Filip Gustavsson and Ilya Sorokin were outstanding in their respective nets but it was Gustavsson coming up perfect in overtime and the shootout to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 shootout victory over the New York Islanders Tuesday night in St. Paul.
After the Islanders scored midway through the opening period for the first goal of the game, the Wild responded with two minutes left in the first when Jordan Greenway’s shot deflected high off the body of Sorokin and was swatted out of the air and into the back to the net by Ryan Reaves.
It was Reaves’ first goal since being traded to Minnesota – and it followed his fight against Ross Johnson earlier in the period.
After the first it was a tight contest, with Gustavsson and Soroking trading brilliant moments in net. Gustavvson stopped 39 of 40 shots in regulation plus overtime and Sorokin made 29 saves through 65 minutes of action.
In the shootout:
- Wild: Mats Zuccarello – blocked
- Islanders: Simon Holmstrom – missed
- Wild: Kirill Kaprizov – blocked
- Islanders: Bo Horvat – blocked
- Wild: Freddy Gaudreau – scores
- Islanders: Kyle Palmieri – blocked
Gustavsson has become Minnesota’s most reliable netminder. In his past seven starts, the Wild is 5-0-2 with three of the victories coming in shootouts.
The win has the Wild at 34-21-6 this season, good for 74 points and second place in the Central Division, just one point behind first place Dallas. Colorado has 73 points and has played three fewer games than the Wild.
