Devils Down the Islanders, 2-1 in AHL-Heavy Preseason Opener

Things started off a bit slowly for the Devils, despite the eventual favorable outcome. In the first period, they were outshot 12-6, only playing a bit over 10 minutes at five-on-five because of a myriad of penalties. In that period, there were two near-goals: one for each side. The first came off the stick of Cody Glass , who took a feed while cutting across the net and chipped it past Vitek Vanecek after Ethan Edwards was run through the post, which knocked the net off the moorings. While the officials conversed, the Devils were not awarded a goal nor a penalty, shortly after taking their third penalty of the period. In those six penalty killing minutes, the Devils allowed three shots and looked pretty decent, only giving up a couple of high-danger chances. Later in the period, David Rittich was scrambling around the crease and had a loose puck just about covered up when he was rammed and jammed with the puck into the net. As the Islanders began to celebrate (barreling over a linesman in the process), Rittich went chasing after the offenders, causing a bit of a scrum that led to a four-on-four sequence.

Late in that first period, though, Ethan Edwards took a hooking penalty on Calum Ritchie , which gave the Islanders a four-on-three at the start of the second period. With that power play, Cole Eiserman scored the first goal of the game. Rittich just got a bit stuck at the far post.

It would not take long for the Devils to tie the game. Ryan Schmelzer, captain of the Utica Comets, scored on a quick counterattack off a feed from Ben Steeves after a Devils power play had expired.