Devils dealt first regulation loss
Jordan Eberle scored twice, Mathew Barzal had a goal and two assists and Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves as the New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils 4-1 on Thursday night.
The Islanders improved to 3-10, while the Devils lost for the first time in regulation, falling to 2-1-1.
Brock Nelson added a powerplay goal for New York.
Varlamov has all three Islanders’ wins, allowing only one goal. That came early in the second period by forward Nathan Bastian, who ended Varlamov’s season-opening shutout streak at 142 minutes and 10 seconds, the eighth-longest in NHL history to begin a season.
“He’s been pretty consistent. It’s been really nice to see him come back and dominate in net,” Barzal said of Varlamov, who helped the Islanders reach the Eastern Conference finals in last summer’s bubble playoffs. “He looks really secure in there.”
Barzal opened the scoring with his second goal of the season at 4:43 of the first. Josh Bailey and Noah Dobson had assists.
Eberle made it 2-0 at 19:39 of the first, beating goalie Scott Wedgewood with a backhand off a feed from Anders Lee. Barzal had the other assist.
“New Jersey has some really good speed and we played the right way,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “We’ve been a quick start team, that was key.”
Wedgewood started in place of Mackenzie Blackwood, who was placed on the COVID-19 list earlier Thursday, making him unavailable to play or practice in accordance with league protocols.
Blackwood had started each of the Devils’ first three games. Wedgewood made 31 saves in his first NHL start since Feb. 13, 2018, when he was with the Arizona Coyotes.
“I thought he played a solid game,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said of Wedgewood, who was originally drafted by the Devils in 2010. “He made some great saves and gave us a chance to win.”