WILD STING
Isles' poor stretch lets Minny swipe Barclays matnee
There is no ideal setting for a five-minute lapse in a hockey game, and these are certainly not those times for the Islanders.
All it took was four minutes and 12 seconds to flip a strong effort into a losing one for a team facing a small margin for error heading down the home stretch of the season.
With both teams sitting in the same precarious position — entering the day hanging onto the final wild-card spot in their respective conferences — the Wild spurned the Islanders with three straight goals in a second-period blur to swing a 5-3 win Monday afternoon at Barclays Center.
“If you were playing better consistent hockey throughout the year, you chalk it up as a couple bad decisions and you march on,” coach Doug Weight said. “But now that points are so paramount and important, it’s a punch in the stomach.”
Bringing back-to-back shutout wins into the game, the Islanders (29-26-6) couldn’t continue their momentum.
They led 2-1 early in the second period and controlled play for long stretches, but the good feelings were halted in a disastrous span of 4:12, as the Wild (32-20-7) surged ahead with three consecutive goals.
“All the wind was out of our sails after that,” said winger Anders Lee, who had given the Islanders a 2-1 lead with an early second-period goal. “They just took over four or five minutes, scored a few goals and all of a sudden now we’re trailing by two and we got our backs against the walls.”
Matt Cullen scored on a breakaway after a bad defensive pair change, Jason Zucker rifled in a one-timer and Tyler Ennis made it 4-2 with a backhander on the rush.
“It was sort of bang-bang-bang,” said defenseman Thomas Hickey, whose costly first-period turnover led to the Wild taking a 1-0 lead. “We gotta get better at the swings and the momentum of hockey games.”
Suddenly on their heels, the Islanders got one back before the second intermission when Tanner Fritz flung a wrister top shelf for his first NHL goal.
The Islanders offense came up empty from there, though, despite having its share of chances to tie the score in the final 20 minutes. Their frustration only grew when they had a potential power play taken away. Mikael Granlund, who had been in the penalty box for hooking, still had one foot in the box coming out as he touched the puck. Officials whistled the play dead, but after huddling together, they wiped off the penalty with no explanation.
Any hope of a late comeback was slammed shut when Zucker was left alone out front to make it 5-3 with 3:22 left.
“Just a few lapses there and that’s all it takes,” Fritz said. “It’s the NHL and players are going to make you pay when you make mistakes.”
Weight voiced his frustration with his top two lines after the game. He cut off a question about Fritz, a third-liner, and fourth-liner Ross Johnston scoring and being rewarded for their gritty play, challenging his top six forwards to adapt a similar mindset.
“[That] is what all four lines should exemplify,” Weight said. “Get the puck in, play 35 seconds, work your butt off and get off. That’s what exemplifies how we want to play. You want to stay out for 65 seconds and as soon as it doesn’t go your [way] — it’s just rhetoric right now.”