Slow Start Costs Devils on Island | GAME STORY

ELMONT, NY - The New York Islanders scored three times in the opening period and the New Jersey Devils couldn't catch up, dropping a 5-1 decision on the road at UBS Arena on Friday night.

Timo Meier scored the lone goal for the Devils.

"It was a funny game. I don't think this was effort-based so much," said Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe. "We made some mistakes. Our penalty kill gives up three. Our penalty kill has been quite strong for us but when you give up three it's going to be a tough night. And we gave up a breakaway, these kind of things piled on in the game."

After the Devils' Nate Bastian took a penalty 27 seconds in the game, the Islanders converted to open the scoring. Fredrik Karlstrom flicked a shot from the left circle past Devils netminder Jake Allen with eight seconds to go in the man advantage.

Kyle MacLean blocked a shot and turned it into a breakaway, wristing a shot high blocker just inside the post and in to double the Islanders' lead.

Isles netminder Semyon Varlamov came up big, making two stops on Dawson Mercer from in close.

Oliver Wahlstrom tripped up Simon Nemec 12 minutes into the opening frame to give the Devils their first power play of the game but Islanders were able to kill that off.

New York got another power play marker late in the frame, however. Bo Horvat one-timed a shot from the slot by Allen with 16 seconds to go, putting the home team in front 3-0.

Shots on goal after one period were 10-5 for the Devils.

Keefe added that he felt that the penalty kill struggles took the focus away from some of the good things the team was doing.

"I liked a lot about our first period," he began. "The Hischier line had some good shifts. A major positive in the game was that line. We're not happy with the result here today but I feel different about this one than I did the other night (a 5-3 loss at home to Washington).

Jesper Bratt reflected on the team's preseason performance and where he saw the most room for improvement.

"We made some progress each game system-wise but we're still not there when it comes to battles. That's one thing that we can (do to) make it better. We're going to do that through hard work in practices where that detail is going to be the engine for us," Bratt began.

"All of us want to win every shift, it doesn't matter if it's preseason or not. There's a process and you try to learn from it and get better from it. We want to play more games but now we're looking forward to some really dialed-in practices. We're a committed group. We know what we're capable of and we have control to get better with our battles."

Islanders extended their lead to 4-0 when Liam Foudy fired a shot in on the rush several minutes into the second period.

Eight minutes into the middle frame, Casey Cizikas was called for cross-checking Tomas Tatar. Six minutes into that man advantage, Timo Meier snapped one past Varlamov to make it a 4-1 game.

Islanders regained their four-goal lead just moments after a penalty to Curtis Lazar expired. Oliver Wahlstrom's goal made it 5-1.

After two periods, shots were 17-12 for New Jersey.

Johnathan Kovacevic and Travis Mitchell dropped the gloves with just over seven minutes to play in the third period. It was a spirited bout as the Devils defenseman tried to create some spark for his team.

The Devils have a day off on Saturday where Keefe hopes the team can recharge and get ready for their European adventure.

"We get through this phase, it's been a busy stretch trying to get a lot done in a short amount of time. We'll be happy now to focus on one group. We get a day off tomorrow. It's been needed. Tomorrow will be their first real day off in quite a bit. We'll get a real good practice day on Sunday, travel to Prague and get some time to get our game in order."

Here are some observations from the game:

• Nobody wants to lose games or start the preseason 0-4-0 but if you look at last season, the Rangers had a 1-5-0 preseason record before going on to win eight of their first 10 games and ending up with the NHL's best record. Last season, the Devils started the preseason 7-0-0. Their opponents in Prague, the Buffalo Sabres, are currently 5-0-0 in the preseason including a 5-0 win earlier today in Munich against Red Bull Munich of the DEL.

In the face of an 0-4 preseason, Curtis Lazar talked about the bright side.

"You always look at the optimism," said Lazar. "We're tied for first place right now with everyone in the League. It's a clean slate. Believe in yourself. The more reps, the better you feel, the less you have to think and the more you just play. We have a good week of work ahead of us."

• Coach Keefe was asked what he thought of the play of Jake Allen in goal, who stopped 12 of 17 shots in the loss.

"Not a lot of volume of shots and higher danger chances," Keefe said. "Tough night for a goalie, for sure. There's probably one he wants back but there were some pretty good shots otherwise."

• Dennis Cholowski had a strong game for the Islanders with a pair of assists and a +3 rating in 17:47 of icetime.

• Midway through the third, Stefan Noesen took a shot off the ankle. He skated off the ice on his own strength, gingerly. He did return for a few more shifts.