The sweep of the NHL starts in Brooklyn where the visiting Minnesota Wild ran into a buzz saw Sunday in a 6-3 loss to the Islanders.
In a span of 3:08 in the second period, the Isles scored three times on goals from John Tavares, Calvin de Haan and Johnny Boychuk to break open a tight game until that point.
“We’ve had a lot of chances the last few games,” said Tavares, who had two goals and an assist. “It’s good to see a few go in. I still think we could have been a lot better. There were a lot of times where they had some big momentum against us and [Thomas] Greiss made some big saves.”
Before the outburst, Zach Parise had given the Wild a 1-0 lead.
“It put us behind the eight-ball,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. “It wasn’t necessary the goaltending that was the factor. I think after the second period we had almost 50 shot attempts at the net and they were blocking everything and we weren’t blocking too much.”
Tavares, Alan Quine and Thomas Hickey scored for New York in the third period.
Parise had two goals on the and Nino Niederreiter picked up the third Wild goal.
Darcy Kuemper took the loss on 27 saves.
A subway ride away in Manhattan, the New York Rangers were hosting the Arizona Coyotes at Madison Square Garden.
The much maligned Dan Girardi was in the lineup after missing three games with a groin injury found the back of the net in the third period on a slap shot from inside the blue line to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead and eventually the win.
“I’m so happy for him,” Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist said. “He’s been working really hard, getting ready for camp, getting ready for the season, and then right away he has to sit out for a few games. That’s never easy, but I just love the way he competes out there.”
Henrik Lundqvist had 27 saves in back to back wins after winning in Washington Saturday night.
J.T. Miller and Josh Jooris also scored for the Rangers in a solid but anxious win over the Coyotes.
Radim Vrbata scored both goals for Arizona in the loss.
“We are learning the hard way that every play counts and every mistake that we make will cost us,” Vrbata said. “It’s costing us games now. It looks good for some part of the game, but not good enough. We are learning that it’s tough to win in this League.”
Louis Domingue made 23 saves in taking the loss.
For Girardi, the Rangers’ fans have been merciless in laying much of the team’s post season failures at his skates. But the defenseman has been as relentless in proving his worth and Sunday’s game-winner can only help.
“I’m really just burying my head and trying to shoot as hard as I can at the net,” Girardi said. “You don’t want to hit that first guy with the screen, but if you get it by him there’s a good chance the goalie is not going to see it, and it’s rolling too.”
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