Introduction
Before the game even began there was already confusion. On-ice officials had to deal with an apparent delay to the start of the game. Although no official announcement was made, the issue was with the New York Islanders’ lineup. New Jersey Devils alternate captain Kyle Palmieri was briefly seen discussing the issue with referees. Noah Dobson ended up being pulled from the Islanders’ lineup in favor of Sebastian Aho. For those of you who didn’t know, yes there are two Sebastian Ahos in the NHL. The Aho from Long Island spent the first few minutes of the first period dressing in the locker room. This before joining the game.
During the third period, it was announced Dobson was added to the NHL’s COVID protocol list. J.G. Pageau was also added prior to the game. Will Butcher remains the only Devil on the list.
First Period
The game began much like we’ve become used to, with the Devils going down early. Kieffer Bellows deflected a Sebastian Aho shot past Scott Wedgewood just over four minutes into the game. This game New York the 1-0 lead. The Devils didn’t have to wait long, however, to be given the chance on the man advantage for the game’s first power play. Janne Kuokkanen scored in his fourth straight game to even the score at one goal apiece.
While the penalty kill has been the weakest spot of the Devils’ game, 30th in the NHL before the game, it was a strength for the Devils in the first period. New Jersey killed off both Islander power plays and was boosted by a strong play by Sami Vantanen on the man advantage. A Vatanen blocked shot did set up a Pavel Zacha shorthanded chance.
Poor Scott Wedgewood was left out to dry and faced way too many shots. There’s no way else to describe the pressure Wedgewood faced as New Jersey was outshot 15 to 6 in the game’s first twenty minutes. He was able to keep the damage to a minimum. This until Brock Nelson’s shot found a way past him to give New York a 2-1 lead in the period’s final second. This came with only one second left on the clock.
Second Period
The Devils opened up the second period with “more fight,” as Steve Cangelosi described it to MSG Network viewers. Dmitry Kulikov took a tripping penalty after Matt Martin had a good scoring chance on Wedgewood. Once again, New Jersey killed off the man advantage. However, it was one of the Devils’ poorer attempts at the penalty kill, as New York had way too much time and sustained pressure in the Devils’ zone.
While most of the second period was a low-event affair without many shots on both sides, Yegor Sharangovich scored the period’s only goal to tie it up at 2-2. The wrist shot from Sharangovich was assisted by both defensemen on the ice at the time, P.K. Subban and Dmitry Kulikov. Sharangovich scored the fifth goal of his rookie season, just like Kuokkannen did during the first period.
In the period’s closing two minutes, Damon Severson and Keifer Bellows came close to fighting after Severson took off Bellows helmet after play was stopped. Both players took two-minute roughing penalties. Jack Hughes had the perfect chance to give New Jersey their first lead of the day, but Ilya Sorokin slowed the puck and there was no one to pound home the rebound.
Third Period
A questionable call led to an early Islanders’ power play. Nathan Bastian went away for interference. New Jersey killed off the penalty, but struggled mightily to clear the puck from their zone. Worth noting, Mikhail Maltsev had a goal waved off right before the interference was called.
While most play in the second period could be described as “keep away from the Islanders,” as the third period went on it became a play of end-to-end rushes. Ken Danyeko of MSG pointed out the Devils wanted to keep the puck out of the middle of the ice. At one point, Wedgwood was run over in his own net. Yet, the referees didn’t call a penalty.
No goals were scored in the third. Scott Wedgewood had a great sequence of saves early in the period. Palmieri had a soft shot on the short-range of Sorokin that was stopped with ease.
The game eventually went to overtime. It was the first time that the Devils had earned a point in the presence of fans at Prudential Center.
Overtime And Shoot Out
Less than a minute in it appeared P.K. Subban ended the game with a goal. However, the goal was called back after the play was determined to be offsides. This coming after a lengthy review.
The Islanders would take a hooking penalty to give New Jersey the four-on-three advantage. New Jersey had plenty of chances, with an especially good chance from Palmieri. Unfortunately, none of the shots would go pass Sorokin.
Devils struck first in the shoot-out, as Nikita Gusev’s slow build up resulted in a goal. It was also New Jersey’s first shoot-out goal of the season. The shoot-out was temporarily delayed as the goal light behind Sorokin wouldn’t shut off. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a sign of things to come for New Jersey, as the Islanders scored twice to win the game.