The Skinny: Washington 4, Isles 1

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 26

Washington 4, Isles 1

Tom Wilson scored twice, and Logan Thompson made 30 saves as the Washington Capitals handed the Isles their third straight defeat (0-2-1) with a 4-1 victory before a crowd of 15,648 at UBS Arena.

Bo Horvat got the Isles on the board with a third period power play goal, but the Caps hit the empty net twice to seal matters.

The Isles fall to 9-5-2 in their last sixteen games and 1-3-1 on this homestand; they will host Tampa Bay, winners of seven straight on Tuesday in the penultimate game of this seven-game homestand.

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Tom Wilson (14) Alex Ovechkin (13), Ryan Leonard (8) 07:37 WSH 1,NYI 0 PPG

2nd Period

Tom Wilson (15) 13:58 WSH 2,NYI 0

3rd Period

Bo Horvat (15) Ryan Pulock (11) Matthew Schaefer (11) 13:43 WSH 2,NYI 1 PPG

Aliaksei Protas (7)EN Matt Roy (5), Tom Wilson (14) 18:49 WSH 3,NYI 1

Alex Ovechkin (12)EN Anthony Beauvillier (4) 19:29 WSH 4,NYI 1

The Skinny

The Isles are 13-7-3 since they opened 0-3-0…The Isles have allowed first power play goals in consecutive games for the first time since October 25-28th; they have still killed 23 of the last 25, and 40 of the last 45 … The Isles scored on the power play for the second straight game; they are 7-75 over the last 20 games … Alex Ovechkin played his 1517th game, passing Matt Cullen for 22nd all-time; his empty net goal was his 5th career goal at UBS (third into empty net); 68 of his 909 goals have been into empty nets (both are NHL records)….Ovechkin has scored 46 goals against the Isles (fourth all-time), including a record five ENG's against the Isles; his 29 road goals against the Isles breaks a tie with Jaromir Jagr for most all-time.…The Isles ended Jakub Chychrun's five-game goal streak and ten-game point streak…Bo Horvat scored for the first time in six games, and is now tied for 5th in the NHL in goals; he is the first Islander since John Tavares (16 in 2017-18) to have fifteen goals at the end of November…The Isles went 8-5-2 in November (6-1-0 on the road and 2-4-2 at home)…Tom Wilson moved into 8th place in all-time goals for Washington with 194, passing Dave Christian (193) and TJ Oshie (192).…A late scoring change gave Matthew Schaefer an assist on the Isles goal as it was ruled Anders Lee did not deflect Ryan Pulock's shot.

First Times in a Long Time

The Isles are below NHL-.500 at home and are at least three games over NHL-.500 overall for the first time since it happened four times in a five-game stretch in April 2013 (late in a 48-game schedule). That is the only other time it has happened in club history.

The Isles have allowed only:

• 94 shots in the last five games; it is the lowest four-game stretch in a single season since March 2002. 

• 72 shots in the last four games; it is the lowest four-game stretch in a single season since March 2002. 

• 53 shots in the last three games; it is the lowest three-game stretch in a single season since February/March 1976. 

Lots of Shots

The Isles outshot the Caps 31-18 and have a 172-94 advantage over the last five games; however, they have been outscored 12-6 in those games.

Milestone Men

• Anders Lee remains one goal behind Brock Nelson for fifth place in Isles history.

• Patrick Roy remains at 198 wins 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 5-4-1 (.925 and 1.91) since October 31st with two shutouts. 

However, Sorokin is 0-3-0 on this homestand, allowing goals on the 1st shot vs. St. Louis and Boston, and the third shot vs. the Caps. He is 1-5-1 this season at UBS Arena.

Big Save Dave

David Rittich is 6-2-1 on the season. In his last four games (3-0-1, all by one goal), he has stopped 86 of 93 shots for a 1.68 GAA and a .925 save percentage. Rittich is also 4-1-1 this season at UBS Arena.

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 28:53 11/28/2025 vs PHI (SO)

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. Matthew Schaefer 26:12 11/30/2025 vs. was

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

A 20-year-old Islander has played more than 28:53 only twice (Bryan Berard -31:30; Travis Hamonic -28:54). The younger of these was Hamonic (vs PIT) on April 8, 2011, when he was 20 years, 235 days old; Schaefer will not hit that age until April 27, 2028.

Most Ice Time by an 18-Year-Old, Game

1. Rasmus Dahlin (BUF) 29:15 12/4/2018 vs TOR (OT)

2. Drew Doughty (LA) 29:04 11/22/2008 vs COL (SO)

3. Matthew Schaefer 28:53 11/28/2025 vs PHI (SO)

Schaefer is the first 18-year-old to play at least 27 minutes four times since ice-time became official; Victor Hedman (also seven times) is the only 18-year-old to pay 26 minutes as often as Schaefer.

Most Goals by an Islander Teenage Defenseman

1. Matthew Schaefer 8 

2. Bryan Berard 7

Most Assists by an Islander Teenage Defenseman

1. Bryan Berard 32

2. Matthew Schaefer 11

The Isles will play 140 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 26 (8-11-19)

Home for the Holidays

The Isles are 1-3-1 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 six 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 1-3 in shootouts. 

Empty Netters 

The Isles have scored 3 empty-net goals and allowed 5.

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  13-10-3 for 29 points in 26 games

• 2024-25  10-10-6 for 26 points in 26 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-2-2

• Season: 9-39-48

• Last Season (Final) 32-129-161

Rookie Scoring

• Today:   0-0-0

• Season: 13-17-30

• Last Season (Final) 19-30-49

The 13 rookie goals tie Montreal for the NHL lead; no other team with at least ten goals from rookies.

Home and Road

The Isles are 13-10-3 overall; they are 5-6-2 at home and 8-4-1 on the road.

Washington is 15-9-2 overall; they are 9-5-1at home and 6-4-1 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 7-6-3 against the East (4-4-2 vs. Metropolitan and 3-2-1 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 9-3-2 when scoring first and 4-7-1 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles            9-13-9=31  

Washington  7-7-4=18

The Isles are 2-9-2 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

Ilya Sorokin made 14 saves; he is 7-8-2-this season and 5-6-1 vs. Washington.

Logan Thompson made 30 saves; he is 11-6-1 this season and 4-2-1 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-3 (5:19); Washington was 1-2 (2:12).

The Isles are 6-3-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 7-7-2 when they do not. The Isles are 5-4-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 8-6-0 when they do not.

The Isles are 7-1-0 when they outscore the opposition on special teams, 3-4-1 when they are outscored, and 3-5-2 when special team goals are equal.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 12-2-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-8-0 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games

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

Back-to-Backs     

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 Tampa 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 (26:12); Washington: Matt Roy (22:38)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards (23:54).

Face-offs

Isles 27, Washington 19 (59%)

Cal Ritchie won 8 of 11 for the Isles; Dylan Strome won 7 of 9 for Washington. 

Hit Count

Isles 23 (Emil Heineman -5)

Washington 21 (Three with 3)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 141 (Ryan Pulock -4)

Washington 13 (Rasmus Sandin -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 62, Washington 51

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 50, Washington 40

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Mathew Barzal +19

Washington: Martin Fehervary +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 14, Washington 11

5-on-5: Isles 10, Washington 8

Scratches

(Pierre Engvall-LTIR), (Semyon Varlamov-IR), (Ethan Bear-IR), (Alex Romanov-IR), (Kyle Palmieri-IR), (Jean-Gabriel Pageau-INJ), Adam Boqvist, Marc Gatcomb

Games Lost to injury: 106. (Last season's total: 304)

The Ironmen

Kyle Palmieri's streak ended at 223. Casey Cizikas is now the Islanders' ironman, having played 134 consecutive games. Anders Lee (108)is the only other Isle 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 1-3-2 in matinee games this season; the next matinee will be at 3:30pm on December 13th  against the Lightning. 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 16-20-14 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 (4): BOS 10/28, COL 11/16, PHI 11/28, TB 11/30

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 (3):  PHI 10/25, BOS 11/4, PHL 11/28

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 923 *** 5. Brock Nelson 901 *** 6. Bobby Nystrom 900 *** 7. Clark Gillies 872 *** 8. Anders Lee 867 …

20. Kenny Jonsson 597 *** 21. Garry Howatt 596 *** 22. John Tonelli 594 *** 23. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock 586 *** 25. Scott Mayfield 559 *** 26. Mathew Barzal 555

Goals    

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

4. Clark Gillies 304 *** 5. Brock Nelson 295 *** 6. Anders Lee 294 …

19. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 141…

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. Ryan Pulock 172… 

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 520… 

15. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 480…

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 +85 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson +76  *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 ***  19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Ryan Pulock +63 *** 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 172 … 

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 225…

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 270 … 

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 improved to 7-10-1-1 on the season with a 3-2 shootout victory in Springfield to earn a split of the home-and-home. Luke Rowe's first goal with the Islanders tied the game late in the third; Chris Terry and Matthew Maggio scored in the shootout to earn Henrik Tikkanen his first win of the season.

Bridgeport is off until Friday, when they visit Utica; they will then host Hartford in the Teddy Bear Toss game on Saturday.

Leaders:  Goals: Joey Larson- 8;  Assists: Matthew Maggio-11; Points: Matthew Highmore and Matthew Maggio-14

Goalies:  Marcus Hogberg 4-6-2, 3.10, .885;  Henrik Tikkanen  1-0-0, 1.85, .939

Season Series Stats

Washington leads the season series, 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 2) as the road team has won all three games this season.

The Isles fall to 3-6-1 in ten games all-time against the Caps at UBS Arena. The final meeting will be in Washington on February 2nd.

UP NEXT

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2nd  —TAMPA BAY AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM

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

The Tampa Bay Lightning ended November with seven straight wins and three of the first seven Islanders games in December are against the Lightning, beginning on Tuesday.

The Lightning have taken two out of three in each of the last three seasons from the Isles; Tony DeAngelo's overtime goal gave the Isles their only win last season over the Bolts.

The Isles are 2-4-0 six games played all-time against Tampa Bay 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