The New York Islanders scored four unanswered goals in a span of fewer than nine minutes bridging the first and second periods, then held off a late comeback attempt by the host New Jersey Devils and earned a 6-4 win Friday night in Newark, N.J.
Brock Nelson opened the flurry and added a goal later in the second for the Islanders, who won for the second time in five games. Anders Lee, Casey Cizikas and Oliver Wahlstrom each scored following Nelson’s first goal while Cal Clutterbuck scored early in the third.
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Goalie Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves.
Nico Hischier scored in the first and Dawson Mercer scored in the second and Tomas Tatar and Jack Hughes collected goals in the third for the Devils, who pulled goalie Akira Schmid with less than eight minutes remaining.
Schmid stopped 13 of 15 shots in relief of Vitek Vanecek, who was chased after giving up four goals in 17 shots.
The Devils, who had a six-game point streak halted, lost for just the fourth time since starting the season 0-2-0.
Hischier opened the scoring 5:32 into the first, when he sent a shot over Varlamov’s right shoulder for a power-play goal.
The Devils held the lead for just under 10 minutes before the Islanders began their surge. Nelson tied the score with 4:23 left with a wraparound goal before Lee put New York ahead for good with nine seconds remaining.
Cizikas and Wahlstrom scored 34 seconds apart early in the middle period. Cizikas capped an end-to-end rush by the Islanders’ fourth line by taking a pass from Matt Martin, going to one knee and beating Vanecek from point-blank range.
Mercer capped a 2-on-1 by taking a pass from Hughes and delivering a shot under Varlamov’s stick arm just 1:58 later to cut New Jersey’s deficit to 4-2.
The Islanders again extended the lead to three goals with 3:13 left, when Nelson, all alone at the right faceoff circle, buried a shot past Schmid. Clutterbuck scored an unassisted goal a minute into the third after Mercer couldn’t corral a pass from John Marino.
Tatar began the Devils’ comeback attempt just 90 seconds later when he scored from the middle of the slot. With Schmid on the bench, Hughes scored with 6:21 remaining, but New Jersey got no closer despite outshooting the Islanders 3-0 the rest of the way.
–Field Level Media
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