By Jon Lesnik

NEWARK – Two weeks ago, the New Jersey Devils were in the process of making a run at a spot in the playoffs, having fought their way back to the .500 mark. Two weeks later, they came into last night’s game against the New York Islanders on the verge of being eliminated from playoff contention, having lost three straight and five of their last six games.

With three points separating them from elimination from playoff contention, the Devils came out fighting against the Islanders. In the process, New Jersey sent word to the rest of the league that if they were not going to make the playoffs, they were not going down without a fight.

In the first period, the Devils were involved in two fights. More importantly, New Jersey also scored their first goal in three games, and the last goal to win the game. Playing their most aggressive game in two weeks, the Devils kept their playoff hopes alive with a 3-2 victory over the Islanders at the Prudential Center.

Andy Greene’s goal with 4:56 left in the third period was the game winner. Greene’s goal was his first in 35 games, his first since the start of January. With the season in its final weeks, and the Devils (35-36-5, 75 points) playoff hopes hanging by a thread, Greene’s fourth goal of the season could not have come at a better time, or been more important.

“Obviously things did not go as well as would have liked on the road trip, but we came out tonight, and got a good effort,” Greene said. “We tailed off in the third period, but got it done in the end.”

Greene trailed the play as Patrick Elias carried the puck in, while Brian Rolston skated up ahead taking two Islanders defenders with him. Elias passed to Greene, who blasted a shot over the blocker of Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro for the game winner.

“I saw the opening when Patty took the puck up the ice,” Greene said. “He made a great back hand pass to me, and I tried to fire it on the net and make something happen.”

With six games left and trailing Buffalo by 12 points, Greene knows the Devils playoff chances are fading, but they have no intention of laying down for any opponent the rest of the season.

“It is an unusual situation for us as we are usually gearing up for the playoffs,” Greene said. “We still intend to come out and play hard every game.”

Buffalo defeated the New York Rangers 1-0 to maintain their distance. For the Devils to have any chance at the playoffs, they will have to win their remaining six games, hope every team ahead of them goes into a tailspin, and win a tiebreaker.

“It is certainly different territory for us,” Martin Brodeur said. “We’ve come a long way in the second half of the season, and it is going to be over on April 10. Until then, we have to find a way to continue to motivate ourselves, and go out and play hard every night.”

After giving up two goals in the third period, Brodeur came up big in the final moments, saving multiple shots in the final seconds to preserve the victory.

“Right now he is at his best,” Devils coach Jacques Lemaire said of Brodeur, who made 27 saves on the evening. “He is playing with a lot of confidence.”

The opening minutes of the game looked like a scene out of the movie Slap Shot as David Clarkson and Jay Leach both dropped the gloves and drew five minute fighting majors. If the Devils were looking to send a message that they were not playing out the string, they did it against the Islanders.

The Devils came into Wednesday’s game having not scored a goal since the first period of Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Boston Bruins. Scoring goals this season has been difficult for New Jersey, but after climbing back into the playoff picture, the Devils picked the worst time to not put any points on the scoreboard as they were shut out back-to-back last week by Pittsburgh and Buffalo. The losses allowed Buffalo to put some distance between themselves and what was then their closest competitor for the final playoff spot. The scoreless drought reached a team record of 178:12 before it was broken by Ilya Kovalchuk.

Kovalchuk, who scored the last Devils goal against the Bruins, put the Devils on the scoreboard for the first time in a week when he took a pass from Nick Palmeri and blasted a shot past Islanders goalie Rick DiPetro for his 28^th goal of the season.

The Devils increased their lead to 2-0 at 3:23 in the second period when rookie Jacob Josefson scored the third goal of his career by banging in a rebound of a shot by Palmieri, putting it into the left corner of the goal just out of the reach of DiPietro.

“I was happy with the way our guys played,” Lemaire said. “We drove at the net, we made plays toward the net, and that gave us the chance to get these goals. It’s always good to play well and get rewarded for it.”

New York cut the Devils lead in half midway through the third period on a short-handed goal by Frans Nielsen. The Devils power play, which has failed to generate offense this year, not only could not take advantage of a four minute power play in the third period, giving up a shorthanded goal when Nielsen took the puck, faked to his left, brought the puck back to his right and lifted the puck over Brodeur’s pads. The shorthanded goal was Nielsen’s seventh of the season, and gave the Islanders a N.H.L. leading 14 for the season.

Nielsen tied the game with under six minutes left when he scored his second goal of the game banging the puck through a pile up in front of the Devils net to knot the game at 2-2.

Notebook

• The Devils were hoping to get left wing Zach Parise back for Wednesday night’s game against the Islanders, but the decision was made at practice earlier in the day to hold Parise out not just for the game against the Islanders but for Friday night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers as well. Parise, who underwent arthroscopic surgery back on November 2 after tearing the meniscus in his knee on October 30 against the Los Angeles Kings, had been practicing with the team the last week. Parise is now targeting his return for Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens.
• The Devils scoreless drought ended at 178:12 with Ily Kovalchuk’s first period goal. That set a Devils team record, but the franchise record is still held by the Kansas City Scouts in 1974.
• The Devils power play continues to be a problem for the Devils. New Jersey went 0-5 in power play opportunities Wednesday night, and are now only 1-of-20 over their last six games, and 5-for-39 over their last 11 games.
• Defenseman jay Leach, who was recalled Saturday, became the 17^th player on the Devils roster to play a game for New Jersey who did not play a game with the team last year. A team record nine Devils have made their NHL debuts this season.
• Right wing Vladimir Zharkov was the only healthy scratch for the Devils. Defensemen Colin White and Anton Volchenkov were both held out of the game due to lower body injuries both players sustained against the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 25.
• The Islanders and Devils had local connections in their goaltending coaches. Islanders goaltending coach Mike Dunham played for the Devils from 1996-1998, while Devils coach Chris Terreri played for the Islanders from 2000-2001.
• Wednesday night was the sixth and final meeting between the two teams in the 2010-2011 season. The Devils won the season series 4-2.