Wild wins with yet another comeback in 5-2 victory over New York Islanders

Brandon Duhaime didn't know until after the game he'd been stripped of a goal, but the one he was left with wasn't too shabby.

The rookie was the latest to put the finishing touches on what's become the Wild's signature strategy, a come-from-behind win.

After getting down twice to the Islanders, the Wild overcame both deficits before moving ahead and running away 5-2 on Sunday in front of 15,547 at Xcel Energy Center for one of the more efficient rallies of the season.

Of the Wild's eight wins, seven have been comebacks.

"It's stressful going into that third period," Duhaime said. "But at the same time, we've done it so many times that it almost feels normal at this rate. It just shows the resilience in the group, and we stick together until the end."

Duhaime's decisive tally was part of a four-goal takeover by the Wild in the third period, the most the team has racked up in any period through 11 games.

He flew through the neutral zone and into New York territory before uncorking a rising shot past goaltender Semyon Varlamov at 9 minutes, 18 seconds.

"It was awesome," said Duhaime, who recorded his first career game-winning goal and multipoint game. "It can come from anyone in that locker room. We got 12 forwards, six 'D' that can score at any time."

Ryan Hartman was the one who dished off to Duhaime, and Hartman also had the game-tying goal only 2:01 earlier when he pounced on his rebound for his team-leading sixth goal and fourth in the past five games.

"Obviously, I'd like to continue to do this and I'm going to strive to do that," said Hartman, who registered his first multipoint game of the season. "But we've got a lot of guys that can do it as well, and we're getting scoring from up and down our lineup."

Clutch contributions are becoming routine for Hartman, who also had the equalizer with three seconds left in the third period Saturday night to set up an epic 5-4 shootout victory at Pittsburgh. The stage was set for an encore, and the Wild delivered.

"It's nice to get ahead a little earlier and let them pull their goalie instead of us," Hartman said. "That's a nice change."

BOXSCORE: Wild 5, Islanders 2

Edina's Anders Lee opened the scoring with 19 seconds left in the first period, smacking in a loose puck to once again put the Wild in rally mode.

And as expected, the Wild regrouped.

Duhaime gobbled up a rebound and hurled it toward the net and behind Varlamov at 9:59 of the second. Later, credit for the goal was awarded to Nick Bjugstad, who was posted up in front of Varlamov.

The Islanders responded quickly, with Lee capitalizing on a 2-on-1 at 12:04, before the Islanders whiffed on a power play that could have grown their lead. They finished 0-for-1, while the Wild went 0-for-2.

Instead, the Wild entered the third period down only one goal.

Not a problem.

After the goals from Hartman and Duhaime, Jonas Brodin (170 feet) and Matt Dumba (185 feet) buried empty-net goals at 18:13 and 19:11, respectively. Dumba is on a career-high four-game assist streak after assisting on Duhaime's goal.

Varlamov had 34 stops and Kaapo Kahkonen made 19 in his first win of the season in his second start.

"Real calm," coach Dean Evason said of Kahkonen. "Real solid."

A spectator on the bench for the team's other comebacks, Kahkonen was part of the action this time. But he was still pretty much an onlooker for the grand finale.

The Wild yielded only two shots to the Islanders in the third, peppering the other net with 16.

"That pretty much sums it up," Kahkonen said. "I think it just tells about our group. We go into the third down a goal and we tie the game against a team that it's hard to come back against those guys, obviously.

"So we tie the game but also score another goal and seal it off at the end there with the empty-netters. Just great effort by everyone."