NEWARK, NJ – Samson Varlamov hit 28 and came within 14 seconds of his fourth fixture, and the red-hot Islanders slumped to a 2-1 slump Tuesday night in New Jersey’s first game of New Jersey in nearly a year Defeated the devil.
Rookie Oliver Wahlstrom broke a scoreless tie with a wicked wrist early in the third period. Anders Lee knocked in his own rebound just seven minutes later for New York, which is 9-2-2 in his final 13.
Varlamov lost his shutdown bid to play after Miles Wood’s Devils net was empty with 13.2 seconds left. The Islanders were trying for their second straight bout after Ilya Sorokin beat Pittsburgh 2–0 on Sunday.
Aaron Dale scored 18 in his second start for New Jersey, losing six of the seven. Pavel Zacha had broken his current NHL-leading 10-game point streak.
The New Jersey government, Phil Murphy, a Democrat, last week allowed fans to participate in sports and entertainment events that began in March. Indoor venues with 5,000 or more seating capacity were allowed 10% capacity, meaning that 1,800 could take part in the games.
Varlamov was the difference, especially in the middle period when New York took three penalties and was outscored 16-5. The 32-year-old Russian was in perfect condition on all of them. He also closed all four plays in New Jersey.
Wahlstrom took a pass from Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Near his own blue line, the Devils skated all the way to the zone and fired a shot between defenseman Dmitry Kulikov’s legs 70 seconds into the period. It extended his point-scoring streak to five games (two goals, four assists).
Lee gave Dale a missed shot of his 10th of the season by former Devils captain Andy Green at 7:51.
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