Devils Power Up in OT Win Against Islanders | GAME STORY

ELMONT, NY - The Devils put the 'power' in their power play against the Islanders on Friday night, using their man advantage to score the four goals they needed to beat New York.

Jack Hughes completed a four-point night with the overtime-winning goal against the New York Islanders in the 5-4 victory.

There is a grey cloud hanging over this first road win as captain Nico Hischier did not play in the third period, nor was he on the Devils bench. Head coach Lindy Ruff advised that Hischier was out with an upper-body injury and will be re-evaluated again on Saturday.

Hughes now has 10 points in his opening four games of the season becoming the fastest Devil in franchise history to 10 points to start a season. He surpassed John MacLean's record of five games set in 1988-89.

"What I would say is obviously he’s an unbelievable player," younger brother Luke said, "But what he would say right now is ‘We’re four games in. We’ve got a long season, a long way to go.' We’re four games in, he’s a special player and a huge part of this season.”

Dougie Hamilton opened the scoring with a power play goal as the trailing man on the rush, winding up and streaking through the middle of the ice, sending a blast past Ilya Sorokin. Timo Meier earned the primary assist, carrying the puck into the zone and finding Dougie in the middle of the ice from below the hash mark. Akira Schmid picked up the secondary assist, his first point this season.

After completing their best first period of the season, where the team looked connected as a five-man unit, the Devils picked up right where they left off to open the second.

Tyler Toffoli sent a wicked shot past Sorokin on the power play for his first of the season, putting New Jersey up 2-1.

Luke Hughes put the Devils up 3-2 with his first of the season and New Jersey's third power-play goal of the night. Manning the blueline, Luke found the sweet spot through an abundance of traffic, and threading through to the net, without a hint of deflection.

"I had the lane by the first guy, so that kind of the cue," Luke said post-game, "It was a great screen by Pally and Tof and that’s basically it. It went through.”

It was a game of back-and-forth for the two teams. The Devils held a 4-3 lead with just 1:11 to play, until the Islanders called tied that game at four with an extra attacker on the ice and goaltender Ilya Sorokin pulled.

All four regulation goals were scored on the power play for the Devils.

“I think obviously the skill is there, more of just another year of playing together, we all know each other's reads now," Jack Hughes said, "I think (Travis Green) has done a really good job of keeping us sharp and keeping us dialed in. I don’t think we’re wasting too many power plays. We’re pretty sharp from the get-go, that’s something in the past where it’s taken us two or three power plays to get going.”

Here are some observations from the game:

• Jonas Siegenthaler was assessed the first penalty of the game for a cross-check on Cal Clutterbuck. Siegenthaler was coming to the defense of his captain Nico Hischier, who had just been hit into the boards by the Islanders forward. The Devils went on to kill off the Siegenthaler penalty.

• Including his goal, Dougie Hamilton had six shots in the opening 20 minutes of the game. Hamilton has a point in all four games to open the season, including goals in three of the four games. Hamilton has tied four previous Devils (Damon Severson, Brain Rafalski, Ken Daneyko and Mark Suzor) for the second-longest season-opening point streak by a Devils defenseman. 

The longest is five games, set by Ty Smith in 2020-21.

• Just prior to Hamilton scoring the Devils opening goal on the power play, Toffoli had just skated off the ice from his power play shift. Clearly frustrated, he slammed the bench door closed and pounded his stick against the boards in clear aggravation. Perhaps that's all he needed to get himself going. Hamilton's goal came with one minute to play in the first period and Toffoli scored his goal just 21 seconds into the second period. 

• In one of the most remarkable plays of the first period, Ilya Sorokin robbed Jack Hughes in close, in a 1v1 scenario. Hughes nearly had the Islanders netminder beat, if only he could have raised the puck by just an inch. Have a look:

• Devils have conceded the first goal of the game in all four games this season. Brock Nelson opened the scoring for the Islanders off the rush with a wicked wrist shot on Akira Schmid. They have also conceded four goals in each of their four games to start the year, leaving room to work on their collective defensive game.

"That's a work in progress," Jack said, "We're four games in, I don't think we're going to be to the best of our ability just yet. We're trying to get there as soon as we can. I think more of it is guys like myself just dialing it in, we've got really great players but we've just got to commit to playing in the D-Zone. That's something starting with me, being the player I am, that will trickle down."

• Timo Meier was assessed a roughing penalty after he was cross-checked in the neck by Matt Martin. Both players went to the penalty box. Martin for his cross-check and Meier after he gave a shove to Martin.

• On Monday night Meier was benched in the third period against the Panthers but came back on Friday night with a strong performance.

"I loved Timo’s game (tonight). I thought Timo skated, made a great play on the first (goal), I thought the overtime goal, hanging onto the puck, not allowing the Islanders to change, taking it out just far enough to allow us to get Jack and Bratter back on the ice. Another great play. I thought used his size, skated well. That’s the Timo Meier we need.”

• Chris Tierney made both his season and Devils debut. With the absence of both Erik Haula and Tomas Nosek, Tierney drew into the lineup, starting the game on a line with Curtis Lazar and Nathan Bastian.

• In each of its first four games this season, the Devils have given up at least three goals to their opponent.

• Erik Haula and Tomas Nosek both missed tonight's game, as did Colin Miller. Nosek has now missed the last two games, while Haula missed his first game of the season. Miller has not dressed for a game to start the season and took a fall into the boards on Thursday at practice. Lindy Ruff said he hopes to have an update on Miller shortly.