NEWARK, N.J. _ 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.
Schneider, who still has not won in the NHL in more than a calendar year, made 27 saves for the last-place Devils (20-25-8) and denied Jordan Eberle, Mathew Barzal and Brock Nelson before Josh Bailey converted in the fourth round.
The Islanders, who improved to 3-5 in shootouts, swept the four-game season series from the Devils.
Still, the Islanders probably are a little concerned about their recent lack of production and failing to convert opportunities against the Devils despite Schneider's strong performance.
Scouts from nine teams were in the press box as the NHL's Feb. 25 trade deadline approaches. The last-place Devils made their first move on Wednesday, sending forward Brian Boyle to the Predators for a second-round pick.
Islanders president and general manager Lou Lamoriello has a history of being an aggressive trader in looking to improve his team's playoff chances and he may be considering whether to bolster the team's offensive or power-play production.
"We're just doing our own business," Trotz said. "We just worry about ourselves. From a trade standpoint, that's Lou and all the scouts."
The Islanders went 0 for 4 on the man advantage on Thursday and are 1 for 17 in their last five games, including 1 for 5 in Tuesday night's 3-1 loss at Boston. Of course, the Islanders killed off all three of the Devils' power plays.
The Islanders played one forward short after fourth-liner Cal Clutterbuck exited at 5:50 of the second period, after taking a five-second shift. Rookie Michael Dal Colle, elevated to the top-six forwards on Mathew Barzal's line with Josh Bailey while struggling Anthony Beauvillier was dropped to Valtteri Filppula's third line with Leo Komarov, took Clutterbuck's spot on the second power-play unit.
But Schneider, who has not won since Dec. 27, 2017, was making his first NHL appearance since Dec. 14 after missing time with an abdominal strain and a conditioning stint at Binghamton (AHL). But even that did not go well. In five games, Schneider had a bloated 3.70 goals-against average and a sub-par .854 save percentage.
Schneider looked sharp from the onset with an early right-pad save on defenseman Johnny Boychuk in the first period, and then a subsequent stop on Barzal at the crease. In the second period, Schneider smothered captain Anders Lee's power-play chance at the crease. And at 10:30 of the third period, Schneider reached back with his glove to stop defenseman Scott Mayfield's shot from the point. He also robbed Beauvillier in the waning moments of regulation and Barzal at the buzzer.
Under heavy pressure in the three-on-three overtime, Schneider gloved Bailey's wrist shot at 1:43.
Barzal, coming out of the penalty box and sprung for a breakaway by defenseman Ryan Pulock, did tie the score at 1-1 with a backhander at 13:42 of the first period.
Kevin Rooney, being fed on an odd-man rush by Kurtis Gabriel, snapped a shot over Greiss' glove from the left circle to put the Devils ahead 1-0 at 5:32 of the first period.
