Islanders Burned By Devils

Islanders #26 Matt Moulson dives for a puck (Photo by Christopher Pasatieri/Getty Images)

          The Islanders could not get the win in game two of a rare three game set against the New Jersey Devils, losing 5-1.
          The Islanders could not carry the momentum they had from their 1-0 win over the Devils last Sunday afternoon. 
          Devils' left winger, Ilya Kovalchuk, proved to be too much for the Islanders to handle.  He scored once in all three periods to complete his thirteenth career hat trick.  
          With the loss the Islanders lost ground in their hunt for the playoffs.  With Washington beating Tampa Bay, the Isles now sit seven points out of the eighth spot.
          The first period saw the Devils take their first lead of the game.  At the 8:07 mark of the period, Kovalchuk got his own rebound off the boards and snapped a wrist shot over the sprawling Islander goaltender, Evgeni Nabokov, to make it 1-0.  
          The second period didn't start out any better for the Isles.  At the 3:33 mark, Kovalchuk would get his second tally of the night firing a one timer by the pads of Nabokov, to make it 2-0 Devils.  The Islanders would close the gap when at the 16:21 mark Islander defenseman Andrew MacDonald would score from a peculiar angle.  MacDonald would take the puck off the boards, and then from behind the net he flipped one off the back of Devils goalie, Martin Brodeur, to make it 2-1.  The goal was MacDonald's fourth of the year.  
          The third period is one the Islanders would love to wash from their memory, as it was all New Jersey.  It started at the 7:05 mark when center Patrick Elias would get a rebound off Nabokov and bury it into the empty net.  The goal was Elias' twenty-third of the year.  Just over a minute later at the 8:09 mark Kovalchuk would complete his hat trick by firing another slap shot by Nabokov, to make it 4-1.  The goals were Kovalchuk's twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, and twenty-ninth.  The Devils would add insult to injury at the 15:59 when defenseman David Clarkson tipped one by Nabokov to ice the game at 5-1.  The goal was Clarkson's twenty-seventh of the year.  
          The Islanders and Devils will complete their trilogy at the Coliseum on Saturday night.  Puck drop is 7 PM.