3 Takeaways: Islanders Beat Devils 5-2

The New York Islanders defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-2 Thursday night at UBS Arena, bringing their preseason record to 3-2-0 and increasing their win streak to three in a row.
The Devils took an early lead after Damon Severson found an open Ryan Graves at left faceoff dot, but the Islanders tied the game off a Mathew Barzal goal late in the first. Noah Dobson (1G, 1A) gave the Islanders the lead less than two minutes later.

Early in the second, the Devils tied the game at 2-2 on the power play off a goal from Graeme Clarke, but the Islanders regained the lead later that period after Ross Johnston deflected a Paul LaDue point shot.
In the third period, the Islanders added to their lead, with Anthony Beauvillier (1G, 1A) scoring on a 4-on-4 and Aatu Räty (1G, 1A) scoring his first goal of the preseason to bring the score to 5-2.
After scoring just four goals in their first three preseason games combined, the Islanders are hitting their stride offensively, scoring nine goals in the last two.
Here are three takeaways from a penultimate preseason win.

ISLANDERS CAPITALIZE ON THE RUSH:

During training camp, Lambert emphasized that his goal was for the team to be more aggressive and generate more chances on the rush.
Late in the first period, Kieffer Bellows retrieved a puck along the boards in the neutral zone and got a quick pass off to Beauvillier skating down the other wing. Beauvillier entered the zone with control of the puck and found Dobson a few steps behind him in the slot, who ripped a quick wrist shot to the back of the net.
"They're embracing it," Lambert said of the team's more aggressive mentality. "It's a little bit of a different mindset and a slight change in mentality that is taking some time, but I like the steps that they're taking in that."

RÄTY IMPRESSES:

Räty was officially sent down to Bridgeport on Wednesday, but got called back up to play in Thursday's game due to other players being unavailable. The game almost ended in disaster for Räty, after he briefly left the ice with an apparent leg injury early in the first period, but Räty returned to have his best game of the preseason so far, scoring his first goal and adding an assist.
"Kind of weird, I missed practice yesterday because I was supposed to travel to Bridgeport, but I felt good today, I guess the day off was good," Räty said. "I was definitely happy that went in. That was probably my first shot on goal in three days."
His first assist came as he found LaDue at the point, whose shot was then redirected into the net by Johnston. For his goal, his first as an Islander across both the 2021-22 preseason and this preseason, Räty recovered a loose puck in the slot and quickly fired it past Blackwood into the net.
"He certainly played well," Lambert said. "He came in and did what he had to do on short notice, and credit to him."

ISLES FIND OFFENSE FROM THE BACKEND:

The Islanders' defensemen played critical roles in generating offense on Thursday, with all five goals coming either directly from defensemen or from plays they created or assisted on.
Pulock, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Thursday, had a team-high eight shot attempts, with a team-high tying four on goal. Robin Salo had seven shot attempts, also with four on goal, and Dobson had seven attempts, with three on goal. Five out of the six defensemen playing recorded at least one point.
"We need to get the d-men involved a little more, be a little more aggressive, but we still have to be smart," Pulock said. "We can't be giving up odd man rushes, but when there's a time, we have to be involved and help out the forwards and create more offense."
On the first goal, Pulock jumped up to keep the puck in the Islanders' zone, and then found an open Barzal in the slot for the primary assist. Dobson's goal came after he jumped in the rush and made himself an option for Beauvillier in the slot.
LaDue's point shot was deflected in by Johnston for the third goal, and the fourth came off a rebound opportunity from a play generated by Dobson and Robin Salo. Dobson found Salo open at the left circle and Salo took a shot that Blackwood saved, but Dobson collected the rebound and redirected the play to Brock Nelson who found Beauvillier for the score. Adam Pelech picked up an assist on Räty's goal in the third.
"It was evident, especially in the third period, where we kept a lot of pucks alive in the offensive zone and joined and obviously, Noah joined in the first and scored," Lambert said. "In order to create a little bit more, the defense have to get active for sure."

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders wrap up their preseason slate on Saturday night against the New York Rangers. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.