Here are 10 takeaways from the game:
1. It's always a guessing game when it comes to the lineup in preseason. Here's what the lineup looked like at puck drop against the Islanders:
Studenic-Seney-Stafford
Quenneville-Zacha-Anderson
Coleman-Zajac-McLeod
Pietila-Rooney-Gabriel
Yakovlev-Severson
Butcher-Santini
White-Gryba
Kinkaid/Johnson
2. John Hynes was back behind the bench for the first time this pre-season. Hynes had distributed those duties to his assistants in the first two games, but took his place back behind the bench against the Islanders.
3. Keith Kinkaid was given the start in net. It was the first time this preseason that Kinkaid had the opportunity to play all three periods of the game. Kinkaid finished the night making 23 saves on 25 shots.
4. It was hard to get into much of a flow in the first period. At the 11:48 mark of the first period six minor penalties had be doled out between the two teams. Despite the six penalties, neither team was awarded a power play opportunity, as each time a penalty was called on the Devils, a coinciding penalty was called on the Islanders. The first period ended with eight penalties given out by the referees. Defenseman Eric Gryba led the Devils after the first period in shorthanded ice time with 1:47.
5. The parade to the penalty box continued into the second period for both the Devils and Islanders. By the time 40 minutes were through fourteen penalties total had been handed out. The Devils found themselves in the box more regularly than the Islanders but managed to have a perfect 3-for-3 penalty kill in the second period.
6. Despite spending much of the game on the penalty-kill the Devils managed to have the edge in shots on goals against the Islanders. In the first period alone, the Devils outshot the Islanders 14 to 7, while in the second period they outshot the Islanders 11 to 9. In the third the Islanders outshot the Devils 11-10. New Jersey finished the night with 35 shots on goal.
7. Trying to leave an impression on the coaching staff, John Quenneville tried to make his presence known firing a team leading four shots (tied with Joey Anderson) at the Islanders netminder Thomas Greiss.
8. The Devils were down a man to start the third period. Newcomer Kurtis Gabriel was handed a misconduct penalty for trying to instigate a fight at the 20:00 mark of the second period. The Devils were forced to play with 11 forwards for the first 10 minutes of the third period. Gabriel ended the night with a team high 12 minutes in penalties.
9. When the Devils were awarded powerplays, they struggled to take advantage. The Devils were 0-for-3 with the man-advantage, while the penalty kill went 5-for-7.
10. With the preseason being an evaluation period for the coaching staff, coach Hynes really relied on several of his rookies and players who are vying for spots on the team. Instead of giving the heavy lifting to his veterans like Travis Zajac, Hynes dispersed his minutes heavily among the young players. Joey Anderson finished the night with 16:45 of ice time, Quenneville played 14:04 while Pavel Zacha lead the forwards with 18:26.
