The Islanders were superb in the neutral zone. They defended with structure. They got a terrific effort from their backup netminder Rittich, who denied Artemi Panarin in alone on a breakaway in the second, stopped Carson Soucy on a penalty shot in the third and secured his second shutout of the season.

Adam Pelech broke a 1-1 deadlock with 1:15 to play and Simon Holmstrom (1G, 1A) scored for the Islanders while David Rittich turned aside 31 of 32 shots in the win. Brett Pesce scored the lone goal for New Jersey and Jacob Markstrom made 23 saves in the loss.

The Islanders, following through on a mandate to get more traffic to the crease, rallied to snap a three-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory over the Devils at a sold-out UBS Arena on Tuesday night with defenseman Adam Pelech netting the go-ahead goal at 18:45 of the third period.

Josh Norris got the deciding goal in the shootout and the Sabres beat the Islanders 3-2 on Saturday for their fifth straight win.

The Columbus Blue Jackets visit the Ottawa Senators on Monday night fresh off a come-from-behind victory and the winners of two straight.

Two teams at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings take the ice when the 13th-place Ottawa Senators (18-14-5) host the 16th-place Columbus Blue Jackets (16-15-6) at Canadian Tire Centre on Monday at 7 p.

David Rittich made 27 saves for his ninth career shutout, and the Islanders beat the Rangers 2-0 on Saturday night.