3 Takeaways: Isles Drop Final Preseason Finale to Devils 3-0

The New York Islanders were shut out by the New Jersey Devils 3-0 at UBS Arena on Friday night in the last preseason game for both teams.

Max Willman, Kevin Bahl, Simon Nemec (SHG) found the back of the net for the Devilswhile Akira Schmid turned away all 30 shots faced in the shutout. Ilya Sorokin stopped 27-of-30 shots for the Islanders.

“The last exhibition game is always a tough one to play,” said Head Coach Lane Lambert after the loss. “Guys are looking forward to next weekend for the regular season. I thought that in order to generate more, we had to be harder, and we weren't hard enough tonight. I thought their goaltender played well when he had to, but we didn't have enough traffic in front of net.”

ISLES STUMBLE IN THE LAST PRESEAON GAME

After trimming their training camp roster by 19 players on Friday afternoon, the Islanders lineup looked similar to what it will look like in the regular season lineup, featuring a veteran-heavy lineup and familiar lines. That was in contrast to the Devils who iced a young, but hungry lineup without Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and Dougie Hamilton.

“We didn't generate a whole lot offensively or sustain anything,” Brock Nelson said after the loss. “Puck possession wise, we didn't have a ton and they broke it out really easy. We were just a little disconnected or off in a certain plays that can turn the game around.”

While looking to make an impression on a PTO with the Devils, Max Willman opened the scoring in the first period by receiving a feed from Santeri Hatakka to sneak a backhand shot past Sorokin. Kevin Bahl wristed a shot through traffic to double the Devils lead in the middle frame, while Simon Nemec beat Oliver Wahlstrom in a foot race in the neutral zone, moving in on Sorokin and netting a shorthanded goal to triple the lead.

The Islanders power play faltered against the Devils, going 0-for-4 and allowing the shorthanded goal.

“I didn't like tonight,” Lambert said of the power play. “The chances we gave up that can’t happen in the regular season. We’ll have to clean that up because that was something that bit us last year.”

PALMIERI MAKES PRESEASON DEBUT 

Kyle Palmieri made his preseason debut, getting a taste of game action after weeks of skating on his own and joining the group on Monday.  
Ahead of puck drop, Lambert stressed the importance of slotting Palmieri into the lineup to help prepare for the regular season, which helped the veteran forward after missing a significant chunk of practices and five preseason games.

“I felt okay, and it was good to get back out there, Palmieri said. “It’s one of those things where these guys have been working for a couple of weeks now and I only joined the group this week, but we have a week ahead of us to get ready and get ourselves excited for next Saturday.”

Palmieri wasn’t shy to get fully involved in his first game back, registering one hit, a missed shot and two on goal, including an attempted wraparound in the second period. 

“It was his first game, but he looked like a power forward tonight,” Lambert said. “He used his body and drove pucks to the net, I liked his game.”

The 32-year-old winger logged 14:12 of ice time, primarily skated on a line with Brock Nelson and Julien Gauthier. 

“He’s a big part of the locker room on and off the ice,” Nelson said of Palmieri. “So, to get a guy like that back, it’s huge.”

LOOKING AHEAD 

The Islanders concluded preseason play with a record of 2-4-0, looking to reflect on the positives and negatives to gear up for the regular season. 

“Everyone here believes one another,” Nelson said. “We know we have the group that has what it takes. It's always a learning experience and every day is an opportunity. It’ll be a long season with opportunity for us to work on some things and get ready for game one.

The Islanders will have a week to fine-tune their game before the regular season, which begins against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, Oct. 14 at UBS Arena.