman for a simple finish. Spence wore the mistake visibly, his frustration plain to see as the replays rolled. 2-0 Wild.

36 🤝 38 pic.twitter.com/DOKp33yKXH

— x – Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 4, 2026

The first period closed with some choppy back-and-forth, Ullmark making a few more stops as the Sens chased the game a little frantically. Zach Bogosian’s stick came near enough to Tkachuk’s face that the officials sent Ottawa to the power play, with most of the advantage bleeding into the second period.

That carry-over power play had the potential to start the middle frame with a spark for the Senators, but it sputtered out quickly. The most exciting moment was Eriksson Ek’s shorthanded break that Ullmark had to smother, and when the dust settled Ottawa had nothing to show for the man advantage once again. They couldn’t establish much of anything – their passing was rough and zone entries were a struggle.

It didn’t get much better once the teams were back at even strength. The Wild made themselves comfortable generating rush chances and a couple of breakaways, and Ottawa’s passing didn’t clean up much. The turnovers persisted, including one from Drake Batherson that sent Quinn Hughes rocketing up the ice, beating every Sens skater on the way. It fell to Ullmark once again to keep the score from getting uglier faster.

The forwards looked disjointed all period, and Minnesota were happy to exploit it. The third goal was the period in a microcosm. First Ottawa lost a board battle at the blue line of their own zone, then a diving Cozens slid into Artem Zub as Zuccarello found Hartman again for his second of the night. 3-0 Wild.

36 AND 38 DO IT AGAIN pic.twitter.com/UrmfaXCAb7

— x – Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 4, 2026

Sanderson got tangled with Michael McCarron and appeared to tweak his right leg before shaking it off, which did nothing to settle Ottawa nerves. The Sens tried to inject some urgency with a couple of shots on Jesper Wallstedt before Ridly Greig and Hartman traded offsetting minors. Stützle got a shot off during the four-on-four that briefly raised the Senators’ pulse, but then Zub got whistled for interference on Hughes to hand Minnesota a four-on-three to close out the period.

Ottawa killed off the penalties to open the third, which felt like the moral victory of the afternoon. Travis Green started feeding his lines into the blender, looking for any combination that might set something in motion, but Minnesota was suffocating. The Senators had no space to move with the puck and the Wild seemingly had bodies everywhere. When Ottawa did get chances at speed they sabotaged themselves more often than not, jumping offside or sliding passes to nobody in particular.

The fourth goal felt inevitable, in the end. The Wild put the Sens through the spin cycle with textbook puck movement in the offensive zone, and eventually Jake Middleton found himself with a highway of open ice to walk in and make it 4-0.

walked it right in pic.twitter.com/Qqva6huvoi

— x – Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 4, 2026

By that point I was checking how much time is left and starting thinking about the next game. Which, to be fair, seemed to be on everyone’s mind at that point. Large stretches of the third seemed to be in the interest of running out the clock. It was back and forth, sure, but largely uneventful and both teams seemed content to get to the final buzzer with their legs intact ahead of a busy schedule.

Drake Batherson accidentally made things interesting with under five minutes to go. Falling victim to a friendly shot, he hit the deck and managed to chip the puck up and over Wallstedt on his way down. He didn’t stop to celebrate, heading straight for the tunnel with the look of a man who’d paid for that one in full. 4-1 and not a shutout, at least.

Drake Batherson scores late in the 3rd period. pic.twitter.com/BSNV2NloHW

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 4, 2026

Batherson made it back to the bench for the final stretch and Ullmark didn’t get a chance to leave his net as the Sens made their peace with the result. The game ended in a scuffle with Cousins in the centre of it, and Middleton landed a couple of punches on Stützle because why not. It was a game Ottawa will be happy to file away and forget before puck drop against the Hurricanes tomorrow.

Game NotesI think it’s reasonable to chalk a lot of this result up to the Wild being a very good team with a good goalie in net. They had Ottawa on their heels from the opening shift and kept them there for the better part of sixty minutes, and Wallstedt didn’t miss a beat. The Senators could have shown more oomph in response and it was far from a dazzling effort, but the Wild made things very difficult.The shot clock read 34 for Ottawa, but that number flatters them. Very few of those chances came through traffic or from dangerous areas, and the power play, which has been sputtering lately, was their clearest path to getting on the board. They couldn’t convert it.Tim Stützle was uncharacteristically quiet, which didn’t help matters. He was largely a passenger on a day when the Senators needed someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck, which is an unusual sight.On the brighter side: Sanderson looked healthy and played with authority, which after his shoulder injury is very encouraging. Ullmark was also pretty solid for most of the game. A couple of the goals against were definitely saveable, but I really don’t think this loss lands at his feet.Ottawa faces the Carolina Hurricanes, who are set to play the Islanders tonight, tomorrow at 5:00 pm EST. Another tough opponent, with a sliver of hope in the form of longer rest time, as well as not having to travel tomorrow.