Marc-Andre Fleury dazzles in Wild's 4-2 win over Senators as successful road trip continues

KANATA, Ontario – Marc-Andre Fleury stretched his glove out at just the right angle to gobble up the shot, the momentum dropping him to his side, where he produced evidence of the grab when the puck trickled out of his equipment.

"It's just a matter of trying to do quick something there," the Wild goaltender said. "When it's glove, it looks good a little bit."

As impressive as the save was, it wasn't his only jaw-dropper.

Fleury was a highlight-reel machine to continue his turnaround and end the sizzling Senators' four-game tear 4-2 on Thursday in front of 13,870 at Canadian Tire Centre for back-to-back Wild wins for the first time this season.

Overall, the Wild are 3-0-1 since debuting 0-3. They have two stops left on this five-game road trip.

"We looked a lot more like ourselves," Ryan Hartman said. "We just gotta continue that. That's how we need to play to win games."

Hartman scored (the game-winner) and added an assist, Kirill Kaprizov did the same after going pointless in his previous two games, and Fleury racked up 27 saves.

Six of those stops came against Alex DeBrincat, a former teammate of Fleury's with the Blackhawks, but DeBrincat did get his first shot of the game past Fleury 3 minutes, 47 seconds into the first period.

After that, the Wild recalibrated, and it was the power play that kick-started their rally.

Mats Zuccarello slung a shot past Senators goalie Anton Forsberg at 7:53 for his team-leading 11th point. Calen Addison's setup was his seventh point, which is the most among NHL rookies, and Kaprizov became the fastest in Wild history to record 50 power-play points with his assist.

Then with 1:36 to go in the first, captain Jared Spurgeon made a slick keep-in at the blue line before throwing the puck toward the net, where Kaprizov managed to deflect it in with his back toward Forsberg.

"The defenseman I think tried to check me, stick on me," Kaprizov said. "Just see a good pass and open net."

Kaprizov and Zuccarello are tied for the team lead in goals with five each. This was Kaprizov's 49th career multipoint game, and only four NHLers have more since Kaprizov joined the league.

"Feel a little bit lighter," Kaprizov said. "Just try to play my game."

That lead lasted the rest of the period thanks in part to that windmill block by Fleury against — who else? — DeBrincat, and the Wild took over in the second.

"Those are the fun saves," said Fleury, whose 38th birthday is in November. "You see the players with their head back or getting mad. Those are the fun ones."

The Wild outshot the Senators 17-9 and started the period on a 12-0 run that included Hartman's first goal of the season at 4:25 against Forsberg, who totaled 36 saves.

Not until seven minutes elapsed did Ottawa register its first shot vs. Fleury. But the lull didn't affect the Wild netminder. He was particularly sharp on a Senators power play at the end of the period, dipping into the splits to keep the puck out and fronting a DeBrincat chance soon after.

"He made some huge saves, obviously, when he needed to keep the momentum going in our direction," coach Dean Evason said.

Ottawa would get more time on the power play, including a 5-on-3 for 1:40 in the third, and that's when the Senators capitalized on a one-timer from Thomas Chabot at 4:03.

But Fleury didn't budge the rest of the way and during a late Ottawa power play with Forsberg on the bench for an extra attacker, the Wild iced their victory when Frederick Gaudreau sent the puck into the empty net shorthanded.

Fleury, the face of the Wild's U-turn, has a .920 save percentage and 2.44 goals-against average over his past four starts after getting tagged for 11 goals in his first four periods of the season.

"He's done it for 20 years now," Zuccarello said, "so it's not surprising."