Devils Shut Out on the Island | GAME STORY

ELMONT, N.Y. - The Islanders broke open a scoreless game in the second period, striking three times in the middle frame to take control of the game on Saturday night.

“I mean, if you could sum it up by just saying that we were playing preseason hockey against a team that was probably playing February-type hockey,” Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “They played at another level today that we haven’t seen. And, I guess you’d say we failed that stress test.”

Simon Holmstrom and Brayden Schenn scored just 1:28 apart to turn a 0-0 game into a two-goal Islanders advantage, before Bo Horvat added a third later in the period.

The three-goal outburst proved to be the difference as the Islanders defeated the Devils, 6-0, handing New Jersey a loss in its first road game of the season.

“I think that today we probably played the first team that were matching our speed and matching our intensity,” Jesper Bratt said. “I think that our details in sometimes in D-zone, even with the puck around our own blue lines, on their blue line, kind of cost us a lot of goals and just situations that shouldn’t happen for us.”

Victor Eklund scored a third-period goal to stretch the Islanders lead to four goals, Ondrej Palat added a fifth goal and Casey Cizikas added the Islanders a sixth goal, a shorthanded marker.

Keefe pointed to some of those details as the difference in the game.

“There’s little things like shift length as an example, puck management, those kind of things,” Keefe said. “The goals that we gave up, especially the first one where we’re caught on the ice way too long and we’re tired. Can’t defend tired.”

New Jersey had its opportunities, including four chances on the power play, but was unable to capitalize.

“I feel like today, I feel like we were just not good enough,” Bratt said of the power play. “We still have ways to go. We still have a lot of work to do before the power play gets clicking.”

Here are some observations from the game:

• It was a milestone night for Timo Meier, skating in the 700th game of his NHL career.

Meier became just the fifth Swiss-born player in NHL history to reach the 700-game mark, joining Roman Josi, Nino Niederreiter, Mark Streit and Kevin Fiala.

And there’s another familiar name climbing the list right behind him.

Devils captain Nico Hischier entered Saturday at 610 career games, putting him 90 behind his fellow Swiss teammate.

• There will always be growing pains when you’re finding your way in the NHL, and for Amadeus Lombardi, his second game came with a few lessons to take with him.

Lombardi was called for two penalties in the first period, both stick-related infractions and a reminder of just how quickly things happen at this level. With the pace of NHL play, learning to control your stick, manage your positioning and react without reaching is all part of the adjustment.

In his second game, he got a first-hand lesson in just how small the margin for error can be. Lombardi didn't see the ice until the tail end of the second period playing three shifts in the final 4:28 of the second.  

• New Jersey continues to search for its first power-play goal of the season. The Devils had five opportunities with the man advantage but were unable to generate enough shot volume, putting just five power-play shots on net, all turned aside by Ilya Sorokin. With the game still within reach, particularly before the Islanders pulled away in the second, those were opportunities for New Jersey to change the complexion of the game.

"It's just like our five-on-five game," Sheldon Keefe began of his first power play unit. "We're just not adhering to any sort of plan or structure. I think we're just out there kind of making it up and trying to skill our way through it. And that's what we tried to do with a lot of our game at five-on-five as well."

• UBS Arena has become somewhat of an Achilles’ heel for New Jersey. The Devils haven’t won a regular-season game on Long Island since Nov. 9, 2024, when they earned a 4-3 overtime victory.

Since then, trips to UBS have been particularly unkind. New Jersey dropped both visits last season, and Saturday’s result extended the winless stretch on Long Island.

The Islanders have had New Jersey’s number recently regardless of venue. New York swept all four meetings in 2025-26, outscoring the Devils 17-4, and entered Saturday 7-0-1 in its previous eight regular-season meetings with New Jersey.

• General Manager Sunny Mehta appeared on the MSG Networks pregame show, interviewed by Ken Daneyko and Rachel Herzog. You can check out the full interview here!