With something closely resembling their full lineup in place for the first time this season, the Minnesota Wild offered a vision of the team they can be, when everything is clicking, Friday on Long Island.
Leading start to finish, the Wild won for the third time in four games this month, pulling away from the New York Islanders for a 5-2 victory at UBS Arena.
Along the way, the Wild put the game to bed in the third period on a highlight reel back-and-forth passing play between reunited linemates Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello to give Minnesota a three-goal lead late.
“It’s pretty impressive that he can be off and come off surgery and then play the way he did, which is great,” Wild coach John Hynes said in the postgame scrum with reporters at the Islanders’ home rink. “Him coming back into the lineup added some good depth and some other different combinations which we felt would work well together.”
Zuccarello, playing for the first time this season after returning from a lower-body injury, wasted no time making his presence felt. Less than two minutes into the game, he hit Ryan Hartman with a long lead pass that sprung Hartman on an unsuccessful breakaway.
Jesper Wallstedt got the start in goal for Minnesota — his first since Oct. 26 at home versus San Jose — and made 25 saves in the win as the Wild improved to 6-7-3 overall.
Vinnie Hinostroza, Danila Yurov, Brock Faber and Marco Rossi scored for the Wild in the win, coming 24 hours after they had led two leads slip away in a loss at Carolina.
After Minnesota killed the game’s first penalty, they found the back of the net with their first shot on goal. Jonas Brodin saw Hinostroza cutting hard to the Islanders’ net. Brodin’s pass caught Hinostroza perfectly in stride for a tap-in. It was Hinostroza’s second goal of the season.
Marcus Johansson had the secondary assist on the goal, extending his career-best point streak to 10 games.
Yurov, back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch in the previous three games, was back on the fourth line with Yakov Trenin and Marcus Foligno. Later in the first, that trio had a scrappy shift in front of the Islanders’ crease, which ended with Yurov finding a gap in the armor for his second career goal. Foligno assisted on the goal for his first point of the season.
New York got on the board five minutes into the middle frame when they caught the Wild goalie moving laterally and Emil Heineman scored. But Faber answered with his second goal in as many games just over a minute later. Then Rossi scored on a breakaway after a long-distance setup from Kaprizov, and the Wild led 4-1 before the game had reached its midway point.
When it was all over, they were still raving about the Zuccarello to Kaprizov combination, which cashed in via a takeaway, a no-look between the legs drop pass, a return pass and a one-timer that left the Islanders goalie bewildered.
“I knew exactly where it was going,” Hynes said. “But how it happens that quick and the execution is impressive.”
David Rittich, making his sixth start of the season for New York, had 21 saves in the loss.
The Islanders make their only visit to St. Paul this season on Jan. 10.
The Wild get Saturday off before starting a five-game homestand, which begins Sunday night with the Calgary Flames visiting Grand Casino Arena.
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