OTTAWA -- Erik Karlsson figures the Ottawa Senators pretty well have to run the table to have a shot at a wild card spot at an Eastern Conference playoff spot.

They made a mad dash late Tuesday night to keep their hopes alive.

Karlsson scored with 30.4 seconds left in overtime to give the Senators a dramatic 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild at Canadian Centre, moving Ottawa to within five points of the Detroit Red Wings in the race for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Senators made it to the extra period on Mika Zibanejad's equalizer 7.1 seconds from the third period buzzer.

"We're going to try and win every single game that we have left," said Karlsson, whose winner was off a slap shot from the slot that beat goalie Devan Dubnyk. "That's the mentality we're going to have in here. At the end of the day, we're going to be where we are. It's not going to be because of these last 11 games here. We just have to play the games, play hard, play for each other and at the end of the year show that we still care in here."

Mike Hoffman had the other for the Senators (33-30-8) while Ryan Carter and Nino Niederreiter scored for the Wild (32-27-11).

Despite losing a valuable point, the Wild remain one ahead of Colorado in the battle for the last wild card spot in the West.

"It's a big point, but you don't want to look back when the regular season is over and say it was about 10 seconds," said Wild center Erik Haula. "We're not going to look at it right now. We're just going to keep playing, fix some of those things and keep getting better."

Craig Anderson made 23 saves to pick up his 29th win while Dubnyk stopped 17 shots. The Senators only tested Dubnyk once in first 19 minutes of the third until getting three shots with Anderson on the bench for an extra attacker, including Zibanejad's game saving goal from a rebound off the end boards.

"I think we stuck to it and that's what we've been preaching for the last couple of games here," Zibanejad said of the Senators' patience. "To be able to do it and come out with a win, that's a good setting stone to keep going."

Zibanejad displayed all sorts of resilience in the third, as he had three consecutive slap shots blocked by Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon during an Ottawa power play. Spurgeon was credited with a forth, off Senators winger Zack Smith, during the same short-handed situation.

Both teams ended up 0-for-3 on the power play.

"You couldn't give a better example of an athlete that what Spurgeon did for us tonight," said Wild coach John Torchetti. "That's commitment. That's what we need more of. (He showed) the heart of a lion. The whole team was spurred from it. I just thought the emotion would kind of carry us through there."

Said Spurgeon: "It's part of the penalty kill. You've got to get in the lanes. It just happened to be mine those three times (Zibanejad shot)."

Niederreiter scored off a 2-on-1 with the Wild's first shot on goal at 1:33 of the opening period, but Hoffman broke a personal eight-game slump when he evened things with a wrist shot from just inside the blue line at 13:38 of the second.

Carter put the Wild ahead moments after stepping out of the penalty box, when he deflected a feathered pass behind Anderson at 5:14 of the third.

"I really like the way we played, we stuck with it," said Senators coach Dave Cameron. "That's been our challenge. We didn't get frustrated tonight after we got behind early. We were playing real well, they got a redirect goal, but we stayed with it. We shut that team down and found a way to win."

Torchetti also liked the way his team played, calling it a "great" 59 minutes and 50 seconds.

"We were lucky we got the extra point," he said. "Some nights like that, you don't get that extra point and you play a great game. We battled hard. We can learn a lot from that game. We should have won 2-1." Minnesota's next game is Thursday in New Jersey, while the Senators are off until Friday's game in Buffalo.

NOTES: The Wild entered the night with at least one power-play goal in a franchise-record 13 consecutive road games. That ended Tuesday, as they went 0-for-3. ... Earlier in the day, the Senators signed F Francis Perron to an entry-level deal. Perron, Ottawa's seventh round pick in the 2014 draft, is the second leading scorer in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 107 points in 61 games. ... Wild LW Jason Zucker was scratched for the second game in a row. Zucker is sixth in Minnesota goal scoring with 12. ... Minnesota also scratched D Mike Reilly and LW Chris Porter. ... Senators D Patrick Wiercioch and LW Matt Puempel were scratches.