ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Dressed in a red, No. 44 Wild sweater for the first time, Chris Stewart barreled his way into the Ottawa zone, took a pass from behind the net and shoved it off Senators goalie Andrew Hammond for an assist on defenseman Matt Dumba's second goal of the night Tuesday. Earlier in the night, he sent Patrick Wiercioch sprawling to the Xcel Energy Center ice on the forecheck and stood his ground during a resulting dustup with Kyle Turris.
But less than four minutes of ice time after Stewart's first Minnesota point, the deadline acquisition from Buffalo passed up two point-blank shot opportunities, and his no-look pass to no one led to a swift counterattack and Bobby Ryan's game-tying goal.
The Toronto native's role as a power forward on a roster previously short on them is simple. But ingratiating him and fellow 11th-hour trade get Jordan Leopold isn't a given.
"Any time you play with new players, it's always going to take a little time to gel," Stewart said after the Wild's 3-2 shootout win. "That's expected."
Tricky thing is, with just 19 games to go, Minnesota (34-22-7 and an NHL-best 14-2-1 since the All-Star break) doesn't have many -- make that any -- games with which to fiddle around.
"When it comes to the group, there's always challenges when you add a couple new players," coach Mike Yeo said. "That's what we have to deal with. . . . Things change quickly."
The first look at Yeo's adjusted lineup was disjointed at times, particularly in the second period when Ottawa (27-23-11), capitalizing on a number of Minnesota turnovers, erased a two-goal deficit and took the Wild to their fifth shootout of the season. But Charlie Coyle's slick, top-shelf wrist shot and Devan Dubnyk's pad save against Mike Hoffman closed out the five-round affair and gave the Wild just their fourth win (second at home) all-time against the Senators.
Stewart played right wing on a line with Mikko Koivu and Thomas Vanek, adding a noticeable physical presence. Leopold started out alongside Christian Folin but ended up playing an unexpectedly hefty 17:19 after Nate Prosser left the game with an illness.
Both Stewart and Leopold have been through in-season trades before. So has Yeo, working for a general manager in Chuck Fletcher who's been aggressive at the deadline four years in a row.
So most of the guys in Minnesota's dressing room know how to adjust on the fly, too.
"It happens pretty quick," said Dumba, who scored back-to-back goals at the second's 52-second and 8:05 marks, bringing his rookie season total to six.
"The hockey world's a small world, and guys know each other. We've all kind of been in that situation before."
Said winger Zach Parise: "When you bring in guys, they want to come in and contribute. They know how we've been playing lately, and they want to contribute and they want to be a part of it. And these guys are no different than that. They want to help out in any way that they can. So to me, the chemistry thing is never going to be an issue."
For Yeo, though, it's a matter of tinkering without upsetting the previously established balance.
Tuesday, he made a tough decision to scratch Jordan Schroeder to make room for Stewart. Schroeder has seven points and is a plus-9 in 16 games with Minnesota this season but doesn't have a special-teams role.
And Yeo wasn't about to mess with a penalty kill that improved to 47-for-48 in its past 17 games by staving off all four Ottawa power plays Tuesday. Nor was he going to break up a fourth line comprised of Erik Haula, Kyle Brodziak and Justin Fontaine that has a combined five goals, seven helpers and plus-10 rating the past three outings.
"We wanted to try to keep a lot of the other parts of our lines as much (in tact) as possible," Yeo said. "There's no magic formula where you can just punch in a program and come out with the perfect combination. We have to try some things and see how it works out."
So that means Stewart could play on a different line at some point. Same with recently acquired Florida transplant Sean Bergenheim, though he played well alongside Coyle and Nino Niederreiter on Tuesday in Bergenheim's third game since the trade.
And Schroeder probably won't spend every night in the press box.
Leopold in particular knows how this goes. The veteran from Golden Valley who won a national championship and Hobey Baker Award at the University of Minnesota has been part of four deadline deals.
He himself could be a healthy scratch once Marco Scandella and Jared Spurgeon return from injury.
"I've been through it," said Leopold, who couldn't intercept a long pass from Ryan that Mika Zibanejad turned into the goal that made it 2-1 8:33 into the second period Tuesday. "I'm brought in as a depth guy, fill in where needed to create some competition, whatever it is. Of course, I want to play. I have a job to do. I feel if I'm going to be able to give it everything I've got, it's in this city.
"We better keep winning, because I don't want anybody to blame it on me (if we don't)."
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