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 Victor Rask 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,” Islanders coach Doug Weight said. ”But not good enough.”Trailing 2-1 near the midpoint of the second period Alex DeBrincat Jersey , 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— HERNING, Denmark (AP) Danish hockey is on the rise, even though the Danish hockey team has been knocked out of the world championships.The national team’s early elimination at its first world championships on home ice can hardly overshadow the boost the tournament has given the sport in the country.”I hope it spreads awareness of hockey in Denmark for a lot of families and hopefully they’ll try to get their kids to play hockey,” Columbus Blue Jackets forward Oliver Bjorkstrand said. ”Hopefully it gets more hockey kids involved and more media attention on hockey, of course. It’s something we’re hoping for at this tournament.”The progress has been obvious.In 2003, Denmark advanced to the top international division for the first time in 54 years and has not been relegated since. The country reached the quarterfinals twice and managed to beat big teams Anthony Duclair Jersey , including the United States.Center Frans Nielsen then opened a new era in 2007 by joining the New York Islanders. Currently with the Detroit Red Wings, Nielsen has 423 points in the NHL with 152 goals and 271 assists in 764 games.Others soon followed.Denmark currently has seven players in the NHL, and five of them played for their country at this year’s worlds, including Nielsen and Bjorkstrand. The others were Toronto Maple Leafs No. 1 goaltender Frederik Andersen and two San Jose Sharks forwards, Jannik Hansen and Mikkel Boedker.In 2011, Hansen became the first Dane to play the Stanley Cup finals with the Vancouver Canucks.At the world championships, Denmark beat Germany, Finland, Norway and South Korea but lost to Latvia 1-0 on Tuesday and missed out on the quarterfinals.Perhaps the absence of two Danish forwards currently busy in the NHL playoffs played a role in that.Lars Eller has five goals and seven assists in 15 playoff games for the Washington Capitals, who lead their Eastern Conference final against the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1. Nikolaj Ehlers had a 60-point regular season with 29 goals and 31 assists for the Winnipeg Jets and has seven assists in the Western Conference final against the Vegas Golden Knights. That series is tied 1-1.”That’s been a long way (for Danish hockey),” Nielsen said. ”It’s been incredible and we’re proud of where we are today.”At this year’s worlds, Denmark enjoyed huge support from the roaring home fans mostly wearing red and white jerseys at their games in Herning. After the victories, the crowd and players sang the Danish national anthem together.”The whole city backs us up here,” said Nielsen, who is from Herning. ”It’s been incredible.”