Greiss, Islanders Blank Devils For Fifth Straight Win
NEW YORK (AP) — Thomas Greiss made 35 saves for his first shutout of the season, and the New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils 3-0 on Saturday night for their fifth straight win.
It was Greiss' ninth career shutout. Dating to Oct. 28, Greiss has allowed just four goals on 114 shots.
Jordan Eberle, Brock Nelson and Scott Mayfield scored for New York (8-4-1), which improved to 6-0-0 against the Metropolitan Division this season. Josh Bailey had two assists to extend his point streak to eight games.
New Jersey (5-5-1) lost for the sixth time in seven games. Keith Kinkaid had 30 saves.
The Devils came up empty on two early power-play chances before the Islanders grabbed the lead on Eberle's power-play goal 7:43 into the game. With Jean-Sebastien Dea in the box for hooking Adam Pelech, Eberle tapped in Anders Lee's rebound for his fourth of the season, and third in New York's last three games.
New Jersey outshot New York 35-33 for the game, but the Islanders were 1 for 4 on the power play and killed all four man advantages for the Devils.
Neither team was able develop any traction offensively in a stop-and-start second period, with the best chance being Taylor Hall's semi-breakaway at 8:06 that Greiss knocked away.
The third was a mirror image of the second, although New York did generate seven shot attempts in a 52-second span after Lee forced a Hall turnover.
Nelson got his team-leading seventh goal of the season with 4:54 left. The sequence began with Nick Leddy blocking a Mirco Mueller shot, leading to a 2-on-1 with Nelson and Bailey.
Mayfield's empty-netter ended the scoring.
NOTES: Following New York's optional skate, coach Barry Trotz said LW Matt Martin would miss the game with an upper-body injury. Martin was replaced in the lineup by Ross Johnston. ... The Islanders sent reserve goaltender Christopher Gibson to Bridgeport of the American Hockey League. ... New Jersey put RW Stefan Noesen on injured reserve with an upper-body injury and activated RW Drew Stafford from IR. ... Devils LW Brett Seney made his NHL debut. The 157th pick in the 2015 draft was called up from the minors on Friday. ... New York D Johnny Boychuk played in his 600th NHL game. ... The Islanders brought back former players as part of the team's alumni weekend. Among the honorees were Bobby Nystrom, current Devils radio broadcaster Glenn 'Chico' Resch, Pierre Turgeon, Bryan Berard, Bryan Trottier, Kenny Jonsson, Alexei Yashin and Clark Gillies, and current Islanders TV color analyst Butch Goring.
UP NEXT
Devils: Visit Pittsburgh on Monday night.
Islanders: Host Montreal on Monday night.
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