Recreation Story – Devils vs. Islanders – September 23, 2025 | New Jersey Devils – NHL.com

New Jersey take down the Islanders 6-2 of their second preseason sport.
NEWARK, NJ – The preseason lineups between the Devils and Islanders had been uneven, and so was the outcome on Tuesday evening.
New Jersey iced a roster near full NHL power, whereas the Islanders left most of their regulars out and it actually carried onto the scoreboard, because the Devils managed from begin to end in a 6-2 rout of the Islanders.
Dougie Hamilton opened the scoring for New Jersey and Nico Hischier scored his first of the preseason within the victory. Each Devils objectives courtesy of the primary energy play unit.
Connor Brown buried a cross-ice feed from Ondrej Palat within the second interval to present the Devils a 3-1 lead. Brown’s snapshot from atop the proper circle beat Marcus Hogberg earlier than Dawson Mercer’s first of the preseason made it a 4-1 rating for New Jersey.
Rookie defenseman Ethan Edwards buried his first preseason objective early within the third to make it 5-1, earlier than Evgenii Dadonov prolonged the lead with a power-play objective from his net-front positioning on the Devils sixth objective in opposition to the Islanders.
Emil Heineman scored for New York within the first interval, whereas Calum Ritchie added the Islanders’ second objective halfway by the third.
Hear from Dougie Hamilton, Connor Brown, Simon Nemec and Coach Keefe after the preseason win.
Listed here are some observations from the sport:
• There have been actually massive variations within the caliber of rosters each the Devils and Islanders iced on Tuesday evening, and it confirmed up significantly within the first interval. Jacob Markstrom, who was scheduled to play only a single interval, solely confronted his first shot of the sport with 4:04 left within the interval when the Islanders had been on the facility play. By that time, New Jersey had already constructed a 1-0 lead and a 15-0 shot benefit.
The ability play objective by Emil Heineman tied the sport at 1.
Markstrom’s evening ended, as deliberate earlier than the beginning of the sport, after the primary interval, later changed by Georgi Romanov.
• With a detailed to finish NHL lineup, the Devils had been capable of get in some work with their common energy play models, with the primary unit contributing two objectives (Hamilton, Hischier). The primary unit consisted of Hischier, Hamilton, Jack Hughes, Dawson Mercer, and Jesper Bratt, whereas the second unit included Simon Nemec, Ondrej Palat, Timo Meier, Arseny Gritsyuk, and Evgeni Dadonov.
In contrast to within the first preseason sport, Gritsyuk began his energy play alternative on the proper facet, the identical facet the place he scored his energy play objective late within the first sport in opposition to the Rangers. Within the first preseason sport, he started his man-advantage alternatives on the left, earlier than he was moved to the proper, the place he was capable of execute his one-timer with extra accuracy and confidence.
• The Devils third line of Ondrej Palat, Luke Glendening and Connor Brown is an intriguing one. Glendening is with New Jersey on a tryout, however has regarded like he is match into the Devils mould within the first two video games he is performed. Notably on Tuesday evening, with two fellow NHL veterans on his wings, the Glendening line supplied
• Tuesday evening was an evening of second alternatives for a few Devils who additionally suited up within the first preseason sport. Arseny Gritsyuk, Juho Lammikko, Luke Glendening, Brian Halonen, and Ethan Edwards are the 5 gamers who’ve now performed within the opening two video games.
Sheldon Keefe spoke on Tuesday morning in regards to the technique of giving gamers alternatives in coaching camp, whereas additionally being conscious of needing to slender down his group towards the latter half of the preseason to organize for the 12 months. The Devils have but to make any cuts at camp and can have their first off-day on Wednesday.
“I feel we’ll have some conversations,” Keefe mentioned on Tuesday morning. “Fitzy and the workers will make these selections. It is tough since you nonetheless want guys. You are not going to play everyone within the last two exhibition video games. It stays to be seen how we’ll handle that.”

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