Well, I’ll tell you what, from the perspective of someone at the game, you knew it was coming. The second Kyle Okposo’s helmet fell off, I told my buddy “Watch him, he’s going to score his first NHL go–” and there it was. Okposo, the 1st-rounder out of Minnesota, had beaten Marty Brodeur on a great shot. The Islanders would go on to win 3-1.

The Islanders took a 1-0 when Blake Comeau beat Brodeur, who had lost an edge and was clearly not on his game due to it, early in the first. The Devils responded mid-way with a goal from Travis Zajac on the power play. Things were fairly quiet afterwards, save for a few fights that the Devils got pretty clear victories, including a one-punch knockout authored by Aaron Asham on rookie Matthew Spiller that had the upper deck at The Rock chanting his name.

Brodeur left the game in the second period, to give Kevin Weekes a rare appearance in Newark. All his starts have been on the road, and he’s only relieved Marty once at Prudential Center. Brodeur returned to a standing-’O', half for him and half for the well-liked Weekes. The Isles would go on to win a game that neither team really wanting to, adding an empty netter and taking it 3-1.

Goal Disallowed: The Devils had a goal disallowed from Sergei Brylin due to the net being off the moorings. From where I was sitting, it was the right call, and Brent Sutter agreed in his post-game presser.

Three For Fighting: The other two fights featured David Clarkson taking on Isles captain Bill Guerin, the closest of the three, and Rod Pelley laying siege to Joseph Vasicek as if Big Joe had said something about Pelley’s mom

Attendance Up: The Rock had a good crowd of 17,075 tonight. They currently are averaging 15,387 a game, 87% capacity. 23rd in Attendance, but 20th in capacity. Their attendance is up from 14,176 at The Swamp, which held 2,000 more than The Rock, last season.

School’s In: The NJSIAA Hockey Championships will take place at 2PM, 4PM, and 6PM at The Rock tomorrow. Tickets are $10, $5 for Students at the Prudential Center box office.

Next Game: The Devils return to action tomorrow night for a showdown with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both teams are 42-25-7 with 91 points in 74 games played. The game will air nationally on HDNet, and locally on MSG Plus (HD) and WFAN 660 AM. The Devils are 4-2 vs. Pittsburgh this season, and 3-0 against the Pens on the road at Mellon Arena. The two teams will play a home-and-home tonight and on Tuesday to finish their season series, and likely map out what the division will look like the rest of the way.