{"id":545444,"date":"2026-04-07T12:15:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545444\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T12:15:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:15:45","slug":"sens-playoff-hopes-take-hit-with-4-1-loss-to-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545444\/","title":{"rendered":"Sens’ playoff hopes take hit with 4-1 loss to Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 2 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Ryan Hartman scored twice to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Jonas Brodin and Jake Middleton also scored, while goaltender Jesper Wallstedt made 33 saves for Minnesota (43-21-12).<\/p>\n

Linus Ullmark stopped 19 shots for the Senators (39-27-10). Drake Batherson scored the lone goal.<\/p>\n

Jake Sanderson returned to Ottawa’s lineup after missing 13 games with an upper body injury.<\/p>\n

Minnesota raced to a 3-0 lead to start the third period and extended it midway through the period on a great effort by Quinn Hughes.<\/p>\n

Hughes kept the puck in at the line, spun and found Middleton on the opposite side. Middleton fired through traffic for his second goal of the season.<\/p>\n

Batherson spoiled Wallstedt’s shutout attempt with just over three minutes remaining in the game. Batherson then left the game, but returned after a brief absence.<\/p>\n

Ullmark bailed the Senators out on a couple odd-man rushes, including a save on Hughes early in the third period.<\/p>\n

\"AnOttawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark blocks a shot as Minnesota Wild’s Joel Eriksson Ek looks for the rebound during third period action Saturday. (Spencer Colby\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n

Hartman scored his second of the game when Mats Zuccharello found him at the top of the slot to beat Ullmark glove side and take a 3-0 lead.<\/p>\n

Minnesota led 2-0 after the first period. Brodin was the recipient of a fortunate bounce.<\/p>\n

He fired a shot and the rebound deflected off the skate of Ottawa defenceman Nikolas Matinpalo and past Ullmark.<\/p>\n

The Wild took advantage of a Jordan Spence turnover at the blueline, which led to Zuccarello dishing a pass to Hartman for his 21st of the season.<\/p>\n

Despite Saturday’s loss, the Sens narrowly remain in possession of the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. <\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

Senators: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Wild: Visit the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 2 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5104],"tags":[5,4,72,25,5157,73],"class_list":{"0":"post-545444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa-senators","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-ottawa","11":"tag-ottawa-senators","12":"tag-ottawasenators","13":"tag-senators"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116363377731640731","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}