Jack Hughes also had an assist, Luke Evangelista had a goal and an assist, and Dougie Hamilton, Evan Rodrigues and Declan Chisholm scored for the Devils (12-5-0) who have won four straight games and 10 of their past 12. Jake Allen made 19 saves.
“I had confidence that our guys weren’t going to go away,” Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Whether you’re going to be able to score the necessary goals to come back is another story, but I knew that our guys were going to keep playing. I loved our game tonight. I loved our game from start to finish. So we didn’t have the lead, and we were chasing it a little bit. There’s some plays around our netfront that we have to do a better job of. But our guys played hard tonight. That was a hard game. Our guys didn’t go away, so I loved it.”
Simon Holmstrom had a goal and an assist, and Schaefer, Victor Eklund and Anthony Duclair scored for the Islanders (7-6-3), who have lost three straight. Bo Horvat had two assists and Sorokin made 45 saves.
“I thought Sorokin was absolutely outstanding,” Islanders coach Pete DeBoer said. “That was by far his best game for us all year. He gave us a chance. I’m not making any comments on the refereeing calls, so don’t ask. Other than that, it’s a point. You got to put points in the bank all kinds of different ways. So did we deserve two tonight? Probably not. Our goalie … but your goalie’s part of your team, and he was our best player tonight.”
Duclair beat Allen low blocker side from atop the crease at 15:06 of the first period to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead. Holmstrom chased down a loose puck below the goal line and passed to Duclair cutting into the low slot.
Rodrigues tied the game 1-1 just 17 seconds later. Anthony Mantha sprung Rodrigues on a breakaway before he beat Sorokin glove side at 15:23.
Schaefer scored on his own rebound at the top of the crease to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead at 17:14. He scooped up the puck in the corner before cutting to the net.
