Rapid Recap: Islanders 6, Devils 4

The New York Islanders defeated the New Jersey Devils 6-4 on Friday night at the Prudential Center.
Brock Nelson (2G), Anders Lee, Oliver Wahlstrom, Cal Clutterbuck (1G, 1A) and Casey Cizikas scored for the Islanders while Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes (1G, 1A), Dawson Mercer and Tomas Tatar scored for the Devils. Alexander Romanov (2A), Mathew Barzal (2A), Dougie Hamilton (2A), Jesper Bratt (2A) and Jonas Siegenthaler (2A) each had multi-point games.
The Islanders scored two goals in under a minute early in the second period to pull away after Lee scored to give them the lead with just seconds left in the first. The Devils pulled the goaltender down 6-3 with almost eight minutes left in the game, but the Islanders held strong, allowing just one goal to take home the 6-4 win.

THE SCORING:

1st Period
5:32 - NJD 1, NYI 0 - Nico Hischier beats Semyon Varlamov on the power play from a sharp angle. Jesper Bratt and Dougie Hamilton earn the assists.
15:37 - NYI 1, NJD 1 - Brock Nelson freezes Vitek Vanecek, circles the net and buries one in on a wraparound try. Alexander Romanov earns the assist.

19:51 - NYI 2, NJD 1 - Anders Lee buries one on a wrister in the slot. Scott Mayfield and Alexander Romanov tally assists.

Second Period:
3:31 - NYI 3, NJD 1 - Casey Cizikas scores his first of the season on a one-timer in the crease off a pass from Matt Martin. Cal Clutterbuck also picks up an assist.
4:05 - NYI 4, NJD 1 - Oliver Wahlstrom scores off the rebound from a Mathew Barzal shot. Josh Bailey earns the primary assist, as he tipped Barzal's shot.

6:03 - NYI 4, NJD 2- Ryan Graves sprung Jack Hughes on the rush, who passes across ice to Dawson Mercer for the one-timer.
16:47 - NYI 5, NJD 2 - Jean-Gabriel Pageau feeds Brock Nelson from behind the net for the wrister. Mathew Barzal picks up the secondary assist.

Third Period:
1:00 - NYI 6, NJD 2 - Cal Clutterbuck gets a takeaway and buries it from the slot.

2:30 - NYI 6, NJD 3 - Tomas Tatar gains the zone on the rush and beats Varlamov with a shot from the high slot. Jonas Siegenthaler and Jesper Bratt earn the assists.
13:39 - NYI 6, NJD 4 - After an early net pull from Devils head coach Lindy Ruff, Jack Hughes buries one from the top of the circle. Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler earn the assists.

NOTEBOOK:

Cal Clutterbuck returned to the lineup and scored a goal and tallied an assist, his first multi-point game of the season… This was Clutterbuck's first game since Nov. 29... Fasching did not play after playing two games in relief of Clutterbuck... The Islanders scored two goals in less than a minute in the third consecutive game and for the sixth time this season, the first on the road… Anders Lee snapped a 13-game goal drought… Robin Salo played his first NHL game since Oct. 20 against the Devils in place of Adam Pelech, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury suffered against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday... Alexander Romanov had his first two-point game as an Islander with two assists... Casey Cizikas scored his first goal of the season... Scott Mayfield led the Islanders with 25:17 TOI... Anthony Beauvillier suffered an injury and left the game in the first period

GOALTENDING BATTLE:

Semyon Varlamov saved 25 of 29 shots in the win.
Vitek Vanecek saved 13 of 17 shots in 24:02 TOI.
Akira Schmid saved 13 of 15 shots in 28:22 TOI in relief of Vanecek.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

The Islanders went 1-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.

IMAGE OF THE GAME:

HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT:

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders return to action on Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes at UBS Arena. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.