Frederick Gaudreau and Sam Steel scored the tying and go-ahead goals in a 93-second span shortly beyond the midway point of the third period Thursday night for the visiting Minnesota Wild, who beat the New York Islanders 3-1 in Elmont, N.Y.
Kirill Kaprizov scored an empty-netter with 1:13 left for the Wild, which snapped a three-game losing streak. Goalie Filip Gustavsson made 19 saves.
Scott Mayfield scored late in the first for the Islanders, who went 0-for-3 on the power play thereafter as their losing streak reached a season-high four straight games (0-3-1). Goalie Ilya Sorokin recorded 33 saves.
The Islanders opened the scoring following an end-to-end rush late in the first. Alexander Romanov picked up the puck deep in the Wild zone and skated through the neutral zone before sending a pass off the boards behind the Minnesota net. Matt Martin sent a no-look pass to Mayfield a moment before Joel Eriksson Ek checked Martin into the boards, Mayfield, with Jordan Greenway closing in on him, fired a shot that bounced just before the net and skipped over the stick of Gustavsson with 3:11 left.
The teams combined for 27 shots during a scoreless second period in which they were 0-for-4 on power play opportunities before the Wild took control by scoring twice off Islanders turnovers.
With the Wild on the penalty kill after Jonas Brodin was whistled for hooking, Eriksson Ek picked off Brock Nelson’s pass intended for Noah Dobson and managed to control the puck into the Islanders zone before skating around a sliding Jean-Gabriel Pageau and passing to Gaudreau. Sorokin appeared to rob Gaudreau in spectacular fashion, but the save was overturned on review when the replay showed Sorokin caught the puck with his glove and the puck in the net. The goal was credited to Gaudreau at the 10:55 mark.
A turnover by Mayfield deep in the Islanders’ zone led to the go-ahead goal by Steel. Kaprizov stole the puck and began a tic-tac-toe sequence by dishing to Mats Zuccarello, who passed beyond a sliding Sebastian Aho to Steel before the center beat Sorokin.
The Islanders pulled Sorokin with a little more than two minutes left but didn’t generate a serious scoring chance before Kaprizov iced the victory.
–Field Level Media
