OTTAWA — Greenville. Augusta. Toledo. Norfolk. Pensacola. Rockford.

When it comes to hockey hotbeds, these places don’t jump out. But Mike Brodeur can tell you all about them.

He’s spent six years and 172 minor-league games working his way through these lonely stops, trying to reach a dream he’s had since he was 5: to play in the NHL.

On many nights it must have seemed too far away, but on Saturday at Scotiabank Place, Brodeur got his first chance — and it worked out splendidly.

Brodeur made 22 save and flirted with a shutout in his NHL debut, lifting the Ottawa Senators to a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild.

Former Senator Martin Havlat scored 4:40 into the third period to end a storybook effort by Brodeur.

But it was only a minor blemish. The 26-year-old Calgarian played a fine game and helped give the Senators a much-needed boost after Friday’s 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils.

He confessed to an obvious case of the nerves, but said they didn’t hurt.

“They were flying high, that’s for sure, but they worked for me rather than against me,” he said. “The guys played great in front of me. They let me see the puck. They didn’t make me worry about the backdoor and made my job real easy.

“I got a few easy saves early to get me into the game and it was the way I wanted it.”

Brodeur said he began to think about a shutout after the second period, but wasn’t heartbroken he missed it. He wasn’t in the mood to be greedy.

“Yeah, I was definitely thinking about it, but you can’t ask for a shutout,” he said. “A win is good. I’ll take whatever I get. It’s a dream come true to get that first win. You don’t want to come in and lose on the first night. You want to come in and perform to the best of your ability.”

Anton Volchenkov, Milan Michalek, Jarkko Ruutu and rookie defenceman Erik Karlsson, with his first NHL goal, scored for the Senators.

Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom faced 24 shots.

“You couldn’t ask a whole lot more,” said Senators coach Cory Clouston, who coached against Brodeur last season when both were in the American Hockey League, Clouston with the Binghamton Senators and Brodeur with the Rochester Americans.

“He was very composed, very patient. That’s how he played when we faced him in Rochester last year.

“He did a real good job of being smooth and comfortable. His rebound control was outstanding, and the only goal that beat him went off a leg. There’s always a question mark there until you see him in action at this level, but what he was able to do was what he did against us when he was in Rochester.”

The first period was what you would expect of these two teams: close defensively, with just nine shots for the Wild and six for the Senators.

The Senators gave up more chances by taking three penalties, but ended up with the better shooting percentage by scoring on one of their six shots. Volchenkov’s shot from the top of the right circle with 1:55 left in the period gave him his second goal of the season and the 14th of his career.

It went in past Backstrom’s glove — one piece of equipment he didn’t lose in the van fire that destroyed most of the team’s gear on Friday.

However, the next goal Backstrom allowed could have been blamed on equipment failure.

On a two-on-one break in the first minute of the second period, Michalek released a little wrist shot from above the right faceoff circle and Backstrom couldn’t get his new pads closed and the puck got in between his legs.

Ottawa’s third goal could have been pinned on Minnesota defencemen.

After Jonathan Cheechoo got the puck in front of the net, Chris Kelly took one swipe at it before Ruutu chipped a shot over the crowd in front.

If anyone could have cleared it, Backstrom would have been a lot happier.

The Senators could have actually done more damage in the period, based on their three power plays, but they couldn’t produce anything.

The circumstances for Brodeur’s first start were hardly ideal.

He hadn’t played in a month since arriving in Ottawa to serve as the backup to Brian Elliott while Pascal Leclaire’s fractured cheekbone heals.

Brodeur was red hot before being recalled. He was named the AHL’s goaltender for the week ending Nov. 8 after stopping 94 of 96 shots and winning two of three games while recording a 0.67 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.

Clouston said the long layoff didn’t concern him.

“I’ve seen goalies who have been out for a long period of time and they come back in with their best game,” he said.

Sometimes that’s the way it turns out, usually in fairy tales.