Backed by two power-play tallies and strong penalty killing, the New York Islanders blew out the New Jersey Devils 5-1 in their first of three preseason games at UBS Arena.
ELMONT, NY -- Backed by two power-play tallies and strong penalty killing, the New York Islanders blew out the New Jersey Devils 5-1 in their first of three preseason games at UBS Arena.
The power play went 2-for-5, while the penalty kill went 3-for-4.
Here's how it happened:
After Julien Gauthier drew a tripping penalty, Fredrik Karlstrom gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 2:19 of the first period.
Samuel Bolduc, who quarterbacked the second power-play unit, possessed the puck below the left dot and found Karlstrom inside the right dot. He made no mistake, roofing a wrist shot high blocker side on Jake Allen:
Then, at 9:23 of the first, Kyle MacLean blocked an Erik Haula shot at the Islanders' blue line before finishing blocker side on the breakaway to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead:
The Islanders struck again on the power play before the end of the first after Bo Horvat wired a bumper-spot one-timer past Allen's glove with 16 seconds to go
Mathew Barzal put it on a tee:
Liam Foudy, who is fighting for the final forward spot, made a strong IQ play, passing the puck off the boards to himself in transition before he beat Allen through the wickets to give the Islanders a 4-0 lead at 2:20 of the second.
William Dufour earned the primary helper:
After failing to score on their first power play of the game, the Devils only needed six seconds on their second, with Dawson Mercer finding Timo Meier all alone at the top of the crease to make it a 4-1 game at 8:17 of the second:
At 10:15 of the second, Romanov crushed Nolan Foote along the Devils' bench, leading to Curtis Lazar jumping him.
Both got roughing penalties, with Lazar getting an extra two.
Oliver Wahlstrom extended the Islanders' lead to 5-1 at 12:19 of the second, sending a one-timer from the top of the left dot high glove side after an on-the-tape feed from Dennis Cholowski:
Varlamov stopped 16 of 17 shots that came his way through two periods of work, with Jakub Skarek taking over for the third.
There were no goals in the third period, with Skarek denying all five shots that came his way.
Allen, who struggled through two periods, allowing five goals on 11 shots, stopped all seven shots he faced in the third.
UP NEXT: The Islanders will make their first round of cuts before they host the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday at 7 PM ET.