Parise, Greene lead Islanders to first win at new arena
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Islanders finally won a game at their new arena on Saturday evening, beating division rival New Jersey 4-2 with the help of two former Devils captains.
Andy Greene scored the game-tying goal and Zach Parise had the go-ahead goal in the second period to give the Islanders their second win in three games. Noah Dobson and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored, and Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves, while Mathew Barzal extended his point streak to six games with two assists.
Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes scored for New Jersey, but the Devils fell for the sixth time in their last seven games. Akira Schmid stopped 25 of 29 shots in his NHL debut. The Devils were without captain Nico Hischier and defenseman Ryan Graves, announcing before the game started that both were in COVID-19 protocol.
The Islanders’ seven-game winless streak at UBS Arena had been the longest stretch in NHL history to open a new arena.
Greene knotted the score at 2-2 with a wrist shot that sailed past the left pad of Schmid at 8:33 of the middle frame. Barzal and Josh Bailey assisted the play.
Parise gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead when he scored his first of the season — and first as an Islander — with 3 1/2 minutes left in the second period while the team was shorthanded. Pageau collected a bouncing puck in the neutral zone and then delivered a spinning, backhanded pass to Parise all alone into the offensive zone.
The 37-year-old Parise signed a one-year deal with the Islanders this summer after the Minnesota Wild bought out the remaining four years of the 13-year contract he signed in July 2012.
Pageau extended the Islanders’ lead to 4-2 at 9:37 of the third period when Oliver Wahlstrom’s cross-ice feed set up the one-time opportunity.
Bratt opened the scoring for New Jersey late in the first period when defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler’s pass helped the Swedish winger get behind the Islanders’ defense. The 23-year-old leads the team in scoring with 24 points and extended his point streak to five games.
Dobson tied it up with about two minutes left in the first, but Hughes responded with a slap shot past Sorokin’s glove 40 seconds later to give the Devils a 2-1 lead going into the second period.
Brock Nelson (lower-body injury) and Casey Cizikas (COVID-19 protocol) returned to the Isles’ ,lineup after missing seven and five games respectively.
COACH’S DECISION
Islanders coach Barry Trotz scratched forward Anthony Beauviller for the first time this season. The 24-year-old has three goals, four assists in 21 games after signing a three-year, $12.45 million contract in the offseason. “Internal competition is good,” Trotz said after the morning skate. “It’s very easy to get complacent when you’re in. You’ve got to get to your identity, you’ve got to produce and you have to be productive.”
FISTICUFFS
Zdeno Chara rushed to the defense of his partner Dobson and dropped the gloves with Mason Geersten 6:30 into the opening period. The 44-year-old Chara has been in a fight three times this season, including the Islanders’ previous game against the Nashville Predators.
