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The New York Islanders didn’t like suffering another loss Saturday in which they squandered a multi-goal lead.
The Minnesota Wild, on the other hand, found out they liked life on the other side of that equation.
A pair of teams coming off eventful games are slated to meet for the first time this season Tuesday night, when the Islanders host the Wild in Elmont, N.Y.
Both teams have been off since Saturday. The Islanders frittered away a three-goal lead and fell to the visiting Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3, in overtime. The Wild overcame a three-goal deficit and edged the host New York Rangers, 5-4, in the shootout.
For the Islanders, the loss was the second in a six-day span in which they blew a multi-goal lead. New York scored the first two goals against the Detroit Red Wings in a 4-3 overtime loss on Oct. 30.
The Islanders also allowed a pair of unanswered goals after taking a 2-0 lead against the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 14 and against the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 26. New York earned 3-2 victories in each of those games.
“We’re certainly hoping it’s not a trend,” Islanders head coach Lane Lambert said Saturday night. “As of right now, we have given away a couple of multi-goal leads. Certainly not a recipe for success. Is it a trend? No, it’s too early. But certainly something that we need to make sure doesn’t become a trend.”
Another potential trend for the Islanders is being outshot by a wide margin in a narrow game. New York was outshot 47-25 on Saturday and has recorded 48 fewer shots than its opponents over the first 10 games (357-309).
The Hurricanes outshot the Islanders 19-5 in the third period before Sebastian Aho scored on Carolina’s lone shot of overtime.
“If you make plays, you get opportunities,” Lambert said, “And we just didn’t make enough plays in the third period.”
The Wild finally made enough plays Saturday to complete a comeback from a multi-goal deficit. The Rangers raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first 6:53 Saturday before Minnesota scored four unanswered goals over a span of 19-plus minutes bridging the second and third periods.
“We started to come back in the first, get some life, and in the second period, we looked in the mirror and turned it around, which was needed,” said Wild defenseman Brock Faber, who had an assist on Joel Eriksson Ek’s goal that pulled Minnesota within 3-2 at the 6:26 mark of the second.
Mats Zuccarello and Marco Rossi scored within the first 5:20 of the third for the Wild, whose lead lasted just 1:20 before Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers. But Zuccarello and Matt Boldy scored in the shootout to give Minnesota a much-needed comeback win.
The Wild trailed by multiple goals in five of their seven losses but pulled within at least a goal in four of those defeats and held a 3-2 lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets before falling, 5-4, in overtime on Oct. 21.
“We couldn’t be disappointed in how we played tonight and how hard we played,” Wild head coach Dean Evason said Saturday night.
–Field Level Media
