Game Preview: Islanders vs Blackhawks

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (40-26-5) VS CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (26-31-13) 

7:00 PM | UBS ARENA | BUY TICKETS

WATCH/STREAM: MSGSN | GOTHAM SPORTS APP 

LISTEN: 88.7FM | 103.9FM | ISLANDERS + UBS ARENA APP

The Islanders will look to earn their third straight home win as they take on the Chicago Blackhawks at UBS Arena on Tuesday night.

New York shut out the Columbus Blue Jackets 1-0 at home on Sunday night. Bo Horvat scored the game-winning goal and Ilya Sorokin stopped all 26 shots he saw to earn his league-leading seventh shutout of the season.

The Islanders (85 points) leapfrogged the Detroit Red Wings (84 points) for the second Wild Card position in the Eastern Conference, but Detroit has one game in-hand. The Isles are also tied with the Blue Jackets (85 points) in points, but Columbus holds a game in-hand and third place in the Metropolitan Division as a result.

PROJECTED LINES

Here is how the Islanders lined up against the Blue Jackets on Sunday night. Both Ryan Pulock and Anthony Duclair missed Sunday’s game with lower-body injuries. Check back after Tuesday’s morning skate for any updates to the lines.

Anders Lee – Bo Horvat – Emil Heineman
Cal Ritchie – Brayden Schenn – Mathew Barzal
Ondrej Palat – JG Pageau – Simon Holmstrom
Kyle MacLean – Casey Cizikas – Marc Gatcomb

Adam Pelech – Matthew Schaefer –
Carson Soucy – Tony DeAngelo
Adam Boqvist – Scott Mayfield

STONEWALL SOROKIN

Sorokin’s seventh shutout of the season matched the single-season team record set by Chico Resch in 1976, Semyon Varlamov in 2021 and Sorokin in 2022. He is the only netminder in Islanders history to reach seven shutouts in multiple seasons.

Sorokin is 26-17-2 with a 2.53 GAA, .913 SV% and seven shutouts in 45 games, ranking in the top-10 among goalies across the NHL in each of those categories this season.

HORVAT’S CONSISTENCY

Horvat’s game-winning goal on Sunday night moved him two tallies shy of 300 career goals. He could join Nathan MacKinnon and become the second member of the 2013 NHL Draft class to eclipse 300 goals.

Horvat is also one goal away from the 30-goal mark for the fourth time in his last five seasons. The 30-year-old forward ranks third on the team with 50 points (29G, 21A) this season.

CAPTAINING THE SHIP

Anders Lee has registered points in each of his last two games and is up to 544 career points (304G, 240A). Lee is tied with Clark Gillies for fourth on the Islanders’ all-time goals list and John Tonelli for 10^th place on the Islanders’ all-time points list. The Islanders’ captain was scoreless in the last two games against the Blackhawks.

Lee is tied for fourth on the team with 37 points (15G, 22A) in the 2025-26 campaign.

SEASON SERIES

This is the second of two regular season meetings between the Isles and Blackhawks this year. New York beat Chicago 3-2 in a shootout on Dec. 30 on the road.

BLACKHAWKS NOTES 

- The Blackhawks have slipped as of late, dropping seven of their last 10 outings (3-3-4). They are a two-game winless skid, with the most recent being a 3-2 overtime defeat to the Nashville Predators on Sunday.

- Chicago (65 points) sits eighth in the Central Division and 10 points behind the Predators (75 points) for the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.

- Connor Bedard has 13 points (6G, 7A) in his last 13 games, which includes four multi-point outings. Bedard leads the Blackhawks with 66 points (29G, 37A) in 57 games this season. He is one goal away from his first career 30-goal season and two points away setting a new career-high, passing the mark he set last season.

- Frank Nazar has 10 points (4G, 6A) in his last 11 contests, but has been scoreless over the last three. Nazar didn’t play in the Dec. 30 clash against the Isles. He ranks third on the team with 34 points (11G, 23A) this year.

- Ryan Greene has three points (1G, 2A) in his last four outings, including a two-game assist streak coming into Tuesday night. Greene has 26 points (9G, 17A) this season.

- The Blackhawks traded Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach to the Edmonton Oilers in return for Andrew Mangiapane and a 2027 first-round draft pick on Mar. 4. Mangiapane (undisclosed) is expected to miss the game against the Islanders. He has two points (1G, 1A) in seven games since joining Chicago.

- On Mar. 6, the Blackhawks sent Nick Foligno to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for future considerations. Foligno had 11 points (3G, 8A) in his third season with Chicago prior to the trade.

- Matt Grzelcyk (upper body) will be absent from the Blackhawks’ lineup against the Islanders. Grzelcyk has 12 points (12A), 28 hits, 54 blocked shots and 21 takeaways this season. 

- The Blackhawks have the league’s leading penalty kill unit (84.4%) this season.

- Chicago owns the 20^th ranked power-play (18.3%) in the league this year but has trickled down to 24^th (13.3%) this month.