New Jersey Devils 6, New York Islanders 1: Jaromir Jagr scores 700th NHL goal

Holy cow that was horrible.

The New York Islanders played an even first period with the New Jersey Devils, conceding only on a Devils power play scrum around Evgeni Nabokov to reach the first intermission down 1-0. If Mike Halmo had been able to cash in on either of two golden chances for his first NHL goal, it might have been different. But Martin Brodeur found the fountain of youth for the only period where the Isles forced him to work.

The final score was 6-1, and it looked every bit that bad.

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Things got ugly early in the second period. The Devils reeled off three goals within a 4:24 span -- the Isles got one back in between -- and that was the end of all that. Nabokov was no help on, well, any of those goals, but the Isles effort and coverage lagged with each additional wound.

The lone highlight: Jaromir Jagr scored his 700th regular season NHL goal, a nice milestone for a longtime star show spent three years in the KHL and has 19 goals to lead the Devils at age 42.

I'm sure there was other stuff -- the top line had two decent shifts of pressure, one producing Kyle Okposo's goal on a redirect of a Thomas Vanek shot -- but it's hardly worth going into. The Isles were down 4-1 in the second while the shots were still just 12-12.

Travis Hamonic was one of the few members to show life after the game got out of hand, engaging in two stick-up-for-the-guys fights. The second was when he went after Ryan Carter after Carter needlessly took a run at Andrew MacDonald while MacDonald was already tied up with another Devil.

While on the warpath, Hamonic apparently tied a franchise record (Micheal Haley) for most PIM in a third period. However, because he instigated a "fight" in the final five minutes of play, he may get a one-game suspension.

Otherwise, they took poor penalties, the failed to kill the resulting power plays, and -- broken record here -- their goalie was in no way capable of bailing them out.

Anders Nilsson -- called up today in a Bridgeport swap for Kevin Poulin -- came in relief for the third period. He gave up one goal, on a 5-on-3 in the final minute of play.

The Isles will try, presumably, again tomorrow afternoon against the Panthers.

Idle Broadcaster Time

With the score out of hand, Butch Goring and Howie Rose were entertaining with random tales from the past, from Billy Smith to Denis Potvin. (That sentence sounds sad, but what else are you gonna do in a blowout?)

The best may have been Goring describing how once upon a time, you wouldn't dream of battling near the net to score around the net during a power play while leading 5-1 late in the third.

"That's when I say you two-hand the son of a gun," Goring said.

Maybe you had to be there. Hopefully you weren't.

Game Highlights