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Islanders go up early, pull away late against Devils

Dec 30, 2007 - 5:11 AM UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- The New Jersey Devils may be one of the hottest teams in the NHL, but the New York Islanders seem to have their number.

The Islanders scored three goals in the third period en route to a 5-2 victory over the Devils on Saturday.

Chris Campoli managed a shorthanded goal and Andy Sutton netted the game-winner for New York, which pushed its record to 4-0-0 against Atlantic Division rival New Jersey this season.

The Devils entered Saturday's contest 14-3-1 over their last 18 games - a string that began after a 1-0 loss to the Islanders on November 16.

After New Jersey came back to tie the game, blue-liner Sutton put New York back on top with a one-timer from the slot at the 11:43 mark in the final period. It was the first goal of the season for the veteran enforcer.

"I was just trying to find a hole," said Sutton, who recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, an assist and a fight. "I was in the hole for Trent (Hunter), but I don't think he had a good handle on the puck. He passed it back to (Mike) Sillinger. I kind of stayed in the pocket and Mike found me. I tried to shoot it as hard as I could."

The Islanders jumped out on top in the first period when Campoli forced a turnover in the Devils' zone. Ruslan Fedotenko swung the puck around to the top of the zone to Richard Park, who found Campoli at the left face-off circle.

Campoli set up for a hard slap shot, slipping the puck past Martin Brodeur for a short-handed tally 5:03 into the opening period.

New Jersey's power-play woes continued, as the Devils were 0-for-3 in the opening period. The Devils, who entered the game 28th in the NHL with the man advantage, did create opportunities and owned a 10-7 shot advantage at the end of the period. Wade Dubielewicz made key saves on Johnny Oduya and Brian Gionta.

New York doubled its lead in the second period when Marc-Andre Bergeron wristed a shot that bounced off of defenseman Andy Greene's stick past Brodeur at 12:02. Sillinger and Park picked up assists on the power-play goal - the Islanders' first such tally in the last 19 attempts, covering the last six games.

"For 30 minutes, we were a flat hockey team," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "And the last 10 minutes was a reflection of what the first 30 minutes were. We weren't good enough tonight. A lot of guys were very average. When you play a team you haven't beaten yet in your division, you would think there would be more of a sense of desperation to play one of your better games."

New Jersey cut the deficit to 2-1 with 25 seconds remaining in the second when Zach Parise scored his 16th goal of the season, beating Dubielewicz with a backhander. Gionta set up the goal after receiving a long cross-ice pass from Mike Mottau and teaming with Parise on a give-and-go in New York's left circle.

It took the Devils just under four minutes in the third to tie the score when they won a faceoff in the Islanders' zone. Parise swung the puck to Sheldon Brookbank, who fired a one-timer that Dubielewicz stopped. John Madden picked up the rebound and deposited a wrister from the right side to tie the game at 2-2.

"We could have buckled at 2-2, but we picked it up and bang-bang, it's 4-2," Dubielewicz said. "It was a fun game to be out there. We were blocking shots and it felt like we won most of the 1-on-1 battles."

The game was marked by a number of fights and a total of 46 penalty minutes, including six different players being sent to the box with fighting majors.

"Maybe seeing Chris Simon out of our lineup, teams think they can come in and push us around," Islanders coach Ted Nolan said of his suspended enforcer. "But those days are over. I don't think any team can push around anybody. A lot of guys stood up - Sutton, Bill Guerin and Mike Comrie. It was a very gutsy performance."

Sean Bergenheim added an insurance goal for New York with 4:58 left in the game and Comrie put in an empty-net tally with 16 seconds remaining.

"Whenever they had the puck in our zone, they had great opportunities," Brodeur said. "We want to play in our zone the right way. It's breakaways that cost us. It would be nice if we could score the first goal."

Dubielewicz, who was making just his fourth start this season in place of the injured Rick DiPietro, made 27 saves.

"I felt the guys played a pretty smart game," Dubielewicz said. "We kept New Jersey at the perimeter, which made my job a little bit easier. For some reason we kind of have their number right now."