Over the course of a three-game homestand that began last Thursday against Montreal, the Devils had tempted fate time and again—and survived. They needed a late goal from Timo Meier and overtime heroics from Jesper Bratt to outlast the Canadiens on Thursday night.
On Saturday afternoon, they relied on Jake Allen to keep them in the game long enough to beat Pittsburgh on a Paul Cotter shootout goal.
So when Simon Nemec blasted a slap shot from the point past Ilya Sorokin to tie Monday night’s game with 4.7 seconds to play, you couldn’t blame the sellout crowd of 16,514 for getting their hopes up.
Those hopes were dashed just 1 minute, 17 seconds into overtime when Jonathan Drouin feathered a pass through Luke Hughes to Mat Barzal. Barzal scored to give the Islanders a 3-2 win, snapping New Jersey’s impressive eight-game home winning streak.
The Devils, who now head out on a five-game road trip, dropped to 11-4-1. They’re now 3-3-1 in their last seven after starting the season 8-1.
### A Tough Night for Luke Hughes
It was not a good night for Luke Hughes. After an early assist on Timo Meier’s goal that put the Devils ahead 1-0, Hughes was on the ice for all three Islander goals, played a major role in two of them, and finished with a minus-2 rating.
In the second period, Hughes gifted Bo Horvat a goal by throwing a blind pass to Kyle Palmieri at center ice. Then, stuck between Emil Heineman and a linesman, Hughes couldn’t recover in time to catch Horvat, who fired a wrist shot past Jacob Markstrom to even the score at 1-1 at 6:55.
And that’s how things stayed until the final few minutes of the third period.
### Goaltending Highlights and Late-Game Drama
Sorokin was outstanding, stopping 33 of 35 shots, including the first 13 he faced in the third period, when the Devils appeared to be coming in waves. Markstrom was also solid, stopping 21 of 24 shots and making two heart-stopping poke checks. However, he was helpless to stop ex-Devil Kyle Palmieri, who put the Islanders up 2-1 with 2:53 remaining by whacking home a Matthew Schaefer point shot that deflected off Brendan Dillon in front.
That set the stage for Nemec’s first goal of the year, scored with Markstrom off the ice for the extra attacker and time expiring.
The Devils had a golden opportunity right before Barzal’s overtime winner when Ryan Pulock nearly gave away the puck to Jack Hughes in the slot. Barzal then tipped the puck away from Hughes to Drouin and raced up the ice to score the winning goal.
### Consolation Prize
Seeing the home winning streak end is disappointing, but every point banked is important at this stage of the season. New Jersey stays a point ahead of Carolina atop both the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference standings, enjoying one of the best starts in franchise history points-wise.
It was also encouraging to see the Devils finally snap their 0-for-8 power play drought and record their first power-play goal since October 30, thanks to Meier and Bratt. Granted, they went 0-for-3 with the man-advantage for the remainder of the game.
### Up Next
The Devils travel to Chicago for a Wednesday night game against the Blackhawks—a team currently third in the Central Division with an 8-5-3 record. Following that, New Jersey has games against Washington, Tampa Bay, Florida, and Philadelphia before returning home to host the Detroit Red Wings during Thanksgiving week.
### Your Thoughts
What did you think of tonight’s game? It felt like they were going to pull it off until they didn’t, didn’t it? Should Luke Hughes be way less sloppy in year three?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading!
https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/devils-game-recaps/62902/hughes-miscues-help-isles-outlast-devils
