ST. PAUL, Minn. — Returning to Xcel Energy Center didn't just kickstart the Wild's offense.
It also ignited Ottawa's, too.
A scoring free-for-all broke out when these two teams reunited for the first time in almost two years, a parade of goals that finally stopped at a 5-4 overtime win for the Wild in front of 15,276 that snapped the Wild's two-game losing streak.
Kirill Kaprizov scored his first goal of the season 2 minutes, 2 seconds into overtime, his third career overtime goal, this after Marcus Foligno scored twice for the Wild in regulation.
Although both teams were coming off one-goal games (two, actually, for the Wild from last week's road trip), maybe an offensive breakthrough wasn't surprising.
Before puck drop, coach Dean Evason said Ottawa's offensive-zone setup mirrored the Wild's. And the results backed that up, with each side setting a pace that the other eventually matched in their first meeting since Nov.29, 2019.
The Wild was the first to take the lead, scoring twice in 27 seconds in the first period.
Foligno tallied his first of the night at 3:57 when he shuffled in a puck from in front of the net, pushing his point streak to three games.
On the very next shift, Calen Addison scored his first NHL goal when his point shot bounced in off the Senators' Michael Del Zotto at 4:24.
Later in the first, Ottawa ate into that deficit at 10:48 after Nick Paul redirected in a Connor Brown pass. But by 13:35, the Wild was again up by two goals: after getting cross-checked to the ice, Nico Sturm got back up and sent a rebound behind goalie Filip Gustavsson. With an assist on the goal, Kevin Fiala snapped his five-game pointless skid.
Since the Senators played the previous night, losing 5-1 in Chicago, they could have been on the precipice of fading.
Instead, the opposite happened.
Ottawa racked up three goals in 5:36 during the second period to move ahead 4-3.
Drake Batherson started the rally at 2:12 with a shot just under the crossbar. The Wild challenged the goal to check if the puck was played with a high stick earlier in the sequence, but video review determined Josh Norris' stick was not above his shoulders when he made contact.
Not only did the goal stand, but the Senators received a power play for the Wild's unsuccessful challenge. And they took advantage, tying the game at 3 when Norris went five-hole on goalie Cam Talbot at 3:23. The Wild's penalty kill has now given up at least one goal in every game except one.
Then, at 7:48 of the second, Ottawa scored again when a puck deflected in off Chris Tierney.
Initially, the goal was waived off for being batted in illegally. But after another video review, the on-ice call was overturned and the goal counted; the puck caromed off Tierney's shoulder and into the Wild net.
What twice was a two-goal lead was now a one-goal hole for the Wild, but the team erased it quickly.
As a power play, and a clunky one at, was winding down, Foligno crashed the net to direct in a Matt Dumba centering feed off the rush at 10:10. Both teams finished 1 for 4 with the man advantage.
This was Foligno's second power-play goal of the season, which ties his career high from 2011-12 when he was a rookie with Buffalo. His 10th multi-goal game of his career also moved him into a tie for the team lead in goals (4) with Ryan Hartman.
Overall, Foligno paces the Wild in points with 8.
Talbot had 24 saves, while Gustavsson made 38 stops.
