Nolan’s 2nd goal, in closing minutes, lifts Wild over Islanders 3-2 in scrappy comeback

Nolan’s 2 goals give Wild 3-2 win over Islanders

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Owen Nolan’s goal with 67 seconds remaining, his second of the game, sent the struggling Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Friday night.

Nolan had been dragged down in front of Islanders goalie Martin Biron on an earlier sequence and had just climbed back to his feet when the puck came his way from Eric Belanger. The 37-year-old Nolan, known for his grittiness around the net, knocked it in for a late lead. That gave a big lift to a team that was 0-2-2 in its previous four games and coming off an ugly loss.

Jon Sim had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who lost in regulation for the first time in six games despite holding a 2-1 lead in the third period. Mikko Koivu tied it for Minnesota on a power play with 13:02 left.

After an uninspired 3-2 loss two nights earlier at home to Phoenix, which coach Todd Richards called his team’s worst performance of the season, the Wild picked up the intensity. Over the first two periods, they were credited with 23 hits to New York’s six.

They were way short on scorers, with Martin Havlat (hamstring) sitting out as one of five injured forwards on the roster. Brent Burns (illness), their best offensive defenseman, was also on the scratch list.

Leave it to Koivu, the captain, to come through when it counted. He dropped to a knee in a brief celebration, looking more relieved than excited, after redirecting Marek Zidlicky’s 4-on-3 pass into the net past a diving Biron to tie the game early in the third.

The Islanders, 6-3-2 in their last 11 games, are playing better after winning only one of their first 10 games. This was their fifth stop on a stretch of seven straight road games.

Nolan’s bad-angle shot from behind the goal line on the right wing glanced off Biron and into the net, giving the Wild an early lead and just their 12th first-period goal in 22 games. Biron made 26 saves.

The Islanders seized control in the second period with Sim’s goal followed by a failed 5-on-3 advantage by the Wild barely a minute later. With so many players missing and Shane Hnidy serving a long penalty, the Wild were weak during the power play.

They had 1 minute, 35 seconds of a two-man advantage, but it was a bit of a bumble with several misses and not enough shots to satisfy the restless crowd. Antti Miettinen’s cross-crease pass to Koivu evaded him and caused Miettinen to shout in frustration.

Midway through the second period, Wild defenseman John Scott whiffed in his attempt to glove an airborne puck in the Islanders zone and send the attack the other way. Sim swooped in and grabbed the puck near the blue line, skated all the way behind the net, and set up Josh Bailey with a perfect pass for a 2-1 New York lead.

NOTES: Hnidy mixed it up with New York’s Tim Jackman and was given 17 minutes of penalty time, two for instigating, five for fighting and 10 for a misconduct. … Nolan is one of several Wild players growing mustaches in support of a prostate cancer awareness and research project. … The Wild are 5-1-2 against the East and 8-12-2 overall.