Wild break out of slump with three third-period goals, beat Islanders

ELMONT, N.Y. — Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin was so locked in against the Wild that even the first goal he surrendered was initially a stop.

Not until a whistle did a video review reveal that the Frederick Gaudreau shorthanded shot Sorokin denied came while his glove was tucked inside the post.

"He still makes the save," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "But fortunately for us his mitt went in the net."

That goal snapped a streak of 29 consecutive stops by Sorokin and teed up a much-needed 3-1 rally by the Wild on Thursday at UBS Arena that snapped their three-game losing streak at the midway point of their season.

Overall, the Wild wrapped the first half 23-14-4 to rank third in the Central Division with 50 points.

"There was some urgency in our game," Evason said, "and we stepped up."

Gaudreau's goal at 10 minutes, 55 seconds into the third period, a searing shot that actually popped out of Sorokin's glove after he impressively slid over in time to get a piece of the puck, was a long time coming.

The Wild had already blanked on five power plays, but special teams still delivered — just when the Wild were down a player. Aside from snuffing out three chances for New York, the penalty kill's goal was the seventh shorthanded tally of the season, which is tied for the second most in the NHL.

"The power play didn't score, but at least there was some good momentum created on it, I thought," Gaudreau said. "We'll take them on whatever situation, power play, PK, 5-on-5. We'll take them all."

Two shifts and only 1:33 later, the top line played up to its billing by potting the tiebreaker.

After Mats Zuccarello skated the Islanders into a turnover that was gobbled up by Kirill Kaprizov, Zuccarello got the puck back and set up Sam Steel for a shot in tight that sailed by Sorokin, who finished with 33 saves.

"We had some chances and definitely could've had a few throughout the night," said Steel, who's one shy of tying his career best point total (22) set in 2019-20. "But their goalie played great, and we just stuck with it and got one late."

Key to the entire sequence was Zuccarello, from the pass to the pressure. He also assisted on Kaprizov's empty-net goal with 1:12 remaining, this after Evason said Zuccarello was "extremely accountable" for how he played in the 4-3 shootout loss to the Rangers.

"Didn't like his game at all and verbalized that to us," Evason said. "I'm sure he did with his teammates, as well. He came out with the effort that he did tonight, hanging onto pucks, pace, leading by example. He was back to being Zuccy."

As for Kaprizov, his team-leading 25th goal was also the 99th of his NHL career. He joined Brian Rolston and Eric Staal as only the third player to post at least three consecutive 50-point seasons from the start of his Wild tenure.

But the late outburst of offense wasn't the only positive development for the Wild.

So was their defensive effort, a reset after giving up at least three goals during their recent 0-1-2 slide.

"We did a great job defensively," said goaltender Filip Gustavsson, who had 19 saves while improving to 9-2 in his last 11 starts.

Since that run started Nov. 19, Gustavsson leads the NHL in goals-against average (1.64) and is second in save percentage (.939).

The only puck that eluded him was a shot by Scott Mayfield at 16:49 of the first period that bounced off the ice before flying between Gustavsson's arm and his body.

"That was more like us definitely," Gaudreau said. "When we do [that], we give ourselves more chances to win games and they're a really good hockey team. We just focused on playing our style, playing Minnesota Wild style, and it's fun when we do those things to come out on top."