No real surprises here. And really, nothing for Sheldon Keefe to complain about.
Dougie Hamilton and Dawson Mercer had a goal and an assist each, Timo Meier and Jack Hughes had two assists apiece, and a veteran-heavy Devils lineup routed the New York Islanders’ not quite ready for primetime players 6-2 in a preseason game Tuesday night at Prudential Center in Newark.
Many of the Devils regulars, including Hughes who missed the end of last season and had offseason shoulder surgery, were making their preseason debuts Tuesday night after sitting out Sunday afternoon’s 5-3 loss to the Rangers.
With the veterans dressed the Devils controlled play from the opening draw.
Hamilton opened the scoring 13 minutes, 52 seconds into the first period, by ripping a one timer over the blocker of Isles’ goalie Marcus Hogberg.
Hogburg, who split last season between AHL Bridgeport and the Isles, looked sharp early, stopping the first 13 shots he faced, including a nice kick stop on a short break from Nico Hischier, and fought off pucks on a couple of net front scrambles off the sticks of Arseny Gritsyuk and Brett Pesche.
But with a 5-on-3 power play just coming to an end, Jack Hughes found Hamilton at the top of the left circle, and Hamilton fired it home for his first of the preseason and a 1-0 Devils lead.
The lead was short-lived, however, because Jacob Markstrom continued a disturbing trend of allowing first-shot goals, allowing Emil Heineman’s turnaround shot from between the circles to hit his shoulder and roll down his back into the net, tying the game at 1-1 just 2:04 later.
Markstrom, scheduled to play the first period, finished with 2 shots on 3 saves and a .666 save percentage before being replaced by Georgi Romanov to start the second.
The Devils retook the lead less than a minute into the second when Nico Hischier netted his first of the preseason on the power play off a pass from Bratt at the bottom of the right circle.
Goals from newcomer Connor Brown and Dawson Mercer just 1:08 apart midway through the second put the Devils comfortably ahead 4-1.
Rookie defenseman Ethan Edwards and winger Evgenii Dadonov scored early in the third to push the lead to 6-1, before the Isles’ Calum Ritchie got a late goal to get it to 6-2. Edwards later took a shot to the leg on a Devils penalty kill and had to go down the tunnel for a bit, but he returned for one shift in the final few minutes.
The teams will meet again at 7 p.m., Friday at UBS Arena in Elmont, NY.
The Game Stats: The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com Shot Summary | The Natural Stat Trick Game Stats
Highlights
Your Thoughts
Not a whole lot can be taken from these preseason games where it’s an NHL team vs. an AHL team with a few NHLers, but you have to be happy when everyone follows the game plan, escapes without injury, and picks up a win. Anyone else concerned about Markstrom’s tendency to give up first shot goals.