Devils Humbled in Shutout Loss to Islanders

The New Jersey Devils lost 6-0 to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Saturday night. What started as a promising game two of the season quickly unraveled with sloppy defense, lack of finishing, and a failing power play. The Devils dropped to 1-1-0 on the season while the Islanders improved to 1-1-0.

Game Recap

Period One

The Devils had a slight edge in the early going, with the only three shots of the game five minutes in. Dougie Hamilton ripped a shot off the crossbar, and Jack Hughes fired a chance just wide of Ilya Sorokin.

New Jersey was called for a hook, but killed off the penalty. Dawson Mercer created a few shorthanded chances, and Nico Daws made a nice glove save as the minor expired.

The Devils were penalized again with just under eight minutes left in the period and killed it off with the help of a diving glove save by Daws.

Luke Hughes had a chance from the slot as the penalty expired, but Sorokin steered it aside.

The Devils got their first power play of the evening, and Timo Meier had a good opportunity, but the score remained tied at zero.

Minutes later, New Jersey got another power play chance, but the period expired before they could get anything going.

The Devils were outshot 9-7 in the frame.

Period Two

The Islanders killed the rest of New Jersey’s power play as the Devils fell to 0/2 on the night and 0/6 on the season with the man advantage.

The Devils gave up a two-on-one chance, and the Islanders cashed in at 3:32, with a goal by Simon Holmstrom from JG Pageau and Adam Pelech. On the same play, Jack Hughes went hard into the boards underneath Pelech and went straight back to the locker room.

At 5:00, the Devils got sloppy in front of their net and couldn’t control the rebound, giving Brayden Schenn his first goal of the season and the Islanders a two goal lead. Victor Eklund and Matthew Schaefer had the assists.

Thankfully for New Jersey, Jack Hughes returned to the bench and appeared uninjured, albeit with a bloody lip.

Luke Hughes was tagged for interference, putting the Devils down a man for the third time. The Devils tried to blow the zone early and left Bo Horvat open in front of Daws, and he put them down three goals at 12:08. Schaefer had the lone assist.

Jack Hughes connected with Luke Evangelista for a slot chance that was shouldered away by Sorokin.

The Devils got another power play opportunity, and Arseny Gritsyuk ripped a quick shot off the post. They couldn’t get any more momentum with the man-advantage.

Jack Hughes blew past Schaefer and had a great look off the rush but again, Sorokin kept it out as the period expired.

New Jersey outshot the Islanders 18-12 in the middle frame.

Period Three

Anthony Mantha hit Jesper Bratt flying through the slot for a grade-A chance, but Sorokin stifled it again.

Mercer teed up a shot but fired it wide. Declan Chisholm hit the net from long range as the Devils pressured.

New Jersey got its fourth power play chance with just over ten minutes left in regulation. They managed one shot on goal in the two minutes.

The sloppiness continued as Eklund slipped behind the Devils’ defense to give New York a four-goal lead at 11:32. Seconds later, former Devil Ondrej Palat added to the onslaught with a fifth goal as the wheels fell off for New Jersey.

The Devils got one last power play chance with just over two minutes left in regulation and allowed a shorthanded breakaway goal to Casey Cizikas to cap off a poor performance in every area of the ice. New Jersey didn’t tally a shot.

The Devils outshot the Islanders 37-32 in the 6-0 loss.

Takeaways

Any positive momentum the Devils gained in their home opener was lost as they were dismantled by an Islanders team sans Matthew Barzal. New Jersey had an edge in the opening shifts of play, but that was quickly forgotten as the pitfalls of last season reemerged.

The Devils generated chances, as they often do, even outshooting the Islanders, but Sorokin played a strong game, and they weren’t able to find any greasy goals to get themselves into the fight.

The defensive performance was worse. They were disjointed and went through long stretches without sustained zone time because of the lost battles and failures to retrieve pucks or hold the blue line. Additionally, they were caught flat-footed far too often, giving rush chances to an Islanders team that isn’t known for its offense.

Most alarming, however, was the 0/5 on the power play. Coupled with the 0/4 performance on Thursday, the power play has quickly become a glaring issue for this team. Not only were they unable to score, but they struggled to even gain the zone and ended up giving up a shorthanded goal at the end of the game.

The bright side for New Jersey is that it is still very early in the season. There is plenty of time to sharpen their play and make changes where it’s necessary, but the parallels between last season’s issues and some things that are showing up again this season are raising some tentative red flags.

Up Next

The Devils get two days off to work on their game before welcoming the Utah Mammoth to the Prudential Center on Tuesday night.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET on MSGSN.