Zucker scores twice, keys Wild flurry in victory over Islanders
NEW YORK — Minnesota knows it needs to play better on the road to strengthen its push for a playoff spot. The Wild also want to do a better job of holding third-period leads than they have lately.
They accomplished both Monday against the New York Islanders.
Las Vegas product Jason Zucker scored twice to help the Wild to a 5-3 victory.
Matt Cullen and Tyler Ennis each had a goal and an assist, and Devan Dubnyk made 32 saves for Minnesota, which improved to 4-1-2 in its past seven games.
“They’re a really good team,” said Zucker, who scored the go-ahead goal at 12:17 of the second period — the first of three Minnesota goals in a 4:12 span. “You’ve got to make sure you don’t get into a trackmeet-style game.”
The Wild, who have lost seven of their past 11 on the road, play back-to-back against New Jersey and the Rangers later in the week.
“Our record isn’t the way we want on the road this year, so we’ve been trying to focus on that,” Zucker said. “It’s a big win for us.”
Minnesota, which is fifth in the Central Division but holds the second wild card in the Western Conference, pulled one point behind Dallas and St. Louis.
Ross Johnston, Anders Lee and Tanner Fritz scored for the Islanders. Jaroslav Halak finished with 27 stops.
Zucker beat Halak on the blocker side with a one-timer for his second of the game and 25th of the season with 3:22 left to push the Wild’s lead to 5-3.
New York outshot Minnesota 17-9 in the third, including skating with a 6-on4 advantage over the final 1:23 with Halak pulled on a power play, but couldn’t get anything past Dubnyk.
“We played a good game; we played hard,” Islanders coach Doug Weight said. “But not good enough.”
Trailing 2-1 near the midpoint of the second period, the Wild went ahead with three quick goals.
At Calgary, Alberta, Brad Marchand scored on a breakaway with 1:24 left in overtime to back Tuukka
Bruins 2, Flames 1, OT—
Rask, who had 28 saves, as Boston moved within one point of Tampa Bay for first place in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference. At Buffalo, N.Y., Alex Ovechkin scored his league-best 35th goal to back Philipp Grubauer, who had 32 saves, as Washington reclaimed first place in the Metropolitan Division.
At Nashville, Tenn., Viktor Arvidsson scored twice to back Pekka Rinne, who had 36 saves in his 30th win of the season, as Nashville tied Winnipeg atop the Central Division.
At Chicago, Torrey Mitchell and Andy Andreoff scored in the first period to back Jonathan Quick, who had 27 saves, as Los Angeles dealt Chicago its ninth loss in 10 games.
Capitals 3, Sabres 2 — Predators 5, Senators 2 — Kings 3, Blackhawks 1 —