After a wild home loss to the Islanders on Thursday which was followed by a beatdown in Pittsburgh yesterday, the Devils changed the script on Long Island this afternoon.  For one, Johan Hedberg was in goal for the Devils’ third matchup against the Islanders after Martin Brodeur had started the first two.  Also, Mark Fayne was back in the lineup after missing two games with an arm injury – with Henrik Tallinder sitting this one out as a healthy scratch.  Finally (and I do mean finally), Bobby Butler was called up as the Devils’ latest ‘tryout’ up front after putting up a team-leading sixteen goals for Albany in the AHL.

For a day, the changes worked as the Devils finally got off the schneid, winning their first game in five tries by  shutting out the Islanders 3-0.  Of course, that score was extremely misleading as the game was still 0-0 with under four minutes remaining thanks to stellar goaltending in both nets, from Moose and Evgeni Nabokov – who’s career has been reborn on Long Island.  Despite a mostly frustrating afternoon (starting with a 7-3 edge in power plays for the Islanders), the Devils stuck with it and eventually were finally able to break through on their power play with 3:54 remaining when Steve Bernier scored the first of his two(!) goals.  Bernier’s second goal, on his next shift seventy seconds later gave the Devils some breathing room and David Clarkson‘s empty-netter finished it off for good with twenty-two seconds left.

Clearly this game was a lot different than Thursday’s shootout at the Rock, and the main reason why was again special teams.  This time, the Devils penalty kill did the job with their best defenseman (Fayne) back in the fold, allowing only seven shots on net in seven different power plays spanning 11:30.  Other than a phantom call on Adam Larsson in the second period, you couldn’t really question many of the calls on the Devils but it did seem like the Isles were getting the benefit of the doubt on non-calls.  To such an extent that Nabokov erroneously went to the bench during the third period when the ref held his arm up in the air…to signal a Islander penalty this time, after several straight calls had gone against us.

Then again with the way our power play has looked lately, I didn’t really want to see it much anyway.  Our first power play was cut short early in the first period when a lazy blind pass by Ilya Kovalchuk went to – who else? – Michael Grabner, and Andy Greene wisely chopped him down before he could begin one of his patented breakaways.  Our next power play came early in the third period, and it nearly proved disasterous, as again a blind Kovalchuk cross-ice pass went onto the stick of Grabner…and this time there was nobody between him and Hedberg.  Fortunately, Moose stayed with Grabner and made a lunging pad save to foil yet another breakaway chance by the pesky Islander forward.  That was merely the best save on a night where Moose put together a highlight reel, including another fine save on John Tavares after he deked around Bryce Salvador and got a quality chance in the slot.

At least the Devils did keep the shot total down – only allowing twenty-two despite all the power play time from the Islanders.  Give the penalty kill the nod today for stepping it up, and completely turning things around from Thursday night, when the Isles’ 3-4 in power play efficiency was the difference.  This time, their 0-7 was the difference in a more positive way for New Jersey.  Irony of ironies, it was the power play that would finally step up and break the deadlock late in the third period (and even more ironic that it was a bad call on Brian Strait that would give us the decisive PP, after some far more egreious Islander offenses went unpunished earlier).

As Chico (or Steve, can’t remember which) noted at the start of the power play, this was a similar situation to Thursday night with it being a tie game late, and a Devils’ PP giving them a chance to get a huge regulation win.  For the longest time, it looked like this would be yet another fruitless power play, with the only good news being that Kovalchuk didn’t throw the puck away this time.  However, lightning finally struck with just seconds remaining on the man advantage when Greene’s shot deflected off the stick of Adam Henrique, and right to Bernier, who stuffed the puck in just inside the right post.  Finally, someone put the puck on net during the power play and it paid dividends, will wonders never cease?

Fortunately there would be no dramatic finish as Bernier scored yet again on his next shift – this time with familiar linemates Ryan Carter and Stephen Gionta getting the assists on his second goal.  Somewhat surprisingly he wasn’t out there at the end to try and get a hat trick into the empty net, but letting Moose keep his shutout was paramount, and that he did.  Though every game’s been competitive to the final buzzer, the Devils have managed to take five of a possible six points from the three games with the Isles this year, with two more matchups left this season (on Long Island on the 16th this month, and at the Rock on April 1).

However, now attention will shift to the Devils’ next game – against that other New York team on Tuesday.  I’m sure Derek will have more on the Conference Finals rematch but little really needs to be said at this point.  You know it will be Brodeur and Henrik Lundqvist in net, you know Devils fans are going to go crazy with ‘Henrique!’ chants, and you know it’ll be testy between the players…maybe even the coaches too.  Both teams have had their struggles on this young season, but the Rangers got back to .500 last night with a win in Tampa Bay, while the Devils have nine points in seven games despite their four straight losses before this afternoon’s game.