Islanders Gameday News: Blackhawk town

3 hours ago 1

The Islanders wake up still in second place in the Metro after the Capitals lost in regulation to Florida last night.

They are in Chicago to try to rebound from the loss in Columbus and build some cushion in the ever-close Eastern standings — where Buffalo is now two points behind.

After a promising but illusory start to the season, the Hawks are now near the bottom of the Western Conference and the league, spending an extended stretch without Connor Bedard. They’re 2-8 over their last 10, but a bad record didn’t stop the Blue Jackets.

First Islanders Goal picks for tonight go here.

Islanders News

The Skinny: “Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock each played their 599th game, putting them in position to be the 3rd and 4th defenseman in club history to play 600 games as early as Tuesday. … Pulock recorded his 231st point, passing Noah Dobson (230) for 6th on the club’s defenseman point list.” [Isles]
Takeaways: Couldn’t break the third-period pressure. [Isles]
Mat Barzal was fined $5,000 for that slash on Mason Marchment, Son of Marchment. Marchment, it appears, was not fined for embellishment. [Newsday]
For their latest Islanders Anxiety podcast, Dan and Mike discuss some good wins, some David Rittich love and some anticipated new Leafs tomfoolery. [LHH]
The Isles including Patrick Roy were just fine with Barzal taking a whack in defense of Matthew Schaefer. [Post]
“I was never trying to hurt him there in the middle, just get in his way,” Son of Marchment effluviated. [THN]
WJC updates: Kashawn Aitcheson had a couple of points as Canada romped over the Country Of Frans. [Isles]

As the Isles recover from the disappointing ending in Columbus, maybe things will be better in Chicago…

Elsewhere

Lots of games last night, including the Sabres winning their freaking ninth in a row. Also, the Blue Jackets handled their back-to-back just fine, with Jet Greaves getting his second win in as many nights.

Chris Pronger discusses the Olympics, says there’s two schools of thought on Schaefer — take him as insurance, or let him get a rest after playing only 17 games last year. [NHL]
The Blue Jackets found a landing spot for wantaway Yegor Chinakhov, who heads to Pittsburgh. [TSN]
A bunch of random extreme predictions for 2026. [Sportsnet]
Why things are falling apart with the Oilers and Andrew Mangiapane. [Sportsnet]
The NHL will make some sort of snow at the Winter Classic in Miami, which I totally did not forget is happening and will certainly change my schedule to watch. [Sportsnet]