The Upshot: NY Islanders bedeviled in final minutes; lose 4-3 in OT to New Jersey

HOW IT HAPPENED

Jack Hughes beat Ilya Sorokin on a breakaway 2:35 into overtime as the New Jersey Devils came back from down two goals in the third period and beat the New York Islanders 4-3 on Saturday Night at UBS Arena. Hughes, Dawson Mercer, and Stefan Noesen had the goals for New Jersey, and Jacob Markstrom had 19 saves in the win, the Devils' third straight. Simon Holmstrom scored a goal and assisted on Dennis Cholowski's goal, giving the Isles a one-goal lead, and Brock Nelson scored 1:56 later for the Isles. Ilya Sorokin finished with 29 saves in the loss that deprived him of his 100th career win between the pipes.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

The short-handed Islanders played another well-structured defensive game against a solid offensive team and were in a tight 1-1 game entering the third period. They have gotten enough offensive contributions in the four games without Mathew Barzal to remain competitive and put themselves in positions to win. Last night, Simon Holmstrom scored his second goal of the season and assisted on Dennis Cholowski's go-ahead goal. The Isles' seventh defenseman to start the season has the only two goals from an Islanders' defenseman this season.

"It's a good team we played against.," said Patrick Roy. "We managed to take a 3-1 and unfortunately, we could not score an empty netter. We need find a way to close those games."

WHAT WENT WRONG

For the second time this season, the Devils forced overtime against the Islanders in a game that they didn't hold a regulation lead in. "You know they're going have a push, you know they're gonna try and get back into it," Casey Cizikas said. "That tying goal is tough. He tried to throw a back door. We had it covered, and went off our d man's skate and in. Those things happen but they definitely hurt."

Noesen's crossing pass with under a minute left deflected off Grant Hutton's skate and past Sorokin to the game. Unlike in Ottawa, when an Islanders 3-0 led became 3-2 late in the third, the Islanders were unable to get the empty netter to seal the win, a seemingly never-ending trend that two coaches have no answer for it.

STATS OF THE GAME

Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, The Isles extended their franchise-record streak by winning the majority of draws for the 14th straight game. The Islanders won 30 of 54 face-offs against the Devils on Saturday night. It is only the 15th time in the real-time era that a team has had a streak of at least that length; only nine could extend it to fifteen games.

SOCIAL MEDIA MOMENT OF THE GAME

Sorokin was beaten by Hughes twice, but he also made the save of the night, stopping the Devils' star with the right pad

WHAT'S NEXT

The Islanders head out west for a five-game Western Canada (and Seattle) road trip. The trip starts against the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night with face-off scheduled for 9:00PM EDT.