PREVIEW: Red Wings tangle with Islanders, finish back-to-back road set on Thursday

ELMONT, N.Y. – Focused on putting Wednesday night’s 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center behind them, the Detroit Red Wings will conclude their first back-to-back set of the 2025-26 campaign when they take on the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Thursday night.

Broadcast coverage of Thursday’s 7 p.m. puck drop between the Red Wings (5-2-0; 10 points) and Islanders (3-3-0; 6 points) will be carried on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit).

“We need a response [on Thursday],” said J.T. Compher, who scored his first goal of the season in Buffalo. “I believe this group will be ready to go in New York.”

Compher and his teammates, along with head coach Todd McLellan, talked about the ramifications of Detroit’s first period, when it took two separate penalties in the opening minutes.

“It’s no excuse, but it’s something that happens,” Compher said. “Once you get everyone out there, after maybe five to six minutes of the game, you should be able to settle in. I don’t think we did that quick enough in the first.”

Spending that much time down a skater early made it difficult for the Red Wings to find their groove against the Sabres as the game progressed, McLellan explained.

“That whole sequence affects how some guys feel, as far as fatigue goes already,” McLellan said. “And then how others feel, like guys are skating around during TV timeouts and stretching on the bench. They’re anxious. They’ve been in the proverbial starting blocks for six, seven minutes. It throws the whole rhythm off. We didn’t recover well. We finally got it going in the second, but by then it’s 2-2 and we take another three penalties. Certainly, hurt us.”

Finishing 4-for-5 on the penalty kill in Buffalo, Detroit is now 16-for-18 (88.9-percent success rate) while shorthanded this season. And while the Red Wings obviously want to avoid the penalty box as much as possible, their PK units have been a bright spot early on.

Thursday’s game against New York will feature an Islanders team that earned its third straight victory by defeating the visiting San Jose Sharks, 4-3, on Tuesday night.

Already making an impact with the Islanders, Matthew Schaefer, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, scored the game-winning goal against the Sharks and is tied with Bo Horvat for the team lead in points with seven. Kyle Palmieri and Mathew Barzal are behind them with five points apiece. Goaltender Ilya Sorokin has started five games for New York, posting a 3.90 goals-against average and .873 save percentage.

“We just need to forget about [Wednesday’s game] and focus on [Thursday’s game],” Finnie said. “We’re going to have to be ready for [the Islanders].”