The Minnesota Wild and New York Islanders faced off for the final time this season in Elmont, New York, on Friday evening, Apr. 4, the same night that Alex Ovechkin tied Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record. The Wild had the same lineup as a couple of nights prior, except Jon Merrill, who was in for Declan Chisholm. The Islanders were without Anthony Duclair.
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The goaltending matchup was between Filip Gustavsson for the Wild and Ilya Sorokin for the Islanders. The game started out in the Wild’s favor, but the Islanders fought back and took the lead. They stayed in control and took the win 3-1, which moved the Wild’s record to 41-29-7 and the Islanders’ to 33-32-10.
Game Recap
It was a back-and-forth first period, but no goals made it through, and the second started scoreless. Mats Zuccarello banked the puck off the back of the goaltender’s head and gave his team a 1-0 lead. The lone assist went to Marcus Johansson. However, the lead didn’t last long as Casey Cizikas deflected a shot past Gustavsson to tie the game at 1. Noah Dobson and Pierre Engvall assisted him. Simon Holmstrom scored the final goal of the period, he deflected a shot in off of Frédérick Gaureau’s skate for the Islanders to take a 2-1 lead. Maxim Tsyplakov and Ryan Pulock assisted him.
The Islanders added to their lead early in the third period as Dobson scored one on the power play to make it 3-1. Tony DeAngelo assisted him. That was the game’s final goal as the Wild could not respond and the Islanders secured the win.
This was the end of a three-game road trip for the Wild, and they’ll head back home to host the Dallas Stars on Sunday afternoon, Apr. 6. The Islanders will remain at home to host the Washington Capitals, also on Sunday afternoon, with the possibility of Ovechkin beating Gretzky’s record.
