Yann Danis, making his second start of the season for New Jersey, finished with 23 saves against his former team, as the Devils edged the New York Islanders, 2-1, in an Atlantic Division battle at Prudential Center.
Cory Murphy and Brian Rolston lit the lamp for the Devils, who have won four straight and welcomed Patrik Elias back to the lineup.
"Danis played a strong game for us," Rolston said.
Elias, the franchise's all-time leading scorer, missed the first 13 games of the 2009-10 campaign while recovering from offseason groin surgery.
Frans Nielsen provided the lone goal for the Islanders, who have dropped two straight on the heels of a four-game win streak. Martin Biron stopped 29 of the 31 shots he faced in defeat.
New York opened the scoring at 6:23 of the first period. Sean Bergenheim stripped New Jersey rookie Nicklas Bergfors of the puck along the left-wing boards in the Devils' zone and quickly whipped a pass to the slot for Nielsen, who beat Danis on the backhand.
"We didn't allow ourselves to build off the momentum of scoring that (first- period) goal," said Islanders head coach Scott Gordon. "In the second period, we weren't efficient on our forecheck and we took penalties."
Murphy's drive from the right point slid between the legs of Biron, tying the game at 2:38 of the middle stanza. Rolston gave New Jersey the lead when he fired a slap shot from atop the right circle past the New York netminder with 6:20 to go in the second and Islanders rearguard Andy Sutton serving a hooking penalty.
New York generated eight shots in the final 20 minutes, but couldn't come up with an equalizer.
Game Notes
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