Nico notches pair to lift Devils to fifth straight
TOP overall draft pick Nico Hischier scored two goals in the first period and the host Devils extended their season-high winning streak to five games with a 3-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night.
Taylor Hall notched two assists, Cory Schneider made 31 saves and the Devils killed off all five Red Wings’ power plays in extending Detroit’s losing streak to three games. Sami Vatanen scored into an empty net with 23 seconds to play for the final margin.
Justin Abdelkader scored for Detroit, which outshot the Devils 25-19 in the final two periods. Jimmy Howard made 29 saves.
The two-goal game was the second of the season for the 18-yearold Swiss center and it gave him seven for the season.
Both goals came in the final five minutes of the period. Hall skated the puck into the offensive zone and found defenseman Steve Santini at the left point. Hischier deflected his shot past Howard with 4:44 left in the period. Mathew Barzal scored 1:08 into overtime to lift the Islanders over the Sabres in Brooklyn.
The Isles have won three of five to improve to 20-13-4. Jason Chimera and Josh Bailey also scored for the Islanders.
Zemgus Girgensons and Kyle Okposo scored for last-place Buffalo (9-20-8), which has lost four of five.
The Islanders entered ranked second in the NHL in goals per game (3.56) and total goals (128), while the Sabres were last in both categories (2.17 and 78).
Despite the significant statistical disparity between the teams, the game was, in essence, a goaltending duel as Jaroslav Halak stopped 34 shots for the Islanders, and Robin Lehner made 33 saves for Buffalo.