The Upshot: Penalty kill fails NY Islanders in 5-4 OT loss to the NJ Devils

HOW IT HAPPENED

Jack Hughes scored his second goal of the game 2:19 into overtime to lift the New Jersey Devils to a 5-4 win over the New York Islanders in a thrilling game at UBS Arena on Friday night. Bo Horvat scored twice for the Isles, including a goal at 18:49 of the third to send the game into OT. Brock Nelson also scored twice for the Islanders, who are 2-0-1 on the season. The Devils scored four power-play goals, including the firsts of the season for Tyler Toffoli and Luke Hughes. Ilya Sorokin made 34 saves for the Isles, and Akira Schmid had 28 stops for New Jersey in the win.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Ilya Sorokin made his first and second save of the year candidate, but we'll get to that later. Brock Nelson continues to be the most reliable scorer on the team, with two more goals. It's now a surprise when he doesn't score when given time and space with his wrist shot. Meanwhile, his line with Kyle Palmieri and Pierre Engvall continues to perform at a high level.

Bo Horvat had nine multi-goal games last season but none in the 30 games that he played with the Islanders. Horvat scored from a bad angle to tie the game at 3-3 and then did it again at 18:49 of the third period to force overtime and secure a point.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Hmm... let me think, the penalty kill? The Islanders allowed four power-play goals, the first time they've done that since March 1st, 2014, also versus the New Jersey Devils. In that game, Jaromir Jagr notably scored his 700th career goal at even-strength in a 6-1 win at the Nassau Coliseum.

The Devils are now a scorching 9-for-21 on the power play this season. You know for certain that not taking bad penalties was a point of emphasis ahead of the game; it had to be, but the team took careless and unnecessary penalties that were the difference.

"It's extremely disappointing, said head coach Lane Lambert after the game. "We had a couple of missed assignments, and that's all it takes, that one split-second."

STATS OF THE GAME

Per NHL PR, Jack Hughes and Luke Hughes became the first pair of brothers to score in the same game for the Devils. Only two other pairs of brothers have scored in the same game for the same team since 2017-18: Eric Staal and Marc Staal on Feb. 20, 2023 (w/ FLA) as well as Seth Jones and Caleb Jones on Feb. 10, 2023 (w/ CHI).

SOCIAL MEDIA MOMENT OF THE GAME

There were multiple Ilya Sorokin saves that had social media talking on Friday night. His out-stretched left pad save on Nathan Bastian kept the game tied at 3-3 in the third period, but it may not have been as good as this glove save on Jack Hughes in the first period. Wow.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Islanders are back on the ice on Saturday for their first road game of the season when they visit the Buffalo Sabres. Face-off is set for 7:00PM EDT.