The Skinny: Isles 2, Tampa Bay 0

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 29

Isles 2, Tampa Bay 0

Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves for his club record-tying 25th shutout and Cal Ritchie broke a scoreless tie with a power play goal with 7:14 to play as the Isles defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning for the second time in five days, blanking the Bolts 2-0 before the customary sellout crowd of 19,092 at Benchmark International Arena.

Casey Cizikas became the 2nd Islander in 2025 to hit an empty net in consecutive games for the final margin (Simon Holmstrom did so last March).

The Isles improve to 12-5-2 in their last nineteen games; they are 8-1-0 on the road in that span. The Dads and Mentors trip concludes in Sunrise against the Stanley Cup Champion Panthers on Sunday. 

The Scoring:  

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

No Goals

3rd Period

Calum Ritchie (3) Anders Lee (10), Tony DeAngelo (10) 12:46 NYI 1,TBL 0 PPG

Casey Cizikas (3)EN 19:58 NYI 2,TBL 0

The Skinny

The Isles are 16-7-3 since they opened 0-3-0; the 35 points since October 16th are four more than any other team in the Eastern Conference…The Isles went 1-3 on the power play and killed both Lightning power plays; the Isles are 4-18 on the power play in the last five games and have killed 31 of the last 33 and 48 of the last 53; The 48-53 dates back to October 30th, and their 90.6% kill rate is the best in the Eastern Conference in that span… Ilya Sorokin has won all seven games this season that he faced at least 30 shots… The Isles are 7-1-2 when tied after two periods…The Isles moved into 3rd place in the Metro (and 3rd place in the East), and are just two points behind the first place Caps…Five points separate the eight teams in the Metro, and three points separate 2nd-8th… This was 432nd consecutive home sellout for the Lightning, which is the longest active streak in the NHL…Anders Lee and Tony DeAngelo each recorded their 10th assist, giving the Isles eight players with at least that many; Washington is the only other team in the NHL with eight players having at least ten assists…Ilya Sorokin has earned a shutout in consecutive road games (Nov 19 vs DET, tonight), with Cal Ritchie scoring the winning goal in both games.

Milestone Men

• Ilya Sorokin recorded his 25th career shutout, tying Chico Resch's club record. Resch had held the club record by himself since October 23, 1975 (50 years, 44 days ago).

• Casey Cizikas' goal was his 117th, passing Ray Ferraro for 29th place in club history.

• Anders Lee remains tied with Brock Nelson for fifth place in Isles history with 295 goals.

First Times in a Long Time

• Ilya Sorokin is the first Islander goalie to win each of his first seven games that he faced at least thirty shots since Chico Resch won eight straight in 1980-81. It is the 3rd-longest streak in club history.

• The Isles shut out Tampa Bay for the first time since February 1, 2019, at the Coliseum when the Bolts won in a shootout following a 0-0 tie; the last Islander shutout win against Tampa Bay was on March 13, 2013 (Evgeni Nabokov).

• Cal Ritchie is the first Islander to break a scoreless tie with a power play goal in the final ten minutes since Derek King did so on February 4, 1990, vs Buffalo (the only other time it happened).

• The Isles are 9-4-1 on the road. It is the first time they are 5 games over NHL-.500 since February 13, 2020, when a 5-0 loss in Nashville dropped their road record to 15-10-2. The 19 points in the first 14 games match the second-highest total in club history, done four other times, most recently in 2013. The Isles went 10-3-1 for 21 points to open the 1976-77 road season.

• The Isles are 132 games above NHL-.500 all-time for the first time since November 14, 1995.

Back-to-back Empty Nets

Casey Cizikas is the third Islander in the last three seasons to score empty-netters in consecutive games; Kyle Palmieri did so in April 2024 and Simon Holmstrom did so in March 2025. Prior to that, the only Islander to do so was Mike Bossy in January 1981 (the 45th and 48th goals of his 50 in 50 season).

Most Career Empty Net Goals

1. Bryan Trottier 27

2. John Tavares 20

3. Mike Bossy 15

4. Brock Nelson 13

5. Jason Blake 11

    Casey Cizikas 11

Return to Form

Ilya Sorokin was 2-4-1 (.868 and 3.75) in his first seven games this season; he is 8-4-1 (.935 and 1.78) since October 31st with three shutouts. Only Jesper Wallstedt (4) has more shutouts in that span or this season.

Sorokin should be considered for one of the Three Stars of the Week, having gone 3-0-0 (.960 and 1.33) by beating Tampa Bay twice and Colorado once, while allowing only four goals. He won the First Star last season for the week ending February 1st, going 3-0-0 (.953, 1.33).

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 play 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 12

Schaefer will still be a Teenager for the next 137 Isles games.

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 29 (8-12-20)

Home for the Holidays

The Isles are in a stretch where they play 13 of 17 games at UBS Arena through December 27th. They are 4-3-1 so far this season (3-3-1 at home and 1-0-0 on the road).

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 5 empty-net goals and allowed 5.

Building on a Lead

The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 15 times this season:

• Score the next goal: 6 times

• Allowed the next goal: 6 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 3 times

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2025-26  16-10-3 for 35 points in 29 games

• 2024-25  12-11-6 for 30 points in 29 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-1-1

• Season: 10-44-54

• Last Season (Final) 32-129-161

Rookie Scoring

• Today:   1-0-1

• Season: 14-22-36

• Last Season (Final) 19-30-49

The 14 rookie goals are tied with Montreal for the NHL lead; the 36 points are tied with Montreal for 2nd in the NHL. 

Home and Road

The Isles are 16-10-3 overall; they are 7-6-2 at home and 9-4-1 on the road.

Tampa Bay is 16-10-2 overall; they are 8-7-0 at home and 8-3-2 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 9-6-3 against the East (4-4-2 vs. Metropolitan and 5-2-1 vs. Atlantic) and 7-4-0 against the West (3-4-0 vs. Central and 4-0-0 vs. Pacific).

First Things First

The Isles are 12-3-2 when scoring first and 4-7-1 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles            4-8-7=19  

Tampa Bay 9-12-11=32

The Isles are 3-9-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-1 when the shots are even and 11-1-0 when the opposition has more shots. (Their only loss when being outshot was on October 30th in Carolina.)

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves; he is 10-8-2 this season and 5-7-0 vs. Tampa Bay.

Jonas Johansson made 17 saves; he is 5-4-0 this season and 1-4-0 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-34 (4:32); Tampa Bay was 0-2 (4:00).

The Isles are 8-3-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 8-7-2 when they do not. The Isles are 5-4-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 11-6-0 when they do not.

The Isles are 9-1-0 when they outscore the opposition on special teams, 3-4-1 when they are outscored, and 4-5-2 when special team goals are equal. (Their only loss when outscoring the opposition on special teams was in the home opener against Washington.)

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 13-2-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-8-0 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 9-2-3 in games decided by a single goal including 5-2 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games  decided in overtime and are 1-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 3-2 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 2-3-0 on the front end and 4-0-0 on the back end this season. This back-to-back concludes Sunday in Sunrise against the Panthers. The next back-to-back will be on December 19-20 when they host Vancouver and visit Buffalo. 

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 (24:27); Tampa Bay: Darren Raddysh (23:28)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards (22:13).

Face-offs

Isles 20, Tampa Bay 27 (43%)

Bo Horvat won 8 of 16 for the Isles; Yanni Gourde won 8 of 12 for Tampa Bay. 

Hit Count

Isles 22 (Marc Gatcomb and Emil Heineman -4)

Tampa Bay 21 (Emil Lilleberg -4)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 22 (Three with 3)

Tampa Bay 10 (Emil Lilleberg -2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 42, Tampa Bay 74

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 31, Tampa Bay 51

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Mathew Barzal +7

Tampa Bay: Nathan MacKinnon +16

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 9, Tampa Bay 18  (including six for Tampa in 3:14 of 6-on-5)

5-on-5: Isles 4, Tampa Bay 8

Scratches

(Pierre Engvall-LTIR), (Semyon Varlamov-IR), (Ethan Bear-IR), (Alex Romanov-IR), (Kyle Palmieri-IR), (Jean-Gabriel Pageau-INJ), (Jonathan Drouin -INJ), Travis Mitchell

Games Lost to injury: 125. (Last season's total: 304)

The Ironmen

Casey Cizikas is the Islanders' ironman, having played 137 consecutive games. Anders Lee (111) 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, 4 failure (No hand pass – WAS 10/11), (No interference – DET 10/23), (No offside – WAS 10/31), (No interference – COL 12/4)

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 (3): WPG 10/13, CAR 10/30, COL 12/4

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 926 *** 5. Brock Nelson 901 *** 6. Bobby Nystrom 900 *** 7. Clark Gillies 872 *** 8. Anders Lee 870 …

20. Kenny Jonsson 597 *** 21. Garry Howatt 596 *** 22. John Tonelli 594 *** 23. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock 589 *** 25. Scott Mayfield 562 *** 26. Mathew Barzal 558

Goals    

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

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

19. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 142…

26. Three with 118 *** 29. Casey Cizikas 117

Assists

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

5. Clark Gillies 359  *** 6. John Tavares 349 *** 7. Mathew Barzal 341…

18. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 19. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 21. Anders Lee 227…

26. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 27. Ryan Pulock 174… 

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 522… 

15. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 483…

27. Ed Westfall 286 *** 28. Casey Cizikas 269

+/-

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. Adam Pelech and Vladimir Malakhov 27  

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 174 … 

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 227…

10. Mark Streit 179 *** 11. Adam Pelech 164…

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 273 … 

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

Wins

1. Billy Smith 304  *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 135 …

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

Shutouts 

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

4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16

On the Farm   

Bridgeport is 8-11-1-1 on the season after splitting a pair of games this weekend; they fell 5-1 in Utica on Friday as Joey Larson had the only goal, before beating Hartford 6-2 in the Teddy Bear Toss game on Saturday. Marshall Warren had a goal and two assists in Saturday's win; Liam Foudy added a pair of goals and Henrik Tikkanen made 18 saves.

The Islanders are just two points out of a playoff spot. They are off until next weekend, when they travel to Laval on Friday and Belleville on Saturday.

Leaders:  Goals: Joey Larson- 9;  Assists: Matthew Maggio-12; Points: Maggio-16

Goalies:  Marcus Hogberg 4-7-2, 3.25, .876;  Henrik Tikkanen  2-0-0, 1.92, .925

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 0). The teams will meet next Saturday at UBS Arena to conclude the season series.

This was only the Isles' second win in their last eight games in Tampa Bay (2-6-0). They will look to sweep the Lightning for only the 4th time on Saturday (5-0-0 in 1997-98, 4-0-0 in 2001-02, 3-0-0 in 2013).

UP NEXT

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7th   —ISLANDERS AT FLORIDA 5:00PM

[MSGSN (pre-game at 4:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]

The Isles conclude the brief trip to Florida as they face the Stanley Cup Champion Panthers.

It is the first meeting of the teams this season; Florida took two games out of three last season after the Isles earned five points (2-0-1) against the Cats the previous season.

The Isles have won both games of the Florida trip as recently as December 9-12, 2019, but they have swept the games in Florida on consecutive days only once (October 5-6, 2021).

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