Hot Isles just miss shutout, top Devs

The Devils welcomed fans to their arena for the first time in almost a year. Their recent problem scoring goals continued, which wasn’t surprising against Semyon Varlamov and the Islanders.

Varlamov made 28 saves and came within 14 seconds of his fourth shutout, and the red-hot Islanders beat the slumping Devils 2-1 on Tuesday night at Prudential Center.

“He’s a great player,” said Devils forward Miles Wood, whose goal with 13.2 seconds to play prevented the Islanders from picking up their second straight shutout. “He played extremely well tonight. We have to get more traffic in front of them for sure. That helps. But at the end of the day, he stood on his head and great job to him.”

The Islanders, who are 9-2-2 in their last 13, got a shutout from rookie Ilya Sorokin on Sunday against the Penguins. They came into the game with the NHL’s third best goals-against average.

“Both goalies have been outstanding for us all year so far and we expect them to be, and we’ll be great in front of them,” Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy said.

Varlamov was at his best in the second period, stopping 13 power-play shots in a period in which the Devils outshot the Islanders 16-5. The Devils had three of their four power plays in the period.

That kept the game scoreless and rookie Oliver Wahlstrom broke through with a wicked wrist shot early in the third period. Anders Lee knocked in his own rebound just under seven minutes later.

Aaron Dell made 18 saves in his second start for the Devils, who have lost six of seven. Pavel Zacha had his NHLleading 10-game point streak snapped.

“I think that there comes a point where you can’t be satisfied with playing well and losing,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “Determination has to lead to more goals.”