A careless high-sticking double minor by Islander Jeremy Colliton put the Devils on the power play with 54 seconds left in what had been a scoreless second period. It didn’t stay scoreless for long as defenseman Anssi Salmela threaded a cross-ice pass to Zach Parise in the low right circle. The Islanders-killer scored his second goal in as many exhibition games against them this week with a sharply angled shot inside the near post to tie the game at 2 at 19:33.
Isles goaltender Yann Danis had no time to get across to stop it. Danis played very well in the period, making two acrobatic saves on point-blank shots by the Devils’ Brian Gionta. But Colliton’s high stick was the Islanders’ third penalty of the period, and that proved one too many.
Earlier in the period, Isles center Mike Comrie made a terrific diagonal pass to Bruno Gervais left of Devils netminder Kevin Weekes, but Gervais couldn’t connect. Comrie, however, did connect a few minutes later in a flyweight bout with Gionta. It was even until Comrie came down the pipe with a right to Gionta’s face that doubled him over. But that punch was about the sum of the offense generated by the Isles, who managed only six shots in the period.
The Devils will begin the third period with a two-man advantage for 1:34 because Islanders defenseman Chris Lee was called for slashing at 19:46 with Colliton still in the box for his double minor.