In Uniondale, the New York Islanders got offense from across the bench with five different skaters kicking in goals in a 5-3 win over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
Ilya Sorokin made 18 saves to get the win.
“I think we did a lot of good things off the start,” the Isles Ryan Pulock (two assists) said. “The first couple of periods, we played north. Obviously it got away from us a little bit in the third, where we weren’t as sharp, but there’s things that we can clean up every game, no matter the outcome.”
The Isles scored two goals in each of the first two periods and the Devils tried to rally with three goals in the third the last being a lipstick strike from Jack Hughes.
The Isles have won seven straight.
Matt Martin and Adam Pelech scored in the opening frame for the 2-0 lead.
“Everyone was kind of chipping in,” Pulock said. “Obviously, we want to try to bring that element, help our forwards out, get them the puck and get pucks on net, give them a chance. Tonight, we did a pretty good job.”
Noah Dobson and Josh Bailey added goals in the middle frame for the four-goal advantage.
“We played a lot better [in the third],” Devils head coach Lindy Ruff said. “It started with getting some pucks to the net. Not a lot of opportunities early in the game; we weren’t skating well. I think as a group, [it] seemed like the energy was low and when your energy is low, you don’t skate well. We didn’t pass the puck well.
“If we’re going to get behind the eight ball every game, it’s going to make it really, really hard on this group.”
Janne Kuokkanen and Mikhail Maltsev had two quick strikes in the third period to halve the deficit, but Brock Nelson scored to up the lead to 5-2 for New York.
“They were dominating us in the first two periods; shots reflected that (25-12), score reflected that (4-0),” the Devils’Â Kyle Palmieri said. “I mean, we have these guys two more times over the weekend, and that’s something that we need to correct going into the weekend.”
Mackenzie Blackwood made 29 saves in the loss.
“I think as the team as a whole, we stood around a little too much in the first 40 minutes,” Palmieri said.
The Islanders lost Anders Lee to an injury in the game.
“I don’t have an update,” Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said. “Obviously, he got twisted up there. He’s being evaluated and we’ll see where he is in the morning.
“Anders is our captain, he’s our leader. He does everything right. He’s such a good pro and such a good person. He’s got the total respect of our whole team and the bench all the time. [There are] very few times Anders Lee struggles to get up from any kind of hit or anything. He’s a tough, tough man and everybody on our bench felt for him there.”
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