"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 27
Isles 2, Tampa Bay 1
Bo Horvat broke a scoreless tie early in the second period and Anthony Duclair scored the eventual winning goal as the Isles snapped a three-game winless streak with a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning before a crowd of 13,014 at UBS Arena.
Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves, yielding only a late goal to Dominic James, as the Isles snapped Tampa Bay's seven-game winning streak.
The Isles improve to 10-5-2 in their last seventeen games and 2-3-1 on this homestand; they will host Brock Nelson and the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday in the final game of the homestand.
The Scoring:
1st Period
No Scoring
2nd Period
Bo Horvat (16) Max Shabanov (5) 00:55 TBL 0,NYI 1
3rd Period
Anthony Duclair (4) Calum Ritchie (2), Tony DeAngelo (9) 05:30 TBL 0,NYI 2
Dominic James (2) Emil Lilleberg (4), Nick Paul (3) 16:26 TBL 1,NYI 2
The Skinny
The Isles are 14-7-3 since they opened 0-3-0…Each team went 0-3 on the power play; the Isles have killed 26 of the last 28 and 43 of the last 48 but are 7-78 on the power play over the last 21 games … Bo Horvat scored for the second straight game, and is now tied for 5th in the NHL in goals…Anthony Duclair scored for the first time in 14 games …The Isles regained NHL-.500 at home (6-6-2)…The Isles allowed 30 shots on goal for the first time in nine games…The Isles stopped Nikita Kucherov's seven-game assist streak and nine-game point streak; they also ended Brandon Hagel's five-game goal streak…The Isles are 11-1-0 when they are outshot; they improve to 6-0-1 when leading after two periods…The Isles move into a tie with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh for the two Wild Card spots, but remain in 9th place due to games played…Five points separate the eight teams in the Metro.
Milestone Men
• Anders Lee remains one goal behind Brock Nelson for fifth place in Isles history.
• Patrick Roy earned his 199th win as an NHL coach (69 with the Isles).
Return to Form
Ilya Sorokin was 2-4-1 (.868 and 3.75) in his first seven games this season; he is 6-4-1 (.930 and 1.83) since October 31st with two shutouts.
This was only his second win of the season at UBS Arena (2-5-1).
Big Save Dave
David Rittich is 6-2-1 on the season. In his last four games (3-0-1, all by one goal), he has stopped 86 of 93 shots for a 1.68 GAA and a .925 save percentage. Rittich is also 4-1-1 this season at UBS Arena.
Islander goalies not named Sorokin won only five games all last season (tying a franchise record for fewest by the non-winningest goalies on the team).
Most Ice Time by an Islander Teenager, Game
1. Matthew Schaefer 28:53 11/28/2025 vs PHI (SO)
2. Matthew Schaefer 27:40 10/25/2025 at PHI (SO)
3. Matthew Schaefer 27:30 11/22/2025 vs. STL
4. Matthew Schaefer 27:23 11/23/2025 vs. SEA (SO)
5. Eric Brewer 26:57 4/3/1999 vs ANA (OT)
6. John Tavares 26:46 4/11/2010 vs. PIT (SO)
7. Matthew Schaefer 26:35 10/13/2025 vs. WPG
8. Matthew Schaefer 26:12 11/30/2025 vs. was
9. Matthew Schaefer 26:04 10/11/2025 vs. WAS
A 20-year-old Islander has played more than 28:53 only twice (Bryan Berard -31:30; Travis Hamonic -28:54). The younger of these was Hamonic (vs PIT) on April 8, 2011, when he was 20 years, 235 days old; Schaefer will not hit that age until April 27, 2028.
Most Ice Time by an 18-Year-Old, Game
1. Rasmus Dahlin (BUF) 29:15 12/4/2018 vs TOR (OT)
2. Drew Doughty (LA) 29:04 11/22/2008 vs COL (SO)
3. Matthew Schaefer 28:53 11/28/2025 vs PHI (SO)
Schaefer is the first 18-year-old to play at least 27 minutes four times since ice-time became official; Victor Hedman (also seven times) is the only 18-year-old to pay 26 minutes as often as Schaefer.
Most Goals by an Islander Teenage Defenseman
1. Matthew Schaefer 8
2. Bryan Berard 7
Most Assists by an Islander Teenage Defenseman
1. Bryan Berard 32
2. Matthew Schaefer 11
The Isles will play 139 more games before Schaefer is no longer a Teenager
Most Games Played as an 18-Year-Old (Isles history)
1. Tim Connolly 81 (14-20-34)
2. Dave Chyzowski 34 (8-6-14)
3. Mathew Schaefer 27 (8-11-19)
Home for the Holidays
The Isles are 2-3-1 in their seven-game homestand that also starts a stretch where they will play 13 of 17 games at UBS Arena through December 27th.
Did Somebody Say Comeback?
The Isles have eight come-from behind wins this season, including four when they trailed in the third period. The opponents have come-from-behind to win six times this season, including three in the third period.
Overtime Is Our Time
The Isles are 3-0 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-3 in shootouts.
Empty Netters
The Isles have scored 3 empty-net goals and allowed 5.
Building on a Lead
The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 11 times this season:
• Score the next goal: 3 times
• Allowed the next goal: 6 times
• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 2 times
Last Year vs. This Year
• 2025-26 14-10-3 for 31 points in 27 games
• 2024-25 10-11-6 for 26 points in 27 games
Offense from Defense
• Today: 0-1-1
• Season: 9-40-49
• Last Season (Final) 32-129-161
Rookie Scoring
• Today: 0-2-2
• Season: 13-20-33
• Last Season (Final) 19-30-49
The 13 rookie goals tie Montreal for the NHL lead; Chicago is the only other team with at least ten goals from rookies.
Home and Road
The Isles are 14-10-3 overall; they are 6-6-2 at home and 8-4-1 on the road.
Tampa Bay is 16-8-2 overall; they are 8-5-0 at home and 8-3-2 on the road.
East and West
The Isles are 8-6-3 against the East (4-4-2 vs. Metropolitan and 4-2-1 vs. Atlantic) and 6-4-0 against the West (2-4-0 vs. Central and 4-0-0 vs. Pacific).
First Things First
The Isles are 10-3-2 when scoring first and 4-7-1 when allowing the opening goal.
The Shots
Isles 8-7-8=23
Tampa Bay 9-13-8=30
The Isles are 2-9-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-1 when the shots are even and 10-1-0 when the opposition has more shots.
In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves; he is 8-8-2-this season and 4-7-0 vs. Tampa Bay.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves; he is 11-6-2 this season and 14-5-1 vs. the Isles.
Special Teams
The Isles were 0-3 (6:00); Tampa Bay was 0-3 (6:00).
The Isles are 6-3-1 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 9-6-0 when they do not.
The Isles are 7-1-0 when they outscore the opposition on special teams, 3-4-1 when they are outscored, and 4-5-2 when special team goals are equal.
Three is (Usually) a Magic Number
The Isles are 12-2-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-8-0 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 2-2 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 1-3-0 on the front end and 4-0-0 on the back end this season. The next back-to-back will be on December 6-7 when they visit Tampa Bay and Florida.
The Isles are 4-2-0 when the opponent is on the back end, including 2-0-0 when the Isles also played the previous day.
Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Adam Pelech (23:50); Tampa Bay: Nikita Kucherov (26:35)
Bo Horvat led Isles forwards (22:22).
Face-offs
Isles 20, Tampa Bay 22 (48%)
Casey Cizikas won 3 of 4 for the Isles; Yanni Gourde won 7 of 10 for Tampa Bay.
Hit Count
Isles 18 (Maxim Tsyplakov -5)
Tampa Bay 15 (Four with 2)
Fights
None. Season total: 4 (Mayfield, MacLean, Lee, De Angelo)
Blocked Shots
Isles 19 (Adam Pelech -19)
Tampa Bay 7 (Two with 2)
For the Analytics Crowd
Corsi: All situations: Isles 44, Tampa Bay 74
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 36, Tampa Bay 57
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Max Tsyplakov +5
Tampa Bay: Brandon Hagel +11
High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 14, Tampa Bay 11
5-on-5: Isles 10, Tampa Bay 8
Scratches
(Pierre Engvall-LTIR), (Semyon Varlamov-IR), (Ethan Bear-IR), (Alex Romanov-IR), (Kyle Palmieri-IR), (Jean-Gabriel Pageau-INJ), Adam Boqvist, Marc Gatcomb
Games Lost to injury: 112. (Last season's total: 304)
The Ironmen
Casey Cizikas is the Islanders' ironman, having played 135 consecutive games. Anders Lee (109) is the only other Isle to have also played every game since the start of last season.
National TV Games
The Isles are 1-1-0 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners. Their next appearance will be on TNT on December 9th vs Vegas.
Matinee Isles
The Isles are 1-3-2 in matinee games this season; the next matinee will be at 3:30pm on December 13th against the Lightning. The NHL considers games that start before 5:00 local time to be afternoon contests. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the Isles are 16-20-14 in matinees.
Challenges
Isles: 0 successful, 1 failure (No goalie interference – VEG 11/14)
Opponents: 0 successful, 3 failure (No hand pass – WAS 10/11), (No interference – DET 10/23), (No offside – WAS 10/31)
Hockey Opps: 1 favorable, 1 unfavorable (No missed stoppage- NJ 11/10), (goalie interference -DAL 11/18)
Quickies (Two goals in under a minute)
For (2): DET 10/23, CBJ 11/2
Vs (4): BOS 10/28, COL 11/16, PHI 11/28, TB 11/30
Quick Responses (One team scoring within a minute of other team)
Isles responses (3): OTT 10/18, SJS 10/21, BOS 11/4
Opponent responses (2): WPG 10/13, CAR 10/30
Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins
For (0):
Vs (0):
Last Minute Heroes (Tying or go-ahead goals in the final three minutes of the third period):
For (5): Anders Lee, GWG(18:57)10/18 OTT, Matthew Schaefer, GTG (18:53) and Simon Holmstrom GWG (19:22) 11/2 CBJ, Kyle Palmieri GAG (17:07 11/10 NJ)- Isles won in OT, Mathew Barzal (17:23 11/13 VEG); Isles won in OT
Vs (1): Simon Nemec GTG (19:55 11/10 NJ) but NYI won in OT
OT Winners
For (3): Mathew Barzal 11/10 @ NJ, JG Pageau 11/13 @ VEG, Matthew Schaefer 11/14 @ UTA
Vs (0):
Shootout Winners
For (1): SEA 11/23
Vs (3): PHI 10/25, BOS 11/4, PHL 11/28
All-time Islander Leader Boards:
Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,057 ***
4. Casey Cizikas 924 *** 5. Brock Nelson 901 *** 6. Bobby Nystrom 900 *** 7. Clark Gillies 872 *** 8. Anders Lee 868 …
20. Kenny Jonsson 597 *** 21. Garry Howatt 596 *** 22. John Tonelli 594 *** 23. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock 587 *** 25. Scott Mayfield 560 *** 26. Mathew Barzal 556
Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 ***
4. Clark Gillies 304 *** 5. Brock Nelson 295 *** 6. Anders Lee 294 …
19. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 141…
26. Three with 118 *** 29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Casey Cizikas 115
Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …
5. Clark Gillies 359 *** 6. John Tavares 349 *** 7. Mathew Barzal 339…
18. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 19. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 21. Anders Lee 226…
26. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 27. Ryan Pulock 172…
32. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 33. David Volek 154 *** 34. Casey Cizikas 152
Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
12. Bob Bourne 542 *** 13. Anders Lee 520…
15. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 480…
27. Ed Westfall 286 *** 28. Casey Cizikas 267
+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 ***2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380
15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +86 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Ryan Pulock +63 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 23. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 24. Greg Gilbert +54
Defense Goals
1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57 ***
4. Ryan Pulock 53…
13. Bryan Berard 31 *** 14. Scott Mayfield 28 *** 15. Vladimir Malakhov 27 *** 16. Adam Pelech and four others 26
Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742*** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249 ***
5. Noah Dobson 180 *** 6. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 7. Ryan Pulock 172 …
9. Jeff Norton 166 ***10. Mark Streit 139 *** 11. Adam Pelech 137…
15. Tom Kurvers and Gerry Hart 108 *** 17. Bryan Berard and Scott Mayfield 100
Defense Points
1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…
5. Kenny Jonsson 232 *** 6. Noah Dobson 230 *** 7. Ryan Pulock 225…
10. Mark Streit 179 *** 11. Adam Pelech 163…
16. Johnny Boychuk and Bryan Berard 131 *** 18. Gerry Hart and Scott Mayfield 128
Goalie Games
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 ***
4. Ilya Sorokin 271 …
8. Jaroslav Halak 177*** 9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 173
Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 133 …
7. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 76
Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Ilya Sorokin 24 *** 3. Billy Smith 22 ***
4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16
On the Farm
Bridgeport is 7-10-1-1 on the season heading into their game Friday when they visit Utica; they will then host Hartford in the Teddy Bear Toss game on Saturday.
Leaders: Goals: Joey Larson- 8; Assists: Matthew Maggio-11; Points: Matthew Highmore and Matthew Maggio-14
Goalies: Marcus Hogberg 4-6-2, 3.10, .885; Henrik Tikkanen 1-0-0, 1.85, .939
Season Series Stats
The Isles lead the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0); the teams will play each of the next two Saturdays (in Tampa on December 6 and home on December 13) to conclude the season series.
The Isles improve to 3-4-0 in seven games played all-time against Tampa Bay at UBS Arena.
UP NEXT
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4th —COLORADO AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSGSN (pre-game at 6:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]
The homestand concludes with the return of Brock Nelson to UBS Arena as the Avs bring their 19-1-6 record East to face the Isles.
The Avs won the first meeting 4-1 in Denver on November 16th, but it was a 2-1 game before Martin Necas' empty net was scored with 35 seconds to play. Nelson then added a goal in the final seconds.
The Isles are 2-2-0 in four games played all-time against Colorado at UBS Arena, with each team scoring 18 goals in the four games.
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
