ELMONT, N.Y. — No comeback needed this time.
After scoring first, the Wild remained a step ahead of the Islanders the rest of the night and ran away 4-3 on Sunday at UBS Arena to sweep its trip through New York and pick up a fifth straight win.
This is also the team's second nine-game point streak (8-0-1) of the season, which the Wild previously accomplished Nov.21-Dec.9 when it climbed atop the NHL leaderboard.
Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy each chipped in a goal and assist, and Kevin Fiala extended his career-best point streak to 11 games.
Between the pipes, backup goalie Kaapo Kahkonen made 40 saves to sit 10-2-2 overall.
The Wild plays once more before the NHL All-Star break, Wednesday at Chicago, an opportunity to close out the first half of the season on the upswing.
After rallying from a disastrous first period and 2-0 hole on Friday to edge the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, the Wild took a different approach vs. the Islanders with a pair of first-period goals just 1 minute, 3 seconds apart.
Rookie Brandon Duhaime, who was elevated to Eriksson Ek's line with Jordan Greenway since Marcus Foligno was out with an upper-body injury, capitalized in his new role by burying an Eriksson Ek rebound at 3:36.
By 4:39, the Wild was up 2-0 after Eriksson Ek's shot trickled through New York goalie Ilya Sorokin for his 13th goal of the season and eighth on the power play. The Wild went 1-for-2. Sorokin totaled 17 saves.
Combine that goal with his assist on Duhaime's tally and Eriksson Ek earned his sixth multi-point game of the season and is up to 10 points over his last 12 games.
Before the first period ended, the Islanders trimmed their deficit when Brock Nelson pounced on a shot that deflected off Alex Goligoski and wired it past Kahkonen at 13:56.
But the Wild regained a two-goal advantage 2:39 into the second on a tip by Boldy, who caught a piece of a Victor Rask shot.
Fiala also notched an assist on the play, his 14th point during an 11-game point streak that is the longest active in the NHL and the second-best in Wild history; Mikael Granlund holds the record at 12 games.
Mats Zuccarello also entered the game on a 10-game point streak but didn't factor into the offense to keep the run going.
As for Boldy, the goal sealed his third multi-point effort; he also assisted on Eriksson Ek's power play goal.
The rookie has five points during a career-long three-game point streak and boasts nine points in his first nine career games since joining the Wild from the minors to make his NHL debut earlier this month. That's a new Wild record, eclipsing the eight points Mikko Koivu had in his first nine games; Kaprizov had seven in nine.
Like they did before, the Islanders answered back to pull within a goal of the Wild; this time, Ross Johnston scooped up a Duhaime turnover for a breakaway goal at 4:03 of the second.
With 8:33 to go in the third, Kaprizov redirected in a Matt Dumba point shot for his 12th point during a seven-game point streak, which matches his career high from earlier this season. Kaprizov also has a point on the power play in a career-best four consecutive games after assisting on Eriksson Ek's goal and at 52 points overall, he's already surpassed his output from 55 games last season when he had 51 as a rookie.
That goal turned into the game-winner after the Islanders converted on their fourth power play at 16 minutes when Oliver Wahlstrom dove to poke in a loose puck.
