The Skinny: Isles 4, Edmonton 2

"The (1,100th Consecutive) Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 4

Isles 4, Edmonton 2

Bo Horvat broke a 2-2 tie with a power play goal at 15:14 of the third period and then cemented matters by completing his natural hat trick with an empty net goal as the Islanders earned their first victory of the season by defeating the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2, before a crowd of 14,837 at UBS Arena. 

David Rittich made 31 saves to earn his first win for a sixth team; the goal scorers were all big names as Mathew Barzal gave the Isles the early lead before Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins gave Edmonton the lead. Horvat's first goal, a shorty, got the game even with 2:04 to play in the middle session. 

The Isles improve to 1-3-0; they head to Ottawa for a matinee at 3pm on Saturday. 

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Mathew Barzal (1) 16:23 EDM 0,NYI 1

Leon Draisaitl (3) Connor McDavid (5), David Tomasek (2) 17:40 EDM 1,NYI 1 PPG

2nd Period

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2) Ty Emberson (1) 08:53 EDM 2,NYI 1

Bo Horvat (1) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (1), Ryan Pulock (1) 17:56 EDM 2,NYI 2 SHG

3rd Period

Bo Horvat (2) Mathew Barzal (2), Matthew Schaefer (3) 15:14 EDM 2,NYI 3 PPG

Bo Horvat (3) Jonathan Drouin (2), Emil Heineman (1) 19:51 EDM 2,NYI 4 

The Skinny

Bo Horvat recorded his second career hat trick (10-22-2019 for Vancouver in Detroit; all three of those goals came in the third period)… Horvat's power play goal at 15:14 of the third period was the latest go-ahead power play goal for the Isles in regulation play since Anders Lee (2/6/2021 vs. Pittsburgh at Coliseum – 17:16); Jonathan Drouin has a point in all three games he has played... Matthew Schaefer extended his point streak to four games… The Isles had four shots on goal in 6:09 of power play, giving them 34 shots on goal in 34:31 of 5-on-4 this season (8.5 per game); they averaged just over 3.5 shots per game last season at 5-on-4…The Isles have scored three power play goals in their last three games; they scored 3 PPGs in a span of three games or less only once last season – March 4 vs Winnipeg (1), March 8 at San Jose (2)…The Isles did not have a hat trick last season, and had only one in the prior three seasons (Kyle Palmieri 3/2/2024 vs. Boston); each of the last three Islander hat tricks (Horvat, Palmieri and Jean-Gabriel Pageau 4/3/2022 at New Jersey) have been natural hat tricks…It was the sixth hat trick for the Isles against the Oilers; Kyle Okposo had the last one on February 7, 2016, in Brooklyn…Horvat now has sixteen career shorthanded goals, including five in 196 games with the Isles; he has scored at least one shorty in six straight seasons, and nine of the last ten seasons…Connor McDavid has five assists in the Oilers' four games; Leon Draisaitl has points in six straight games against the Isles (8-4-12, including two OT goals last season).

First Time in a Ridiculously Long Time

Bo Horvat is the first Islander since Patrick Flatley (February 1, 1994, vs. San Jose) to score a power play goal, shorthanded goal, and even strength goal in the same game. Ray Ferraro, who broadcast tonight's game for ESPN had an assist on the power play tally.

3 Goals, Three Ways (Isles with PP, SH, Even Goals in the Same Game)

1. Bo Horvat 10/16/2025 vs. Edmonton

2. Patrick Flatley 2/1/1994 vs. San Jose

3. Bob Bourne 3/13/1984 at New Jersey

Horvat's empty-net goal is recorded as an even-strength, empty net goal.

Butch Goring (10/14/1982 vs. Pittsburgh) and Zigmund Palffy (4/17/1999 at Pittsburgh) are the only other Isles with both a power play goal and shorthanded goal in a hat trick game – both had two power play goals.

Good Company 

Bo Horvat's three goals give him 272 goals, passing nine others on the career goal list, including Jake Guentzel (269), Bobby Orr (270), and Nicklas Backstrom/Kyle Palmieri (271).

King David

David Rittich earned a win in his Islander debut, becoming the 59th goalie to play for the Isles. Rittich is the first since Cory Schneider (4/3/22 at New Jersey) to earn a win in his Islander debut and the 53rd goalie to win a game. Only 44 have won at least two. Rittich has won 109 NHL games (63-CGY, 29-LA, 9-WPG, 6-NAS, 1-TOR/NYI) and has finished above NHL-.500 in eight of his last nine seasons.

Last season, Ilya Sorokin recorded 30 of the Isles' 35 victories. The other goalies combined for only five, matching the club record for the fewest, set in the 12-win 1972-73 season, when Billy Smith won seven and Gerry Desjardins won five.

King Mathieu

Mathieu Darche was presented with a game puck after earning his first NHL win as a General Manager.

Milestone Men

• Matthew Schaefer is the second 18-year-old defenseman in NHL history to record a point in his first four games, but the first to do so in four consecutive games  (NHL recognizes only consecutive games played as a streak. Phil Housley did it in Buffalo's 1/4/5/6 games in 1982)

• Schaefer is also the first defenseman selected first overall to earn a point in his first four games.

• Schaefer has faced four #1 picks in his first four games (Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tonight)

• Casey Cizikas played his 901st game, passing Bobby Nystrom and tying Brock Nelson for 4th place on the club's all-time list.

Record Seeker

With points in his first four games, Matthew Schaefer is:

• Two games shy of Marek Zidlicky's defense record (6 with Nashville in 2003-04) to start a career; 5 others, including Cale Makar had five-game streaks. Schafer is tied with Zack Werenski and four others at four games.

• Three games shy of Alexander Daigle's expansion era record (7) to start a career at 18 or younger; two players did it in six straight: Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky. All others with at least four games are forwards.

• Only the second Islander to have at least a four-game point streak to start his career, trailing only Bob Bourne (6 games in 1974); he passed five others tonight both Sutters, Mike Bossy, John Tavares, and AHL President Scott Howson (all forwards).

• Three games shy of Stefan Persson's club defense record for a rookie (1/28-2/11/1978; 7 games)

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

Tim Connolly 81

Dave Chyzowski 34

Nino Niederreiter  9

Mathew Schaefer 4

Brent Sutter 3

Brad Dalgarno 2

Paul Boutilier 1

Most Ice Time by an Islander Teenager, Game

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

2. John Tavares 26:46 4/11/2010 vs. Pittsburgh (SO)

3. Matthew Schaefer 26:35 10/13/2025 vs. Edmonton

4. Matthew Schaefer 26:04 10/11/2025 vs. Washington

Did Somebody Say Comeback?

The Isles have one come-from behind win this season, including zero when they trailed in the third period. The opponents have come-from-behind to win one time this season, including one time in the third period.

Overtime

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

Empty Netters 

The Isles have scored 1 empty-net goal and allowed 0.

Building on a Lead

The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 1 time this season:

• Score the next goal: 0 times

• Allowed the next goal: 0 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 1 time 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2025-26  1-3-0 for 2 points in 4 games

• 2024-25  1-1-2 for 4 points in 4 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-2-2

• Season: 1-6-7

• Last Season (Final) 32-129-161

Home and Road

The Isles are 1-3-0 overall; they are 1-2-0 at home and 0-1-0 on the road.

Edmonton is 2-0-1 overall; they are 1-0-1 at home and 1-1-0 on the road.

East and West

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

First Things First

The Isles are 1-0-0 when scoring first and are 0-3-0 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles       11-7-7=25

Edmonton 8-16-9=33

The Isles are 0-3-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 1-0-0 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets

David Rittich made 31 saves in his Isles debut; he is 1-0-0 this season and 6-5-1 vs. Edmonton.

Stuart Skinner made 21 saves; he is 1-1-1 this season and 2-2-0 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-5 (6:09); Edmonton was 1-4 (4:22) but allowed a Bo Horvat shorthanded goal .

The Isles are 1-1-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 0-2-0 when they do not. The Isles are 1-2-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 0-1-0 when they do not.

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

Three is a Magic Number

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

One-Goal Games

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

Back-to-Backs     

The Isles are 0-0-0 on the front end and 0-0-0 on the back end this season. 

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

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Mathew Barzal (24:31); Edmonton: Leon Draisaitl (25:22)

Barzal led Isles forwards (24:31).

Face-offs

Isles 25, Edmonton 33 (43%)

Bo Horvat won 8 of 13 for the Isles, but his teammates won only 17 of 45. Leon Draisaitl won 14 of 21 for Edmonton. 

Hit Count

Isles 18 (Alex Romanov -6)

Edmonton 7 (Vasily Podkolzin -1)

Fights 

None. Season total: 0 

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 13 (Alex Romanov -4)

Edmonton 13 (Darnell Nurse-6)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 58, Edmonton 63

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 42, Edmonton 45

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Adam Pelech +7

Edmonton: Five with +5

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 10, Edmonton 15

5-on-5: Isles 8, Edmonton 9

Scratches

(Semyon Varlamov-IR), (Ethan Bear – IR), Max Tsyplakov, Adam Boqvist

Games Lost to injury: 8. (Last season's total: 304)

The Ironmen

Kyle Palmieri is the Islanders' ironman, having played 202 consecutive games. Casey Cizikas (112) and Anders Lee (95) are the only other Isles to have also played every game since the start of last season.

National TV Games 

Including tonight, the Isles are 1-0-0 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners. Their next appearance will be on October 30th in Carolina.

Matinee Isles

The Isles are 0-1-0 in matinee games this season; the next matinee will be at 3pm Saturday in Ottawa. 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 15-18-13 in matinees.

Challenges

Isles: 0 successful, 0 failures  

Opponents: 0 successful, 1 failure (No hand pass – WAS 10/11) 

Hockey Opps: 0 favorable, 0 unfavorable

Quickies (Two goals in under a minute)

For (0): 

Vs (0): 

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

Isles responses (0): 

Opponent responses (1): WPG 10/13

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 (0): 

Vs (0):  

OT Winners

For (0): 

Vs (0):  

Shootout Winners

For (0): 

Vs (0):  

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

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

4. Brock Nelson and Casey Cizikas 901 *** 5. Bobby Nystrom 900 *** 7. Clark Gillies 872 *** 8. Matt Martin 855 *** 9. Anders Lee 845 …

22. John Tonelli 594 *** 23. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock 564 *** 25. Ken Morrow 550 *** 26. Duane Sutter 547 *** 27. Lorne Henning 543 *** 28. Scott Mayfield 539 *** 29. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 30. Mathew Barzal 534

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 135…

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. Mathew Barzal 330…

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 162… 

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 465…

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 +81 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson +76  *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 ***  19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Ryan Pulock +59 *** 22. 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 162 ***10. Mark Streit 139 *** 11. Adam Pelech 135… 

17. Bryan Berard 100 *** 18. Vladimir Malakhov and Scott Mayfield 98

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 215…

10. Mark Streit 179 *** 11. Adam Pelech 161…

18. Gerry Hart 128 *** 19. Scott Mayfield 126

Goalie Games

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 256 … 

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

On the Farm   

Bridgeport is 1-0-1-0; they will host Providence on Friday and Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Saturday, both at 7pm. 

Marshall Warren is the reigning AHL Player of the Week. 

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0). The teams will meet next on January 15th in Alberta.

The Isles have earned at least one point in all five games against Edmonton at UBS Arena (3-0-1) and are 2-0-2 in their last four meetings with the Oilers.

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18th —ISLANDERS AT OTTAWA 3:00pm

[MSGSN (pre-game at 2:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]

The Isles head to the Canadian capital, or at least its suburb (Kanata) to face the Ottawa for the first time this season.

The Isles have won three straight games in Ottawa and are 4-1-2 in their last seven games against the Sens. Going back to 2018, the Isles are 14-3-2 against Ottawa.

AND FINALLY…

Thanks for reading the 1,100th consecutive edition of The Skinny! 

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

The Skinny: Winnipeg 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 3

Winnipeg 5, Isles 2

Eric Comrie made 33 saves, and five different Winnipeg Jets scored goals, as they defeated the Isles, 5-2,  before a crowd of 13,287 at UBS Arena. 

Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored 2:05 into the second period to cut Winnipeg's lead to 2-1 but Logan Stanley beat Ilya Sorokin 14 seconds later and the Isles would not get within a goal the rest of the way. Emil Heineman had the other tally for the Isles, who are 0-2-0 at home for only the second time in the last 25 years.

The Isles fall to 0-3-0 in the young campaign; it is only the second time in club history (2006-07) that has happened. The Isles will host Edmonton in a nationally-streamed game on Thursday at 7:30pm. 

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Morgan Barron (2) Cole Koepke (1), Logan Stanley (1) 07:35 WPG 1,NYI 0

Nino Niederreiter (1) Gustav Nyquist (1), Jonathan Toews (1) 11:48 WPG 2,NYI 0 PPG

2nd Period

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (1) Tony DeAngelo (1) 02:05 WPG 2,NYI 1

Logan Stanley (1) Tanner Pearson (1), Morgan Barron (2) 02:19 WPG 3,NYI 1

Tanner Pearson (1) Nino Niederreiter (1) 12:39 WPG 4,NYI 1

Emil Heineman (1) Jonathan Drouin (1), Matthew Schaefer (2) 14:45 WPG 4,NYI 2

3rd Period

Mark Scheifele (3)EN Kyle Connor (2) 17:35 WPG 5,NYI 2

The Skinny

Matthew Schaefer is the second player in the Real Time Era to play at least 26 minutes in two of his first three NHL games; the only other player to do so is Victor Hedman... Jonathan Toews won 15 of 20 draws and earned his first point as a Jet in the third game of his return to the NHL... Emil Heineman is the fourth different Islander to score his first goal with the team in the first three games (Jonathan Drouin, Max Shabanov, and Matthew Schaefer); 409 players have scored at least one goal for the Isles (73 have scored exactly once)...Drouin has a point in both games he has played…The Isles had eight shots on goal in 10:00 of power play, giving them 30 shots on goal in 28:22 of 5-on-4 this season; they averaged just over 3.5 shots per game last season at 5-on-4.

First Time in a Long Time

The Isles had 61 shot attempts at 5-on-5, to Winnipeg's 26,for a 70.11% share. It is the highest percentage of shot attempts for the Isles since February 8, 2015,when they had a 70.73% share in a game against Buffalo. (A 70% share happened only ten times in the NHL last season)

Milestone Men

• Matthew Schaefer is the first defenseman in club history to record a point in his first three games and joins Anders Lee and John Tavares as the only Isles to do so in the last 30 years (Lee is not considered a streak as it occurred over multiple seasons). Only one player in club history has had a longer point streak (no missed games) to begin his career- Bob Bourne had points in six straight games in October 1974; Brent Sutter had points in his first four NHL games.

• Schaefer is also the first defenseman selected first overall to earn a point in his first three games.

• Casey Cizikas played his 900th game, all with the Isles.

• Jean-Gabriel Pageau played his 800th game.

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

Tim Connolly 81

Dave Chyzowski 34

Nino Niederreiter  9

Mathew Schaefer 3

Brent Sutter 3

Brad Dalgarno 2

Paul Boutilier 1

Schaefer has now played more games as an 18-year-old than all other defensemen in club history combined.

Most Ice Time by an Islander Teenager, Game

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

2. John Tavares 26:46 4/11/2010 vs. Pittsburgh (SO)

3. Matthew Schaefer 26:35 10/13/2025 vs. Winnipeg

4. Matthew Schaefer 26:04 10/11/2025 vs. Washington

Did Somebody Say Comeback?

The Isles have zero come-from behind wins this season, including zero when they trailed in the third period. The opponents have come-from-behind to win one time this season, including one time in the third period.

Overtime

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

Empty Netters 

The Isles have scored 0 empty-net goals and allowed 0.

Building on a Lead

The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 0 times this season:

• Score the next goal: 0 times

• Allowed the next goal: 0 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 0 times 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2025-26  0-3-0 for 0 points in 3 games

• 2024-25  1-1-1 for 3 points in 3 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-2-2

• Season: 1-4-5

• Last Season (Final) 32-129-161

Home and Road

The Isles are 0-3-0 overall; they are 0-2-0 at home and 0-1-0 on the road.

Winnipeg is 2-1-0 overall; they are 1-1-0 at home and 1-0-0 on the road.

East and West

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

First Things First

The Isles are 0-0-0 when scoring first and are 0-3-0 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles       12-12-11=35

Winnipeg 10-11-5=26

The Isles are 0-3-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 0-0-0 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 21 saves; he is 0-3-0 this season and 3-3-0 vs. Winnipeg.

Eric Comrie made 33 saves; he is 1-0-0 this season and 3-1-0 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-5 (10:00); Winnipeg was 1-3 (5:58) .

The Isles are 0-1-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 0-2-0 when they do not. The Isles are 0-2-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 0-1-0 when they do not.

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

Three is a Magic Number

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

One-Goal Games

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

Back-to-Backs     

The Isles are 0-0-0 on the front end and 0-0-0 on the back end this season. 

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

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Matthew Schaefer (26:35); Winnipeg: Neal Pionk (24:18)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards (24:24).

Face-offs

Isles 22, Winnipeg 29 (43%)

Bo Horvat won 12 of 21 for the Isles, but his teammates won only 10 of 30 Jonathan Toews won 15 of 20 for Winnipeg. 

Hit Count

Isles 14 (Emil Heineman-4)

Winnipeg 16 (Two with 3)

Fights 

None. Season total: 0 

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 13 (Two with 2)

Winnipeg 24 (Three with 3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 82, Winnipeg 47

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 61, Winnipeg 26

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Alex Romanov +17

Winnipeg: No Jet was a +

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 9, Winnipeg 12

5-on-5: Isles 8, Winnipeg 5

Scratches

(Semyon Varlamov-IR), (Ethan Bear – IR), Kyle MacLean, Adam Boqvist

Games Lost to injury: 6. (Last season's total: 304)

The Ironmen

Kyle Palmieri is the Islanders' ironman, having played 201 consecutive games. Casey Cizikas (111) and Anders Lee (94) are the only other Isles to have also played every game since the start of last season.

National TV Games 

The Isles are 0-0-0 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners. Their first appearance will be on October 16th vs. Edmonton.

Matinee Isles

Including today, the Isles are 0-1-0 in matinee games this season; the next matinee will be at 3pm Saturday in Ottawa. 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 15-18-13 in matinees.

Challenges

Isles: 0 successful, 0 failures  

Opponents: 0 successful, 1 failure (No hand pass – WAS 10/11) 

Hockey Opps: 0 favorable, 0 unfavorable

Quickies (Two goals in under a minute)

For (0): 

Vs (0): 

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

Isles responses (0): 

Opponent responses (1): WPG 10/13

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 (0): 

Vs (0):  

OT Winners

For (0): 

Vs (0):  

Shootout Winners

For (0): 

Vs (0):  

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

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

4. Brock Nelson 901 *** 5. Bobby Nystrom and Casey Cizikas 900 *** 7. Clark Gillies 872 *** 8. Matt Martin 855 *** 9. Anders Lee 844 …

22. John Tonelli 594 *** 23. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock 563 *** 25. Ken Morrow 550 *** 26. Duane Sutter 547 *** 27. Lorne Henning 543 *** 28. Scott Mayfield 538 *** 29. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 30. Mathew Barzal 533

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. Mathew Barzal 329…

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 463…

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 +79 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson +76  *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 ***  19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Ryan Pulock +57 *** 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 and Scott Mayfield 98

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. Scott Mayfield 126

Goalie Games

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 256 … 

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

On the Farm   

Bridgeport is 1-0-1-0 after a 6-2 overtime win over Belleville on Monday; they will host Providence on Friday and Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Saturday, both at 7pm. 

Marshall Warren scored twice and added an assist; on Monday he was named AHL Player of the Week. Parker Gahagen made 29 saves to earn the win.

Season Series Stats

Winnipeg leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0). The teams will meet next on January 13th in Manitoba when the average high temperature will be 13 degrees Fahrenheit.

This was the Jets' first win at UBS Arena and ended a five-game Islander home winning streak over Winnipeg.

UP NEXT

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16th — EDMONTON AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

[ESPN+/Hulu, WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]

The Isles welcome the Edmonton Oilers to UBS Arena for a nationally-streamed game on Thursday.

Edmonton swept a pair of overtime games last season with Leon Draisaitl scoring the overtime goal in both games. The Isles have earned at least one point in all four games against Edmonton at UBS Arena (3-0-1) but are 3-4-3 in their last ten meetings with the Oilers.

Steve Levy and Ray Ferraro will have the call on ESPN+. Look for the 1,100th consecutive edition of The Skinny after the game!

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

The Skinny: Washington 4, Isles 2

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 2

Washington 4, Isles 2

Aliaksei Protas scored two goals and added an assist as the Washington Capitals built a 4-0 lead and then held off the Isles for a 4-2 victory, before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

The Isles made it a game with a pair of power play goals 5:37 apart; Anthony Duclair scored late in the second period, and Matthew Schaefer, making his home regular season debut, became the youngest player in NHL history to score his first goal on a power play as he scored off a goal mouth scramble.  However, the Isles could not get any closer.

The Isles fall to 0-2-0 in the young campaign; they will play the middle game of this three game homestand on Monday at 1:00 against the Winnipeg Jets. 

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Martin Fehérváry (1) Alex Ovechkin (1), John Carlson (1) 01:50 WSH 1,NYI 0

Aliaksei Protas (1) Jakob Chychrun (2), Tom Wilson (1) 13:52 WSH 2,NYI 0

2nd Period

Ryan Leonard (1) Jakob Chychrun (3), Aliaksei Protas (2) 09:50 WSH 3,NYI 0

Aliaksei Protas (2) 15:30 WSH 4,NYI 0

Anthony Duclair (1) Bo Horvat (1), Kyle Palmieri (1) 18:51 WSH 4,NYI 1 PPG

3rd Period

Matthew Schaefer (1) Kyle Palmieri (2), Bo Horvat (2) 04:28 WSH 4,NYI 2 PPG

The Skinny

Matthew Schaefer was the youngest of six players to score his first NHL goal tonight; that last happened on October 26, 2017, when Schaefer was ten years old…Schaefer is the seventh player in the Real Time Era to play at least 26 minutes in one of his first two NHL games; the only other 18-year-old to do so is Victor Hedman…Aliaksei Protas matched his career high with three points; Ryan Leonard's only prior NHL goal was into an empty net last season in Chicago.…The Isles scored twice on the power play; that happened only four times all last season; it is the first time in 11 years (10-11-2014 vs. Carolina at the Coliseum) that they did so in a home opener…Kyle Palmieri and Bo Horvat are the first Islander teammates to have two power play assists in the same game since Mathew Barzal and Noah Dobson did so on January 11, 2024 vs. Toronto and the first Islander forwards to do so since John Tavares and Jordan Eberle did so on March 22, 2018 vs. Tampa Bay…Alex Ovechkin recorded his first point as a 40-year-old, joining Zdeno Chara and Doug Mohns as Capitals to do so; Ovechkin and Schaefer represent the second-largest span in age of opponents who were first overall picks (17 years, 353 days), trailing only Joe Thornton and Alexis Lafreniere…Ovechkin passed Luc Robitaille for the 2nd-highest assist total among NHL left wings (727-726); Johnny Bucyk holds the record with 813…Schaefer finished with eight shots on goal; Ryan Pulock is the only other defenseman on the current roster with at least eight shots on goal in any NHL game (3x, including a nine shot game on March 22, 2018)…The Isles had 20 shots in the third period, matching their highest total all last season (20 vs. Rangers in second period on April 10th); it is the first time that they had 20 third period shots since December 2, 2022, vs. Nashville.

First Times in a Historically Long Time

Matthew Schaefer is the youngest defenseman to score his first NHL goal since Ross Johnstone, then 17 years old, scored for the Leafs against Chicago on October 31, 1943. He is the youngest defenseman to score a goal since Johnstone, still 17, scored in Boston on February 29, 1944. The only other Islander defensemen with points in their first two NHL games are Bob Lorimer (over two seasons, 1976-77 and 1977-78) and Pat Price (1975-76).

One for The Record Books

Schaefer is also the youngest player to ever score his first NHL goal on the power play, breaking Brian Bellows' record by one day.

For Openers

The Isles are 1-3-1 in five home openers at UBS Arena, with the victory coming over Buffalo two seasons ago. They are 29-17-7 in the first home game of the 53 seasons that they have played.

This was the fourth home opener against Washington (1-3-0)

Milestone Men

• Matthew Schaefer is the youngest defenseman (18-036)  in club history and the second-youngest player in club history to score a goal; Nino Niederreiter was one day younger when he also scored against Washington, on October 13, 2010.

• Casey Cizikas played his 899th game, all with the Isles.

• Kyle Palmieri played his 200th consecutive game.

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

Tim Connolly 81

Dave Chyzowski 34

Nino Niederreiter  9

Brent Sutter 3

Mathew Schaefer 2

Brad Dalgarno 2

Paul Boutilier 1

Schaefer has now played more games as an 18-year-old than all other defensemen in club history combined. 

Did Somebody Say Comeback?

The Isles have zero come-from behind wins this season, including zero when they trailed in the third period. The opponents have come-from-behind to win one time this season, including one time in the third period.

Overtime

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

Empty Netters 

The Isles have scored 0 empty-net goals and allowed 0.

Building on a Lead

The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 0 times this season:

• Score the next goal: 0 times

• Allowed the next goal: 0 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 0 times 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2025-26  0-2-0 for 0 points in 2 games

• 2024-25  0-1-1 for 1 point in 2 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:   1-0-1

• Season: 1-2-3

• Last Season (Final) 32-129-161

Home and Road

The Isles are 0-2-0 overall; they are 0-1-0 at home and 0-1-0 on the road.

Washington is 1-1-0 overall; they are 0-1-0 at home and 1-0-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 0-2-0 against the East (0-2-0 vs. Metropolitan and 0-0-0 vs. Atlantic) and 0-0-0 against the West (0-0-0 vs. Central and 0-0-0 vs. Pacific).

First Things First

The Isles are 0-0-0 when scoring first and are 0-2-0 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles         3-13-20=36

Washington 9-14-6=29

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

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves; he is 0-2-0 this season and 4-5-1 vs. Washington.

Logan Thompson made 34 saves; he is 1-1-0 this season and 3-1-1 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 2-3 (3:10); Washington was 0-2 (4:00) .

The Isles are 0-1-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 0-1-0 when they do not. The Isles are 0-1-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 0-1-0 when they do not.

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

Three is a Magic Number

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

One-Goal Games

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

Back-to-Backs     

The Isles are 0-0-0 on the front end and 0-0-0 on the back end this season. 

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

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Matthew Schaefer (26:04); Washington: John Carlson (22:44)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards (21:28).

Face-offs

Isles 31, Washington 30 (51%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 11 of 16 for the Isles; Pierre-Luc Dubois won 10 of 16 for Washington. 

Hit Count

Isles 33 (Casey Cizikas -7)

Washington 23 (Brando Duhaime -6)

Fights 

None. Season total: 0 

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 22 (Alex Romanov -4)

Washington 20 (Two with 4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 71, Washington 69

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 50, Washington 57

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Matthew Schaefer +8

Washington: Pierre-Luc Dubois +8

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 13, Washington 17

5-on-5: Isles 7, Washington 14

Scratches

(Semyon Varlamov-IR), (Ethan Bear – IR),(Jonathan Drouin -suspended), Kyle MacLean, Adam Boqvist

Games Lost to injury: 4. (Last season's total: 304)

The Ironmen

Kyle Palmieri is the Islanders' ironman, having played 200 consecutive games. Casey Cizikas (110) and Anders Lee (93) are the only other Isles to have also played every game since the start of last season.

National TV Games 

The Isles are 0-0-0 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners. Their first appearance will be on October 16th vs. Edmonton.

Matinee Isles

The Isles are 0-0-0 in matinee games this season; the first matinee will be at 1pm Monday against Winnipeg. 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 15-17-13 in matinees.

Challenges

Isles: 0 successful, 0 failures  

Opponents: 0 successful, 1 failure (No hand pass – WAS 10/11) 

Hockey Opps: 0 favorable, 0 unfavorable

Quickies (Two goals in under a minute)

For (0): 

Vs (0): 

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

Isles responses (0): 

Opponent responses (0):

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 (0): 

Vs (0):  

OT Winners

For (0): 

Vs (0):  

Shootout Winners

For (0): 

Vs (0):  

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

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 899 *** 7. Clark Gillies 872 *** 8. Matt Martin 855 *** 9. Anders Lee 843 …

22. John Tonelli 594 *** 23. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock 562 *** 25. Ken Morrow 550 *** 26. Duane Sutter 547 *** 27. Lorne Henning 543 *** 28. Scott Mayfield 537 *** 29. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 30. Tomas Jonsson and Mathew Barzal 532 

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. Mathew Barzal 329…

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 463…

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 +79 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson +76  *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 ***  19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Ryan Pulock +57 *** 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 and Scott Mayfield 98

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. Scott Mayfield 126

Goalie Games

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 255 … 

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

On the Farm   

Bridgeport is 0-0-1-0 after a 3-2 overtime loss to Providence on Saturday; they will host Belleville at 3pm Sunday. 

Cam Berg and Cole McWard scored 1:48 apart in the first period to give Bridgeport an early lead.

Season Series Stats

Washington leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0). The teams will meet next on Halloween (October 31st) at Capital One Arena. 

The Isles are 3-5-1 in their last nine home games against Washington.

UP NEXT

MONDAY, OCTOBER 13th — WINNIPEG AT ISLANDERS 1:00pm

[MSGSN (pre-game at 12:30], WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]

The Isles welcome the Winnipeg Jets to UBS Arena in the first of eleven home matinees this season.

The teams split a pair of one-goal games last season, with each team winning on home ice. The Isles have won all four games against Winnipeg at UBS Arena and have won the last five home games against the Jets dating back to a 3-1 loss in Brooklyn on December 4, 2018. Since that 2018 loss, the Isles are 9-2-0 in eleven meetings with the Jets.

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

The Skinny: Pittsburgh 4, Isles 3

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 1

Pittsburgh 4, Isles 3

Justin Brazeau scored with 5:39 to play in regulation to break a 3-3 tie as the Pittsburgh Penguins spoiled Matthew Schaefer's NHL debut with a 4-3 victory over the Isles, before a crowd of 16,107 at PPG Paints Arena. 

The Isles bounced back from an early Rickard Rakell tally to take a 2-1 lead on goals by Jonathan Drouin and Kyle Palmieri; Schaefer earned his first NHL point on the Drouin tally. After Pittsburgh gained a 3-2 lead, Maxim Shabanov scored a goal in his NHL debut with 41 seconds to play in the middle period, but Brazeau's tally held up as the game-winner.

The Isles open the home season on Saturday at 7:00 as they entertain the Washington Capitals. 

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Rickard Rakell (1) Evgeni Malkin (3) Sidney Crosby (1), 03:23 NYI 0,PIT 1 PPG

Jonathan Drouin (1) Matthew Schaefer (1) 12:02 NYI 1,PIT 1

2nd Period

Kyle Palmieri (1) Mathew Barzal (1), Scott Mayfield (1) 04:04 NYI 2,PIT 1

Harrison Brunicke (1) Filip Hallander (1), Tommy Novak (1) 05:41 NYI 2,PIT 2

Sidney Crosby (1) Evgeni Malkin (4), Rickard Rakell (1) 08:58 NYI 2,PIT 3 PPG

Max Shabanov (1) Simon Holmstrom (1) 19:19 NYI 3,PIT 3

3rd Period

Justin Brazeau (3) Evgeni Malkin (5), Anthony Mantha (2) 14:21 NYI 3,PIT 4

The Skinny

Anders Lee opened the season as the Isles' captain for the eight straight season, breaking a tie with Denis Potvin for the longest in club history…The Isles have faced the Penguins in their opener three times (1998, 2009, 2025), losing all three by a 4-3 score…Three infrequently penalized players saw penalty time: Alex Romanov (20 PIM last season), Simon Holmstrom (11 penalties in first 200 games) and Jonathan Drouin (15 minutes tonight; only six all last season)…Drouin is the first Islander since Ray Schultz (10-10-2002 at Buffalo -23 minutes) with at least 15 penalty minutes in an opener; he is only the second player in club history (Derek King 10-6-1992 at New Jersey) to score a goal and have at least 15 penalty minutes in an opener…Mathew Barzal passed Patrick Flatley for 8th in team assists (329-328) and passed Pat LaFontaine for 31st in games played (531-530)…Matthew Schaefer's largest speed burst was 22.4 mph; an Islander defenseman reached 22 mph only five times all last season (three by Noah Dobson).

First Time in a Long Time

The points for Schaefer and Shabanov marked the first time in 37 years (10-6-1988) that two Islanders earned a point in their NHL debut in the same game; David Volek (who had a famous goal in Pittsburgh in 1993), and Rich Pilon did that. The only other occasions occurred in 1974 (Bob Bourne and Clark Gillies) and in the first game in franchise history in 1972 (Billy Harris and Dave Hudson).

For Openers

The Isles are 3-6-1 on Opening Night over the last ten years and they are only 6-13-4 in their last 23 Openers. Overall, the Isles are 14-27-12 on Opening Night (11-21-8 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.

The Isles 14-27-12 (.377) Opening Night record is the second-worst among current teams who have played more than four openers (Seattle is 0-3-1, entering tonight). Anaheim has the worst record on opening night of any other team: 11-20-0 (.355), entering tonight. Patrick Roy is 0-1-1 on Opening Night as the Isles' head coach; he went 1-2-0 in three Openers with Colorado.

Milestone Men

• Matthew Schaefer made his NHL debut just 34 days after his 18th birthday, becoming the youngest defenseman in Isles history, and the youngest defenseman to record a point in his NHL debut (breaking Scott Niedermayer's record 18-046).

• Sidney Crosby went 1-1-2, tying Steve Yzerman (1063) for 9th all-time in assists and passing Joe Sakic /Jarome Iginla with his 625th career goal. 

• Crosby is now 44-95-139 against the Isles (91 games played); he passed Jaromir Jagr for the most assists against the Isles.

• Harrison Brunicke also recorded his first NHL goal.

• Casey Cizikas appeared in his 13th Opening Night game, tying Josh Bailey and Denis Potvin for second place in club history (Bryan Trottier played in 14 openers). It was his 898th game, all with 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

Mathew Schaefer 1

Paul Boutilier 1

Schaefer will set the club record for most games played by an 18-year-old defenseman with his next appearance.

Did Somebody Say Comeback?

The Isles have zero come-from behind wins this season, including zero when they trailed in the third period. The opponents have come-from-behind to win one time this season, including one time in the third period.

Overtime

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

Empty Netters 

The Isles have scored 0 empty-net goals and allowed 0.

Building on a Lead

The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 0 times this season:

• Score the next goal: 0 times

• Allowed the next goal: 0 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 0 times 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2025-26  0-1-0 for 0 points in 1 game

• 2024-25  0-0-1 for 1 point in 1 game

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-2-2

• Season: 0-2-2

• Last Season (Final) 32-129-161

Home and Road

The Isles are 0-1-0 overall; they are 0-0-0 at home and 0-1-0 on the road.

Pittsburgh is 2-0-0 overall; they are 1-0-0 at home and 1-0-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 0-1-0 against the East (0-1-0 vs. Metropolitan and 0-0-0 vs. Atlantic) and 0-0-0 against the West (0-0-0 vs. Central and 0-0-0 vs. Pacific).

First Things First

The Isles are 0-0-0 when scoring first and are 0-1-0 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles         12-13-12=37

Pittsburgh  11-9-8=28

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

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves; he is 0-1-0 this season and 11-6-0 vs. Pittsburgh.

Tristan Jarry made 34 saves; he is 1-0-0 this season and 12-5-1 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 (5:58); Pittsburgh was 2-5 (4:51) .

The Isles are 0-0-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 0-1-0 when they do not. The Isles are 0-1-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 0-0-0 when they do not.

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

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

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

One-Goal Games

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

Back-to-Backs     

The Isles are 0-0-0 on the front end and 0-0-0 on the back end this season. 

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

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Tony DeAngelo (23:35); Pittsburgh: Kris Letang (27:20)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards (20:53).

Face-offs

Isles 39, Pittsburgh 28 (58%)

Bo Horvat won 18 of 29 for the Isles; Noel Acciari won 5 of 9 for Pittsburgh. 

Hit Count

Isles 22 (Alex Romanov -5)

Pittsburgh 23 (Kris Letang -4)

Fights 

None. Season total: 0 

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 13 (Four with 2)

Pittsburgh 12 (Three with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 69, Pittsburgh 56

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 46, Pittsburgh 46

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Anders Lee +10

Pittsburgh: Tommy Novak +5

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 9, Pittsburgh 20

5-on-5: Isles 6, Pittsburgh 14

Scratches

(Semyon Varlamov-IR), (Ethan Bear – IR), Kyle MacLean, Adam Boqvist, Marc Gatcomb 

Games Lost to injury: 2. (Last season's total: 304)

The Ironmen

Kyle Palmieri is the Islanders' ironman, having played 199 consecutive games. Casey Cizikas (109) and Anders Lee (92) are the only other Isles to have also played every game since the start of last season.

National TV Games 

The Isles are 0-0-0 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners. Their first appearance will be on October 16th vs. Edmonton.

Matinee Isles

The Isles are 0-0-0 in matinee games this season; the first matinee will be at 1pm Monday against Winnipeg. 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 15-17-13 in matinees.

Challenges

Isles: 0 successful, 0 failures  

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures 

Hockey Opps: 0 favorable, 0 unfavorable

Quickies (Two goals in under a minute)

For (0): 

Vs (0): 

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

Isles responses (0): 

Opponent responses (0):

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 (0): 

Vs (0):  

OT Winners

For (0): 

Vs (0):  

Shootout Winners

For (0): 

Vs (0):  

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

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 898 *** 7. Clark Gillies 872 *** 8. Matt Martin 855 *** 9. Anders Lee 842 …

22. John Tonelli 594 *** 23. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock 561 *** 25. Ken Morrow 550 *** 26. Duane Sutter 547 *** 27. Lorne Henning 543 *** 28. Scott Mayfield 536 *** 29. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 30. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 31. Mathew Barzal 531 

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. Mathew Barzal 329…

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 463…

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 and Scott Mayfield 98

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. Scott Mayfield 126

Goalie Games

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 254 … 

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

On the Farm   

Bridgeport is 0-0-0-0; they will open their season on Saturday and Sunday with home games against Providence (7pm Saturday) and Belleville (3pm Sunday). 

Season Series Stats

Pittsburgh leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0). The teams will meet next on February 3rd at UBS Arena, in the only Islander home game to be played in February.

The Isles are 9-4-0 in their last thirteen games against Pittsburgh.

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11th — WASHINGTON AT ISLANDERS 7:00pm

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

The Isles open the home season against the Washington Caps. The Isles are 6-4-3 in their last 13 meetings with Washington, dating back to the final week of Barry Trotz' Islander tenure. The Isles are 3-4-1 in their last eight home games with Washington.

The Isles are 1-2-1 in four home openers at UBS Arena, with the victory coming over Buffalo two seasons ago.

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

The Skinny on the Opener

"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