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NEWARK Adidas Calvin De Haan Jersey , N.J. (AP) Maybe the New Jersey Devils should retire more numbers. Every time they do it, they win.Kyle Palmieri scored two third-period goals and the Devils opened some daylight on the New York Islanders in the race for a wild-card playoff berth and made those attending Patrik Elias’ jersey retirement go home happy with a 2-1 victory Saturday night.”Actually I saw a stat … tweeted out that we were undefeated so we had to keep that going,” Palmieri said after leading the Devils’ comeback. ”It was cool. It was a pretty cool event any time you’re a part of this. I’ve been in a couple of ceremonies in the past and it’s cool to celebrate the guys you grew up watching.”Taylor Hall extended his NHL-best points streak to 14 games with two assists, and Keith Kinkaid made 30 saves as the Devils maintained a five-point lead over Columbus in the race for the top wild-card spot, and increased their lead over the ninth-place Islanders to seven points.The win snapped a two-game losing streak and gave New Jersey a 5-0 record in games in which they retire a jersey number.Elias was the team’s career scoring leader and a two-time Stanley Cup champion.Jordan Eberle scored in the second period for the Islanders. Jaroslav Halak was outstanding, making 31 saves for New York, which has lost three straight (0-2-1).Islanders forward Andrew Ladd said this was a tough game to lose. It marked the second time this week New York had a lead after two periods and lost.”Absolutely, especially a third-period loss,” Ladd said. ”It’s deflating. We had a real opportunity to start moving up. You give up a game like that and it knocks you back a little bit. It’s frustrating. I don’t know any other way to say it. We have to find a way to pick ourselves up and keep going.”Palmeri got his inner with 8:49 to play Adidas Michael Ferland Jersey , when he redirected Sami Vatanen’s shot from the right point past Halakpoin. It was his 16th goal of the season and came from the goaltender’s crease.The Devils survived a late Islanders’ power play and a hard shot by Eberle in the closing minute with the New York net empty.”It was huge game,” Kinkaid said. ”Lots of blocks and we didn’t give up much. That’s playoff hockey right there. Pucks didn’t get to the net and credit to all our guys who sacrificed their bodies out there. When it did go through I had to do my best to make a big save when possible.”Palmieri tied it at 1 with 13:25 left with a shot into the upper corner of the net from low in the left circle. Hall had nudged the puck to him near the Devils blue line and Palmieri skated up the ice before ripping a shot for his 15th goal.The Islanders had taken the lead early in the second period when Eberle capped a tic-tac-toe 3-on-2 rush by tapping Anthony Beauvillier’s pass into an open net for his 22nd goal. Rookie Matthew Barzal picked up his 49th assist of the season on the play.Islander coach Doug Weight said his team had chances to go up 2-0 and failed to capitalize.”It’s tough way to lose,” Weight said. ”We have to find a way to get results. We have to keep digging. We are still in the neighborhood. It’s a real humbling, tough loss.”NOTES: The Islanders acquired defenseman Brandon Davidson from Edmonton for a third-round pick in the 2019 draft earlier in the day. … The Devils sent F Blake Pietila to Binghamton (AHL). … Michael Grabner, who was acquired from the Rangers on Thursday night, played his first game for New Jersey and wore No. 40 F Blake Coleman gave Grabner the number and switched to No. 20. … New Jersey is 2-0-1 against the Islanders this season.UP NEXTIslanders: At Montreal on Thursday night.Devils: At Pittsburgh on Tuesday night— LAS VEGAS (AP) When Braden Holtby took some time off in February, playing in only nine of the Washington Capitals‘ 14 games, he finally had a chance to reflect on aspects of his game.It might seem easy to say being benched in favor of Philipp Grubauer for the first two games of the postseason ignited Holtby’s standout playoff run. But he credits his midseason reprieve for a revival that pushed him and Washington into the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights. Game 1 in Monday night.”It was great to just have a break in February where I could really analyze myself in a game, go to work Adidas Jordan Schroeder Jersey , kind of get back to those roots and just working as hard as I possibly can to figure out different things of myself and the game,” Holtby said. ”This year I think is one of those years where I’ve learned more and soaked in more knowledge than previous years.”The 28-year-old veteran enters the Final with a 12-6 playoff mark, a 2.04 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage. The Capitals haven’t allowed a goal in 159 minutes, 27 seconds, since Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against Tampa Bay – including 157:13 with Holtby on the ice.Several key members of the Golden Knights are no strangers to Holtby, including general manager George McPhee, goalie coach Dave Prior and defenseman Nate Schmidt, a trio that have been a part of the Capitals organization during their careers. It was Prior who recommended McPhee and company draft Holtby in 2008, when the Capitals made him the second pick of the fourth round (and the 10th goalie taken in the draft).Holtby said Prior Adidas Chris Kunitz Jersey , who has helped Vegas goalie and three-time Stanley Cup champion Marc-Andre Fleury improve aspects of his game this season, taught him ways to analyze his game he would have never thought of.”He’s obviously one of the best, he helped me a ton,” Holtby said. ”He taught me how to practice correctly, how to really analyze my game honestly and grow in different ways. Before, as a young kid, I just thought if you could just work as hard as you can, that’s how you get better. But there’s strategic ways and he was awesome, very calm Adidas Brandon Manning Jersey , very unbiased watching games.”Schmidt said a common comparison between Holtby and Fleury is easy to see.”Both guys are very athletic,” Schmidt said. ”That’s something I knew about Fleury a little bit, and it’s caused a lot of heartache to me over the years. You see that kind of thing with guys who are never out of a save. That’s what makes both of them special players.”Holtby’s regular-season numbers (2.99 GAA, .907 save percentage) are a career worst. He said taking time to focus on things he never was able to do during a regular season has helped ease his mind and relieve certain pressures he was putting on himself during games.”Obviously throughout my career of hockey playing, you know that putting too much pressure on yourself and doing too much is never that good,” Holtby said. ”And I got caught up trying to do too much, and it never works too well, and it ended up snowballing.”Snowballing to the tune of him allowing four or more goals in eight of the 16 games he played during January and February. But over his last eight regular-season appearances in March, he finished 6-2 and never allowed more than three goals. He’s allowed three or fewer goals in 17 of the 18 playoff games he’s played in.”I’ve learned a lot of valuable things about myself Adidas Cam Ward Jersey , about the way hockey is now, it’s changed,” Holtby said. ”You have to play a little different than in the past with the speed and the way the game is mostly all about offense now. It’s different that way and I think that was one thing I had to learn.”—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals