ST. PAUL, Minn. - Booed off the ice after a listless first period against the New York Islanders, the Minnesota Wild found their fire.Their play immediately picked up out of the intermission. Then the inspiration came in frightening form, when defenceman Keith Ballards head hit hard on the ice.Nino Niederreiter dived for a loose puck in traffic around the net and tapped in the go-ahead goal with the end of his stick with 4:33 left, capping a furious comeback by the Wild for a 5-4 win over the Islanders on Tuesday night.We have too much pride and character to allow that to continue, and I thought we showed that the rest of the game, coach Mike Yeo said.Ballard was driven into the glass between the benches by Islanders left wing Matt Martin, who wasnt penalized for his straight-on hit. Pinned awkwardly against the wall, Ballard fell before his helmet bounced against the ice.It was a very emotional night, captain Mikko Koivu said. At the end a great feeling, but still you dont want to see one of your teammates going down like that.Ballard got up after a few minutes and walked slowly with assistance to the locker room, before being taken to a hospital for further observation and evaluation.It obviously was a scary moment at the time, but I felt like we carried it in a positive way, Niederreiter said.Mikael Granlund immediately hit Kyle Okposo, who drew a slashing penalty for angrily hitting Granlund in the leg in response. Jason Pominville scored on the power play on the first of three assists by Ryan Suter, who returned from a two-game absence to the mumps. Then Kyle Brodziak dropped the gloves with Martin upon his re-entry.With what happened to Keith, it was all pretty sickening to us, said Thomas Vanek, who scored the tying goal with 8:12 left.Vanek, who played part of last season with the Islanders, said he didnt believe Martin intended any malice.I heard it wasnt dirty, but still were all playing this game because we love it and we shouldnt hurt each other, Vanek said.The Islanders lost their second straight game after taking a 3-0 lead in the first period.They kept coming and we didnt. Were more upset with the way we played, not the way them came at us, said Josh Bailey, who made it 4-1 on the Islanders only shot of the second period. We should be able to handle that.Sloppy faceoffs and weak defence in front of the net helped smooth the Wilds path to victory.Youve got to have the will to defend around your goalie, Islanders coach Jack Capuano said.Koivu scored early in the third period for the Wild to spark the comeback, and Erik Haulas goal brought them within one.Chad Johnson got the surprise start over Jaroslav Halak, who had an 11-game winning streak stopped on Saturday when he gave up six goals to St. Louis after being given the big lead.Johnson, who made 25 saves, skated toward the bench and whacked his stick against the wall after a whistle soon after Niederreiters goal.Weve got to win some one-on-one battles and generate some forechecks and some momentum to get some pressure off our D, Islanders captain John Tavares said.Michael Grabner, Brock Nelson and Martin scored early for the Islanders against Niklas Backstrom, who finished with 15 saves. The Wild outshot the Islanders 27-8 over the final two periods.We shouldnt have to have something like that to bring it out of us, Yeo said.NOTES: The last NHL team to score on its lone shot of a period, according to STATS research, was Buffalo in the second period last season, April 10, 2014. ... The Wild have outshot opponents in 23 of 26 games this season. ... The Islanders kept their injured list at five, taking defenceman Lubomir Visnovsky (upper body) off before the game and placing centre Casey Cizikas (upper body) on it. Cizikas was hurt on Saturday. ... Nelson leads the Islanders with 13 goals. ... Most NHL teams typically have at least one native Minnesotan playing in front of family and friends against the Wild, but the Islanders generated more extra ticket sales than usual with Okposo (St. Paul), Nelson (Warroad), Leddy (Eden Prairie) and Anders Lee (Edina). Okposo and Leddy, who was the Wilds first-round draft pick in 2009, also played briefly for the University of Minnesota before turning pro. Jonathan dos Santos Jersey . The Kings paraded the Stanley Cup through downtown Los Angeles on Monday to celebrate their second NHL title in three seasons. Hector Herrera Mexico Jersey . 1 Pete Sampras. Speaking ahead of an exhibition match against Andre Agassi in London on March 3, Sampras said on a conference call Wednesday that he is impressed by Federers longevity. http://www.nationalsoccermexico.com/rafael-marquez-mexico-jersey/ . Orlov, who scored two goals in the game, was assessed a major penalty for boarding on the play. The Flyers scored once on the power play and again with the extra attacker with 65 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime. Hugo Ayala Jersey . The first of the three games will be played in Week 4, when the Oakland Raiders will take on the Miami Dolphins on Sept. Hector Moreno Mexico Jersey . The light-heavyweight champion and number one ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world is on an 11-fight UFC winning streak, the longest in the history of the weight class.If strength at the goaltending position is one of the cornerstones of a successful NHL franchise, Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin finds himself in a great place heading into the 2014-15 season. When starting goaltender Carey Price was injured during last seasons playoffs, it was rookie Dustin Tokarski who took over between the pipes, instead of season-long backup Peter Budaj. Heading into the new campaign with three NHL caliber goaltenders, Bergevin is prepared to let his backup situation play itself out. "Peter Budaj is a proven backup goalie in the NHL and a good one," Bergevin told TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie. "Dustin Tokarski came in the playoffs last year, the sixth game against the Rangers and was extremely good, but again youre going against a guy with the experience and is a really good backup goalie. So thats why you have training camp and well see what happens. We have depth in that position now." So much depth in fact that since either would have to clear waivers to be sent down to the minors, dealing one of them or even beginning the year with both backups on the roster are both in the realm of possibility. "If we feel one guy is really ahead of the other guy, we will make a decision. Maybe a trade might be a possibility, but at the end of the day, also starting with three goalies might be a possibility. I leave it open, but again, Im looking forward to seeing how it plays out during training camp." As for the starter, Bergevin says Price is ready to retake his place between the pipes for the Canadiens. "Hes 100 per cent. Hes ready to go. I mean from Day 1 in camp, hell be ready to go." Another thing youll see Day 1 in camp, after spending the first two years of his NHL career at left wing, the Canadiens are planning to try Alex Galchenyuk at a different forward position. "We will start him in training camp at centre. We want to see where hes at. We know sometimes its harder for a young player to player centre in the NHL, especially down low. But with two years under his belt, we want to evaluate where hes at in the centre position and then well make a decision." That wont be the teams only new look when they open camp; two of the teams long-time key players in Brian Gionta and Josh Gorges have moved on to the Buffalo Sabres. While acknowledging their contributions, Bergevin feels there is more than enough leadership and experience in the players that remain with the squad. "Internally, we felt that it was time for a change as far as lleadership was concerned.dddddddddddd We felt that our young kids were coming along. Gio was a great leader on this team, did a lot for our hockey team, but obviously theres some hard decisions that at times need to be made and that was one of them, along with Josh Gorges. We feel with the young defenceman coming through the system, they are ready to take the next step. So you have to move forward and sometimes these decisions are not popular, but we feel theyre the best for our hockey club moving forward." With team captain Gionta out of the picture, the Canadiens have decided to go with four alternate captains instead of naming one player as a direct replacement. "Those decisions sometimes are not popular. To me, I dont look at it as not having a captain, but as four guys that can do the job. I dont think you need to have the C to be a leader." "I think our young guys are ready to take that challenge to take the leadership role more." One of those four men that will wear an A, defenceman P.K. Subban, was signed to a lucrative eight-year, $72 million contract in the offseason. Bergevin is not worried about how his superstar will handle the added spotlight. "I think P.K. welcomes the pressure. I think hes changed a lot and matured a lot since Ive been here. Giving him the A, to me, was an honour and well see where he takes it. Time will tell, but we feel P.K. is ready to take the next step." On the subject of his teams next step, Bergevin is not going to accelerate anything, instead the Canadiens general manager is sticking to his plan of building a long-term winner. "We have to draft players and develop them the right way and we brought people into our organization to help that process. Again, you cant speed the process, you got to help these kids and thats the best way for me to build a team thats going to be good enough, not for just one year or two years, but a long period of time." As for this season in particular, the plan is to once again find a place in the post-season tournament. "Our first step is to make the playoffs. Its a tough league; there are a lot of hockey teams that dont make the playoffs that are still good hockey teams. Were back at the bottom of the hill with all the teams that might have, in my opinion, gotten better this year in our conference. Washingtons better, Tampas better, Toronto will be better, a lot of teams will be better and will be a battle." The Canadiens open the season against the Maple Leafs in Toronto on October 8. ' ' '