Islanders can't hold 3-1 lead, allow five unanswered goals in road loss to Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Islanders had every chance to go into the NHL’s two-week break with momentum and affirmation that they will be able to mount a serious playoff push in the Eastern Conference.

Instead, a tough road back-to-back with heavy minutes being played by five defensemen caught up to them. So it’s a two-game losing streak after a hard-luck 6-3 loss to the Wild on Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center in which the hosts scored the final five goals, with two deflecting in off defenseman Tony DeAngelo.

The Islanders lost to the NHL-leading Winnipeg Jets, 4-3, the previous night. They held second-period leads in both games, including a two-goal edge over the Wild. But they ceded the equalizer and the go-ahead goal within 51 seconds of each other.

“We had the momentum,” coach Patrick Roy said. “In the second period, we were controlling the puck very well. When they scored [on the power play], it gave them some momentum and we just couldn’t get back after that. They scored the third and fourth almost back-to-back.

“I guess we didn’t have the legs to come back in the third period. When you play back-to-back, catch-up hockey may be a little tougher to do.”

The Islanders (25-23-7), who had won 11 of 14 before this road trip, are four points out of the second wild-card spot, with the Blue Jackets, Bruins and Rangers between them and the Red Wings.

“We’re in a spot where every game is pretty crucial now,” said Brock Nelson, who will participate in the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off for Team USA while the rest of the Islanders are on hiatus until their schedule resumes on Feb. 23.

“A few weeks ago, we said we needed to string wins together to get ourselves into it,’’ Nelson added. “We have to do it again.”

The Islanders must hope at least one of their injured defensemen — Noah Dobson, Ryan Pulock or Scott Mayfield — can return after the break to alleviate the minutes Roy is doling out to DeAngelo, Adam Pelech, Alexander Romanov, Scott Perunovich and Adam Boqvist. Dennis Cholowski logged only 2:52 with four shifts, leaving the ice for good at 3:26 of the second period.

“We just played to win,” Roy said. “Sometimes we have to make the decision that you think is the right one.”

Romanov, who logged 27:06, agreed the heavy workload was a factor against the Wild.

“I would say yes,” he said. “Back-to-back is back-to-back, it’s not easy. It’s hard to play, but as a team, we’ve got to play better.

“We’ve got to turn the puck over less. Before every single goal, we turned the puck over twice in our zone, maybe three times. We couldn’t get it out. So that’s homework for the break and we’ll start again.”

Matt Boldy scored his second goal of the game at 5:53 of the third period to give the Wild a 5-3 lead as he flicked it toward the crease from the goal line and DeAngelo knocked it into his own net. Earlier, Frederick Gaudreau’s power-play goal, which brought the Wild within 3-2 at 13:21 of the second period, deflected in off DeAngelo.

Ilya Sorokin (27 saves) started both games on the road trip. Filip Gustavsson made 31 saves for the Wild (33-19-4), who have won seven straight games in the series. The Islanders’ last win against them came on March 17, 2019.

Boldy’s deflection of defenseman Jonas Brodin’s shot from the left point brought the Wild into a 3-3 tie at 17:59 of the second period and Yakov Trenin got his stick on defenseman Jake Middleton’s shot for a 4-3 lead at 18:50.

Anders Lee gave the Islanders a 3-1 lead at 7:17 of the second period, deflecting Perunovich’s feed. Nelson had made it 2-1 just 28 seconds into the second period, tying Pat LaFontaine for eighth place on the Islanders’ points list with 566.

The Wild’s Marco Rossi opened the scoring at 3:19 of the first period, but Kyle Palmieri tied it 13 seconds later.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.