Ilya Sorokin was a brick wall for 51 minutes before the Minnesota Wild snuck three pucks into the net in the final nine minutes of Thursday night’s 3-1 win over the Islanders in New York.
The Wild finally broke through – barely – when Joel Eriksson Ek fed Frederic Gaudreau for a short-handed goal with 9:05 left in the third period. Sorokin appeared to make the save at first glance, but the replay showed the puck in his glove and across the goal line so the refs awarded Minnesota with the score.
We'll take that ☝️#mnwild pic.twitter.com/RVKkaMlFKX
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 13, 2023
Tied 1-1, Minnesota had momentum and the top line of Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello and Sam Steel forced a turnover on a strong forecheck and Steel went top shelf to beat Sorokin for a 2-1 lead just 93 seconds after Gaudreau’s goal. Kaprizov and Zuccarello assisted on the goal.
Consider the momentum: shifted 😤#mnwild pic.twitter.com/NPvycQxVWP
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 13, 2023
Kaprizov’s 25th goal of the season and 99th of his career sealed the victory on an empty net with 1:13 to play.
Filip Gustavsson made 19 saves for the Wild, who out-shot the Islanders 36-20.
Minnesota took three of four points on their New York road trip. Up next is a home game against the Arizona Coyotes at 7 p.m. Saturday.
