Just when it looked like New Jersey was back in this game, the Islanders responded with two goals in an important 3:19 span of the third period.  New York added an empty netter in the final minute to defeat the Devils, 5-2, their fourth consecutive win over their division rivals this season.

This contest was by far the most physical one of the four, in which the Devils remain winless thus far (0-3-1).  It involved three separate fights, including two in a four-second span of the middle period.

Continuing their inconsistent offensive, the Devils failed to score in the first period for the eighth consecutive game, and fifth straight game without a goal in the first 40 minutes.

Islanders’ offenseman Chris Campoli took advantage of a Mike Mottau miscue and fired past Martin Brodeur to give the Islanders an early 1-0 lead.

Richard Park and Ruslan Fedotenko assisted on Campoli’s fourth, a shorthanded mark, merely five minutes into the contest.

Although New Jersey led 10-7 in shots, it did not take advantage of three Islanders’ minor infractions in the first 20 minutes.

The Devils are now 0-for-their-last-20 on the power play.  They have not scored on the man advantage in two weeks and maintain one of the lowest percentages in the league (13.8 ~28th).

Despite the inefficient power play, they have still managed to win games with timely scoring (Elias’ five of his eight goals have been game winners) and excellent goaltending by Martin Brodeur (what else is new).

Unfortunately, they were lazy and rather sluggish after the first.  Maybe they should not schedule as many games on consecutive nights.

“They are now 2-3-1 in the second half of back-to-back games and 19-11-2 in all other games where they have more than 24 hours rest.  Chalk this one up to a tired Devils team playing a rested Isles team,” olddevfan commented on a Devils forum after the game.

In the 2006-7 season, the Devils went 19-8-1 on the second game of back-to-backs with a different roster.  That included three shutouts, two of which were against the Islanders.  Hmm...

The second period did not go the Devils way for about 19-and-a-half minutes.  It is a good thing that frames last for 20 minutes excluding overtime.

Devils winger Arron Asham was called for a questionable unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, that led to Marc-Andre Bergeron’s power play goal, to put the Islanders in front 2-0.

Campoli and Park, who teamed up on the Campoli’s first-period tally, were credited with assists on Bergeron’s fourth at 12:02 of the second.

When it looked like the Devils might go into the final period down 2-0, they caught a break with 25 seconds left in the middle period.

As he was being checked into the boards, D Mike Mottau lifted the puck into the neutral zone, where Zach Parise carried it into the Islanders zone and dropped it for Brian Gionta.

Gionta left the puck for Parise, who puck-handled a backhander topshelf for his 16th of the season.

The Islanders iced the puck soon thereafter, but the Devils could not capitalize and went into the locker rooms only down 2-1.

The final 20 minutes opened with more Devils’ turnovers in their own zone.  Thankfully, they have owned the rights to netminder Martin Brodeur since 1990 and, contractually, until the 2011-12 season.

He made several sprawling saves from point-blank range.

Even though Mottau assisted on the Devils’ first goal, he committed several mistakes and finished with a -2 +/-.  Collectively, the Devils’ blueliners finished with two assists but -4 +/-.

One of their mistake-free decisions came at an important time.  John Madden won a draw in the Isles zone, dropped the puck back to defenseman Sheldon Brookbank, who fired low on Dubielewicz.  Madden scooped up the rebound and wristed it by the Isles netminder to tie the score at two apiece.

That was all the Devils could manufacture as they have now scored seven regulation goals in the last five games, an average of 1.4 and a record of 3-2. 

Miraculously, other than the 5-0 loss to Vancouver and 5-2 defeat courtesy of the Islanders, the Devils only allowed two goals in the three games in between.

In fact, they are 18-0-1 when scoring at least three goals in regulation this season.  The only loss was to the Islanders, of course, back on Oct. 20.  Bill Guerin won that one for the Isles, a 4-3 overtime thriller.

With Patrik Elias and Karel Rachunek out of the lineup with injuries, the Devils' magic number was only two, not the necessary three.

Scoring his first this year and only 28th of his 469-game career, Andy Sutton beat Brodeur with what turned out to be the game winner.  Sutton’s, a defenseman, shot eluded Brodeur, who was screened by a lot of traffic in front of the net.

Mike Sillinger and Trent Hunter were credited with assists on Sutton’s unexpected helper.

Dubielewicz was perfect after Madden’s 12th of the year.  He backstopped the Islanders to victory with 27 saves, while Brodeur made 28 saves in the loss, a night after he led NJ to a 2-1 shootout win over Buffalo at the Prudential Center.

Zach Parise beat Ryan Miller in the shooutout and Brodeur stopped all three Sabres' skaters.

Notes:

The Devils had killed off 16 straight penalties before Bergeron’s power play effort.

They were very giving for the holiday season but not very receiving.  They led in giveaways 12-7 and only managed eight takeaways to the Islanders’ 15 steals.

Even though they won the faceoff category, during special teams, they were 3-7 on PP faceoffs and only 1-4 shorthanded, two significant areas.

This time last year:

New Jersey defeated the Islanders on Saturday night Dec. 29, 2-0, less than 24 hours after it one-upped Washington 4-3.  Then again, Scott Gomez and Patrik Elias were linemates in 2006 and contributed three goals and three assists in that meeting.  Neither of the two players suited up this year.  Elias was scratched with a tweaked groin and Gomez signed with the Devils’ nemesis, the New York Rangers in the offseason.

Mike Rupp played for the second time in two nights.  It is only his second time playing on two consecutive dates this season (Oct. 17-18).  Rupp has not scored or assisted on any of the Devils' goals thus far.

Where's the Net (Top guys who have not scored in a while)

Jamie Langenbrunner- five straight without a point, only three goals in December

Dainius Zubrus - 10 straight without a goal (Dec. 7 ~ Washington)

Travis Zajac - 10 straight (see Zubrus, Dec. 7)

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