Two points and three days of rest were exactly what the Islanders needed for Christmas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That they got their best all-around effort in five games without Bo Horvat \u2014 and the hope is that their leading scorer returns when the Islanders return to action on Saturday against the Rangers \u2014 only made Adam Pelech\u2019s game-winning-goal and a 2-1 victory over the Devils in front of a sellout crowd feel even better.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve put good hockey together that\u2019s enticed people to come see it,\u201d said Anders Lee, who fed Pelech off the end boards for the winner with 1:15 left in regulation. \u201cWe got a lot of young talent. Some new blood and we\u2019re playing good hockey. So you put that combination together, people are wanting to come to the game it seems. It\u2019s making a big difference for us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was as much an all-around effort as the Islanders have produced all season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They got bodies around the net, two or three at a time. All four lines played well, with Mat Barzal and Cal Ritchie both having standout nights.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/202512231NYIVNJD03407RS.jpg\")
New York Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech (3) celebrates with his teammates after he scores the game-winning goal during the third period when the New York Islanders played the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, December 23, 2025 at UBS Arena in Elmont, NY. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
Jack Hughes, who has turned UBS Arena into a personal playground numerous times in the past, was held quiet. There was requisite intensity on the forecheck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And David Rittich \u2014 starting a second consecutive game with Ilya Sorokin dealing with a nagging issue, from which he\u2019s expected to return after Christmas \u2014 heard his name chanted by the UBS crowd amid a starring 31-save performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a really cool experience to have,\u201d Rittich said. \u201cHopefully I can hear it more and more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Islanders\u2019 only problem was that, aside from an unforced error leading to Simon Holmstrom\u2019s second-period goal, Devils netminder Jacob Markstrom was imperious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, despite a 10-2 edge on high-danger chances in the second, the Islanders had just a 1-1 tie to show for it heading into the final 20 minutes, with Brett Pesce\u2019s wrister having gotten New Jersey on the board at 15:35 of the first.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
That was how it continued for much of the third: The Islanders all over the Devils, the Islanders unable to score. Rittich, when called upon on odd-man rushes against Luke Glendening and Connor Brown, was every bit as good as Markstrom opposite him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was the rare 2-1 game that not only had no penalties from either team, but which could have been 5-4.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally, with 1:15 to go in regulation and overtime feeling inevitable, the Islanders got something to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Simon Holmstrom missed the net on what looked like a golden chance off the rush, Lee picked the puck off the end wall and fed Pelech, who promptly rifled it into the net for a 2-1 lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/202512231NYIVNJD01783RS.jpg\")
New York Islanders goaltender David Rittich (33) makes a save during the second period when the New York Islanders played the New Jersey Devils Tuesday, December 23, 2025 at UBS Arena in Elmont, NY. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
That was how it stayed after 75 seconds of frantic six-on-five play, vaulting the Islanders into the Metropolitan Division\u2019s top three over the holiday break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Islanders were quietly confident they had found something that worked in the second half of Saturday\u2019s 3-2 shootout loss to the Sabres. That was proven correct.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started doing that [traffic around the net] against Buffalo, that was part of the things we talked about,\u201d coach Patrick Roy said. \u201cI felt like our guys did a really good job attacking the net and having net presence.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With his Islanders sitting on 44 points through 37 games, far outpacing the expectations of 10 weeks ago, Roy also hinted at what the goal is over the next four months.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big difference in the standings if you\u2019re losing or winning that game,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think we\u2019re gonna look at the standings, pretty much, a lot until the end of the year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two points and three days of rest were exactly what the Islanders needed for Christmas.\u00a0 That they got…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[75615,4822,394,385,978,75620,99],"class_list":["post-367149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-adam-pelech","tag-new-jersey-devils","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-nhl","tag-ny-sports-minute","tag-simon-holmstrom","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}