Game Preview: Islanders vs. Devils

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (31-16-6) VS NEW JERSEY DEVILS (18-28-7)
7 PM | NASSAU COLISEUM
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The New York Islanders return home to Nassau Coliseum for their final two regular season games on home ice as they host the New Jersey Devils on Thursday and Saturday night. The Islanders enter the final two meetings of the regular season against their Tri-State opponent on a two-game winless streak (0-1-1) after pair of games in Buffalo. In both games - in Monday night's 4-2 loss and Tuesday's 4-3 shootout loss - the Islanders gave up a two-goal lead.

Anthony Beauvillier, Ryan Pulock and Cal Clutterbuck (shorthanded) all scored in the most recent contest, while Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves on 31 shots. Sorokin stopped two of the three Buffalo shooters in the shootout, while Beauvillier, Jordan Eberle and Oliver Wahlstrom were all denied in the shootout.
Buffalo was the first team in the ultra-competitive East Division - and in the league - to have been eliminated from the playoff hunt back on April 17. While the Islanders faced a team that was playing free, loose and heading to the offseason opposed to ramping up for playoffs, they still expected a better performance from themselves.
"You play teams that don't have anything to lose, they can hang out behind you a little bit," Clutterbuck said. "But we've got to be better than that, we know that."
Despite only coming out with a point, the Islanders preferred their game on Tuesday, where they put up 48 shots.
"It was better, we had like 40 shots or something," Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "I liked that we were playing north and weren't messing around… [There were] a lot of good things in the game. We had lots of chances, we had breakaways, we had two-on-ones, but give credit to Buffalo. Ideally, we'd like to win, but we were more engaged, which was a step in the right direction."
The Devils enter Thursday's contest also coming off of a back-to-back set that started the week. New Jersey picked up two points in their pair of games against Boston as they came back from a 3-2 deficit to defeat the Bruins 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday.
Pavel Zacha scored the overtime winner and the game's icebreaker with a power-play goal in the first period. Jesper Boqvist and Yegor Sharangovich also found the back of the net. Mackenzie Blackwood backstopped the win with 33 saves on 36 shots.
With one point through two games in Buffalo, the Islanders dropped to fourth place (68 points) in the East Division, behind the other three teams that have clinched playoffs in Boston (69 points), Washington (73 points) and Pittsburgh (73 points).

ISLANDERS NOTES:

• Beauvillier's hot tear continued as he scored his14th goal of the season and his sixth goal in the last eight games. With the goal, Beauvillier extended his point streak to four games with five points (4G, 1A) in that span.
• Pulock scored his second goal of the season and boosted his point totals to 16 (2G, 14A) through 53 games.
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• Clutterbuck's shorthanded goal was his fourth goal of the season and also the Islanders' fourth shorthanded goal this season. The veteran winger posted a two-point outing in the shootout loss (1G, 1A) and increased his season total to 11 points (4G, 7A) through 48 games.
• Sorokin made his 20th start of the season and was back in net for the first time since April 27th. With the shootout loss, Sorokin's record dropped to 12-6-2. The Russian rookie has a 2.22 GAA and a .917 SV%.
• Tuesday's Islanders forward group featured a different assembly than any this season has seen to-date, as Trotz began a process of resting his regulars ahead of the playoffs. Mathew Barzal, Matt Martin and Leo Komarov all did not play while Jean-Gabriel Pageau returned to the lineup and Ross Johnston and Michael Dal Colle also dressed.
• Barzal was healthy scratched for the first time since becoming a mainstay with the team and snapped a 284-consecutive ironman streak that dated back to the 2017-18 season.
• Pageau returned after missing Monday night's game - his second missed game of the season - due to "rest". Pageau skated 16:12 TOI, had one shot, one block and one hit.
• Johnston drew in the lineup for the first time since April 3rd totaled 11:29 TOI, had one shot and four hits.
• Dal Colle returned to the lineup for the first time since April 24th and logged 14:54, fired off four shots and threw one hit.
• Adam Pelech skated in his 300th NHL game.
• Thursday's game against the Devils will be the first time Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri face their former team since the pair were acquired by the Islanders in a trade on April 7. Zajac, 35, had spent the entirety of his 15-year NHL career and 1,024 regular-season games with the Devils while Palmieri, 30, had spent the last six seasons with New Jersey.
• The Islanders are 22-2-2 when scoring first and are 9-14-4 when allowing the opening goal.
• The Islanders are 45-18-8 at the Coliseum since returning to Long Island in December 2019.
• The Islanders average the second-lowest goals against per game in the NHL with 2.25.

DEVILS NOTES:

• New Jersey has won four of its last five games, three of which have come in regulation.
• With his two-goal game on Tuesday, his 14th and 15th goals of the season, Zacha boosted his points lead for the Devils to 33 (15G, 18A). Zacha also holds the team lead in power-play strikes with five and in game-winning goals with four. The 24-year-old Czech center has points in five of his last six games with eight points (5G, 3A) during that span.
• Boqvist buried his fourth goal of his sophomore season and now has seven points (4G, 3A) through 25 games.
• Sharangovich scored his 16th goal of the season which ranks the second-highest among the Devils and is now tied for the second-most - with Dallas' Jason Robertson - among rookies in the league. The 22-year-old Belarusian center now has 29 points (16G, 13A) - ranked fourth among all rookies in the NHL - through 51 games of his rookie season. Sharangovich has points in four of his last five games and points in eight of his last 11.
• Damon Severson dished out two assists in the win. The defenseman has totaled 20 points (3G, 17A) through 53 games.
• Blackwood made his 33rd start of the season and improved his record to 13-16-4. The 24-year-old goalie has earned wins in his last four starts. Blackwood has a 3.04 GAA and a .902 SV%.
• On Monday night, A.J. Greer - who was part of the Islanders trade to acquire Zajac and Palmieri - made his Devils debut on Monday night, his first NHL game since Feb. 23, 2019. Greer did not draw in the lineup on Tuesday night.
• New Jersey averages the fifth-highest goals against per game in the NHL at 3.38.
• The Devils penalty kill is ranked the lowest in the league at 70.5%. New Jersey has allowed 41 power-play goals against this season which is tied with Nashville for the second-most in the NHL behind Philadelphia's 45.