Islanders' comeback against Wild falls short

There was nothing deficient — or unexciting — about the effort despite an early two-goal deficit.

But in a way, this 4-3 loss to the Wild on Sunday night at UBS Arena in which the Islanders took a season-high 43 shots reflects the state of the team. Most of this season has been about trying to catch up and, so far, not getting there.

"We’ve just got to make sure we manage the puck and we won’t be chasing it as much," coach Barry Trotz said. "But it might have been our best game of the year. You take away maybe the first five minutes, we were pretty solid."

In all, the Islanders outchanced the Wild and goalie Kaapo Kahkonen 63-40.

Still, the Islanders (15-16-6) lost their second straight and fell to 2-14-2 against the 16 teams holding playoff spots, having been outscored 61-30 in those games. They remain 17 points behind the Bruins for the Eastern Conference’s final wild-card spot but have played five fewer games.

"Whenever you lose it’s frustrating, especially when you lose two in a row," defenseman Scott Mayfield said. "After the first eight minutes, 10 minutes, I think we deserved better in that game. But yeah, it’s frustrating."

The Wild (27-10-3), now on an 8-0-1 run, survived a wild final two minutes with Ilya Sorokin (17 saves) pulled for an extra skater. Josh Bailey had a good look from the right circle. Anders Lee had another strong shot from the slot.

Mathew Barzal hit posts twice within 10 seconds in the second period and defenseman Zdeno Chara hit a post in the third period.

"If we play like that the whole game, take away the first three or four minutes down the two goals, it’s a pretty good hockey game and you don’t have to chase it too much," said Ross Johnston, who snapped a 32-game goal drought dating to Dec. 27, 2019. He got into the Wild zone alone and made it 3-2 at 4:03 of the second period after being a late roster substitution for an ill Casey Cizikas.

The problem is, all 60 minutes count, and the Islanders have fallen behind 2-0 in three straight games.

Kirill Kaprizov scored what proved to be the winner at 11:27 of the third period, deflecting defenseman Matt Dumba’s shot from the blue line.

Oliver Wahlstrom’s power-play goal at 16:00 as he dived for a loose puck at the crease brought the Islanders within one.

Matt Boldy tipped Victor Rask’s shot from the slot to give the Wild a 3-1 lead at 2:39 of the second period.

"Just a little bit more urgency, I think," Wahlstrom said. "Get pucks to the net, that’s the most important thing. Get bodies to the net. We played a good game. We got chances. Maybe a little sharper in the first couple minutes."

The Wild took a 1-0 lead at 3:36 of the first period. Joel Eriksson Ek flipped the puck toward the crease and defenseman Noah Dobson stopped it, but with Sorokin still sliding to his right, Brandon Duhaime converted an easy tap-in.

Eriksson Ek’s power-play goal at 4:39, just 33 seconds after Kyle Palmieri tripped defenseman Alex Goligoski in the offensive zone, made it 2-0. He beat Sorokin to the short side from low in the right circle.

The Islanders caught a break, though, when Dumba was given a double minor for roughing while Lee received just two minutes despite dragging the Wild defenseman to the ice at 11:52 of the first period. Brock Nelson, with his team-leading 14th goal, halved the lead just four seconds after the Islanders’ power play expired.

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.