Wild surge past Lee, Islanders 5-2 with 4-goal 3rd period

Brandon Duhaime scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period about two minutes after Ryan Hartman tied the game for Minnesota, and the Wild registered another comeback win to beat Anders Lee and the New York Islanders 5-2 on Sunday night.

Duhaime, who was originally credited with a second period score that was officially changed to an assist on Nick Bjugstad’s goal, went end to end and ripped a shot from the back of the left circle to give the Wild the lead.

That came right after Hartman found his own rebound and sniped it past Semyon Varlamov for his team-high sixth goal. Hartman had the tying goal with 3 seconds left in regulation at Pittsburgh on Saturday night, when the Wild rallied for a 5-4 shootout victory.

Jonas Brodin and Matt Dumba chipped in rink-length empty-netters to pile on after Semyon Varlamov was pulled, as the Wild improved to 4-1 at home this season.

Lee scored two goals in his home state to upstage the reunion for fellow Minnesotan Zach Parise, back at familiar Xcel Energy Center after joining the Islanders this summer. Home has been a foreign concept to the Islanders so far, who are 10 games into this season-opening 13-game run of road games while their new UBS Arena is finished.

Varlamov had 34 saves in his season debut for the Islanders, who had earned a point in seven straight games (5-0-2).

Lee had a slap shot by Zdeno Chara deflect right to him with 18 seconds left in the first period for a rebound goal, the eighth straight game the Islanders scored first. The Wild are 5-2 when their opponent scores first.

Lee, who’s coming back from a torn ACL last season that robbed the Islanders of their captain for a run that ended in the Stanley Cup semifinals for a second straight year, scored in a 2-0 win at Winnipeg on Saturday night.

Lee tacked on another one for a 2-1 lead on a rush with Mathew Barzal midway through the second period, beating Wild backup goalie Kaapo Kahkonen for the second time. This was Kahkonen’s second start of the season, giving Cam Talbot a break. He finished with 19 saves.

HOMECOMING WEEKEND

The Wild played a tribute video for Parise during a break in the first period with highlights on and off the ice from his nine seasons with the club, which bought out the last four years of his $98 million contract this summer. He waved briefly to the crowd, which gave him an extended ovation as players from both teams performed the ritual stick taps.

The game operations staff mischievously posted a message on the videoboard at a later stoppage of play urging fans to jeer anyone from Edina, the well-to-do suburb west of Minneapolis where Lee went to high school and Parise lived while he played for the Wild. Scratched Islanders forward Kieffer Bellows grew up there, too.

UP NEXT

Islanders: At New Jersey on Thursday night.

Wild: At Arizona on Wednesday night.