Oliver Wahlstrom and Anders Lee scored in the third period Tuesday night for the visiting New York Islanders, who came within seconds of a second straight shutout in a 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J.
Goalie Semyon Varlamov recorded 28 saves before Miles Wood scored with 13.2 seconds left to cost New York a chance at a second straight 2-0 win. Rookie Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves in Sunday’s victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Related: If you’re a fan of the Islanders, check out #Isles rumors, rankings, and news here.
The Islanders have won four of five (4-0-1).
Aaron Dell, making his first start since Feb. 21, made 18 saves for the Devils, have lost three straight and six of seven (1-6-0).
The Islanders were outshot 20-13 in the first two periods and killed off three penalties in the second period before breaking through in the third.
A daring play by Nick Leddy set up the game’s first goal 1:10 into the period. Leddy, in front of his net, fired a pass between the legs of Pavel Zacha and to Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who flicked the puck up the ice.
Wahlstrom got a stick on the puck as he hit the neutral zone and raced forward. With the Devils’ Dmitry Kulikov in front of him and both the Islanders’ Michael Dale Calle and Devils defenseman P.K. Subban to his left, Wahlstrom shuffled the puck a couple times before firing a shot that sailed under Kulikov’s legs and beyond Dell into the upper left corner of the net.
Related: If you’re a fan of the Devils, check out #NJDevils rumors, rankings, and news here.
Extra effort by Lee helped the Islanders double their lead at the 7:51 mark. Andy Greene, stationed at the blue line, fired the puck off the boards behind the net, where New York center Jordan Eberle appeared to put down his stick before lifting it up and allowing the puck to get to Lee, whose first two shots were turned back by Dell before he tucked home the third opportunity.
The Devils pulled Dell with a little less than four minutes left and almost cut the gap in half with 2:25 left, when Nikita Gusev’s shot bounced off the skate of Wood.
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The Devils snapped the shutout with 13.2 seconds left. Wood took a pass from Yegor Sharangovich, went to one knee and beat Varlamov from point-blank range.
–Field Level Media