Brown's Late Goal Lifts Devils Over Isles | GAME STORY

NEWARK, N.J. - Connor Brown broke a 1-1 tie just before the halfway mark of the third period, to score the game-winning goal between the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders.

The Devils, with a lineup where most players are slated to play in the AHL this coming season, picked up a 2-1 victory at Prudential Center. 

Brown poled the puck loose from Islanders defenseman Marshall Warren at the blue line, chipping the puck up the ice and with a burst of speed went one-on-one with Vitek Vanecek in the New York net. Brown's wrist shot beat the former Devils goalie, and that was enough to bank a first preseason win for the Devils in their opening game.

Ryan Schmelzer, captain of the Utica Comets, scored in the second period for the Devils, tying the game at 1-1. 

Cole Eiserman opened the scoing of the game with a second period power play goal for the Islanders.

Here are some observations from the game:

• Preseason games, especially the early ones, aren't always that pretty. The Devils were forced to defend against four Islanders power plays in the first period alone. New Jersey took six penalties in the first period, two of which were off-set by Islanders penalties. 

• David Rittich most certainly has a fire in him. Late in the first period, as Rittich was trying to cover a loose puck, Islanders forward Gleb Veremyev came barreling into the crease and took a stab at the puck under Rittich, that sent both the netminder and puck into the net. Veremyev, jets out of the crease in celebration but is closely followed behind by Rittich, who tried to get at Veremyev before the officials could get in the way. The play resulted in no-goal as well as off-setting minors for Rittich and Isaiah George, who found himself in the middle of a scrum.

:I knew I had it under my glove and he poked it into my glove and twisted my back, hit my ribs, that’s why I reacted the way I reacted," Rittich said of the incident. "If he probably didn’t hit me that hard I wouldn’t react that way, but it’s part of the game and I’ well known for that, so I can get pretty heated once in a while.”

• Connor Brown, Cody Glass and Brenden Dillon were the three NHL regulars from last season who suited up against the Islanders. This season new rules have been implemented through the new Collective Bargaining Agreement whereby players who have played 100-or-more NHL games a limited to just two preseason games. New Jersey will play four over the course of the next week. 

Head coach Sheldon Keefe has mentioned he expects games 2 and 4 to be near-full NHL rosters, with the fourth game likely being the full opening night group. 

• Brown and Glass skated on a line with Amadeus Lombardi who is pushing for a bottom six spot on the opening night roster. Lombardi has been paired with the two Devils veterans all of camp, and Sunday was a first opportunity to get a feel for each other in a game-scenario.

"I thought they did a good job," head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "It’s the one line that’s playing against NHL players out there, so that’s the one matchup I wanted to see the most. They did a good job, worked well off of each other. I thought Glass and Brown were really, really strong today as you would expect in a game like this."

Lombardi led all forwards with 20:39 of ice-time.

"I thought Lombardi complemented them well althroughout," Keefe said. "In Lombardi’s case we’re asking him to do things he’s really never done. He’s playing left wing, he’s on the penalty kill, he’s out late in the 5v6 with the goalie out, little things like that, it’s just a chance for us to see him in that environment and I thought he handled pucks well, he was good in that sense."

• Dillon has been paired up with Declan Chisholm since the beginning of camp, as well as in this first preseason game. There's an opening on defense heading into the season with the uncertainty around Johnathan Kovacevic's availability. Kovacevic is currently considered day-to-day, but has yet to practice with the two main groups at training camp.

Chisholm is playing on his off-side, but the two have managed to compliment one another well. The 26-year-old Chisholm has experience on his off-side, spending parts of last season on the right side with Minnesota.

Dillon and Chisholm are also familiar with one another when their career's overlapped in Winnipeg with the Jets.  

• The two goaltenders who started the game are ex-players of the other team. Rittich played 30 games for the Islanders last season, while Vanecek playwd two seasons with the Devils between 2022 and 2024.