Dawson Mercer and Noesen scored, and Hamilton had three assists for the Devils (10-5-2). Hughes added an assist, and Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves.
“Well, I wasn’t too impressed that we gave up two like we did,” Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I didn’t say anything to articulate that, other than, ‘Let’s not go away here.’ Really, the players took charge. They stuck with it. That was a huge goal by Mercer. That was a great play by [Paul] Cotter to drive us down there and get the puck inside. That’s what we didn’t do much of in that third up until that point. It gave us life, and then 6-on-5 came through.”
Simon Holmstrom had a goal and an assist, and Dennis Cholowski and Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders (6-6-3), who had won two in a row. Sorokin made 29 saves.
“I will be very honest. Tonight, I'm disappointed for our guys,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “The first 40 was not our best. We didn't forecheck like we were capable of. We didn’t possess the puck offensively. I mean, they had a lot of good chances. Ilya [Sorokin] made some great saves for us, but in the third, we played hard, and we played well, and it's too bad that we gave up a goal hitting our skate and it went in. That's bad luck. I know it's cliche, and we repeat that, but it is what it is.”