December 12, 1982

The Islanders defeated the Devils, 7-1, at the Nassau Coliseum tonight as Clark Gillies and Denis Potvin had two goals each. Wayne Merrick, Duane Sutter and Brent Sutter got the other goals for the Islanders. All the Islander goals except Potvin's second goal, the last of the game, came aganst Glenn (Chico) Resch, the Devils' goalie, formerly with the Islanders. He was replaced by Shawn MacKenzie 9 minutes 42 seconds into the last period.

A considerable body of opinion in Western Europe is opposed to deployment on the continent of any nuclear missiles and, in particular, the 572 cruise and Pershings that the North Atlantic allies propose to install next year. Last week, after the House defeated MX production and basing plans, the Reagan Administration was more concerned than ever about allied solidarity.

Sharply rising prices for gas and electricity, cuts in welfare benefits and rising long-term unemployment are making more people than ever fall behind on their utility bills, leading to record numbers of utility shutoffs. There will be 300,000 involuntary gas disconnections this heating season as against 260,000 last year, according to a survey of state public utility commissions and utilities by the Citizen/Labor Energy Coalition, a nonprofit consumer group. ''There's just a lot more people going into this winter without any fuel than we've ever had in the past,'' said Charles Hill, managing attorney for the National Consumer Law Center in Washingon. ''There's going to be a lot more people doubling up; there's going to be more people using their oven, and if this is a cold winter there's going to be a great number of people in a great deal of trouble.''

The $5.5 billion gas tax and highway repair bill trucking through Congress hit a little pothole in the Senate last week. A group of conservative Republicans mounted a filibuster on the merits - Reaganomics-style.

Who needs another number in these days of access codes, credit cards, and digital everything? Unfortunately, the people of Essex, Conn., do, officials there believe, to make it easier for emergency and service vehicles to locate residences in the growing community. Ellis Baker, a retired industrial engineer, was named chairman of a special committee to organize numbering houses in the town, whose populaton is 5,200, up about 100 percent in the last 10 years.