New Jersey improves to a 2-1-1 record.
The New Jersey Devils earned their second victory of the 2023-24 season with a 5-4 overtime win over the New York Islanders. Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal with 2:41 left in overtime.
For the fourth consecutive game, the Devils conceded the first goal. A miscommunication between defensemen John Marino and Kevin Bahl led to Brock Nelson's wrist shot getting past Devils goaltender Akira Schmid for an early 1-0 Islanders lead.
As the game unfolded, special teams became the storyline, with New Jersey scoring four times on the man advantage. Dougie Hamilton, Tyler Toffoli, Luke Hughes, and Jack Hughes scored a power-play goal.
Nelson and Bo Horvat each scored twice for the Islanders. Former Devils forward Kyle Palmieri earned two assists and has nine points in his last four games versus his former club.
"I thought the execution was really good," head coach Lindy Ruff said. "You don't have many nights like that where you click and have all those opportunities go in, but it's something that we're going to continue to work on daily. I think we found the right spots, and we got some talent that can bury opportunities."
Five Things
1. The Power Play
Devils' associate coach Travis Green is earning his paycheck. Entering Friday night's game, New Jersey power play was tied for fourth-best in the NHL (31.3 percent). The club would eventually go four for five on the man advantage. It was the first time the Devils scored four power-play goals in a single game since March 1, 2014, which was also against the Islanders.
"I think (Travis Green) has done a really good job of keeping us sharp and keeping us dialed in," said Jack Hughes. "I don't think we're wasting too many power plays. We're pretty sharp from the get-go. That's something in the past where it's taken us two or three power plays to get going."
2. The Hughes Brothers
According to NHL Public Relations, Jack Hughes became the fourth player in NHL history to assist in each of his brother's first two-plus career goals, joining Henrik Sedin (three with Daniel Sedin), Doug Bentley (two with Max Bentley), and Ron Sutter (two with Rich Sutter.)
3. Bratt, Hamilton, and Hughes Extend Point Streaks
With three assists against New York, Jesper Bratt extended his point streak to three games. He has collected eight points (three goals, five assists) in the span.
Hamilton netted his third goal for the season and is currently on a four-game point streak (the longest point streak from the start of a season in franchise history belongs to Tim Higgins, who earned a 10-game point streak from the beginning of the 1984-85 season). With his goal last night, the defenseman reached 450 career points in 755 games.
J. Hughes earned his third multi-point game of the 2023-24 season. He finished the night with four points (two goals, two assists) and earned his fifth career game-winning overtime goal. The first-overall pick is the NHL's leader in points with 10 in four games. Additionally, he became the first Devils player to earn 10 points in the team's first four games from the start of a season (the record was eight).
4. Ruff Reaches Milestone
Ruff earned his 100th career regular-season win with New Jersey on Friday night. Per the media notes, Ruff's 100 career wins are tied with Doug Carpenter (1985-1988) for the fourth most wins a head coach earned with New Jersey.
5. Sorokin Played a Terrific Game for New York
Last night, Ilya Sorokin showed why he is considered one of the best goaltenders in the league. The Islanders netminder made tremendous saves throughout the game, including an incredible stop on Jack Hughes in the first period.
"It's kind of a broken record in terms of how good we say he is, but he goes out there, he proves it proves it every night," Nelson said. "He's a gamer, and all those saves give us a chance to win, which is huge for our group, and he was the best player."
