Late Islanders Goal Gives Devils Second Straight Loss

 

Photo: Andrew MacLean

The Devils were given their second straight loss on Tuesday night, falling 2-1 to the Islanders at UBS Arena. New Jersey jumped out to an early lead behind a Brett Pesce goal, and the matchup marked Jack Hughes’ second appearance in the lineup since returning from injury. Despite a 23-save performance from Jacob Markstrom, the Islanders managed to snap their three-game slide thanks to a second-period goal from Simon Holmstrom and a late third-period tiebreaker by Adam Pelech. While it’s a frustrating loss, the Devils fought hard and put on a much better performance compared to their 3-1 loss at home on Sunday against the Buffalo Sabres.

New Jersey Devils Lineup:

Meier - Hischier - Mercer

Palat - Hughes - Bratt

Gritsyuk - Glass - Brown

Cotter - Glendening - Noesen

Siegenthaler - Hamilton

Hughes - Pesce

Dillon - White

Markstrom

Allen

New York Islanders Lineup:

Lee - Barzal - Holmstrom

Heineman - Pageau - Drouin

Duclair - Ritchie - Shabanov

MacLean - Cizikas - Gatcomb

Schaefer - Pulock

Pelech - DeAngelo

Warren - Mayfield

Rittich

Hogberg

Brett Pesce opened the scoring late in the first period, recording his first goal of the season and giving New Jersey a 1-0 lead with 4:25 left on the clock. He took a pass from Nico Hischier, who got a hold of the puck off a pass from Dawson Mercer after Timo Meier got the puck out from the left corner. Hischier then found Pesce alone in the high slot for him to beat David Rittich high glove side.

At 7:50 of the middle frame, Simon Holmstrom picked up his seventh goal of the season when Jacob Markstrom came out of the crease to play the puck, which was turned over to Holmstrom, who skated in and scored on the open net to tie it up 1-1.

After a hard-fought battle between both teams, late in the third period with 1:14 to go, Adam Pelech struck for his second goal of the season when he scored the go-ahead goal. He came up to a loose puck in the left circle, which had originally bounced off the end boards after Holmstrom's one-timer missed the Devils' net, finding its way to Pelech on the opposite side. Jesper Bratt and Jonas Siegenthaler were with Pelech, attempting to take the puck, and he fired, beating Markstrom glove side, securing the 2-1 win for the Islanders.

Notes:

- The Devils are 20-16-1, and have lost two straight after winning two.

- Simon Holmstrom had a two-point night, recording both a goal and an assist.

- The Islanders are 20-13-4, and snapped a three-game losing streak.

- The Devils head home to meet with the Washington Capitals on Saturday, while the Islanders host the New York Rangers.