Devils Sink Islanders for Fourth Straight Win

The Devils won their fourth in a row on Friday night, the same night Patrik Elias made his return to the lineup. They beat the Islanders in the first meeting of the year between their Atlantic Division rivals. With Yann Danis in goal for New Jersey, he put up yet another great effort in relief of Marty Broduer, as he stopped every shot but one against his former team.

The Islanders struck first in the contest after a first period goal from Frans Nielsen at 6:23 of the first period. The period ended with that lone goal, but the Devils came out in the second with more pressure on the Isles and were clearly the better team offensively. At just 2:38 into the second period, Cory Murphy notched his first career goal as a Devil and knotted things up at 1 a piece. Later on, as the Devils were on the power play, Brian Rolston got a pass from Andy Greene on the point and blasted one past Marty Biron to put the Devils ahead 2-1. That was all they would need as they played sound defensively the rest of the way and Danis would stop 24 shots that came his way.

Jersey got more news today about injuries to their starters; however, they had guys step up in tonight’s game with the fourth line guys getting some production. That is what will be needed for the Devils to be able to weather this storm of occurring injuries. In his first game back since having scar tissue removed from his groin area, Patrik Elias played a limited amount, which is to be expected as he gets his legs back, but he had some good looks at the net and will be a great addition to that second line as he progresses.

Once again, the Devils did not win tonight from an offensive stampede, however, a win in the NHL counts as a win anyway you look at it. If the other team can’t score against us, then we only need 2-3 goals a night and should win. However, with the injuries on the team right now and Elias just getting back, the team will come to life offensively down the line. But for now with what the team has been dealt, wins need to come by any means necessary and that is just what happened tonight.