Live post: Devils defeat Islanders 4-2

The Devils defeated the Islanders 4-2 in tonight's preseason game at Prudential Center.

The Devils finish the preseason with a 4-0-1 record.

Travis Zajac snapped a 2-2 tie with 2:01 left in the second period by taking a feed from Zach Parise behind the net and whipping a one-timer from the right circle inside the left post.

Brendan Shahanan made it 4-2 by scoring on one-timer from the left circle at 12:03 of the third. Rookie Niclas Bergfors assisted, giving him one goal, four assists in the preseason.

The Islanders held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 on power-play goals from Jack Hillen and Mark Streit (5-on-3).

Hillen took a wrist shot from the top of the left circle that went through Sean Bergenheim's screen in front and beat Martin Brodeur between the pads for a power-play goal 1:12 into the second period.

Parise tied it at 5:33 by swatting a Jamie Langenbrunner rebound between Dwayne Roloson's pads at 5:33.

But Steit scored on two-man advantage at 10:18. With Johnny Oduya off for crosschecking and Rob Niedermayer off for high sticking, Streit beat Martin Brodeur to the stick side with a slap shot from the right point.

Brian Rolston tied it again with a power-play goal at 14:21. Rolston went around defenseman Radek Martinek in the left circle and beat Roloson between the pads.

The Devils held a 17-13 advantage in shots on goal after two periods.

{Follow this blog on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TGfireandice}

The Devils outshot the Islanders, 7-5, in the opening perod.

Devils coach Jacques Lemaire made one more line alteration, putting Niclas Bergfors with Dainius Zubrus and Brendan Shanahan. We'll have to see if he sticks with that during the game.

Rob Niedermayer is centering Brian Rolston and David Clarkson.

Andrew Peters fought Joel Rechlicz 5:03 into the game. Rechlicz appeared to lose his balance and dropped to his knees only a few punches into the bout.

Bryce Salvador downed Jeremy Reich with a series of overhand rights in their fight at 8:56.

Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond fought Rechlicz with 4:58 left. Rechlicz picked up a two-minute instigator and 10-minute misconduct. Leblond won a close bout in which both players landed a couple of good punches. Leblond knocked off Rechlicz's helmet with one right.

It's the final preseason game for both teams. The Devils are 3-0-1 so far in the preseason.

Martin Brodeur started in net for the Devils and is expected to play the full game as his final tune-up for Saturday's regular season opener against Philadelphia. Dwayne Roloson started in net for the Islanders.

Center Rob Niedermayer is making his first appearance for the Devils after signing with the team on Friday.

Center John Tavares, the No. 1 pick oveall in June, is playing for the Islanders.

Here were the starting lineups

DEVILS

Forwards: Niclas Bergfors-Danius Zubrus-Brendan Shanahan; Defensemen: Colin White-Mike Mottau. Goaltender: Martin Brodeur.

ISLANDERS

Forwards: Trevor-Smith-Greg Moore-Blake Comeau. Defensemen: Mark Streit-Radek Martinek. Goaltender: Dwayne Roloson.

Although Lemaire said around 5 p.m. that he didn't know if right wing Matt Halischuk would tonight, but that he would take warm-ups, Halischuk did not participate in warm-ups and is not playing, which was the original plan.

Lemaire appears to have made one alteration to his line combinations, though. In warm-ups, Brendan Shanahan is skating at right wing on the line with Brian Rolston at left wing and Dainius Zubrus at center. David Clarkson, who played with Zubrus and Rolston on Saturday against the Flyers, is skating on a line with rookie Niclas Bergfors at left wing and Niedermayer at center.

Here's the full Devils' lineup with line combinations and defense pairings.

Forwards: Zach Parise-Travis Zajac-Jamie Langenbrunner; Brian Rolston-Dainius Zubrus-Brendan Shanahan; Niclas Bergfors-Rob Niedermayer-David Clarkson; PLL Leblond-Rod Pelley-Andrew Peters.

Defensemen: Johnny Oduya-Paul Martin; Colin White-Mike Mottau; Bryce Salvador-Cory Murphy.

Goaltenders: Martin Brodeur (full game); Yann Danis (backup).

Comments

[slivedmb]

that line with clarkson will be great along the boards. all three of them can pass it to the open man so i have high hopes for that line, even if its not a regular season one.

[slivedmb]

anyone have the feed to listen to the game?

[Mark]

Is the game on the radio?

[RandomHero]

Has Bergfors been given a chance to play on the 2nd line yet?

[iamtheprodigy]

I believe TG said that the game will be on wfan.com and the Devil's site.

[TG]

It is on www.wfan.com and www.newjerseydevils.com.

[slivedmb]

the mets game is on...i went to the devils site and wfan.com. that blows if its not on the radio either.

[NJromano]

i was just reading on the devils site that bergfors has 4 pts in 4 games.. an also murpghy has 3 pts in 4 games... sounds sweet

[Craigwell]

I've been previously surprised that there wasn't much buzz about Halischuk. Mind you, I'm Canadian and was stoked when he scored that goal at the WJC, and was saying to my buds "He's Devil's property!".

When I didn't hear much buzz about him here, and otherwise in Devils media-related content - I just assumed he was still young and needed more work.

Nice to see he's still around. We gotta get more Canadians back on the Devils Roster.

Have any of you considered that possibility, that the team hasn't gotten out of the first two rounds since we reached the 50% american player tipping point?

:-D

[RandomHero]

The game should be on wfan.com at 7.

[slivedmb]

it said mets from 6 45 til 10, but im keeping my fingers crossed.

[NeilS]

Go to www.wfan.com and click on Program Guide, then Streaming Schedule. It clearly says 6:25-7:05 Mets Pregame and then 7:05-10 Devils vs. Islanders, then 10-10:30 Mets Postgame.

[Puckster]

It's still the stupid Mets.

[Number6]

There's always the Islanders feed if WFAN doesn't change over *cringe*

[NeilS]

Forgot to add, the On Air schedule is what has the Mets game, not the web site.

[devilsfan]

OT - Forsbag is down with a stress fracture - shocking.

[slivedmb]

def the mets...howie rose at least so almost the isles game.

[tailfins]

hey TG - the link to this blog that you keep posting on Twitter is broken. http://www.northjersey.com/devilsblog resolves to a page not found

[Puckster]

YaY! It switched over.

[ClarksonFan23]

its on now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NeilS]

And what do you know, there's the Devils radio music and Matt Loughlin.

[slivedmb]

awesome you were right neilS.

[NeilS]

Of course I was. ;)

[Philly Devil]

The METS are still on...looked at the Devs site, have no idea where to click for the game..this sucks...HELP!!

[Philly Devil]

Cool...thank God.