Game 5
Tampa Bay 5, Isles 3
Brandon Hagel broke a 3-3 tie with 1:44 to play and then completed his hat trick with an empty net goal 21 seconds later as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Isles 5-3, before a sell-out crowd of 17,345 at UBS Arena.
The Isles scored three goals in the middle period to erase 2-0 and 3-1 deficits; Matthew Schaefer scored his first goal of the season, tying Bobby Orr for second place on the all-time teenage goal list, and finished with eight shots, tying a career high.
The Scoring:
1st Period
Jake Guentzel (2) 05:45 TBL 1,NYI 0
Brandon Hagel (2) Victor Hedman (1), Max Crozier (1) 15:42 TBL 2,NYI 0
2nd Period
Tony DeAngelo (1) Ondrej Palat (1) 06:27 TBL 2,NYI 1
Jake Guentzel (3) Nikita Kucherov (6), Brandon Hagel (4) 07:54 TBL 3,NYI 1 PPG
JG Pageau (1) Matthew Schaefer (4), Tony DeAngelo (1) 11:41 TBL 3,NYI 2
Brayden Schenn (2) Bo Horvat (2), Matias Maccelli (3) 19:53 TBL 3,NYI 3 PPG
3rd Period
Brandon Hagel (3) Max Crozier (2), Ryan McDonagh (1) 18:16 TBL 4,NYI 3
Brandon Hagel (4)EN Anthony Cirelli (1), Nikita Kucherov (7) 18:37 TBL 5,NYI 3
The Skinny
Tony DeAngelo became the first Islander defenseman to score a goal and then assisted on Matthew Schaefer’s goal…Jake Guentzel scored twice for the Bolts, giving him eleven goals against Ilya Sorokin, more than any other player; Jack Hughes has beaten Ilya ten times…Only Artemi Panarin (18) has scored more goals against the Isles than Guentzel (16) since Guentzel joined the NHL in 2016-16...…All three Islander losses have been by one goal (or one plus empty nets)… Bo Horvat is the first Islander forward since Brock Nelson in 2016 to start the season with a 5-game point streak (3-2-5)…Ondrej Palat had his second multi-point game as an Islander, also doing so in his club debut on January 29th at MSG…The Isles have scored power play goals in four straight games for the first time since a five-game streak from November 28 to December 7, 2023…A post-game review took away a ninth shot for Matthew Schaefer; no Isle d-man has had nine shots since Ryan Pulock in March 2018, also against Tampa Bay…Mattias Maccelli earned an assist in his 300th NHL game…Nikita Kucherov extended his point streak to five games with an assist on the empty-netter… Hagel joins Alexis Lafreniere as opponents who have completed hat tricks against the Isles this season with an EN goal…The Isles have been outscored 5-1 in first periods, but had outscored the opposition 10-2 in the second frame.
Milestone Men
- Ilya Sorokin has 156 wins for the Islanders, leaving him one behind Chico Resch for second place in club history.
- Matthew Schaefer recorded his 63rd point, passing Pat LaFontaine for third place among Isles teenagers.
- Schaefer also recorded his 24th goal, tying John Tavares and Tim Connolly for third place among Islander teenagers.
Most Goals by an NHL Teenage Defenseman:
- Phil Housley 46
- Matthew Schaefer and Bobby Orr 24
Most Goals by an Islander Teenager
- Bryan Trottier 32
- Pat LaFontaine 26
- John Tavares, Tim Connolly, and Matthew Schaefer 24
Schaefer has scored the most goals by any Islander teenage defenseman.
Most Assists by an Islander Teenager
- Bryan Trottier 63
- Tim Connolly 51
- Matthew Schaefer 39
Schaefer has the most assists by any Islander teenage defenseman.
Most Points by an Islander Teenager
- Bryan Trottier 95
- Tim Connolly 75
- Matthew Schaefer 63
Schaefer has the most points by any Islander teenage defenseman.
Most Game-Winning Goals by an Islander Teenager
- Bryan Trottier 5
- Matthew Schaefer 4
Most Shots on Goal by an Islander Teenager
- Tim Connolly 285
- Matthew Schaefer 241
Schaefer will play this entire season as a teenager.
Most Ice Time by an Islander Teenager, Game
- Matthew Schaefer 31:59 3/24/2026 vs CHI
- Matthew Schaefer 29:40 3/3121/2026 at BUF
- Matthew Schaefer 29:24 3/13/2026 vs LA
- Matthew Schaefer 29:01 3/7/2026 at SJ (OT)
The last Islander to play more than 31:59 was Mark Streit, who played 32:27 on March 27, 2010, vs. CBJ. Since ice-time became official, no Islander has played more than 31:59 in a game that ended in regulation.
Most Ice Time by a Teenager, Game
- Matthew Schaefer 31:59 3/24/2026 vs CHI
- Jay Bouwmeester 30:57 1/30/2003 for FLA vs. DET (OT)
There are five recorded instances of a teenager playing 30 minutes in a game. Schaefer is the first teenager with four games of at least 29 minutes.
Schaefer has played at least 20:00 in 75 straight games; it is the longest streak in NHL history by a teenager in a single season since ice-time became official and the longest by an Islander since Mark Streit set the record (since 1997-98) by doing so in 141 consecutive games from 2009-2011.
Did Somebody Say Comeback?
The Isles have zero come-from behind wins this season, including eight when they trailed in the third period. The opponents have come-from-behind to win zero times this season, including zero times in the third period.
The Isles have zero multi-goal comeback wins (zero in the third period); opponents have zero (none in the third period).
Overtime Is Our Time
The Isles are 0-0 in games decided by an overtime goal; they are 0-0 in shootouts.
Last season the Isles established an NHL record by winning all ten games decided by an overtime goal.
The Sixth Attacker
The Isles have not scored with the sixth attacker and allowed three empty net goals.
Opponents have scored one goal with the sixth attacker and allowed one empty-netter to the Isles.
Last Year vs. This Year
• 2026-27: 2-3-0 for 4 points in 5 games
• 2025-26: 2-3-0 for 4 points in 5 games
Offense from Defense
• Today: 1-2-3
• Season: 1-11-13
• Last Season (Final) 40-126-166
The 40 goals are the most for the Islander defense since they had 41 in 2022-23.
Home and Road
The Isles are 2-3-0 overall; they are 2-1-0 at home and 0-2-0 on the road.
Tampa Bay is 1-4-0 overall; they are 1-0-0 at home and 0-4-0 on the road.
East and West
The Isles are 1-3-0 against the East (1-1-0 vs. Metropolitan and 0-2-0 vs. Atlantic) and 1-0-0 against the West (1-0-0 vs. Central and 0-0-0 vs. Pacific).
First Things First
The Isles are 2-0-0 when scoring first and 0-3-0 when allowing the opening goal.
The Shots
Isles 4-10-9=23
Tampa Bay 10-8-8=26
The Isles are 0-1-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 2-2-0 when the opposition has more shots.
In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 21 saves; he is 2-2-0 this season and 6-8-0 vs. Tampa Bay.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves; he is 3-1-0 this season and 15-5-1 vs. the Isles.
Special Teams
The Isles were 1-2 (3:41); Tampa Bay was 1-4 (7:09).
The Isles are 2-2-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 0-1-0 when they do not. The Isles are 0-3-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 2-0-0 when they do not.
The Isles are 2-0-0 when they outscore the opposition on special teams, 0-0-0 when they are outscored, and 1-2-0 when special team goals are equal.
Three is (Usually) a Magic Number
The Isles 2-1-0 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 0-2 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 0-0-0 on the front end and 0-0-0 on the back end this season.
The Isles are 0-1-0 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 (27:07); Tampa Bay: Brandon Hagel (21:32)
Bo Horvat led Isles forwards (20:09).
Face-offs
Isles 26, Tampa Bay 25 (51.0%)
Casey Cizikas won 4 of 6 for the Isles; Zemgus Girgensons won 10 of 12 for Tampa Bay.
Hit Count
Isles 30 (Bo Horvat, Victor Eklund and Brayden Schenn – 4)
Tampa Bay 18 (Brandon Hagel and Erik Cernak – 3)
Blocked Shots
Isles 16 (Ryan Pulock and Ondrej Palat – 3)
Tampa Bay 14 (Brandon Hagel – 4)
Fights
Logan Stanley fought Scott Sabourin in the 2nd period. Season total: 3 (Schenn, Pelech Stanley)
For the Analytics Crowd
Corsi: All situations: Isles 46, Tampa Bay 48
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 40, Tampa Bay 37
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Matthew Schaefer +19
Tampa Bay: Max Crozier +6
High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 10, Tampa Bay 9
5-on-5: Isles 8, Tampa Bay 5
Scratches
Mathew Barzal (NonRoster IR), Alex Romanov (IR), Matt Kessel, Kyle MacLean
Games Lost to injury: 7. (Last season’s total: 399)
The Ironmen
Brayden Schenn played his 331st consecutive game (the first 307 for the Blues). Adam Pelech, Matthew Schaefer, and Emil Heineman have also played in every Islander game since the start of last season.
National TV Games
The Isles are 0-1-0 in games that air on one of the NHL’s US national broadcast partners. The next nationally televised game will be on October 22nd against the Kings.
Matinee Isles
The Isles are 0-0-0 in matinee games. 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 18-24-14 in matinees.
The first matinee will be on Halloween, when the Isles host the Oilers at 2:00pm.
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 (1): Vs NJD 10/3
Vs (2): @ NYR 10/6, vs TB 10/10
Quick Responses (One team scoring within a minute of the 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 (1): Brandon Hagel (GWG) 18:16 – 10/10 vs. TB
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. Casey Cizikas 983…
15. Brent Sutter 694 \\* 16. Adam Pelech 647 \\* 17. Ryan Pulock 641 \\* 18. Derek King 638 \\* 19. Billy Harris 623 \\* 20. Stefan Persson 622 \\* 21. Scott Mayfield 617 \\* 22. Mathew Barzal 611
Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 \\* 2. Bryan Trottier 500 \\* 3. Denis Potvin 310 \\*
17. Patrick Flatley 160 \\* 18. Mathew Barzal 153…
22. Jason Blake 127 \\* 23. Casey Cizikas 125…
31. Benoit Hogue and Ed Westfall 105 \\* 33. Bo Horvat 103
Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 \\* 2. Denis Potvin 742 \\* 3. Mike Bossy 553 \\*
4. Josh Bailey 396 \\* 5. Mathew Barzal 381…
23. Pierre Turgeon 193 \\* 24. Ryan Pulock 185…
32. Ziggy Palffy 163 \\* 33. Casey Cizikas 157 \\* 34. David Volek 154 \\* 35. Mariusz Czerkawski 150 \\* 36. Adam Pelech 198
Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 \\* 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 \\* 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
9. Pat LaFontaine 566 \\* 10. Anders Lee 549 \\* 11. John Tonelli 544 \\* 12. Bob Bourne 542 \\* 13. Mathew Barzal 533…
27. Ed Westfall 286 \\* 28. Casey Cizikas 282 …
32. Nick Leddy 243 \\* 33. Ryan Pulock 241
+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 \\\2. Denis Potvin +456 \\\ 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105 \\* 16. Adam Pelech +83 \\* 17. Tomas Jonsson +76 \\* 18. Garry Howatt +75 \\* 19. Pat Price +70 \\* 20. JP Parise +67 \\* 21. Ryan Pulock +65 \\* 22. Jude Drouin +58
Defense Games
1. Denis Potvin 1,060 \\* 2. Adam Pelech 647 \\* 3. Ryan Pulock 641 \\*
4. Stefan Persson 622 \\* 5. Scott Mayfield 617
Defense Goals
1. Denis Potvin 310 \\* 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 \\* 3. Kenny Jonsson 57 \\*
4. Ryan Pulock 56…
12. Adrian Aucoin 33 \\* 13. Bryan Berard 31 \\* 14. Scott Mayfield and Adam Pelech 30
Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742\\* 2. Stefan Persson 317 \\* 3. Tomas Jonsson 249 \\*
4. Nick Leddy 198 \\* 5. Ryan Pulock 185 …
9. Jeff Norton 166 \\* 10. Adam Pelech 149…
13. Dave Lewis 117 \\* 14. Roman Hamrlik and Scott Mayfield 110
Defense Points
1. Denis Potvin 1,052 \\* 2. Stefan Persson 369 \\* 3. Tomas Jonsson 333 \\*
4. Nick Leddy 243 \\* 5. Ryan Pulock 241…
9. Jeff Norton 188 \\* 10. Mark Streit and Adam Pelech 179…
14. Dave Lewis 141 \\* 15. Scott Mayfield 140
Goalie Games
1. Billy Smith 674 \\* 2. Rick DiPietro 318 \\* 3. Ilya Sorokin 312…
8. Jaroslav Halak 177\\* 9. Glenn Healy 176 \\* 10. Semyon Varlamov 174
Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 \\* 2. Glenn Resch 157 \\* 3. Ilya Sorokin 156 …
7. Jaroslav Halak 88 \\* 8. Roland Melanson 77 \\* 9. Semyon Varlamov 76
Shutouts
1. Ilya Sorokin 30 \\* 2. Glenn Resch 25 \\* 3. Billy Smith 22 \\*
4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16
On the Farm
Cole Eiserman scored the first home goal in Hamilton Hammers history and Mitchell Chaffee added a goal and an assist, but the Hammers dropped a 5-4 shootout decision to Toronto in their home opener on Friday. They will also host the Marlies on Sunday afternoon at 3.
Team leaders:
Goals: Mitchell Chaffee (4); Assists: Liam Foudy (4); Points: Foudy (6)
Goalies: Vitek Vanecek (1-1-0), Josh Kotai (0-1-0)
Season Series Stats
Tampa Bay leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0). The teams will play next on January 30th in Tampa.
The Isles had swept last season’s series but fall to 6-5-0 in the last 11 meetings with the Hawks.
UP NEXT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13th – VANCOUVER AT ISLANDERS 7:45pm
[MSGSN (pre-game at 7:00), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]
The Isles conclude the home stand as they entertain the Vancouver Canucks; note the slightly later start due to the NHL’s Frozen Frenzy.
Vancouver is 5-0-0 at UBS Arena, and they have outscored the Isles 24-11 in this building. They are the only opponent the has been the Isles in regulation in every meeting in their current rink. Going back to an overtime loss at Barclays Center on February 1, 2020, the Isles are 0-5-1 in their last six home games with the Canucks.
The Isles’ last home victory over the Canucks was a 5-2 win at Barclays Center on November 13, 2018; however, they have an even longer point streak in Vancouver, having gone 5-0-3 since a loss in 2015.
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
