In Elmont, the Minnesota Wild scored three goals in the back of the third period on Thursday for a 3-1 win over the New York Islanders. 
“We challenged them,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “They challenged themselves. Like we said this morning, two [were] in overtime and one was a shootout, but they’re still losses. [It’s] still three losses in a row. So, yeah, there was some urgency in our game.”
Scott Mayfield was the lone striker for the Isles, his first period goal gave them a 1-0 lead.
“It’s frustrating,” Mayfield said. “Their goalie played really well too. We couldn’t find a way to beat him, and we made some costly mistakes that ended up in our net.”
The Isles dropped to 22-18-3, and have lost four straight.
“We played a good game, [but] we beat ourselves in the third,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said. “We gave them too many opportunities that they capitalized on. Up until that point it was a solid game, but you’ve got to find a way. It just can’t happen.”
In the third, Frederick Gaudreau and Sam Steel scored 93 seconds apart starting at 10:55 of the frame to take a 2-1 lead.
“The goal, I wasn’t sure,” Gaudreau said. “I felt like his mitt went far, and that’s why I was trying to point to the ref to at least go and check it out. It’s fun when all the things happen the right way.”
Kirill Kaprizov capped the rally with an empty-net strike with 75 seconds left on the clock for the 3-1 final.
“It was extra frustrating when they scored that stupid goal in the first period,” Gustavsson said. “I [stood] back there [yelling] and hoped that they’d bail me out.”
Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves in the loss.
“He’s been outstanding for us,” New York coach Lane Lambert said. “Certainly, we need to score more. We need to give him some support. He’s done a great job of keeping the puck out of the net and keeping us in every game.”
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