NEWARK, N.Y. – Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s hat trick backed goalie Cory Schneider’s solid effort in his first NHL appearance since March 6, 2020 as the Islanders won a season-high fourth straight game by beating his former team, the Devils, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon at Prudential Center.
The hat trick was the fourth of Pageau’s career, his second in the regular season and his first for the Islanders (32-27-9). He also added an assist, setting up ex-Devil Kyle Palmieri’s wrister to make it 4-2 at 14:53 of the third period.
Schneider made 27 saves while Nico Daws stopped 25 shots for the Devils (24-39-6), who are in a 1-4-1 slide and blew a four-goal lead entering the third period of Saturday’s 7-6 overtime loss to the visiting Panthers.
Nico Hischier cut the Islanders’ lead to one off a rebound at 18:54 of the third period with Daws off for an extra skater.
Schneider was brought up from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport after Ilya Sorokin (upper body) was injured in a 4-1 loss to the Lightning on March 27 at UBS Arena. The 36-year-old is on his second, one-year contract with the Islanders after the Devils bought out the final two seasons of his seven-year, $42 million deal.
Current Islanders president and general manager Lou Lamoriello signed Schneider to that mega-deal as Devils’ boss on July 9, 2014, a little more than a year after acquiring him from the Canucks in a draft day trade.
Schneider spent four seasons and entered a fifth as the Devils’ No. 1 goalie as the organization transitioned from Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur. But repeated hip and groin injuries sidetracked his career.
This season, he is 10-10-3 with a 2.68 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage for Bridgeport. In his last NHL appearance, he made 31 saves for the Devils in a 4-2 win over the visiting Blues.
Schneider made six saves in the opening 1:49 of the third period, stopping Hischier from the slow slot, then gloving hard shots by Tomas Tatar and Janne Kuokkanen.
But Tatar pulled the Devils within 3-2 at 5:32 of the third period as he beat Schneider over his glove from the low slot.
Pageau opened the scoring at 11:56 of the first period, taking a feed from Palmieri on a transition rush after the Devils turned the puck over in the neutral zone. Defenseman Adam Pelech had the secondary assist to notch his 100th career point.
Pageau’s power-play goal at 14:00 of the first period made it 2-0 as he got to the crease to pop in the puck after Anders Lee directed it there.
He completed his natural hat trick by shoveling in Pelech’s feed from the corner to make it 3-0 at 14:58 of the second period.
His last hat trick also came at Prudential Center in a 4-2 win for the Senators on Nov. 13, 2019.
Jesper Boqvist, deflecting defenseman Damon Severson’s shot from the right point, finally beat Schneider on the Devils’ 15th shot at 15:45 of the second period to cut the Islanders’ lead to 3-1.
