The Senators have no need for a rear-view mirror these days. There's never anybody behind them.

Through three games, they have yet to hold a lead. They have managed 11 goals, but only one of them has been scored in the first 40 minutes of a game.

Coach Paul MacLean hopes that changes now that the Senators have registered their first win.

"I think it's going to loosen us up," MacLean said Wednesday, referring to Tuesday's 4-3 shootout victory over the Minnesota Wild.

"I think we were a little bit like a teepee and a wigmam a little bit in the first period, in the first three games, as far as having a little bit of too much tension in our sticks, and missing up on opportunities that were there. I'm hoping that (Thursday night) we'll be a little more loose and we'll be able to come out and get the lead."

Asked about the teepee/wigman reference, MacLean smiled.

"Too tense," he said, cracking up the gathered media.

Craig Anderson will again be in goal when his former team, the Colorado Avalanche, provides the opposition at Scotiabank Place Thursday.