NEWARK, N.J. _ Where there's a will there's a way, and few others in sports have the will of Brian Boyle.
Yet again, the Devils' veteran forward and cancer survivor scored a meaningful goal in a meaningful game on Hockey Fights Cancer Night. But it was Marcus Johansson who had the key goal on this particular edition of the league-wide initiative. The struggling forward scored with 10.2 seconds left to put the game into overtime.
But the Devils managed only a point in the Metropolitan Division battle, as Mathew Barzal scored on his own rebound with 1:20 left in overtime to hand New Jersey a 4-3 loss and their third overtime loss of the season.
It looked as though the Devils were left for dead when Nick Leddy scored 7:15 left in the game. But the Devils pulled goalie Keith Kinkaid and it paid off when Johansson batted a puck out of midair and over Thomas Greiss to tie the game one again, this time at 3.
The Devils (9-9-3) fell behind at home in the first period for the first time all season and the Islanders (10-8-2) had a goal disallowed.
Boyle's equalizer at 2:43 into the third period momentarily breathed new life into the Devils, who came into the period down 2-1 after Anders Lee scored just a few minutes after Taylor Hall had tied it up.
For the first time all season the Devils, who always seem to look like an entirely different team at home, gave up the first goal of the game at Prudential Center. Hall's former Edmonton Oilers teammate Jordan Eberle beat Keith Kinkaid on second-effort at 7:24 in the first to put the Devils down 1-0.
The Devils caught a break later in the second when Josh Bailey scored off the rush but the Devils challenged that Anthony Beauvillier was offsides coming into the offensive zone. It was a quick review in Toronto and the Devils prevailed.
Hall made it 1-1 at 11:48 in the second period. Greiss failed to control a loose puck in the crease and Hall hammered home a rebound.
But around the 14-minute mark, Adam Pelech knocked Kinkaid's stick out of his hand. The defenseless Kinkaid was could do little when Valterri Filppula got the puck down low and fed Lee in front of the crease for the score.
The Devils generated plenty after Boyle's score and Leddy's goal momentarily took the energy out of the building, but never out of the home team.
The Devils' best chance to take a lead came in the first period when they had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:49 in the first period. They managed four shots but the Islanders penalty kill was better than the Devils' power play. Eberle scored less than two minutes after New York killed off the two-man advantage.
However, the Devils went for 3-for-3 on the penalty kills to keep themselves in the game.
Englewood native Bennett Burgida served as the Devils' honorary assistant coach. Burgida, whose favorite player is Boyle, is an 11-year-old player with the Jersey Avalanche youth program.
