Islanders find offense against Wild

NEW YORK -- The New York Islanders scored three goals in a 3:08 span during the second period in a 6-3 win against the Minnesota Wild at Barclays Center on Sunday.
John Tavares and Calvin de Haan scored 24 seconds apart for the Islanders (3-3-0) before five minutes elapsed in the second period, and Johnny Boychuk made it 3-1 at 7:31.
"We've had a lot of chances the last few games," said Tavares, who had two goals and an assist. "It's good to see a few go in. I still think we could have been a lot better. There were a lot of times where they had some big momentum against us and [Thomas] Greiss made some big saves."

Tavares scored 3:08 after forward Zach Parise scored his 300th NHL goal to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead. Parise took a pass from defenseman Matt Dumba on a 4-on-2 rush and his wrist shot beat Greiss (26 saves) 1:15 into the second period. Parise scored No. 301 at 12:37 after replays concluded his shot trickled over the goal line.
"Maybe we can stop talking about it," Parise told Fox Sports North about scoring No. 300. "I've felt like every game since the beginning of the year, I've gotten two, three, four really really good looks every game and some good deflections and it just hasn't gone in for some reason, [but] tonight it did."

Tavares' second goal of the season came at 4:23, scoring in the slot on a one-timer from Josh Bailey, which beat Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper. De Haan scored at 4:57 just outside the left circle on a pass from Anthony Beauvillier. It was his first goal since March 3.
Boychuk scored his second goal in two games off a faceoff win from Ryan Strome.
"It put us behind the eight-ball," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It wasn't necessary the goaltending that was the factor. I think after the second period we had almost 50 shot attempts at the net and they were blocking everything and we weren't blocking too much."
Alan Quine and Thomas Hickey scored for the Islanders in the third period to make it 5-2.

"Greiss kept us in the game. [The Wild] had a lot of screens and second chances on their power play. ... All six of our defenseman contributed, battled down low," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said of his defense, which scored three goals.
Former Islanders forward Nino Niederreiter scored with 2:48 remaining to make it 5-3 before Tavares scored an empty-net goal at 18:17.
Kuemper made 27 saves for the Wild (3-2-1).

Goal of the game

After Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin's shot from the blue line took an awkward bounce, the puck went to Beauvillier, who passed to the trailing Quine, who scored on a wrist shot to make it 4-2 at 6:29 of the third period for what turned out to be the winning goal.

Save of the game

Greiss stopped Parise on a breakaway 6:59 into the second period to preserve the Islanders' 2-1 lead. Boychuk scored 32 seconds later to make it 3-1.

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Unsung moment of the game

With the Islanders up 3-2 in the beginning of the third period, Cal Clutterbuck, Tavares and Nick Leddy blocked three shots in a 40-second span. The Islanders had 23 blocks, six by Boychuk.

Highlight of the game

Tavares, de Haan and Boychuk scored three goals in 3:08 in the second period to take a 3-1 lead, and never trailed again.

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Need to know

New York had three goals from defenseman (de Haan, Boychuk, Hickey). They had three goals combined among defenseman in the first five games of the season. ... Parise, who had a game-high 10 shots on goal, has 20 goals and 44 points against the Islanders, his most in each category against any team. ... The Islanders were 0-for-1 on the power play and have one power-play goal in 15 chances this season. They killed two of three penalties and are 20-for-22 on the penalty kill.

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They said it

"We knew they played [Saturday] night and as the game [went] on, we wanted to try and wear them down and make it tough on them. When you're able to build a lead, it takes a lot of work to come back." -- Islanders captain John Tavares
"It's huge. It deflates a team. We've seen that happen to us. Just to keep going. That's it." -- Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk on New York scoring three goals in 3:08 in the second period
"I had no idea really. We were lining up ready to take the draw. I was standing behind the net and one of the linesmen asked me if it went in and I said, 'No, I don't think so.'" -- Wild forward Zach Parise on his second goal

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What's next

Wild:At the Boston Bruins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NESN, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV).
Islanders:Home against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, MSG+, RDS, NHL.TV).