Ondrej Palat scores twice to lead Devils past Islanders

Ondrej Palat scored twice and Mackenzie Blackwood made 16 saves while carrying a shutout deep into the third period Thursday night for the visiting New Jersey Devils, who beat the New York Islanders 4-1 in Elmont, N.Y.

Jack Hughes opened the scoring in the second and Nico Hischier scored an empty-netter in the final minute of the third for the Devils, who outshot the Islanders 42-17 and have won two straight after dropping their first two games.

Blackwood stopped the Islanders' first 15 shots before Anders Lee put back his own rebound with 3:16 left.

Ilya Sorokin made 39 saves for the Islanders, who scored a combined 12 goals in winning their previous two games. New York finished 2-2-0 on a season-opening four-game homestand.

The teams were scoreless after one period. The Devils finally broke through 95 seconds into the middle period. Damon Severson picked up a loose puck at the faceoff circle near the New Jersey net and fired a pass through the zones to Hughes, who collected the puck in stride at the Islanders' blue line. Hughes, who had a step on defenseman Robin Salo, dashed toward the net as defenseman Alexander Romanov hit him with his stick and shuffled the puck before beating Sorokin with the backhand.

New Jersey doubled its lead a little under seven minutes later following a chaotic sequence behind the Islanders' net. Jasper Bratt fired a shot off the side of the net and Brock Nelson briefly had possession but Hischier got a stick on the puck and dished to Bratt in the middle of a faceoff circle. Bratt immediately passed to Palat, whose shot sailed past Sorokin's glove at the 8:09 mark.

The Devils dominated the early portion of the third period, when they recorded the first seven shots before Blackwood stopped Kyle Palmieri at 6:31.

Palat added an insurance goal with 4:32 left before Lee ended the shutout bid.