New Jersey briefly tied the score in the second stanza, as Andreas Johnsson roofed a feed from Matt Tennyson past Ilya Sorokin at 4:58, but the Islanders regained control of game in the latter half of the period.
Nelson re-established the Islanders lead at 9:00, sweeping in an Oliver Wahlstrom rebound for a power-play goal. That was the first of Nelson's two tallies and he followed up in similar fashion, knocking in an Anthony Beauvillier rebound 3:40 later at 12:40.
That set up the Islanders up with a 3-1 cushion heading into the third, but instead of sitting back, the Isles floored it, scoring a pair of goals 37 seconds apart to open up a 5-1 advantage. Palmieri made it 4-1 with a goal against his former team, hustling to catch up to a Wahlstrom lob pass before pulling a forehand-backhand deke in tight on Blackwood at 3:32. The goal was Palmieri's second as an Islander and Trotz praised his aggressive, crash-the-net style play, which was also evident in Palmieri barreling into Blackwood on his goal.
"I loved the way he played today," Trotz said. "What I saw today is the Kyle Palmieri that I've seen as an opposing coach. I love when he plays with a little bit of an edge. He was skating, he battled and I thought he had a lot of detail to his game. He played quick. I thought he got rewarded by going hard to the net. That's one of the reasons that we got him. When he plays that game, which is more of a playoff style type of game, he can have an effect on the result. I thought he was really good today."
Barzal made it 5-1 shortly after, keeping, shooting and scoring on a two-on-on rush with Eberle at 4:09. The goal was Barzal's 16th of the season and third in his last five games. Trotz said he felt his team got a little loose after going up 5-1, which helped lead to New Jersey outshooting the Islanders 13-4 in the final frame.
Despite the Devils pressure in the third, the Isles outshot them 27-24 on the night. With the win, the Islanders also won the season series 6-2-0 against the Devils.
