Devils Fall 6-0 to Islanders as Power Play, Five-on-Five Scoring Struggles Continue

One team was still playing preseason hockey.

The other was already in midseason form.

The final score made that difference unmistakable.

“They played at another level today that we haven’t seen,” New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe said after his team’s 6-0 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday night. “I guess you’d say we failed that stress test.”

As Simon Holmstrom, Brayden Schenn, Bo Horvat, Victor Eklund, Ondrej Palat and Casey Cizikas each put the puck past 25-year-old Devils goaltender Nico Daws, attention shifted from the ice to New Jersey’s bench.

Cody Glass’s body language told the story.

Whether he stood between seated teammates, shaking his head, or slammed the bench door after a shift, the 27-year-old left little doubt about how he felt. As some teammates gathered around the iPad to review plays, Glass remained locked on the ice, his eyes following the action as the red light continued to flash behind his goaltender.

When the final horn sounded and the home crowd erupted at UBS Arena, Glass and his teammates skated off the ice with their first loss of the 2026-27 season.

“I think that today we probably played the first team that was matching our speed and matching our intensity,” Jesper Bratt said. “I think that our details, sometimes in the D-zone, even with the puck around our own blue lines, on their blue line, kind of cost us a lot of goals and just situations that shouldn’t happen for us.”

“I don't think anybody's going to be overly happy with the way that they played individually,” Daws said.

Two games into the season, including a 3-2 overtime win in the opener, some of the habits that defined last season have already resurfaced. A first power-play unit featuring Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Luke Evangelista, Luke Hughes and Bratt has gone 0-for-9. Through six periods, the Devils’ forwards have been unable to score at five-on-five, while two of their three goals this season have come from defensemen.

But any criticism comes with the reality that the team is only two games into the campaign after a shortened preseason. Keefe has several new coaches on his bench, along with newcomers such as Evangelista, Anthony Mantha and Evan Rodrigues, who will need time to get acclimated.

The Devils will have another opportunity to respond Tuesday, Oct. 6, when they welcome the Utah Mammoth to New Jersey.

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