ST. PAUL (AP) — A pair of guys who played high school hockey in Minnesota helped the New York Islanders pick up an important two points on the road Sunday night.
They also did no favors for the home team.
Brock Nelson scored 1:04 into overtime and the Islanders beat the Wild 3-2 to move into a tie atop the Metropolitan Division.
“It’s a great moment for him and hopefully he gets a few minutes to share it with them after this and then we’ve gotta head home,” said Devon Toews, who assisted on a goal by Anders Lee.
Nelson played for Warroad near the Canadian border; Lee is from the Minneapolis suburb of Edina.
Lee scored for the fourth straight game and Jordan Eberle added a goal for New York, which has won five of seven. Thomas Greiss made 32 saves. The Islanders are tied with Washington with 91 points with 10 games remaining, but currently hold the tiebreaker with a greater scoring differential.
In the extra session, Nelson converted a feed from Mathew Barzal to beat Alex Stalock with a wrister from the slot. Nelson, who added an assist, established a new career high of 47 points.
Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said his club deserved better and was not happy with the Islanders line change about 25 seconds before the winning goal.
With Minnesota bringing the puck out of its own end, Barzal jumped over the boards with a trailing Cal Clutterbuck coming off. After about 10 seconds in the Islanders zone, Barzal and Nelson went the other way for the game-winning goal.
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