The Skinny: Isles 1, Seattle 0 (SO)

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 23

Isles 1, Seattle 0 (SO)

David Rittich made 19 saves for his eighth career shutout and then stopped three of four Kraken in the shootout as the Isles earned a 1-0 win over Seattle before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.

Joey Daccord made 34 saves for Seattle but shootout tallies by Bo Horvat and Kyle Palmieri gave the Isles the extra point as they moved into second place in both the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference.

The Isles improve to 9-3-1 in their last thirteen games; they will host Boston at 7:00 on Wednesday in the traditional Thanksgiving Eve game.

The Scoring:  

1st Period

No Scoring

2nd Period

No Scoring

3rd Period

No Scoring

OT

No Scoring

The Shootout

• Frederick Gaudreau (G) / Mathew Barzal (NG)

• Jordan Eberle (NG) / Simon Holmstrom (NG)

• Eeli Tolvanen (NG) / Bo Horvat (G)

• Chandler Stephenson (NG) / Kyle Palmieri (G/GDG)

The Isles are 1-2 in the shootout while Seattle is 0-3… David Rittich improves to 11-8 in shootouts while Joey Daccord falls to 1-7 in his career…The win snaps a five-game shootout losing streak for the Isles; it is their third win in the last twelve and only fourth at UBS Arena in 14 games…. The Isles are 93-91 all-time in shootouts; only Buffalo (94) has more wins… Seattle is 8-15 in shootouts…Kyle Palmieri is now 10/44 in his career, with six game-deciding goals.

The Skinny

The Isles are 13-5-2 since they opened 0-3-0…The Isles killed the only Seattle power play; they have killed 19 of the last 20, 23 of 26, and 37 of the last 40 … The Isles' power play is 0-19 over the last six games …Matthew Schaefer played 27:23; it was the 3rd time he has played over 27 minutes…The Isles were shut-out for the first time this season….The Isles had lost four straight games decided 1-0 beyond 60 minutes, dating back to an overtime win in Philadelphia on April 18, 2021…David Rittich faced only 19 shots in the game; it was the fewest allowed by the Isles in a shutout win since October 17, 2023 (14 by Arizona), and the fewest ever in an Isles shutout win that went beyond 60 minutes…The Isles have earned two shutouts in a three-game span for the first time since Semyon Varlamov blanked Columbus and Washington (10/28/23-11/2/23)…The Isles have earned two shutouts by different goaltenders in a three-game span (or fewer) for the first time since January 18-20, 2019, when Thomas Greiss and Robin Lehner blanked Washington and Anaheim in consecutive games….The Isles are now tied-2nd in the NHL with their three shutouts (Minnesota has 5)…The Isles and Wild are the only teams to have multiple goalies earn at least six wins, with both teams reaching that mark today…The Wild (9) are the only team with more wins in November than the Isles (8).

First Times in a Long Time

The Isles have allowed only four goals in a four-game span (not including shootouts) for the first time since February 26- March 7, 2023:

• 26-Feb-23 @ Winnipeg 4 0 W

• 28-Feb-23 @ Minnesota 1 2 Lso

• 4-Mar-23   Vs Detroit 4 1 W

• 7-Mar-23   Vs Buffalo 3 2 W

The Isles have 28 points, trailing only Carolina in the Eastern Conference standings. It is the closest that they have been to the top of the conference standings since November 21-22, 2019, when they were 16-3-1, and tied with the Bruins for 2nd place in the conference (33 points, behind Washington's 36).

First Time in, Well, His Lifetime

Matthew Schaefer is the youngest player to play at least 27 minutes on consecutive days. The only other teenager to do so (since ice-time was official) was Jay Bouwmeester for Florida on February 26-27, 2003. Bouwmeester was nearly 19 ½ at the time of the games, which were played 4 ½ years before Schaefer was born.

Whole Lot of 0-0

This was the 21st game in Islander history that was scoreless through 60 minutes. Six of them ended in a scoreless tie, including three where overtime was not played. Isles are now 7-8 in games that are scoreless through 60 minutes and decided in either overtime or a shootout. Eight were decided by an overtime goal (4-4) while seven have gone to a shootout (3-4).

The Isles are now 3-4 all-time in scoreless games that were decided by a shootout:

• 7-Feb-12 @ Philadelphia Wso

• 24-Nov-14 Vs Philadelphia Wso

• 1-Feb-19 Vs Tampa Bay Lso

• 22-Apr-21 Vs Washington Lso

• 19-Dec-22 @ Colorado    Lso

• 25-Nov-23 Vs Philadelphia  Lso

• 23-Nov-25 Vs Seattle  Wso

Shoot the Puck, Ryan, Shoot the Puck

Ryan Pulock registered 103.01mph on a first period slapshot. It was the second-fastest shot in the NHL this season (per EDGE data – Morgan Geekie 103.03) and the fastest ever recorded by an Islander (since the system was installed in 2021-22).

Milestone Men

• Anders Lee remains two goals behind Brock Nelson for fifth place in Isles history.

• Patrick Roy earned his 198th win as an NHL coach (68 with the Isles).

Return to Form

Ilya Sorokin was 2-4-1 (.868 and 3.75) in his first seven games this season; he is 5-2-1 (.938 and 1.74) since October 31st with two shutouts. 

Big Save Dave

David Rittich is 6-2-0 on the season. In his last three games (all one-goal wins), he has stopped 68 of 72 shots for a 1.29 GAA and a .945 save percentage.

Islander goalies not named Sorokin won only five games all last season (tying a franchise record for fewest by the non-winningest goalies on the team).

Most Ice Time by an Islander Teenager, Game

1. Matthew Schaefer 27:40 10/25/2025 at PHI (SO)

2. Matthew Schaefer 27:30 11/22/2025 vs. STL

3. Matthew Schaefer 27:23 11/23/2025 vs. SEA (SO)

4. Eric Brewer 26:57 4/3/1999 vs ANA (OT)

5. John Tavares 26:46 4/11/2010 vs. PIT (SO)

6. Matthew Schaefer 26:35 10/13/2025 vs. WPG

7. Matthew Schaefer 26:04 10/11/2025 vs. WAS

A 20-year-old Islander has played more than 27:40 seven times (Bryan Berard – four times; Travis Hamonic -3 times). The youngest of these was Hamonic (at MTL) on February 10, 2011, when he was 20 years, 178 days old; Schaefer will not hit that age until March 1, 2028.

Since ice-time became official, Drew Doughty is the only other 18-year-old to play at least 27 minutes three times while Victor Hedman (seven times) is the only 18-year-old to pay 26 minutes more often than Schaefer.

Most Goals by an Islander Teenage Defenseman

1. Bryan Berard 7

    Matthew Schaefer 7

Most Assists by an Islander Teenage Defenseman

1. Bryan Berard 32

2. Gerald Diduck 8

    Matthew Schaefer 8

The Isles will play 143 more games before Schaefer is no longer a Teenager

Most Games Played as an 18-Year-Old (Isles history)

1. Tim Connolly 81     (14-20-34)

2. Dave Chyzowski 34   (8-6-14)

3. Mathew Schaefer 23 (7-8-15)

Home for the Holidays

The Isles are 1-1-0 in their seven-game homestand that also starts a stretch where they will play 13 of 17 games at UBS Arena through December 27th.

Did Somebody Say Comeback?

The Isles have eight come-from behind wins this season, including four when they trailed in the third period. The opponents have come-from-behind to win five times this season, including three in the third period.

Overtime Is Our Time

The Isles are 3-0 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-2 in shootouts. 

Empty Netters 

The Isles have scored 3 empty-net goals and allowed 3.

Building on a Lead

The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 10 times this season:

• Score the next goal: 3 times

• Allowed the next goal: 5 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 2 times

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2025-26  13-8-2 for 28 points in 23 games

• 2024-25  8-10-5 for 21 points in 23 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-0-0

• Season: 8-33-41

• Last Season (Final) 32-129-161

Rookie Scoring

• Today:   0-0-0

• Season: 12-14-26

• Last Season (Final) 19-30-49

Home and Road

The Isles are 13-8-2 overall; they are 5-4-1 at home and 8-4-1 on the road.

Seattle is 11-5-6 overall; they are 6-1-3 at home and 5-4-3 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 7-4-2 against the East (4-3-1 vs. Metropolitan and 3-1-1 vs. Atlantic) and 6-4-0 against the West (2-4-0 vs. Central and 4-0-0 vs. Pacific).

First Things First

The Isles are 9-2-2 when scoring first and 4-6-0 when allowing the opening goal. (The team that wins the shootout that decides a 0-0 game is credited with scoreless first.)

The Shots

Isles      11-9-11-3=34  

Seattle  4-6-8-1=19

The Isles are 2-7-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-1 when the shots are even and 10-1-0 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets

David Rittich made 19 saves; he is 6-2-0 this season and 5-1-0 vs. Seattle.

Joey Daccord made 34 saves; he is 7-3-4 this season and 2-0-1 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 (2:19); Seattle was 0-1 (2:00).

The Isles are 6-2-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 7-6-2 when they do not. The Isles are 5-3-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 8-5-0 when they do not.

The Isles are 7-1-0 when they outscore the opposition on special teams, 3-3-1 when they are outscored, and 3-4-1 when special team goals are equal.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 12-2-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-6-0 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 8-2-2 in games decided by a single goal including 4-2 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games  decided in overtime and are 1-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 2-1 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     

Including tonight, the Isles are 1-3-0 on the front end and 4-0-0 on the back end this season. The next back-to-back will be on December 6-7 when they visit Tamp Bay and Florida. 

The Isles are 4-2-0 when the opponent is on the back end, including 2-0-0 when the Isles also played the previous day.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Matthew Schaefer (27:23); Seattle: Brandon Montour (24:37)

Face-offs

Isles 28, Seattle 23 (55%)

Bo Horvat won 13 of 17 for the Isles; Chandler Stevenson won 12 of 23 for Seattle. 

Hit Count

Isles 18 (Emil Heineman -7)

Seattle 14 (Four with 2)

Fights 

None. Season total: 4 (Mayfield, MacLean, Lee, De Angelo)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 15 (Adam Pelech -4)

Seattle 23 (Brandon Montour-4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 81, Seattle 51

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 69, Seattle 46

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Matthew Schaefer +24

Seattle: Two with +3

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 10, Seattle 7

5-on-5: Isles 8, Seattle 7

Scratches

(Pierre Engvall-LTIR), (Semyon Varlamov-IR), (Ethan Bear-IR), (Alex Romanov-IR), (Jean-Gabriel Pageau-INJ), Kyle MacLean,  Matthew Warren .

Games Lost to injury: 90. (Last season's total: 304)

The Ironmen

Kyle Palmieri is the Islanders' ironman, having played 221 consecutive games. Casey Cizikas (131) and Anders Lee (105) are the only other Isles to have also played every game since the start of last season.

National TV Games 

The Isles are 1-1-0 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners. Their next appearance will be on TNT on December 9th vs Vegas.

Matinee Isles

The Isles are 1-2-1 in matinee games this season; the next matinee will be at 4pm on Friday against Philadelphia. The NHL considers games that start before 5:00 local time to be afternoon contests. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the Isles are 16-19-13 in matinees.

Challenges

Isles: 0 successful, 1 failure  (No goalie interference – VEG 11/14)

Opponents: 0 successful, 3 failure (No hand pass – WAS 10/11), (No interference – DET 10/23), (No offside – WAS 10/31)

Hockey Opps: 1 favorable, 1 unfavorable (No missed stoppage- NJ 11/10), (goalie interference -DAL 11/18)

Quickies (Two goals in under a minute)

For (2): DET 10/23, CBJ 11/2

Vs (2): BOS 10/28, COL 11/16

Quick Responses (One team scoring within a minute of other team)

Isles responses (3): OTT 10/18, SJS 10/21, BOS 11/4

Opponent responses (2): WPG 10/13, CAR 10/30

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins 

For (0): 

Vs (0):  

Last Minute Heroes (Tying or go-ahead goals in the final three minutes of the third period):

For (5): Anders Lee, GWG(18:57)10/18 OTT, Matthew Schaefer, GTG (18:53) and Simon Holmstrom GWG (19:22) 11/2 CBJ, Kyle Palmieri GAG (17:07 11/10 NJ)- Isles won in OT, Mathew Barzal (17:23 11/13 VEG); Isles won in OT

Vs (1):  Simon Nemec GTG (19:55 11/10 NJ) but NYI won in OT

OT Winners

For (3): Mathew Barzal 11/10 @ NJ, JG Pageau 11/13 @ VEG, Matthew Schaefer 11/14 @ UTA

Vs (0):  

Shootout Winners

For (1): SEA 11/23

Vs (2):  PHI 10/25, BOS 11/4

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 ***  3. Josh Bailey 1,057 ***

4. Casey Cizikas 920 *** 5. Brock Nelson 901 *** 6. Bobby Nystrom 900 *** 7. Clark Gillies 872 *** 8. Anders Lee 864 …

20. Kenny Jonsson 597 *** 21. Garry Howatt 596 *** 22. John Tonelli 594 *** 23. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock 583 *** 25. Scott Mayfield 556 *** 26. Mathew Barzal 552

Goals    

1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 ***  3. Denis Potvin 310 ***

4. Clark Gillies 304 *** 5. Brock Nelson 295 *** 6. Anders Lee 293 …

19. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 140…

26. Three with 118 *** 29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Casey Cizikas 115

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …

5. Clark Gillies 359  *** 6. John Tavares 349 *** 7. Mathew Barzal 339…

18. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 19. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 21. Anders Lee 226…

26. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 27. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 29. Ryan Pulock 170… 

32. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 33. David Volek 154 *** 34. Casey Cizikas 152

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…

12. Bob Bourne 542 *** 13. Anders Lee 519… 

15. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 479…

27. Ed Westfall 286 *** 28. Casey Cizikas 267

+/-

1. Bryan Trottier +467  ***2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +88 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson +76  *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 ***  19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Ryan Pulock +64 *** 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 ***

5. Noah Dobson 180 *** 6. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 7. Ryan Pulock 1709 … 

9. Jeff Norton 166 ***10. Mark Streit 139 *** 11. Adam Pelech 137… 

15. Tom Kurvers and Gerry Hart 108 *** 17. Bryan Berard and Scott Mayfield 100

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 223…

10. Mark Streit 179 *** 11. Adam Pelech 163…

16. Johnny Boychuk and Bryan Berard 131 *** 18. Gerry Hart and Scott Mayfield 128

Goalie Games

1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 ***

4. Ilya Sorokin 268 … 

8. Jaroslav Halak 177***  9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 173

Wins

1. Billy Smith 304  *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 132 …

7. Jaroslav Halak 88 ***  8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 76

Shutouts 

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Ilya Sorokin 24 *** 3. Billy Smith 22 ***

4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16

On the Farm   

Bridgeport fell to 6-9-1-1 on the season with a 5-3 loss in Syracuse on Saturday. Alex Jefferies and Chris Terry each had two assists in defeat.

The Baby Isles are off until Friday, when they will host Springfield in the front-end of a home-and-home series.

Leaders:  Goals: Joey Larson- 8;  Assists: Matthew Maggio-11; Points:  Maggio-13

Goalies:  Marcus Hogberg 4-5-2, 2.92, .893;  Parker Gahagen  2-4-0, 3.55, .868

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 1). The teams will meet again on January 21st in Seattle to complete the season series.

The win snapped a four-game Islander losing streak (0-2-2) against the Kraken. Seattle is 4-0-1 in the last five games against the Isles.

UP NEXT

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26th   —BOSTON AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM

[MSGSN (pre-game at 6:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]

For the first time in two weeks, and the only time in a 17-game span, the Isles have two days off before they welcome the Bruins to UBS Arena to complete the season series on Thanksgiving Eve.

Boston has won the first two meetings, rallying from a 2-0 deficit for a 5-2 victory in Boston, and erasing three one-goal Islander leads for a 4-3 shootout win at UBS Arena. 

The Isles are 3-6-3 in the last twelve meetings with the Bruins and are 3-2-2 in seven all-time meetings with the Bs at UBS Arena.

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