NEW YORK _ After posting just 12 goals in their first five games, the Islanders needed a breakout night.
They got one on Sunday at Barclays Center, with John Tavares scoring twice and the Isles' new Kid Line of Anthony Beauvillier (19 years old), Ryan Strome (23) and Alan Quine (23) contributing five points in a 6-3 win over the Wild.
"We're a young line so we're just trying to bring energy with whatever minutes we get," said Quine, who took a drop pass from Beauvillier and snapped a wrist shot past Darcy Kuemper at 6:29 of the third to put the Isles in front 4-2. "It takes a few games to develop some chemistry and I think all three of us know what we need to do out there."
Tavares opened the Isles' scoring off a neat feed from Josh Bailey at 4:23 of the second, tying the score after Minnesota's Zach Parise scored the first of his two in the middle frame.
Calvin de Haan beat Kuemper with a wrist shot 34 seconds after Tavares' goal for a 2-1 Isles lead that became 3-1 when Johnny Boychuk clapped one past Kuemper off Strome's faceoff win 2:34 later.
Parise scored his second from an impossible angle and via video review after the officials missed the puck crossing the goal line behind Thomas Greiss at 12:37 of the second. The Wild pressed for the tie through the end of the second but Greiss was superb, making five big stops including one on Nino Niederreiter in the waning minutes of the period.
"He kept us in the game," Isles coach Jack Capuano said of Greiss, who made 26 saves.
And the Isles' fresher legs got them moving in the third. The Wild was the fourth straight team to come to Barclays Center on the second night of back-to-back games and, after playing three straight 3-2 contests, the Isles finally jumped on a tired visitor.
Beauvillier blocked a shot, corralled it and drove up the ice. He dropped the puck to Quine and took Wild defenseman Christian Folin to the net, opening up a gap for Quine to cruise in and snap a shot past Kuemper for the key score.
Little plays like that for Beauvillier, who leads the Isles with four assists and has five points in the five games he's played, stand out.
"I'm not here to get points, I know that," Beauvillier said. "My job is to stick to the game plan, finish my checks, be smart without the puck. The points are nice but that's not my job."
Strome had two assists as well and Tavares set up Thomas Hickey for a wicked wrister at 8:35 of the third to pull the game completely open. Niederreiter scored from Greiss' doorstep at 17:12 but Tavares hit the empty net at 18:17 for a three-point night for the captain, whose linemate Andrew Ladd got his first point as an Islander but is still hunting for his first goal despite three golden chances on Sunday.
"I still think we could've been better, they had the puck a lot tonight," Tavares said. "But we got some big goals from all parts of the lineup. When we get the lead, especially at home, we want to stay aggressive. Our group has been through this many times before. It takes a little time to find your game and find that rhythm and I thought we did some good things tonight."
