EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- The New Jersey Devils narrowed

their focus and took a step toward catching the Atlantic

Division-leading Philadelphia Flyers.

"We just have to win these final hockey games," said Scott

Gomez who assisted on all three goals Sunday night in the Devils'

3-2 win over the New York Islanders. "We're not worrying about

Philly. To be honest, I think that's what got us in trouble in the

past. We got three games left and then the real dance starts, so we

want to be going at full steam."

Patrik Elias had a goal and two assists, and Scott Niedermayer

and Brian Gionta also scored for the Devils who moved within two

points of the Flyers. Martin Brodeur made 12 saves to post his 36th

win.

"We've got three games and we just have to keep winning,"

Elias said. "We'll know soon how it turns out."

Dave Scatchard and Mark Parrish scored for New York, which

dropped its second straight game during the weekend. The Islanders

failed to reduce their magic number of four points needed to clinch

the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot over Buffalo.

"You don't want to be looking over your shoulder," Parrish

said. "You want to be looking ahead to the playoffs. At this point

in the season, you can't help but look at the standings and who's

behind you and who's in front of you."

Niedermayer opened the scoring at 6:26 as Elias and Islanders

forward Mattias Weinhandl bumped into New York goaltender Rick

DiPietro. That left Niedermayer with a wide-open net and marked the

second straight game DiPietro was victimized that way on the first

goal. He was down on the ice when Allan Roarke gave the Hurricanes

the early lead Saturday in Carolina's 3-2 victory.

The Islanders, outplayed most of the first period, pulled even

when Scatchard beat Brodeur from the right boards for a

short-handed goal with 38.2 seconds remaining.

Elias and Gionta scored in the second period to give the Devils

a 3-1 lead.

Elias scored on a backhander at 5:13. A video replay confirmed

that the puck trickled over the goal line before DiPietro could

clamp a pad on it.

Gionta deflected Gomez's shot in with 2:07 remaining.

Parrish wasted little time in the third, deflecting Kenny

Jonsson's point shot past Brodeur 43 seconds in, cutting the

Devils' lead to 3-2.

New Jersey allowed only three more shots the rest of the way.

"We had a tough weekend," Islanders coach Steve Stirling said.

"We played hard tonight but you can't fall behind with a third

goal at the end of the second period. We had a huge mountain to

climb."Game notes
Devils RW Grant Marshall was taken to a hospital for X-rays

of his hand following a first-period fight with D Eric Cairns. ...

Devils LW Jeff Friesen sat out the third period because of a nerve

injury in his shoulder. ... Gomez earned his 300th NHL point by

assisting on Niedermayer's goal. ... The Islanders had won the

three previous meetings with the Devils.