Wild surge past Islanders 6-3, head into break after sweeping homestand

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Feb 8, 2025

Published in Hockey

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — A feel-good rally is certainly one way to ensure the Minnesota Wild return from a two-week hiatus feeling upbeat about their game.

Down a forward because of another injury, the Wild overcame a successful homecoming by the Islanders’ Minnesotans to prevail 6-3 against the New York Islanders Saturday at Xcel Energy Center and sweep their two-game homestand before pausing for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Frederick Gaudreau, Matt Boldy and Yakov Trenin sparked the second-period comeback, with Boldy and Trenin scoring 51 seconds apart to turn a 3-1 deficit into a one-goal lead.

Boldy capitalized again in the third period for a three-point performance that tied his season high, and Marcus Foligno tacked on an empty-netter with 4:14 to go.

Goaltender Filip Gustavsson finished with 30 saves, and the Wild won back-to-back games in St. Paul for the first time since Nov.30-Dec.3 despite being shorthanded.

Joel Eriksson Ek was scratched with a lower-body injury, and it’s unclear if he’ll be able to represent Sweden at the 4 Nations tournament; Boldy and Brock Faber (Team USA) were also invited along with Jonas Brodin and Gustavsson for Sweden. The Wild didn’t have any other forwards available on their roster (Ryan Hartman is serving a 10-game suspension), so they went with seven defensemen with Jon Merrill drawing in. But the different look didn’t hurt the Wild.

Only 3:19 into the first period, Marco Rossi buried a Boldy pass from between the circles to give the Wild their 34th game-opening goal, which is tied for the most in the NHL.

Just 13 seconds later, New York answered back on a wrister by Kyle Palmieri.

That 1-1 tie held until the second, when the locals took over at the expense of the Wild.

Warroad’s Brock Nelson connected on a one-timer 28 seconds into the period before a jumping keep-in by Scott Perunovich off a botched clear from Mats Zuccarello set up Anders Lee at 7:17.

This was the Islanders’ second game in as many nights, and when they began to fade later in the period, the Wild took advantage.

On their second and final power play, the Wild benefited from a New York own goal as Gaudreau’s shot clipped Tony DeAngelo en route to the net at 13:21. (The Islanders blanked on two power plays.) Then with 2:01 left in the period, Boldy deflected in a Brodin shot for the equalizer; the assist was the 200th of Brodin’s career.

Finally, at 18:50, the Wild moved ahead on a tip by Trenin as he set a screen in front of Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin, who had 27 saves. The goal was the second in as many games for Trenin, who was a consistent factor all night. Captain Jared Spurgeon also picked up an assist, his second of the game.

Another bad bounce for DeAngelo gave the Wild some cushion 5:53 into the third period: Boldy’s throw to the middle rolled behind Sorokin after hitting DeAngelo’s stick.

Foligno hit the 10-goal mark when he sent a 158-foot backhander into New York’s vacant net.

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