Maccelli and Palmieri Earn Player of the Game Awards vs Canucks

Kyle Palmieri's two-goal night and Matias Maccelli's first goal as a New York Islander helped lift the Isles to a 3-2 over the Vancouver Canucks and won the duo Player of the Game Awards. 

Logan Stanley passed along the hardest worker helmet to Palmieri, who scored his first goal and point since coming back from ACL surgery. Palmieri suffered a torn ACL on Nov. 28, 2025 and  was sidelined for the remainder of the season. In the win against Vancouver, Palmieri recorded two goals, including the game-winner. 

"I saw signs of it last game, and I told him that I thought last game was his best game,” Islanders Head Coach Pete DeBoer said of Palmieri. “There were some really good signs that he was starting to get his timing back and do some of the things that he does well, and it was nice for him to get rewarded tonight." 

Palmieri broke open the scoring in the first period on a feed from Matt Kessel. Palmieri continued to strike, restoring the Islanders' lead in the third, netting his second goal of the night. Maccelli wrapped around behind the net, finding Palmieri who let a wrist-shot rip past the glove side of Leevi Merilainen.

Maccelli had an exciting night, tallying his first goal as an Islander, earning the player of the game oar.  

A minute after Palmieri netted the first goal of the game, Maccelli doubled the Islanders’ lead. Matthew Schaefer handed off the puck to Maccelli on his left who slotted a top shelf goal past Merilainen. 

"Maybe I was thinking a little bit more to shoot, be a threat that way too, not just on a pass to the guys," Maccelli said on his approach entering the game.  

Maccelli was awarded for his play in the contest; DeBoer lifted Maccelli from the fourth line to the top line alongside Palmieri and Bo Horvat mid-game. 

"I think we got a guy that is out to prove something, and I think he knows he's a good player in the league," DeBoer said. "He's been a good player in the league. He's produced at a really good level in this league before. He just had a couple tough years the last couple years. The last year in Utah and in Toronto last year for different reasons, so I think we got a really motivated guy that bet on himself with that contract in order to prove that he's the player that we all feel he is."  

Maccelli registered a team-high six shots and came through with the game-winning helper on Palmieri's goal to push the Isles past the Canucks.  

"Yeah, it's awesome," Maccelli said on contributing the game-winning assist. "You want to go in and boost your confidence. All of a sudden, they start calling you out there. So, it feels really good."