First Period

Before the first puck drop, the New Jersey Devils got some less than optimal news. Both captain Nico Hischier and defenseman Ryan Graves would be out of the lineup due to COVID protocol. Both players had a major presence on the Devils penalty kill. Mason Geertsen came in as a forward and Christian Saros as the other defenseman. 

Akira Schmid got into his first NHL game quickly. Initially, he was afraid to play rebounds, instead opting to cover the puck. That would change as the period went on. 

Halfway through the first period, the game’s first penalty would be taken by Geertsen after some incidental and unintentional head contact. New York Islanders’ defenseman Zdeno Chara would instigate a fight, and both teams would be assessed a two-minute minor and five minute major. The penalties were canceled out so the Islanders missed out on a potential power play. Chara would also pick up a personal ten-minute misconduct. Noah Dobson would be missing for a few minutes, leaving the Islanders to only play four defensemen. 

New Jersey would be the first to break open the scoring. A Jonas Siegenthaler pass to Jesper Bratt created a partial breakaway and gave the Devils a 1-0 lead. Bratt would pick up his 24th point. Islanders would answer seconds later with Noah Dobson scoring a power-play after re-entering the game. Before the period would end, Jack Hughes would give the Devils back the lead. 

Second Period 

All scoring in the second period came for the home town the Islanders. Both would come off the sticks of former Devils’ captain for a little bit of irony. First Andy Greene would score his first since April of last season to even the score at two goals a piece. Then Zach Parise would score his first of the season short-handed on the Devils power play. Short-handed goals continue to be a major thorn in the side of this Devils team. Parise’s goal would give the Islanders their first lead of the night. 

Third Period

Early in the third Siegenthaler would block a shot off his foot and head off the ice for a little while. He would return not too long after and the Devil’s blue line wasn’t undermanned for too long. 

Oliver Wahlstrom would create a turnover off Jack Hughes in the neutral zone. A pass to John-Gabriel Pageau would give the Islanders a two-goal lead after the period’s first goal. Call that Pageau and Wahlstrom a mini odd-man rush. 

With just over four minutes left in the third, Schmid was pulled to give New Jersey the extra attacker. Anders Lee almost scored on the empty net. Lee’s shot, just like most of Pavel Zacha’s over the past few games, went off the post. With the face-off in the Devils zone afterwords Schmid returned to his crease momentarily. Parise almost added his second of the game against his former team on the empty net, but it went wide. 

Tatar drew a high sticking penalty giving the Devils a chance to have a six on four for just under the game’s last minute. Even with a two-man advantage, New Jersey couldn’t capitalize. The Islanders would win their first game in their new building ending an NHL record for winless starts in a new building. New Jersey would fall to under .500 for the first time this season. 

The Parise short-handed goal was without a doubt a turning point in this game. It’s terribly concerning how many short-handed goals this team has given up. It’s a problem that hasn’t been fixed yet as we’re past the quarter-point of the season. While we certainly aren’t hoping for someone to lose their job, personnel changes might need to be in order. 

Next Up: Tuesday, December 14th in Philadelphia