The New York Islanders snapped their two-game skid on Saturday inside Madison Square Garden, kicking off what’s to be a massive seven-game road trip through the heart of November.
For the final six teams on this road trip, it’s the first meeting of the season for the Islanders, all except against the Detroit Red Wings at the tail end of the trip. All six teams are at least two games above .500, and all but Detroit and Utah are in the top two of their division.
Starting strong against the struggling New York Rangers became almost a must-win for the Islanders, as the Blueshirts are currently the worst team they’ll face during this gauntlet away from UBS Arena.
Tonight, the first game will be against the New Jersey Devils, the last game in the Eastern Time Zone for 10 days for the Islanders.
The Devils have won three of their last four games, and will be a team that enjoys playing with speed in the same way the Islanders do. The key to surviving against them will be structured play, otherwise New Jersey can poke some serious holes in New York’s defense.
After tonight, the Islanders ship out west, beginning with a Thursday night game in Las Vegas, where the Golden Knights await. Through their first seven trips against Vegas, New York’s gone 4-3-0, with Vegas being a top team every year throughout their franchise’s history.
This year, Vegas added Mitch Marner, making a deadly team that much more dangerous.
The very next night, the Utah Mammoth plays host to the Islanders, kicking off what will be three-straight games against Central Division foes, all against teams with a record above .500.
It’s a quick turnaround for New York, bouncing between time zones for a road back-to-back against high-speed teams, something that could easily exhaust the Islanders.
Unfortunately for the Islanders, the road isn’t getting any easier after that. After just one off day, they’ll be in Denver for a Sunday night clash with Brock Nelson and the Colorado Avalanche. The game would be Calum Ritchie's first against the team that drafted him, too.
Colorado is 10-1-5 thus far, and on Saturday decimated the Edmonton Oilers 9-1. It’s not going to be easy by any stretch of the word.
In case you think it gets any easier, the Islanders close up the Western swing 48 hours later, squaring off with the Dallas Stars in Texas.
If you’re exhausted just thinking about playing Vegas, Utah, Colorado and Dallas, just remember those four games come in six days, with long travel dotting the way, including that time-zone switch between Vegas and Utah.
Every single point the Islanders can earn out west will be monumental, as the schedule is nothing less than a brutal gauntlet against some of the best teams in the NHL in an abbreviated trip.
It all ends next Thursday, when on the way back home from Texas, the Islanders fly northeast to Detroit, where the Red Wings host the Islanders. The Islanders pummeled Detroit 7-2 in UBS Arena on October 23, when Detroit came in on the second half of a back-to-back.
Last year, the Red Wings swept the Islanders, with all results coming in regulation.
Nothing’s a given about this road trip. If the Islanders can scratch a .500 or better record over the next six games, it’ll go a long way to keeping them in the fight.
During a compressed schedule due to the Olympics in February, survival over the long haul becomes the biggest key.
While obviously dominating on this road trip and going on a run would be the best-case scenario, it's a brutal stretch for any team. Just gritting out points to keep themselves afloat is the biggest key throughout this run.
After this stretch of games, the Islanders get rewarded with a seven-game home stretch, and 13 of their next 17 at UBS Arena, with the all 17 getting played inside the Eastern Time Zone.
It all starts tonight in New Jersey, with puck drop coming just after 7 o’cloc
On Sunday, the Chicago Blackhawks ended their six-game road trip with a 5-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. With a 3-2-1 trip, the Blackhawks are now 8-5-3 for 19 standings points. This latest victory put them in a top-three spot of the Central Division.
There have been many key contributors to this success, and one of them is Artyom Levshunov. The 2024 second overall pick has been great lately, as he is starting to show why he was such a highly touted prospect.
Levshunov's two assists against the Red Wings give him six on the six-game road trip. He is now up to nine in 15 games on the season. Levshunov is still awaiting his first career NHL goal, but that will come soon enough. The chances are there for both him and his teammates.
With the way his development has come along since the beginning of training camp, it is clear that Jeff Blashill has been great for him.
For one, Blashill moved Levshunov to the first power play unit when they were struggling. He replaced Sam Rinzel on the top unit, and they've taken off since. Levshunov finds lanes to make great passes to the forwards in areas where they can then make creative plays towards the net.
Since that move, the power play has taken off, including a 3/3 performance against the Red Wings on Sunday. Levshunov assisted on two of those three goals.
"He's definitely continuing to get better," Blashill said of Levshunov on Sunday after their win over the Wings. "Probably at the end of the game tonight, he got a little bit loose. We had a conversation earlier in the year about attacking the game and being assertive. He's a guy who plays on his instincts, and his instincts are good."
The head coach has trust in the player, which is paramount to his development if he is going to continue playing in the NHL over the AHL. Blashill runs the 11/7 strategy in most games, which is meant to help the young defensemen stay fresh. Levshunov has been the one to benefit most from this.
When the Blackhawks selected Levshunov second overall in the 2024 draft, they envisioned him being a guy who can play on a top pair for an elite team. Well, with Sam Rinzel and Alex Vlasic also there with him, there is no pressure. They can just roll out really good defensemen regularly.
Blashill won't go with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen forever, but it's helping Levshunov (and other young guys) grow into their NHL bodies. The impact being made on Levshunov is clear every game.
His compete, love for his teammates, and desire to be the best are all things he does on his own. Creating good habits to impact his game for the better is where Blashill comes in handy.
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The Florida Panthers will wrap up their four-game western swing on Monday night when they visit the Vegas Golden Knights.
Florida has won just one of three so far on the trip, though it can be argued that they've deserved a better result.
After kicking off the roadie with an embarrassing 7-3 loss in Anaheim, Florida put together one of their strongest outings of the season two nights later in Los Angeles, defeating the Kings 5-2.
Unfortunately for the Cats, they weren’t able to build any momentum on the victory, at least in the standings, due to them getting goalied by Yaroslav Askarov on Saturday night in San Jose.
Florida dominated the final 40 minutes of that game but couldn’t get the puck past San Jose’s spectacular young goaltender and ultimately had to accept the undeserved defeat.
Now, if the Panthers can wrap up the road trip with a strong, resounding win in a very tough building to play at, it would go a long way toward treating this adversity-filled expedition as a positive experience.
This game will also be the second and final meeting between Florida and the Golden Knights this season.
They previously locked horns just over two weeks ago, a game the Panthers were quite pleased with.
Sergei Bobrovsky, who is expected to start on Monday, turned aside 26 shots while helping the Cats to a 3-0 win over Vegas.
We’ll see if they find a way to pull off a repeat performance in a building that, for many of these players, comes with some pretty harsh memories.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Monday’s matchup in Vegas:
Carter Verhaeghe – Evan Rodrigues – Sam Reinhart
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand
Jesper Boqvist – Sam Bennett – Mackie Samoskevich
A.J. Greer – Cole Schwindt – Noah Gregor
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Dominic Sebrango – Jeff Petry
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Photo caption: Nov 6, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) defends the goal against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images)