NEW YORK (AP) Minnesota knows it needs to play better on the road to strengthen its push for a playoff spot. The Wild also want to do a better job of holding third-period leads than they have lately.They accomplished both Monday against the New York Islanders.Matt Cullen and Tyler Ennis scored in Minnesota’s three-goal second period Womens Josh Bailey Jersey , and the Wild beat the Islanders 5-3. Jason Zucker added two goals, Joel Eriksson Ek also scored, and Devan Dubnyk stopped 32 shots as Minnesota improved to 4-1-2 in its past seven games.Article continues below ...The Wild just lost three of five on their homestand, including twice when they gave up the tying goal in the third period before falling after regulation.”Having the lead in the second and keeping it is really good for us,” Zucker said.The win snapped Minnesota’s brief two-game skid (0-1-1) and got its three-game, five-day trip to New York off on a winning note. The Wild, who have lost seven of their past 11 on the road, play back-to-back against New Jersey and the Rangers later in the week.”Our record isn’t the way we want on the road this year, so we’ve been trying to focus on that,” Zucker said. ”It’s a big win for us.”Minnesota, which is fifth in the Central Division but holds the second wild card in the Western Conference, pulled one point behind Dallas and St. Louis.Ross Johnston, Anders Lee and Tanner Fritz scored for the Islanders. Jaroslav Halak finished with 27 stops.New York began the day tied with idle Carolina with 64 points, but held the second wild-card spot in the East due to more regulation/overtime wins. However, the Hurricanes now hold the tiebreaker due to a game in hand on the Islanders.Zucker beat Halak on the blocker side with a one-timer for his second of the game and 25th of the season with 3:22 remaining to push the Wild’s lead to 5-3.New York outshot Minnesota 17-9 in the third, including skating with a 6-on-4 advantage over the final 1:23 with Halak pulled on a power play but couldn’t get anything past Dubnyk.”We played a good game, we played hard Mathew Barzal Jersey ,” Islanders coach Doug Weight said. ”But not good enough.”Trailing 2-1 near the midpoint of the second period, the Wild went ahead with three goals in a 4:12 span.Cullen tied it as he skated in on a breakaway and beat Halak into the top right corner for his sixth at 9:54. Zucker gave the Wild their second lead of the game with a one-timer with 7:43 remaining. Ennis made it 4-2 with his eighth with 5:54 left.Fritz pulled the Islanders within one with his first NHL goal with 3 1/2 minutes remaining in the middle period.Lee had given New York a 2-1 lead at 1:57 of the second as he tipped Thomas Hickey’s shot from the left slot out of the air and down past Dubnyk. It was Lee’s 30th of the season, tying him with John Tavares for the team lead and making him the sixth 30-goal scorer in the NHL this season.It was the same way Zucker scored against Anaheim in the Wild’s shootout loss on Saturday.”It’s a nice play, a difficult tip for that guy to make and that’s why you put pucks to the net,” Dubnyk said. ”You saw it last game for us.”The Wild got on the scoreboard first as Charlie Coyle’s rebound attempt of his own shot deflected off Eriksson Ek’s skate and in 7:02 into the game. It was Eriksson Ek’s second goal of the season, and first since opening night.”That’s hockey,” Eriksson Ek said. ”That’s how it is, sometimes it bounces your way.”The Islanders tied it with 45 seconds left in the first as Johnston deflected Johnny Boychuk’s slap shot from the right point past Dubnyk. It was Johnson’s third goal in 10 games with New York after having three in 38 games with Bridgeport of the AHL.NOTES: Zucker has 10 goals and three assists in his past 16 games. … Ennis had his third multipoint game of the season, and first since he had two assists against Florida on Jan. 2. … The Wild swept the seasons series, also winning 6-4 at home on Oct. 26. … Eriksson Ek’s goal ended the Islanders’ shutout streak at 140:15, going back to the third period of a 4-1 loss to Columbus last Tuesday night. New York had back-to-back shutouts against the Rangers on Thursday and at Carolina on Friday. … Islanders placed G Thomas Greiss on IR, retroactive to Friday, and called up G Christopher Gibson from Bridgeport of the AHL to be Halak’s backup. … Halak has appeared in 23 of the Islanders’ past 27 games, including 22 starts. He is 9-11-3 in that stretch.UP NEXTWild: At New Jersey on Thursday night.Islanders: At Toronto on Thursday night to open a stretch of three straight road games.—Follow Vin Cherwoo at www.twitter.com/VinCherwooAP— At 39 years old, Joe Thornton can still produce for the San Jose Sharks — especially when facing the Toronto Maple Leafs.Coming off another career milestone, “Jumbo Joe” looks to lead the Sharks to their sixth straight home win over the Maple Leafs on Thursday night at SAP Center.After Joe Pavelski scored his second goal of the game late in the third period on Tuesday, Thornton posted his 400th career tally 13 seconds later to lift San Jose (10-6-3) to a 5-4 win over the Nashville Predators. The top overall pick by the Boston Bruins in the 1997 NHL Draft is the seventh player in history with 1 http://www.islandersfanproshop.com/authentic-nick-leddy-jersey ,500 games played, 400 goals and 1,000 assists.Article continues below ...“I just want to play and have fun, and that’s what you saw tonight,” Thornton said.Thornton, who sat out nine games last month with swelling in his surgically repaired right knee, is rounding into form with three goals in his last six contests.“He created stuff tonight all night. He was good tonight. I thought he was even better than he was last game,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said.While with San Jose, Thornton hasn’t faced Toronto as often as when he was with Boston. But when playing against the Maple Leafs at SAP Center, the veteran center is averaging nearly two points per game. He’s logged multiple points in five of eight contests, totaling a goal and 14 assists.Pavelski, meanwhile, has five points (three goals, two assists) through the first two games of the Sharks’ six-game homestand and has thrived on home ice versus Toronto. In seven career matchups, San Jose’s captain has seven goals, helping the club win each time.The Sharks have outscored the Maple Leafs 22-6, while winning the last five meetings in Northern California.Toronto (12-6-0) opened the California portion of a four-game road trip with a 5-1 rout of the league-worst Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday. Nazem Kadri scored two power-play goals and John Tavares added a man-advantage marker as the Maple Leafs improved to 7-1-0 away from home.“From start to finish Womens Wayne Simmonds Jersey , that was a pretty textbook road win,” said Tavares, who has a team-best 11 goals and is tied with Mitch Marner for second on the club with 22 points, trailing only defenseman Morgan Rielly (23 points).Tavares — the top player from last summer’s free-agent class — has 16 points (nine goals, seven assists) on the road this season, including five multi-point games. He’s also averaging a point per game at the Shark Tank with two goals and four assists in six career meetings.“A good sign tonight was just how many penalties we drew. I think that shows just how well we possess the puck,” Tavares said of the win over the Kings. However, Toronto is 1-for-11 with the man advantage during its losing streak in Silicon Valley.Frederik Andersen has been a wall in net recently for the Leafs, allowing just three goals on 130 shots faced while winning each of his last four starts. However, the native of Denmark has never won in San Jose, posting an 0-6-0 record with a 2.95 goals-against average in seven games. Martin Jones, a winner in eight of his last 10 starts for the Sharks, is 5-0-1 with a 1.78 GAA and a shutout in his career against Toronto while with San Jose.According to the Bay Area News Group, Sharks winger Tomas Hertl may miss Thursday’s game with a lower-body injury. Hertl, who has five goals and 11 assists in 16 contests, missed three games with a head injury before returning in Monday’s 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames.