Arvedson's OT score lifts Senators past Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Ottawa Senators used overtime to salvage their road trip.

Magnus Arvedson's goal 1:41 into overtime lifted Ottawa to a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.

The win, coupled with a 4-2 victory over Anaheim on Sunday, allowed the Senators to break even on a five-game road trip they began by going 0-2-1.

"We really didn't have a good start to the road trip," said Ottawa's Todd White, who had a goal and an assist. "We had a couple of really bad periods that killed us. It was good to battle back these last couple of games."

Ottawa's trip west began with a tie in Los Angeles, followed by losses to San Jose and Phoenix. The Senators scored just five goals total in those three games.

With the trip now over, the Senators play the majority of their remaining games at home as they battle for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Ottawa is currently fifth in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Toronto.

"We've got 12 of our last 16 games at home," White said. "We've got to take advantage of that."

The Wild, whose three-game winning streak ended, tied the game at 3-3 on a rebound goal by Pascal Dupuis at 2:26 of the third.

On the game-winner, Arvedson's wrist shot from just outside the left circle went through traffic in front of the net and found its way through the pads of Minnesota goaltender Manny Fernandez.

"It's more frustrating when you win a couple games and you're playing well and then you play a game like this when you are so close," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said.

Chris Neil and Radek Bonk also scored for Ottawa.

Richard Park and Andrew Brunette added goals for Minnesota.

Both teams took advantage of giveaways to score in the first period. Minnesota struck first when Ottawa defenseman Zdeno Chara lost the puck to Antti Laaksonen behind the net. Laaksonen fed Park in the left slot, and Park notched his sixth goal of the season at 7:38.

Bonk tied the score at 12:30 when he intercepted Fernandez's clearing attempt along the right boards and fired the puck into the net before Fernandez could get back into the crease.

The Wild regained the lead 2:32 into the second period when Brunette muscled his way to the front of the net and flipped a backhander past Senators goaltender Jani Hurme for his 16th goal of the season.

White tied the game 2-2 at 6:19 of the second when his pass deflected off Minnesota defenseman Brad Brown and into the net.

Neil tipped a shot from the point by Wade Redden between Fernandez's pads at 16:29 of the second to give the Senators their first lead of the game, 3-2.

Notes: Minnesota's Marian Gaborik, who had scored seven goals in the previous four games and was the Wild's first NHL player of the week, went without a goal Tuesday but did notch an assist. ... Fernandez has allowed at least three goals in 11 straight games (2-8-1). ... Including his goal Tuesday night, Bonk has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his last 10 games. ... Hurme returned to the lineup after sitting out the previous eight games with a groin strain.