The New Jersey Devils were the first NHL team this season to win back-to-back games.
On Thursday night, the New York Islanders finally ensured they would not be the last.
The Islanders will aim to build on their first winning streak of the season Saturday night when they host the Devils in a battle of longtime Metropolitan Division rivals in Elmont, N.Y.
Both teams were off Friday after earning wire-to-wire wins Thursday.
Anders Lee, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Oliver Wahlstrom scored over a span of fewer than seven minutes bridging the final two periods as the visiting Islanders beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-2. Jesper Bratt scored twice for the host Devils, who defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-3.
The win continued to build much-needed momentum for the Islanders, who have won three of four (3-1-0) since opening the season with seven losses in their first 10 games (3-5-2).
New York, which overcame a two-goal deficit Tuesday to edge the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in a shootout, was the last Eastern Conference team to win consecutive games. Only the Anaheim Ducks, whose 10 points are tied for the second-fewest in the NHL, have yet to win back-to-back contests.
The Islanders were aggressive on both ends of the ice Thursday. Lee capped a flurry in the Senators’ zone with the game’s first goal with 4:11 left in the second period. He then forced the turnover by Ottawa right winger Claude Giroux that led to Pageau’s semi-breakaway goal fewer than three minutes later.
Center Kyle MacLean picked off a pass by Senators goalie Anton Forsberg deep in the Ottawa zone to set up the goal 2:41 into the third by Wahlstrom, who became the first fourth-liner to score this season for the Islanders.
“Honestly, I think we’re just starting to kind of get rewarded for things we’ve been doing,” said Islanders center Bo Horvat, whose empty-netter iced the win with 10 seconds left. “We’re finally starting to get rewarded for playing well defensively and we’re starting to bury our chances. We’ve just got to keep that going.”
The Devils might be finding the momentum they established in October, when they traveled to Prague and swept the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL’s season-opening, back-to-back set.
New Jersey started 5-2-0 before losing four straight (0-2-2) from Oct. 19-25. But the Devils have won four of their last five, a stretch in which they’ve outscored the opposition 20-8.
The Devils, who lead the Eastern Conference with 58 goals, received impressive production Thursday from the second line of Bratt, Jack Hughes and Ondrej Palat. The trio combined for seven points after collecting a total of nine points in the previous four games.
New Jersey also is getting a lot out of new No. 1 goaltender in Jacob Markstrom as well as two-thirds of a new No. 3 line in Paul Cotter and Stefan Noesen.
“We have a new head coach (Sheldon Keefe), a whole new system and a lot of new players, so I don’t think this is the end result in November,” Hughes said. “But we’re continuing to get better and that’s the plan.”
