Devils Rally Falls Short, Fall 6-4 to Islanders | GAME STORY

An 82-game season is a long season and there will be off-nights for any team and tonight it was the New Jersey Devils' turn.
The Devils mistakes were costly and the Islanders took advantage of their moments to defeat the Devils 6-4.
New Jersey had the initial lead in the first period off a Nico Hischier power play goal, but with 9 seconds left in the first the Islanders took the only lead on the night they'd need with a 2-1 goal by their captain Anders Lee.
New Jersey kept pressing but the Islanders had answers and the Devils lose just their fourth home game of the year and just their fifth outright loss this season. For the first time since Nov. 23, versus Toronto, the Devils failed to register at least a single point in a game.
"It was not the game we were hoping for, or expecting of ourselves," defenseman Ryan Graves said after the game, "not the start we were looking for and overall, we managed the puck poorly and gave up a lot of chances and didn't create energy the way we should."
Jack Hughes got the Devils within two goals while the Devils pulled Akira Schmid with just under eight minutes to play and the team trailing 6-3. The gutsy move gave the Devils a man advantage which with patience and time, Hughes capitalized on for an exciting moment in the game, given the goalie pulled with so much time left on the clock.
Tonight marked the first time this season the Devils lost a game in which their captain Nico Hischier registered at least a point (18-1-1).
"We kind of shot ourselves tonight," Hischier said post-game, "we took too many penalties. It's tough to come back when you're shorthanded, The discipline lacked a little bit, I liked the effort at the end, if you give up six goals its hard to win."

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The Devils prepare for a back-to-back, visiting the Rangers on Monday night and welcoming Alain Nasreddine back to New Jersey when the Dallas Stars visit on Tuesday.
Here are some observations from the game:
- Dougie Hamilton became the fourth player on the Devils roster this season to hit 20 points. His power-play assist on Nico Hischier's opening goal was his 20th point of the season. Hamilton finished the night with two points.

He joins Jack Hughes (32 points), Jesper Bratt (30), and Hischier (28) as the top four in points for New Jersey.  

Hischier's power-play goal opened the game's scoring at the 5:32 mark of the first period where he thread the needle, finding the slightest opening on the far side of Semyon Varlomov's net for his 12th goal of the season. - The goal was Hischier's fourth on the power-play goal and matches his career-high in a season. Last season he set his career-high in 70 games played, while he already has four in his 26 games played this season. - Islanders forward Brock Nelson made things interesting for the Devils in the first period. He broke through Vitek Vanecek with the Islanders first goal of the night with a perfectly executed wrap-around that snuck between Vanecek's skate and the post. The goal tied the game at one at 15:37 and he nearly had his second goal of the night when he corraled a rebound in front of Vanecek, who made last second heroics to get to the other side of the net, catching the puck, off of Nelson's stick, in his glove. The Prudential Center crowd erupted in gasps and applause, especially as the replay was shown on the scoreboard. The replay shows just how much of a last-second stretch Vanecek needed to make in order to make the glove save. - That save would be the highlight for Vanecek, who was pulled at the 4:05 mark of the second after two quick goals by the Islanders. Vanecek also conceded a goal in the final 9 seconds of the first, giving the Islanders a 2-1 lead heading into the middle period.

Akira Schmid came in off the bench in relief.

"Our goalies have been so good for us," Ruff said post-game, "that's the last place we even need to talk about. A little bit of a bad break, the one on the wrap-around looks like it hit Siegenthaler's stick, maybe he gets to it. But V has been so good for us, Akira too." - Dawson Mercer has his second goal in three games, finishing off a play with Jack Hughes in the second period. Hughes recovered his own turnover in the Devils zone, forcing the Islanders into a turnover that sprung Hughes down the ice with linemate Mercer. With two Islanders defending against Hughes, he was able to ease the puck behind Scott Mayfield to Mercer who fired the puck past Varlamov, decreasing the Islanders lead to 4-2. - Miles Wood took a big hit from Alexander Romanov in the second period that sent the game into some chaos. Wood, who looked like he had the wind taken out of him, took a while to get off the ice and was subsequently seen by the Devils athletic training staff.

Wood spent a brief moment on the bench before leaving for the locker room and did not return to the game.

As a result of the hit, a melee emerged to Varlomov's left, with Michael McLeod and Romanov in the middle of it. When the referees sorted out all the penalties, it was McLeod who was handed the extra penalty. Romanov received a fighting major, while McLeod was slapped with a fighting major, an instigator penalty, and a misconduct. - The Islanders put the Devils in very unfamiliar territory taking a 5-2 lead into the third period along with a 28-19 shot advantage. - The Devils were outscored 3-1 in the second period, a period where the team has generally played their best hockey this season. Entering the game they had a +19 goal differential in the middle frame. - Jack Hughes played the final 6:02 of the game as Lindy Ruff pulled Schmid for the extra attacker, trying to get back into the game.