NEWARK, N.J. -- In an important division battle pitting one team struggling mightily on home ice and another with a league-low seven victories on the road, the New Jersey Devils got the best of the visiting New York Islanders, skating to a 3-2 victory on Saturday night at the Prudential Center.

The win was only the third in their past 12 home games for the Devils (25-23-10). The Islanders (26-21-10) lost their third straight road game.

The two teams will switch sides Sunday when the Islanders host the Devils at the Barclays Center in the back end of this weekend home-and-home set.

"We know we have to bounce back," Islanders defenseman Calvin de Haan said. "The good thing about the back to back is that we get right back at it (Sunday)."

Cory Schneider excelled in goal for the Devils, finishing with 40 saves, including 20 in the second period when New Jersey was outshot 20-8 yet managed to score the only goal of the period.

"He's our best player," New Jersey's Devante Smith-Pelly said of Schneider. "That's what we expect of him, and that's the way we know he can play. He was great tonight."

Schneider's most important save came at 8:10 of the first period when he denied Islanders captain John Tavares with his right pad on a penalty shot. The clutch stop came exactly one minute after the Devils had taken a 1-0 lead on Smith-Pelly's third goal of the season.

"(Tavares) likes to come in slow and maybe pick up a little speed and make a play in tight," said Schneider, who has now faced 16 penalty shots in his career, and stopped all but two. "I just tried to be patient, hold my ground, because he's got great hands and great patience; and I was able to get just enough of it."

New Jersey's Travis Zajac also played an important role in the victory, producing his seventh multiple-point game of the season by scoring his 11th goal and assisting on Smith-Pelly's goal.

In addition, a hard-hit by Zajac near the Devils net briefly sent the Islanders top goal scorer, Anders Lee, to the dressing room in the first period.

After being a healthy scratch in six straight games, and eight of 10, Smith-Pelly beat Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss between the pads on a breakaway 7:10 into the game for his first goal since Nov. 17, giving the Devils an early 1-0 lead.

"I don't know if you could see it on my face, but I was super relieved to contribute like that," Smith-Pelly said.

Zajac, who sprung Smith-Pelly with a perfect head-man bank pass off the right-wing boards, made it 2-0 New Jersey with a short-handed goal at 8:49 of the second period. The short-handed goal was the fifth for the Devils this season and came off a left-wing snipe after a two-on-one feed from Adam Henrique.

"Being able to score short-handed, I think it definitely took some wind out of their sails," Zajac said.

Devils rookie Pavel Zacha scored a power play goal at 6:21 of the third before Andrew Ladd snapped Schneider's shutout bid at 8:58. The goal was Ladd's 15th of the season, third in the past two games and seventh in the last 11.

The Islanders cut the Devils' lead to 3-2 with 6:12 remaining in regulation on Anthony Beauvillier's fifth goal, but could not finish the comeback despite a late power play during which Nick Leddy rang a shot off the post.

"How many games are you going to lose when you get 42 shots to 21?" Islanders coach Doug Weight said. "We played well enough to win, but we didn't. We had a strong finish and have to carry that momentum into (Sunday)."

NOTES: The Devils traded C Sergey Kalinin to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday afternoon in exchange for D Viktor Loov, who was then assigned to Albany (AHL). Loov, 24, has four games of NHL experience. ... Veteran Devils LW Michael Cammalleri was a healthy scratch for the first time this season. Cammalleri has not scored a goal in 18 consecutive games, and has only one in his last 33. ... New Jersey also scratched D Seth Helgeson. ... The Islanders were again without RW Cal Clutterbuck (lower body) and C Shane Prince (upper body). D Adam Pelech was a healthy scratch.