Preview: The Wild plays a low-scoring Ottawa team. The Senators, 6-2 at home, are 5-3 in their past eight overall, but they've scored 12 goals in that stretch. The Wild closes a stretch of four straight games away from Minnesota and completes its second back-to-back of the season. In its previous one, the Wild lost 6-3 at the Islanders. The Wild is 4-9-4 all-time against the Senators and 2-4-2 in Ottawa.

Players to watch: Senators captain Erik Karlsson is a two-time Norris Trophy winner, coming off an 82-point season. He beat the Wild with an overtime-winning goal at home last season and is tied for second among NHL defensemen this season with 12 points. RW Bobby Ryan leads the Senators with 11 goals and 25 points in 25 games against the Wild. C Derick Brassard hasn't scored in 13 games but has 15 points in 21 games vs. Minnesota. Craig Anderson will start in goal for Ottawa, Darcy Kuemper is expected to start for the Wild. Kuemper has allowed eight goals in two starts and hasn't started since Oct. 23. C Eric Staal leads the Wild with 15 goals and 38 points in 43 career games against the Senators. RW Jason Pominville has 29 points in 51 games against the Sens.

Numbers: Before Saturday's games, the Wild ranked sixth in the NHL with 3.08 goals per game and had given up a league-low 2.00 (24 goals). … The Senators rank 27th in the NHL on the power play (10.3 percent), scoring only once in their past 22. Ottawa's penalty kill hasn't allowed a goal since Oct. 22.

Injuries: Wild LW Zach Parise (foot), D Marco Scandella (ankle) and C Zac Dalpe (knee) are out. Senators LW Clarke MacArthur (concussion) and G Andrew Hammond (lower body) are out. D Chris Wideman (upper body) is questionable.

MICHAEL RUSSO