NEW YORK _ When the NHL season began just one short month ago the Devils were looking like the favorites of the three New York-area teams. The Islanders were reeling from the loss of John Tavares and starting anew with coach Barry Trotz and the Rangers were trying to find an identity with a mix of young and old.
The Devils were coming off a playoff appearance and went 4-0-0 to start the season. But all of the dominance they asserted early has been lost as they've gone 1-5-1 from there, with the latest loss coming at the hands of the streaking Islanders on Saturday night at Barclay's Center. Shut out for the first time this season, New Jersey fell, 3-0.
Yet again, the goaltending was the lone bright spot for the Devils with Keith Kinkaid allowing two goals and stopping 30 shots. But Kinkaid was the unlucky recipient of exactly zero goals of support forcing him to perform a high-wire act of sorts in the net.
Kinkaid kept the Devils within striking distance throughout but the game was lost with 4:54 left when Brock Nelson beat Kinkaid with a wrister from the right circle.
Jean-Sebastien Dea was whistled for hooking Adam Pelech 6:35 into play and 50 seconds later Jordan Eberle was on the doorstep for a rebound to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead.
The Devils managed to generate some offense in the first period but it came mostly on the power play and Thomas Greiss (35 saves) helped the Islanders kill off two penalties in the first and one each in the second and third.
Taylor Hall had a great chance in the second period when the Devils caught the Islanders on a sloppy line change and Kyle Palmieri set up Hall on a 2-on-1. But Greiss got a piece of it and the Devils remained behind.
The Devils were gifted a power play after a penalty by Leo Komarov with 1:48 left to play. But it was the Islanders who cashed in when Scott Mayfield scored an empty-net goal.
The Devils were inconsistent at best. They drew too many offensive zone penalties, they struggled to win faceoffs on the power play and they generated little at even strength. The lineup changes did little to address the problems that have plagued New Jersey for the last week.
After only giving up only a single power-play goal through their first four games the Devils have now given up five in the last three games. The once staunch-penalty kill also lost Pavel Zacha when he was demoted to Binghamton of the American Hockey League on Friday night. Nico Hischier stepped into his place to kill penalties.
The Devils also took a handful of ill-advised offensive zone penalties, one of which resulted in Eberle's goal.
