New York Islanders get first win; beat Minnesota Wild 2-1 -NHL Match Update
Islanders finally got their first win of the new 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season as New York beat Minnesota Wild, 2-1, on Monday night, October 10, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
Winning their first match, New York Islanders moved up to tie Florida Panthers, along with a number of other teams for the seventh position in the Eastern Conference. They might have won, but according to their players, it could have been much better and it definitely should be in the future.
"We're definitely happy to get this win, but at the same time we have to learn from this", New York’s 27-year-old centre player, Frans Nielsen, said. "We didn't play great".
Minnesota was on its first away game of the season after coming out of a win against Columbus Blue Jackets at home on Saturday. According to them, they did not get the start they wanted.
"We didn't start on time", Minnesota Wild head coach, Mike Yeo, said. "One-on-one battles, they were dominating. Loose pucks, they were dominating, winning them every time. When that happens, you don't execute the right way. Our wall play wasn't strong in the first period, and because of that, we spent the whole period in our own zone".
Andrew MacDonald scored the first for New York nearly midway through the first, taking advantage of their first power play opportunity of the night as Mikko Koivu was booked for tripping.
Frans Nielsen extended the lead nearly three minutes later for his first of the season, which would ultimately become the game-winner since Islanders remained unable to score after that as Minnesota goalie, Niklas Backstrom, went into lockdown mode.
Giving up three penalties in the second period, Minnesota Wild finally scored their first as Matt Cullen slid the puck past Islanders goalie, Al Montoya, in the opening two minutes of the final period of regulation. Minnesota did not score anymore after that.
Islanders will play host to Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday while Minnesota plays against Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
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