"The Skinny" on the Opener
By Eric Hornick
It has been 25 weeks since the Islanders' season ended with a 6-1 loss in Columbus that left the Isles in 23rd place overall. So much has changed since that point and on Thursday in Pittsburgh the Mathieu Darche (and Matthew Schaefer) era begins.
UP FIRST
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9th — ISLANDERS AT PITTSBURGH 7:00pm
[MSGSN (pre-game at 6:30], WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]
The Islanders begin their 53rd season by heading to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins. It is the Isles' only trip to Pittsburgh this season, The Isles went 3-1-0 against the Penguins last season (1-1-0 in Pittsburgh) and are 9-3-0 against the Pens over the last three seasons.
Opening Night Skinny Notes
The Isles are 3-5-1 on Opening Night over the last nine years and they are only 6-12-4 in their last 22 Openers. Overall, the Isles are 14-26-11 on Opening Night (11-20-8 on the road and 3-6-4 at home). Only four teams (all Original Six teams) have opened their season on the road more often than the Isles.
This is the third time that the Isles have faced the Penguins on opening night; Pittsburgh earned 4-3 wins at the Coliseum in both 1998 (regulation) and 2009 (shootout). The 2009 game was the last time a first-overall draft pick (John Tavares) made his NHL debut for the Isles. The Isles have never before opened their road season in Pittsburgh.
The Isles 14-26-12 (.385) Opening Night record is the second-worst among current teams who have played more than four openers (Seattle is 0-3-1). Anaheim has the worst record on opening night of any other team: 11-20-0 (.355). This will be Patrick Roy's second Opening Night as the Isles' head coach (0-0-1); he went 1-2-0 in three Openers with Colorado.
The Isles have been involved in five shutouts on Opening Night. Chico Resch blanked the Flyers in 1976, and Semyon Varlamov had a clean sheet against the Rangers in January 2021, while the Kings (Stephane Fiset in 1996), Panthers (Jose Theodore in 2011), and Blue Jackets (Sergei Bobrovsky in 2017) turned the trick on the Isles.
The Islander club record for the fastest goal on Opening Night is 1:01, set by Dave Scatchard on October 10, 2002, in Buffalo. The NHL record for the fastest Opening Night goal is 0:10, set by Kent Nilsson of Minnesota (10/11/86 @ Quebec).
No Islander has ever had an opening night hat trick; twelve Isles have scored twice in an Opener, with Anders Lee (January 2021) being the only player on the current roster to have done so.
Schedule Skinny:
Schedule Format
For the fifth straight season, the Isles will play only 26 games against the Metro this season. The Isles will host Carolina only once (in the regular season finale April 14th) and this is their only trip to Pittsburgh; they will face the other division foes four times. The Isles will play each of the eight teams in the Atlantic Division three times and will play a home and home series with each Western Conference foe. Boston, Florida, Toronto, and Tampa Bay are the four Atlantic Division teams that will visit UBS Arena twice; the Isles will play twice in Buffalo, Detroit, Ottawa, and Montreal.
This is the final season that the Isles will play only 26 division games; the schedule will expand to 84 games next season, allowing four games against each divisional opponent.
Back-to-Backs
With the Olympics break condensing the schedule the Isles will play sixteen sets of back-to-backs (four more than last season and tied for the most in the NHL) including four sets on the road and three sets at home; the remaining nine sets are home/road splits.
Every Day's a Home Game
The Isles will play ten home games on Saturday, nine on Tuesday, and seven times on Thursday. They will play six times on Sunday, five times on Friday, and twice on Monday and Wednesday.
Schedule by Month
October (11), November (15), December (14), January (15), February (5), March (16), April (6). The Isles will complete the regular season in Columbus on Tuesday, April 14th.
The Isles will reach the midway point of their schedule on New Year's Day, when they host Utah. There will be 24 games remaining when the Isles hit the Olympic break on February 5th; this is comparable with the 2010 and 2014 Olympic breaks.
Schedule Streaks
The Isles will open the season by playing 8 of their first 14 games at home, before embarking on the first of two seven-game road trips November 8th- November 20th. The Isles will return home on November 22nd; that game will begin a seven-game homestand and a stretch where they will play 16 of 22 at UBS Arena.
A second seven-game road trip (January 8- January 21) will start a stretch in which the Isles play 17 of 22 games on the road; that span includes the Olympic break so the Isles will play only five home games in a two-month stretch (none consecutively); they will end the season playing 12 of the final 17 at home.
Overall, 22 of the first 41 are at home while 22 of the final 41 are on the road.
Matinee Isles
The Isles will play eleven afternoon games this season, including nine at UBS Arena (beginning on Columbus Day vs. Winnipeg). The Isles will play two 5:00 home games (November 2nd vs. Columbus and November 23rd vs. Seattle), two 6:00 home games (December 27th vs. the Rangers and April 12th vs. Montreal) , one 6:30 home game (March 1st vs. Florida) and four 7:30 home games (all on national television), with the other 21 home games are scheduled for the new regular evening start time of 7:00pm.
Olympic Break
The Olympic break will mean the Isles play only one home game in February (February 3rd vs. Pittsburgh) and five games in the month overall. After the Isles play in New Jersey on February 5th they will not play again until February 26th in Montreal.
The 2025-26 Islanders:
General Manager Mathieu Darche
After helping the Tampa Bay Lightning to two Stanley Cups, Mathieu Darche was named Islander General Manager and Executive Vice President on May 23, 2025. Darche is one of three new General Managers in the NHL this season (Jason Botterill in Seattle and Ken Holland in Los Angeles) but is the only one without prior experience as a General Manager.
Coach Roy
Patrick Roy begins his second full season as the Islander head coach after leading the team to a playoff berth in 2023-24 and to an NHL .500 record last season. He is 55-47-17 as Islander coach and 185-139-41 as an NHL coach.
Active Roster
The Isles have 23 players on their active roster, as submitted to the NHL on Monday:
FORWARDS (14)
Mathew Barzal
Casey Cizikas
Jonathan Drouin
Anthony Duclair
Marc Gatcomb
Emil Heineman
Simon Holmstrom
Bo Horvat
Anders Lee
Kyle MacLean
Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Kyle Palmieri
Max Shabanov
Max Tsyplakov
DEFENSEMEN (7)
Adam Boqvist
Tony DeAngelo
Scott Mayfield
Adam Pelech
Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov
Matthew Schaefer
GOALTENDERS (2)
David Rittich
Ilya Sorokin
There are eight additions and seven deletions from last season's opening roster.
Jonathan Drouin, Marc Gatcomb, Emil Heineman, Max Shabanov, Adam Boqvist, Tony DeAngelo, Matthew Schaefer, and David Rittich are newcomers on the Isles roster from last October, replacing Julien Gauthier, Brock Nelson, Oliver Wahlstrom, Dennis Cholowski, Noah Dobson, Mike Reilly, and Semyon Varlamov (injured).
The twenty-three active players represent five nationalities: American (DeAngelo, Gatcomb, Lee, MacLean, Mayfield, and Palmieri), Canadian (nine players), Czech (Rittich), Swedish (Boqvist, Heineman and Holmstrom), and Russian (Romanov, Shabonov, Sorokin, and Tsyplakov).
Old and Young
With Semyon Varlamov (April 27, 1988) on the injured list, there are no active Islanders born in the 1980s, with Anders Lee (July 3, 1990) being the oldest player. After being the youngest Islander in almost every game he has played Simon Holmstrom (5-24-2001) is older than both Emil Heineman (11-16-2001) and Matthew Schaefer (9-5-2007); Schaefer is nearly six years younger than any other player on the Opening Night roster; six of the 23 players (all skaters) were born in the 2000s.
Of the twenty-three active players, Anthony Duclair is the 12th oldest (and 12th youngest); Duclair turned 30 on August 26th. The average Islander is 29.3 years old, making the Isles the 7th-oldest team in the NHL.
Big and Small
Scott Mayfield is the tallest (6' 4") while Anders Lee is the heaviest (234 pounds). Max Shabanov is both the shortest (5'9") and the lightest (167 pounds). The average Isle is 6'1" and 200 pounds.
Opening Night
Casey Cizikas is expected to play on Opening Night for the 13th time in his career, tying Josh Bailey and Denis Potvin for second place in club history (Bryan Trottier played in 14 openers).
Isles Opening Night Leaders:
Goals: Bossy 7, Nelson 6, Trottier/Harris 5 (Active: Lee 3, Barzal 2)
Assists: Trottier 9, Gillies 7/Nelson 7 (Active: Barzal/Cizikas/Palmieri 3)
Points: Trottier 14, Nelson 13, Bossy 11 (Active: Barzal 5, Cizikas/Palmieri 3)
Penalty Minutes: Rich Pilon 39, Ray Schultz 23 (in 1 game!), Duane Sutter 21 (Active: Barzal/Lee 8)
Ilya Sorokin is 1-2-0 on opening night (.906, 3.06); he played the opener in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Billy Smith is the only goalie in Islander history with multiple opening night wins (3-4-3 in 10 openers).
Captain, My Captain
Anders Lee will open the season as the Isles' captain for the eight straight season, breaking a tie with Denis Potvin for the longest in club history. Sidney Crosby (19), Alexander Ovechkin (17), Gabriel Landeskog (14), Jamie Benn (13), Anze Kopitar and Connor Mc David (10), and Roman Josi (9) are the only longer tenured captains.
The Rookies
Max Shabonov and Matthew Schaefer are the only rookies on the Islanders' roster; while Schaefer is the youngest player in the NHL (having just turned 18), Shabanov turned 25 on Wednesday.
Mathieu, Mathew, Matthew
Thursday will mark the first game for Mathieu Darche as an NHL general manager; Mathew Barzal is expected to play his first NHL game since February 1st, while Matthew Schaefer is projected to make his NHL debut.
Schaefer is the One
Matthew Schaefer is the third player the Islanders have selected after winning the top pick in a draft lottery (Rick DiPietro in 2000 and John Tavares in 2009) as well as the fifth player drafted first overall by the Isles (Billy Harris in 1972 and Denis Potvin in 1973).
Should he make his NHL debut on Thursday, he will be only the seventh 18-year-old to play for the Islanders, and the second-youngest to make his debut. Paul Boutilier is the only other 18-year-old defenseman in Islander history.
PLAYER OPPONENT DEBUT DATE AGE(years-days)
Nino Niederreiter Dallas Stars 10/9/2010 18-031
Matthew Schaefer Pittsburgh Penguins 10/9/2025 18-034 (if debuts)
Dave Chyzowski Minnesota North Stars 10/5/1989 18-086
Tim Connolly Tampa Bay Lightning 10/2/1999 18-148
Paul Boutilier Montreal Canadiens 10/31/1981 18-181
Brad Dalgarno Philadelphia Flyers 4/1/1986 18-233
Brent Sutter Calgary Flames 2/25/1981 18-260
(Dave Chyzowski and Brent Sutter are the only 18-year-olds with a point in their Islander debuts; both had assists)
Niederreiter was 18-035 when he scored a goal in Washington on October 13, 2010 (youngest in club history); no 18-year-old defenseman has ever scored a goal for the Isles.
Most Games Played as an 18-Year-Old (Isles history)
Tim Connolly 81
Dave Chyzowski 34
Nino Niederreiter 9
Brent Sutter 3
Brad Dalgarno 2
Paul Boutilier 1
A Look Back
The Isles finished the 2024-25 regular season with a 35-35-12 record, finishing exactly at NHL-.500 for the first time since 1993-94 (36-36-12). That left the Isles in 23rd place in the 32-team NHL.
The Isles went 19-17-5 on UBS ice and 16-18-7 on the road.
Bo Knows Overtime
Bo Horvat had three overtime goals last season, six as an Islander, and eleven in his NHL career. All six of his overtime goals have come in the past two seasons; John Tavares is the only other Islander with multiple seasons with at least three overtime goals.
Most Overtime Goals, Career (Islanders)
1. John Tavares 11
2. Brock Nelson 9
3. Bo Horvat, Kyle Okposo, and Josh Bailey 6
6. Mathew Barzal, Thomas Hickey, and Anthony Beauvillier 5
Overtime is Our Time
The Isles played 19 overtime games last season. They were 5-9 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 2-3 in shootouts
Special Teams (Last Season)
Power Play 26-207 12.6% (8 shorthanded goals allowed)
Penalty Kill 50-180 72.2% (9 shorthanded goals scored)
The 12.6% power play is the lowest in club history since the stat became official in 1977-78; the 72.2% penalty kill is the 2nd-lowest in franchise history (71.5% last season).
The 25-Goal Club
Last season, Brock Nelson became the 5th player in club history to have at least seven seasons of at least 25 goals:
• Bryan Trottier 12
• Mike Bossy 10
• John Tavares/ Clark Gillies/ Anders Lee 7
Offense from Defense
The Islander defense contributed 32 goals and 129 assists for 161 points last season; the defense scored 28 goals in the final 56 games.
Most games, 40+ Shots (Since 2021-22)
1. John Gibson 38
2. Ilya Sorokin 21
3. Darcy Kuemper 25
Most Games, 40+ Shots (Islander History)
1. Billy Smith 46 (674 games)
2. Ilya Sorokin 32 (253 games)
3. Kelly Hrudey 27(241 games)
East and West
Last season, the Isles went 22-23-5 against the East (11-11-4 vs. Metropolitan and 11-12-1 vs. Atlantic) and 13-12-7 against the West (8-5-3 vs. Central and 5-7-4 vs. Pacific).
First Things First
The Isles were 19-5-6 when scoring first and were 16-30-6 when allowing the opening goal. Under Patrick Roy, the Isles are 33-7-7 when they score first and are 22-40-10 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles were 31-10-8 when they scored at least three goals (including shootout winners) last season and are 4-25-4 when they did not.
One-Goal Games
The Isles were 15-7-12 in games decided by a single goal, including 8-7 in regulation. They were 5-9 in games decided in overtime and were 2-3 in shootouts. The Isles were 5-10 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.
Back-to-Backs
The Isles went 6-4-2 in the front end and 5-7-0 in the back end last season.
The Ironmen
Kyle Palmieri is the Islanders' ironman, having played 198 consecutive games. Casey Cizikas (108) and Anders Lee (91) were the only other Isles to have also played every game last season.
All-time Islander Leader Boards:
1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,057 ***
4. Brock Nelson 901 *** 5. Bobby Nystrom 900 *** 6. Casey Cizikas 897 *** 7. Clark Gillies 872 *** 8. Matt Martin 855 *** 9. Anders Lee 841 …
22. John Tonelli 594 *** 23. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock 560 *** 25. Ken Morrow 550 *** 26. Duane Sutter 547 *** 27. Lorne Henning 543 *** 28. Claude Lapointe and Scott Mayfield 535 *** 30. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 31. Mathew Barzal and Pat LaFontaine 530
Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
5. Brock Nelson 295 *** 6. Anders Lee 289 …
20. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 21. Mathew Barzal 134…
29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Casey Cizikas 114
Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …
7. John Tonelli 338 *** 8. Patrick Flatley and Mathew Barzal 328…
19. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 21. Anders Lee 218…
27. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 29. Jean Potvin 167 *** 30. Jeff Norton 166 *** 31. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 32. Ryan Pulock 161…
34. Mariusz Czerkawski 150 *** 35. Casey Cizikas 148
Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
12. Bob Bourne 542 *** 13. Anders Lee 506…
15. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 462…
27. Ed Westfall 286 *** 28. Casey Cizikas 262
+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 ***2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380
15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +80 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Ryan Pulock +58 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 23. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 24. Greg Gilbert +54
Defense Goals
1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57 ***
4. Ryan Pulock 53 …
13. Bryan Berard 31 *** 14. Scott Mayfield 28 *** 15. Vladimir Malakhov 27 *** 16. Adam Pelech and four others 26
Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742*** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…
7. Jean Potvin 167 *** 8. Jeff Norton 166 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 161 ***10. Mark Streit 139 *** 11. Adam Pelech 135…
17. Bryan Berard 100 *** 18. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 19. Scott Mayfield 97
Defense Points
1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…
5. Kenny Jonsson 232 *** 6. Noah Dobson 230 *** 7. Ryan Pulock 214…
10. Mark Streit 179 *** 11. Adam Pelech 161…
18. Gerry Hart 128 *** 19. Vladimir Malakhov and Scott Mayfield 125
Goalie Games
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 ***
4. Ilya Sorokin 253 …
8. Jaroslav Halak 177*** 9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 173
Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130 ***
4. Ilya Sorokin 125 …
7. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 76
Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith and Ilya Sorokin 22 ***
4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16
Isles on the Air
MSG Networks will carry 72 of the Isles' 82 games this season (TNT will carry five games, ESPN will carry two games, while ESPN+/Hulu will exclusively stream five games). All MSG broadcasts will also be streamed on the Gotham Sports App.
Brendan Burke will call most Islander games for the 10th straight season. Thomas Hickey (4th season) is now the lead analyst on Islander broadcasts, while Butch Goring (16th season) and Cal Clutterbuck (2nd season) also return. Shannon Hogan hosts Isles telecasts for her twelfth season.
Alan Fuehring will call play-by-play on radio and will continue to fill in for Brendan Burke as well. Josh Bailey will be one of the analysts, including Opening Night. All games will air on WRHU (88.7FM) and on WRCN (103.9FM), and stream on the Isles + UBS Arena App, as well as the NHL App and on Satellite Radio.
And Finally…
We begin the 16th consecutive season of The Skinny as I begin my 45th season on Islander telecasts. The Skinny streak stands at 1,096 consecutive games, including playoffs. The 1,100th consecutive edition will follow the game with Edmonton on October 16th.
Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog www.nyiskinny.com.
Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick
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