Round Two of the trilogy between the New York Islanders (28-30-9) and the New Jersey Devils (38-24-5) this time went to the guys in red sweaters, as New Jersey used a scorching third period-to put away another Metropolitan-area rival.

New Jersey has been playing red-hot hockey as of late in the Prudential Center, as in their last game against the New York Rangers on Tuesday.  Again leading the Devils to two crucial points was sniper Ilya Kovalchuk-who recorded a hat trick against the Islanders.

For the Isles, they were on their heels for most of the game against New Jersey, spending a ton of time in their defensive zone.  There seemed to have been a bit of hope in the second period, as a very aggressive swarming New York squad sent a ton of shots the way of Martin Brodeur.

It was at the 16:21 mark of that period, that a cannon of a shot by blueliner Andrew MacDonald (4), bounced off the stick-side of the Devils cager, and in for the first Islanders goal of the game.  That tally by MacDonald was the first by an Islanders defenseman, since Mark Streit’s overtime winner against the Los Angeles Kings on 2/11/12.

Streit was one Islander that had a good night on the ice, as the captain put three shots on the cage and led the physical play with four hits. Matt Moulson led the offensive play with four shots on the Ottawa cage.

It was Brodeur (29 saves) and company that was able to wrangle away two points from Evgeni Nabokov (15 saves) and the Islanders.

The trilogy of games between the Islanders and Devils will be completed on Saturday, with the game set to air on the MSG Plus network and face-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

Written on  March 8, 2012

1495 Sports scoring summary:

http://1495sports.com/2012/05/09/1495-sports-live-scoring-update-final-islanders-fall-to-devils-5-1/