Islanders News: New York loses in third, Bridgeport wins in final minute

The Islanders come home — though not to home games — after a hectic three-in-four road stretch where they took four points from Montreal and Winnipeg, but blew the chance at even one point in St. Paul

The Devils await on Thursday, then a two-game Florida swing next wee, and then...could it be? The road trip will be over? The long-awaited promised land of an arena will finally be open?

Cannot come soon enough.

Islanders News

About last night:

• The Isles kind of didn’t deserve to ever be in position to win, and the Wild pounced in the third to please the hockey gods. [LHH]
• Varlamov was sharp in his debut, but the Isles were not. [Newsday | NHL]
• For the Wild, that’s third-period comebacks leading to wins on consecutive nights. [Hockey Wilderness]
• The Isles felt they were fine in the first two periods, but just didn’t handle the Wild’s jump in the third. [Isles]
• Barry Trotz was having none of our fatigue talk: ‘They had a push...[in the third]. ... We didn’t weather the storm.” You could say that. He also said he only had a couple of lines going, vs. the previous night where it was a four-line performance in Winnipeg:

Meanwhile:

• Zach Parise was looking forward to seeing old friends on this trip, but he’s moved on from the Wild. [Newsday]
• Bridgeport scored in the final 25 seconds of regulation to end a three-game slide and stop a three-game Hartford win streak. [Bridgeport Islanders]
• The key moment:

Elsewhere

Last night’s NHL scores included no other Metro games, but Derek King won his debut behind the Blackhawks bench, an OT win over the Predators.

• After all the turmoil of the past several seasons, suddenly things are calm with the Blue Jackets and the young core is thriving off that. [NHL]
• The Leafs will rely on Jack Campbell as Petr Mrazek is out at least four weeks. [NHL]
• Campbell, by the way, just sounds like a super nice guy who has great things to say about his old Kings teammates. (And it’s not his fault Dallas drafted him high and overhyped, so it’s good to see him finding success, even if it’s with Taranna.) [TSN]
• A “defiant about his past” Mike Babcock is back coaching again, at University of Saskatchewan, after lots of former players called him an insufferable bully once the Leafs fired him. Time for a puff feature to see what he’s learned! (And to learn this includes a job for his son.) [Sportsnet]
• Jeremy Colliton’s Hawks were a mess defensively, but he took the fall for Stan Bowman’s mistakes and all of management’s refusal to face the music during the franchise’s fall. “It’s his job to defend his lineup decisions, not the state of a franchise in utter free fall.” [Athletic]
• The new regime in Chicago insists the season is not lost. [NHL]
• Colliton’s replacement Derek King “gives off the tone of a fun uncle.” [Chicago Tribune]
• Derick Brassard gets a $2,000 fine for punching a Capital from the bench. That’s against da rules. [RMNB]
• You hate to see it: The Rangers are dealing with “wheels fall off” third periods. [AM NY]