Finishing out a border-crossing back-to-back against two of the West’s best teams, the Islanders appeared to run out of gas as things bounced against them Saturday night in Minnesota.
The Islanders had a good first 30 minutes, with goals from two of their Minnesotans and a great pass from their newest third to give them a 3-1 lead, when Scott Perunovich made a deke-out-of-a-phone-booth move after catching the puck at the blueline, before a no-look backhand pass to Anders Lee. But some tough luck and some sagging had them trailing 4-3 by the second intermission.
In the third, their legs appeared to leave them, especially after the Wild made it 5-3 when Tony DeAngelo cleared the puck into his own net.