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Isles fend off Wild

Oct 10, 2011 - 9:24 PM Uniondale, NY (Sports Network) - Andrew MacDonald and Frans Nielsen each tallied a first-period goal as the New York Islanders held on to post a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

Al Montoya stopped 20-of-21 shots for New York, which recorded its first victory of the season.

"I was into the game even though they weren't shooting," Montoya said. "It felt good and the team did a great job."

Matt Cullen scored the lone goal for the Wild and Niklas Backstrom allowed the two goals on just 14 shots in the loss for Minnesota.

Minnesota's Mikko Koivu was called for tripping at the 8:54 mark of the first period and the Islanders notched their first goal 11 seconds later. After winning the face off, the Islanders moved the puck around the zone before Travis Hamonic sent a shot towards the net from the right circle.

The rebound kicked off Backstrom's pads and right to MacDonald at the point, whose one-time shot sailed past Backstrom on the stick side.

Less than three minutes later, New York set up in the Wild zone and Nielsen's backhand redirection of a Mark Streit pass from the point skipped into the net for a 2-0 lead.

After recording just two shots in the first period, Minnesota was able to apply almost constant pressure in the second. But the Wild were unable to cash in on several power play opportunities, including a 4-on-3 and a two-man advantage.

"We knew that we weren't good enough in the first period," Wild head coach Mike Yeo said about his team's start. "We weren't ready to battle right from the start the right way."

The Wild were able to get on the board just over a minute into the third. Brett Bulmer grabbed an Islanders turnover at the New York blue line and sent a long feed to a streaking Guillaume Latendresse down the center of the ice. Latendresse worked his way right in front of Montoya and dropped the puck to Cullen, whose shot went right over Montoya's glove and into the top left corner of the net.

Montoya was able to keep Minnesota out of the net for the remainder of the game, making a couple scrambling saves on shots from right in front of the net to seal the win for the Islanders.

Game Notes

Latendresse was playing in his 300th NHL game...Bulmer's assist on Cullen's goal was the first point of his career...Minnesota went 0-for-7 on the power play, while New York finished 1-for-3...The Islanders were outshot 19-5 over the last two periods.