Rolston scores winner for Devils
Last Updated: Friday, November 6, 2009 | 11:20 PM ET
The Associated Press
Yann Danis made 23 saves and stopped four in-close attempts in the third period against his former Islanders teammates Friday night, helping the New Jersey Devils beat New York 2-1 for their fourth straight win.
Brian Rolston scored the winner on a power play and defenceman Cory Murphy added his first goal as a Devil as New Jersey posted its 10th win in 12 games.
Frans Nielsen scored for the Islanders, who have dropped two straight after winning four in a row. Martin Biron had 29 saves for New York.
The game also marked the return of Patrik Elias to the Devils' lineup. He missed the first 13 coming back from hip and groin surgery.
Danis, signed as a free agent in the off-season, had a relatively easy night as Jacques Lemaire's team bottled up the Islanders for most of the game.
"Everytime I get to play I want to get the win, but to win against those guys makes it a little more special," said Danis, who signed as a free agent after spending last season with the Islanders.
"You always want to play well against your former team."
The goalie came up big three times in the final period, stopping Matt Moulson in close with 13:17 to go and then stopping two more attempts near the crease by Mark Streit and rookie John Tavares with just over six minutes to play.
Danis also got a piece of Kyle Okposo's shot in the waning seconds that slid along the goal-line and was cleared.
Islanders defenceman Radek Martinek had to be helped off the ice with about 5:45 to play after appearing to hurt his right leg in front of the New Jersey bench.
Rolston's winner came just 24 seconds after Andy Sutton was sent off for hooking in the second period.
"We're really battling," said Rolston, who is in his second stint in New Jersey.
"We are really played well tonight. We had a lot of good scoring opportunities and the last game we had two huge power-play goals and we got another tonight. Our power play hasn't been the greatest but it's coming."
Defenceman Andy Greene, who set up Niclas Bergfors's winner against Washington on Wednesday, walked the puck across the blue-line and feathered it to Rolston on the point for a hard shot.
It was Rolston's fourth goal of the season and 100th as a Devil.
