The Senators were down to their fourth-string goaltender, but the Wild made Ottawa’s depleted crease a nonissue.

Still missing Kirill Kaprizov as he deals with a lingering injury, the Wild stalled 3-1 against the Senators on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center for their fifth loss over the past seven games.

Ottawa’s Josh Norris broke a 1-1 tie on the power play at 12 minutes, 42 seconds of the third period, his one-timer rewarding rookie goalie Leevi Merilainen with his second career victory after Merilainen made 30 saves.

Claude Giroux added an empty-netter with 44 seconds remaining.

Like the Wild, the Senators weren’t at full strength, but they have even more deficits than the Wild.

Both of their veteran goalies are hurt, and because the more experienced Mads Sogaard played Saturday at Winnipeg, Merilainen was next up, and he seized the opportunity.

The only puck that eluded him was a Frederick Gaudreau deflection off a Declan Chisholm shot with 2:41 to go in the first period for Gaudreau’s 50th career goal. This was the fourth straight goal the Wild defense factored in after the blue line was a catalyst for the 3-2 overtime rally at Dallas on Friday by scoring or setting up every goal.

Marcus Foligno and Yakov Trenin also picked up assists on Gaudreau’s goal to extend Foligno’s point streak to three games and give Trenin three assists in his past three games.

Capitalizing first should have suited the Wild on home ice and against an opponent in Ottawa that was finishing up a back-to-back and coming off a pair of losses.

Instead the Senators became more of a handful in the second period.

Just 1:47 into the period, they answered back when Ridly Greig stuffed a carom off the end boards into the Wild net before goaltender Filip Gustavsson could reset. Ottawa ended up outshooting the Wild 11-0 before the Wild tested Merilainen. Gustavsson finished with 33 saves.

On the Wild’s first of two power plays, Mats Zuccarello and captain Jared Spurgeon hit the post — this after a tip by Matt Boldy clipped the post in the first. The Wild are 0-for-13 on the power play over their past five games.

The third period was the Wild’s best vs. the Stars. They applied more pressure, but they never recaptured the lead.

Instead, the Senators surged ahead on their second power play when Norris buried a Jake Sanderson feed from inside the right faceoff circle.

This was the second game the Wild were without Kaprizov since it was announced he has a lower-body injury, but the Wild did get a different key player back in action.

Joel Eriksson Ek returned after sitting out 11 games; he last played Dec. 3 vs. Vancouver, Eriksson Ek getting hurt when he banged knees with the Canucks’ Jake DeBrusk.

“Just an unlucky play,” said Eriksson Ek, whose absence was reflected in the Wild’s performance while he was on the mend.

The team went 5-6, which included a recent, season-long four-game losing streak.

Although his addition to the lineup brought better balance, it didn’t ignite the offense and the Wild suffered a one-goal loss after their previous two wins came by the same margin.

Their homestand continues Tuesday against the Predators before the Wild goes back on the road for a two-game trip to Washington and Carolina.

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