NEWARK, N.J. — Life without captain Anders Lee will not be easy for the Islanders.
But injuries bring opportunities, and Kieffer Bellows made the most of his as the rookie played for the first time in nearly a month.
Bellows scored twice within three minutes, 11 seconds in the third period, energizing the Islanders after two sluggish periods to a 3-2 win over the Devils on Saturday night at Prudential Center.
The East Division-leading Islanders (18-6-4) started a three-game road trip, which includes Sunday’s late matinee against the Devils to conclude a three-game series, by extending their winning streak to eight. The Islanders are also on a 10-0-1 run.
Lee is out for an indefinite period after injuring his right leg when Pavel Zacha fell over it in the first period of Thursday’s 5-3 win over the Devils at Nassau Coliseum. Saturday snapped Lee’s ironman streak at 295 straight games dating to Jan. 24, 2017, the eighth longest streak in the NHL and the third-longest in Islanders’ history.
"He’s the head of the snake when he’s in," Cal Clutterbuck said. "But there’s a lot of experience here, guys who know how to handle situations. We’ve got a pretty good core group of guys that know what’s up, so we’ll try to pick up the slack without him."
Bellows was coach Barry Trotz’s choice to insert for Lee, both on Barzal’s left wing along with Jordan Eberle as well as the net-front presence on the first power-play unit.
He tied the game at 2 at 1:59 of the third period, snaking a pass to Barzal over the Devils’ blue line, then getting a drop pass back and blistering a shot past Mackenzie Blackwood (26 saves) from the slot.
Bellows then gave the Islanders their first lead at 5:10, skating toward the crease from the right wall, shielding the puck from Nathan Bastian before shifting the puck to his forehand and slipping it around Blackwood.
For Bellows, the 19th overall pick in 2016, it was his ninth game this season but his first since Feb. 18. And Bellows played just 7:47 in that 4-1 loss in Pittsburgh and Trotz was blunt at that time in his assessment that concerns about his defensive play were the issue.
But promoting Bellows from the taxi squad achieved Trotz’s stated desire to not tinker with his other three lines.
"You’re not going to replace Anders Lee, he’s a very unique player," Trotz said. "He’s a leader. We’ve done everything by committee for the most part. It will take a village to fill a void. We have the group that’s willing to do that and can do that."
Still, the Islanders looked disjointed and off their game until Bellows started scoring.
They were outshot, 18-9, in a second period despite two power plays. But the Islanders were too stagnant on the man advantages, allowing the Devils to clog the shooting lanes. In all, the Islanders were 0 for 4 on the power play, though they did kill off all three of the Devils’ chances.
Janne Kuokkanen gave the Devils early momentum in the second period, diving to push the puck past Semyon Varlamov (26 saves) at the right post at 1:04 after Yegor Sharangovich’s initial shot bounced off the crossbar.
Zacha had given the Devils a 1-0 lead at 6:37 of the first period on a long wrister past Varlamov’s blocker. The shaky goal came just 49 seconds after the Islanders completed their first power play, which yielded five strong shots.
Rookie Oliver Wahlstrom tied the game at 1 at 17:58, skating up ice into the slot and unleashing a hard wrist shot.