NEW YORK _ Like a poker dealer washing the deck of cards between hands, Bruce Boudreau did the same with his lines Sunday night.
Cranky earlier in the day because the Wild blew a point in an overtime loss across the Hudson River the night before, the Wild coach hinted he may tinker.
"Anything is possible. Haven't really given it a lot of thought," Boudreau said. "We could tweak something."
He did more than "tweak something" during a 6-3 loss that included Zach Parise's scoring twice to become the third Minnesotan in history to hit the 300-goal plateau.
Boudreau proceeded to throw all four of the forward lines into a blender.
The concoction that spit out? Parise moved onto a line with Mikko Koivu, with Mikael Granlund moving from left wing to right. Nino Niederreiter moved onto a line with Eric Staal and Charlie Coyle. Joel Eriksson Ek, playing his second game, centered a line with an elevated Jason Zucker and Jason Pominville and Chris Stewart, who struggled in New Jersey, was demoted to the fourth line with Teemu Pulkkinen and Zac Dalpe.
Unfortunately, the line changes couldn't help the goaltending.
Darcy Kuemper, supposed to be giving No. 1 Devan Dubnyk the night off, had a less than stellar evening, allowing three goals during a 3:08 span after the Wild jumped out to a lead, then two stoppable shots in the first half of the third period.
Stuck at 299 goals through the season's first five games, Parise slid the milestone tally between Thomas Greiss' wickets 75 seconds into the second period for a 1-0 lead. Only Minnesota-born Dave Christian (340) and Phil Housley (338) have scored more.
But after the Wild power play (3 for 21 this season) couldn't add to the lead, superstar captain John Tavares tied the score 27 seconds later on a 2-on-1.
Kuemper looked shell-shocked after the Tavares snipe. The backup goalie has a history of giving up goals in bunches and did so again.
Thirty-four seconds later, Calvin de Haan's harmless-looking shot from the side wall slithered through traffic and into the back of the net. Just 2:34 after that, it was 3-1 Islanders when Johnny Boychuk slapped one off a faceoff.
But Parise would trim the deficit back to one with his 301st goal when his shot from the side of the net crept behind Greiss. At that point, Parise had six shots in the period and nine in the game, one short of his career high with 27 minutes, 23 seconds left to play. He'd eventually tie the mark.
Against one of his father J.P.'s former teams, Parise has had more goals (20) and more points (44) than any other opponent.
The Wild, despite only a 3-2 deficit, showed signs of playing the night before in the third period. It registered no shots in the first six minutes and one until late in the period. The Islanders also blocked 22 shots in the game.
After Jonas Brodin flubbed a shot, Alan Quine scored off a 3-on-2.
It was the third goal scored against the fourth line, with Stewart and Pulkkinen going minus-3. Dalpe and Eriksson Ek were each minus-2.
Kuemper later waved at a Thomas Hickey shot. Niederreiter scored a power-play goal late, but the Wild fell to 0-1-1 on a four-game road trip that continues to Boston and Buffalo.
