ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — John Tavares and Frans Nielsen kept the New York Islanders surging on the road.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota Wild had their first letdown under their new coach.
Nielsen scored twice, Tavares had a goal and an assist and New York beat Minnesota 4-1 on Tuesday night.
Matt Martin also scored for the Islanders, who have won six of eight. Jaroslav Halak made 30 saves as New York improved to 2-0 on a seven-game road trip — its longest of the season.
“It was good for us to get that one early to give us a little bit of confidence on this road trip against a really good team and try to take some of the crowd noise out and get some of the momentum,” Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. “We were resilient tonight and played a good game all the way around. It was one of our best games of the season.”
Devan Dubnyk made 27 saves as the Wild lost for the first time in five games under interim coach John Torchetti.
Chris Porter had his fourth goal of the season for Minnesota, which had scored at least five in the four previous games with Torchetti behind the bench.
“It’s a situation you’re coming off a…