Jack Hughes and Timo Meier each notched a goal and an assist, Kaapo Kahkonen made 37 saves for his first shutout of the season, and the New Jersey Devils defeated the New York Islanders 4-0 on Sunday night.
Alexander Holtz and Chris Tierney also scored for the Devils. Kahkonen, acquired at the trade deadline, secured his first victory as a Devil.
New Jersey captain Nico Hischier left the game late in the second period after a collision with New York’s Anders Lee, who received a major penalty and a game misconduct. Hischier returned at the start of the third period.
Ilya Sorokin made 26 saves for the Islanders, who have lost seven of their last eight games. New York is four points behind Washington in the race for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 11 games remaining in the regular season.
New Jersey scored three goals in a 5:34 span early in the second period.
Meier opened the scoring 38 seconds into the period, capitalizing on a 5-on-3 power play. Hughes set up Meier with a pass that left him alone outside the crease after slipping behind the Islanders’ defense.
“It’s always important to capitalize on the power play,” Meier said. “Especially when you get the chance to go out in the second period, start on fresh ice. … Jack made an unbelievable play, and that kind of jumpstarted our period, and we built off of it.”
Meier later received 17 penalty minutes after fighting Lee, following what appeared to be a knee-on-knee collision with Hischier.
“It was a dirty hit,” Meier said. “I had to step in and let him know, that’s it.”
The Devils took advantage of several Islanders’ mistakes to extend their lead. It was the sixth time in the last seven games that New York allowed three goals in a period.
“We made a few mistakes, and they took a 3-0 lead,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “We dug ourselves a big hole and couldn’t get out of it today. … We didn’t generate enough to come back in that game.”
Hughes scored on an odd-man rush with a wrist shot past Sorokin’s blocker. Three Islanders collided in the offensive zone, leading to the scoring opportunity.
Holtz scored on a one-timer set up by a cross-ice pass from defenseman Simon Nemec. Nemec stole the puck from Lee along the wall, and Islanders forward Hudson Fasching lost track of Holtz at 6:12 of the second.
“I saw an opportunity to keep the play alive,” Nemec said. “I didn’t look at the goalie, and I just saw (Holtz) open.”
Roy called a timeout after Holtz’s goal to rally his team, but New York fell to 0-6-3 in the second half of back-to-back games this season.
“Expect a push and be solid,” Devils coach Travis Green told his team during the Islanders’ timeout. “We must be quick to get to pucks, strong on pucks. Because we know when a coach calls a timeout, the other team will try to regain momentum.”
Simon Holmstrom returned to the Islanders’ lineup, and veteran winger Matt Martin was scratched for the second time in three games.
Tierney added an empty-net goal at 15:53 of the third period.
UP NEXT:
- Devils: At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
- Islanders: At the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
