Devils Drop Preseason Opener to the Islanders | GAME STORY

NEWARK, N.J. - Months of summer away from one another didn't damage the chemistry between Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt. Hischier and Bratt picked up right where they always left off, assisting and contributing to one another goals. While the final score didn't reflect a winning result, the pre-season is built to work out and go through all the details, especially with a new system, a new head coach, and several new teammates.

The Devils dropped their preseason opener 4-2 to the Islanders on Sunday night.

"It’s a process, it’s a lot of new information,” Bratt said. “It’s a system that’s a little different and this just the fourth day of really hard working days. It’s a long process. We know it’s not going to work perfectly from Day 1, there’s some kind of work that goes into it over time that makes it a lot better. I think our pace was good, we did a good job that way.”

The two longest-tenured Devils kicked the preseason off for New Jersey, with Hischier opening the scoring 2:18 into the first period and Bratt adding a second-period goal. Bratt's second period goal came just 32 seconds after Islanders captain Anders Lee had tied the game at one.

The Islanders took their first lead of the game 2:47 into the third period when Camden Thiesing finished his own rush with a snap-shot on Nico Daws, who had replaced Jacob Markstrom in the net to start the third period.

Simon Holmstrom added the empty net goal for the Islanders to bring the final score to 4-2.

It was an NHL-regular heavy lineup for the Devils, who leave Prague in a week to begin the season in Czechia as part of the Global Series against the Buffalo Sabres. That's why head coach Sheldon Keefe has had to fast-track putting together their pre-season rosters to emulate the Game 1 roster closely. The roster against the Islanders had thirteen NHL regulars, including goaltender Jacob Markstrom for two periods.

Keefe was looking for how his team would take the lessons of the first three days at camp and implement them into their team game.

"I thought the neutral zone forecheck, considering that’s new for us and this group and the structure of it, they did a really good job of that for the most part," Keefe said of what he was pleased with. "There were a lot of good things there, some teaching points for sure, but some very positive things we’ll be able to utilize to reinforce why we want to do that.

"And I thought some of the defensive zone coverage pieces as well I liked. Especially with the things we’ve been really talking about, which is the puck pressure, killing plays early, moving the puck back quickly, there are some really good examples of that, especially in that first half of the game when we were fresh."

Here are some observations from the game:

• Keefe explained in the morning the fragility between needing to get his NHL roster up and running and evaluating the surrounding talent that could be pushing for a spot or potentially a call-up later in the season; it's a lot to cover with such a small sample size. But one of those players on the ice on Sunday was the youngest of the bunch, Chase Stillman, who completed his first season in pro with Utica last year. Stillman had a standout performance during the rookie tournament and was afforded an opportunity in the first preseason game.

• Jacob Markstrom made his Devils debut and shared the net with Nico Daws. Markstrom played the first 40 minutes of the game, finishing with 17 saves on 19 shots, including all three he faced on the Islanders man advantage. Typically, goaltenders tend to share duties in the net early during the preseason. Markstrom, who was brought in to solidify the Devils' presence in the net, opted for two periods before Daws entered the game.

For Markstrom it was a game where he was able to collect a lot of information about how his new team, and particularly defensemen, like to play in front of him.

“I feel a little more imformation, especially with the new D-men in front of me, the new players in front of me, when you know your D-men, you kind of know where the game is going. But I’m picking up a lot of information by playing today two periods, it was really good for me, learning about how they like it, and what they like to do. I got a lot of information.”

• What could likely start as the Devils second power play unit to start the regular season got most of the reps against the Islanders. On Saturday, the club practiced with a unit of Simon Nemec, Tomas Tatar, Stefan Noesen, Ondrej Palat, and Paul Cotter, but with Nemec not dressed against New York, defenseman Nick DeSimone took over the point on the man advantage.

While Hischier, Bratt and Hamilton were on the roster, they took fewer opportunities on the power play with their power-play counterparts, Jack Hughes and Timo Meier not dressed for the game. The second unit, taking the first unit reps were then able to begin building important special teams chemistry.

• Tonight marked the return of Dougie Hamilton to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 28, 2023, when a torn pectoral muscle forced him to miss the remainder of the 2023-24 season. In Hamilton's first 20 minutes back on the ice, he played 7:26, including 1:01 on the power play, and had three shots on goal to lead the team. Hamilton finished the game with five shots and just over 20 minutes of ice time.

First half, I thought he was excellent; he made plays, shot the puck a lot, and got it to the net for us, which is what he does at an elite level," Keefe evaluated. "He looked fatigued (in the second half). His minutes were probably a bit higher than we would have hoped they would be after two periods, and I thought that showed where his fatigue showed in the third. But that’s to be expected, that’s why you play these games to work through that.”

• Check out the no-look pass from Bratt to Hischier. It's years of building chemistry and knowing exactly where the other is at all times.