NEWARK – The overriding narrative to this Islanders’ season has been their marked defensive improvement, from the goalies on out.
Lately, the corollary to that has been their struggle to score goals.
The Metropolitan Division-leading Islanders scored one or under for the third time in four games despite coach Barry Trotz tweaking his lines in a 2-1, four-round shootout win over the Devils, who got a turn-back-the-clock performance from struggling goalie Cory Schneider on Thursday night at Prudential Center.
Both goalies were superb, with Thomas Greiss making 30 saves for the Islanders (31-16-6) and stopping Kyle Palmieri, Nico Hischier, Drew Stafford and Jesper Bratt in the shootout.