Tonight’s #WildHeadline by @StarTribune ? pic.twitter.com/IqyM4XN9oC
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 27, 2017
The New York Islanders gave up 3 goals in just over 2 minutes in the first period, and never recovered, falling 6-4 to the Minnesota Wild.
- Minnesota Wild (3-3-2, 8 points) 6
- New York Islanders (5-4-1, 11 points) 4
- Box Score, NHL Final
- Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN
It all fell apart in the first period.
The New York Islanders powerplay buried them early. The Wild capitalized in the first five minutes of the game off of an Adam Pelech giveaway that Marcus Foligno was the beneficiary of.
73 seconds later, Jason Zucker beat goaltender Thomas Greiss and made it 2-0 Minnesota. The back-breaker, ironically, came on the Islanders powerplay.
Eric Staal cashed in on a blown keep in from Nick Leddy and beat Greiss blocker side to put the Wild on top 3-0 not even halfway through the first period.
Head Coach Doug Weight didn’t mince words about the Islanders powerplay:
Doug Weight rips his power play, calls them “soft” #Isles pic.twitter.com/JonU7cB1gS
— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) October 27, 2017
The Islanders had a chance, with Anthony Beauvillier tipping a Johnny Boychuk shot behind Devan Dubnyk and gave the Islanders life with just under 10 minutes left in the period.
Beauvillier gets the #Isles on the board pic.twitter.com/lml1AhLPeh
— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) October 27, 2017
Doug Weight tried an experiment in putting Clutterbuck on the powerplay, and it didn’t work out as expected. Cal mishandles a pass at the point and sends Luke Kunin and Eric Staal on a 2 on 1, giving Kunin his first career-NHL goal. You know, because it isn’t a true Islanders game without relenting a first-career NHL goal to an opponent.
Nick Leddy would slip one past Dubnyk to cut the lead in half once more, but it would be all for naught after the Islanders opened the third and immediately give Zack Mitchell his first NHL goal on a puck that had no business slipping past Greiss.
Jonas Brodin tipped one past Greiss right after a faceoff win to make it 6-2, and despite a goal from Anders Lee and a buzzer-beater from Mathew Barzal, it wouldn’t be enough to climb out of a hole that was buried far too deep after the first period.
Lineup Changes
Simply put, the Islanders did not come ready to play and lost a very winnable game against a team that was by no means firing on all cylinders tonight.
Devan Dubnyk was giving away all sorts of rebounds and was not sharp, the Wild began playing more defensively after the fourth goal and didn’t pressure the Islanders outside of the many turnovers given to them.
Most of all, the Islanders powerplay was a -2 tonight while going 0/5. The Islanders have allowed a total of five short-handed goals while only scoring two the entire season. If they still don’t score on a single of the five chances, the score would have been tied and a point would have been gained.
A coach isn’t tested when his team does well, but when it falters. How the Islanders respond in Nashville on Saturday will be a determining factor in the type of coach Weight can be.
After tonight’s effort, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where Ryan Pulock doesn’t slot into the lineup, especially with how poor the powerplay was tonight.
On to the next one.