Islanders fall to Wild on Nolan's late goal
Photo credit: AP | New York Islanders goalie Martin Biron, left, blocks a shot on goal by Minnesota Wild's Kyle Brodziak in the first period. (November 20, 2009)
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Nov. 20: Wild 3, Islanders 2
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Just when it looked as if the Islanders would play their 11th overtime in 22 games, Owen Nolan scored his second goal of the evening with 1:07 remaining in the third period to stun the Islanders and give the Wild a 3-2 win at Xcel Energy Center Friday night.
Nolan's wrist shot beat Islanders goaltender Martin Biron at 18:53 as the Wild earned its first win in five games. The Islanders suffered their first regulation loss on the fifth game of this road trip.
Nolan scored after Eric Belanger intercepted Blake Comeau's clearing attempt at the blue line. Belanger swept the puck toward Nolan, who was all alone in the slot. He knocked it down, then shot quickly toward Biron, who was defenseless.
"We can't point the finger at that last goal," Islanders coach Scott Gordon said. "That was one bad play that happened for the wrong reasons. That's just a puck that we need to get out of our zone."
The more pertinent reason the Islanders lost, Gordon said, was their inability to cash in on any of their six power-play opportunities. "For long portions of the game, we controlled the play," he said. "We just didn't score on our power play and that was the difference in the game."
Despite a bunch of chances on two third-period power plays, the Islanders succumbed to Nolan's tally and Mikko Koivu's power-play goal at 6:58.
"We did have a good five-on-five game, but wins come from power plays and penalty kills," said Jon Sim, who had a second-period goal. "We need to bear down a bit more on our power play. That was one that we let slip away."
After the Wild did not register a shot on goal until 7:21 of the first period, Nolan gave his team the lead by banking a puck off Biron's pad from beneath the goal line at 11:44.
The Islanders then dominated the second period, and Sim and Josh Bailey scored to give the Isles a 2-1 lead heading into the third period.
Trent Hunter made a deft backhanded pass to a wide-open Sim, whose wrister beat Niklas Backstrom at 3:07 of the second to tie it.
Sim then came through with another key contribution in the second as he carried the puck around the back of the net and dished to Bailey below the left circle. Bailey lasered a shot from his knee that gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead at 10:23.
The Wild tied it with Koivu's power-play goal in the third. Defenseman Marek Zidlicky faked a shot and fed across the ice to Koivu, who beat Biron at 6:58.
Then Nolan's goal ensured that the Islanders would not even earn a point, as they have become accustomed to doing.
"You've got to know that at any point, those things can happen," said Biron, who made 26 saves. "We learned that the hard way."
