Minnesota 5, Islanders 2: Not wild about that one

Woof.

The Islanders were thoroughly outplayed by a team that was on the back end of a traveling back-to-back, looking like a rusty, uninspired squad. It wasn’t laziness or lack of trying, rather it just looked like no one was in sync, no one could make or catch a pass — save for a couple nice plays on their goals — in a 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild.

They started okay, but when the Wild got on the board at 7:24 of the first, they controlled play for the next five to six minutes and doubled their lead. The Isles never recovered.

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The Isles did get one back early in the second period to provide a brief moment of hope, after Emil Heineman finished a pretty combo from Mat Barzal and Bo Horvat, but just over a minute later the Wild had a two-goal lead again. Three minutes beyond that Brock Faber tally, they made it 4-1.

The only other Isles highlight was a lofting backhand outlet pass by Anders Lee that J-G Pageau caught up to and made a great, patient move to cut the score back to 4-2 late in the second.

There’s not much more to say. This one wasn’t fun to watch and wasn’t often in doubt. Missed opportunity for the Isles, who need to do better tomorrow visiting the Rangers to kick off a string of seven games on the road.