The Chicago Blackhawks, one night after being blown out by the Florida Panthers, had to travel across the state to play against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa, like Florida, has Stanley Cup aspirations and has for the entire 2020s decade. 

Despite dealing with some off-ice drama with their superstar Nikita Kucherov, who wants to be traded, they have been incredible between the whistles. With all of the talent they have up and down their roster, and the great Jon Cooper as their head coach, they are a contender once again. 

For the Blackhawks, the first back-to-back situation of the season. Arvid Soderblom made his 4th start of the season, giving Spencer Knight an incredibly rare game off.

Most people went in thinking that the Blackhawks had a very small chance of winning this game. The Lightning had fresh legs, a better roster, and a Hall of Fame goalie in the net. Those people were right, as the Hawks were blown out once again. 

The Lightning scored two goals in the first period and then two in the third to take a 4-0 lead over the Blackhawks. Two of those goals were scored by former Blackhawks forward Ilya Mikheyev, who is dearly missed in the Chicago lineup for a variety of reasons. 

Mikheyev is an outstanding middle-six forward who is an elite penalty killer, and the Blackhawks could use some depth players like him right about now. As things continue to fall, players like him become more and more needed. 

The Blackhawks did cancel Andrei Vasilevskiy's shutout bid when Roman Kantserov extended his point streak to 7 games, with his 8th goal of the season. Those 8 goals lead all NHL rookies. It's been a great start for him, but it was too little, too late for the Hawks. 

Soderblom hardly played well, but he faced 35 shots, while the Hawks only put 26 on Vasilevskiy. Every single night, they get blown out in all areas of the ice. They don't control tempo, make smart decisions with or without the puck, or play with an edge. 

This was one of those expected losses for the Blackhawks, and it somehow turned out to be even worse. From the moment the puck dropped, they didn't seem to have a chance to win. You can't help but wonder when some sort of change is made. 

Watch Every Chicago Goal

#️⃣8️⃣0️⃣ extends his point streak to 7 games pic.twitter.com/rlYiaJ44vu

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 6, 2026

What’s Next For The Blackhawks?

The Chicago Blackhawks will close out this very difficult road trip with a visit to the Carolina Hurricanes, the defending Stanley Cup champions. 

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MONTREAL (AP) — Cole Caufield scored 30 seconds into overtime and the Montreal Canadiens overcame Logan Cooley’s hat trick to beat the Utah Mammoth 5-4 on Thursday night.

Captain Nick Suzuki had a goal and two assists in his return from a six-game absence for Montreal (10-3-3). Adam Engstrom added his first career goal, and Kirby Dach and Arber Xhekaj also scored.

Jakub Dobes made 16 saves two nights after the Canadiens made some unwanted history. Montreal lost 5-4 in overtime to Winnipeg on Tuesday after blowing a 4-0 lead with 2:39 remaining, marking the latest four-goal comeback in NHL history.

Cooley had his second hat trick in four games and added an assist. At 228 career games, Cooley became the fastest active player to have five career hat tricks, besting Alex Ovechkin by two games.

Nick Schmaltz had a goal and two assists for Utah (10-6-1). Sebastian Cossa stopped 30 shots.

Montreal tied it at 4 when Engstrom beat Cossa with a wrist shot with 5:06 to go in the third.

Up next

Mammoth: At Ottawa on Saturday night.

Canadiens: At Toronto on Saturday night.

___

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

After having his first career goal denied by the goal post earlier in the night, Nashville Predators rookie Vitali Pinchuk was able to score in the first period against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night. 

The 24-year-old Belarusian forward found himself battling a defender in a tight angle, before firing a backhand shot that not only got past the defender, but also made its way past Avalanche netminder Mackenzie Blackwood. 

SIMPLY NO WORDS FOR VITALI'S FIRST NHL GOAL 🤯 pic.twitter.com/fW62u1p12T

— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) November 6, 2026

Pinchuk's goal is his second career NHL point, as he previously picked up an assist against the Ottawa Senators during his NHL debut on October 10. 

The goal also marked a potentially important moment in the game, as it restored the Predators' lead making it a 2-1 hockey game late in the first period. Reid Schaefer was credited with the assist, his first of the season.

Pinchuk now has the first goal of his career under his belt, and the Predators are certainly hoping that it'll be the first of many. 

The Hurricanes have rolled into UBS Arena and overwhelmed the Islanders before, and it’s happened so many times that their 2-0 lead inside of four minutes Thursday night felt like the start of something embarrassing. 

That it was, instead, the first act of a pulsating 60 minutes of hockey is something in which the Islanders might take heart. That it ended up making the difference in the end, that they failed to play a full 60 minutes, and that they still haven’t beaten the reigning-champion Hurricanes in 22 months are what they ought to regret bitterly. 

“We kind of let that one slip through our fingers,” Kyle Palmieri told The Post after this 5-3 defeat to Carolina. 

Indeed, the Islanders grabbed all the momentum late in a second period that was as good of hockey as they’ve played all season. But just as they started slowly, they faded fast. Their momentum evaporated in the form of an 0-for-4 power play and a third period during which the Hurricanes just had more in the tank. 

“In a three-period game against a Stanley Cup champion, they’re gonna have at least one period where they crank it up, and they did in the third,” head coach Pete DeBoer said. “We weathered the storm, we hung in there. Tough to not get a point out of that one.” 

For long chunks of the evening, the Islanders’ fourth line was physical and up ice; the second line put up two goals and the third line produced chance after chance on the rush. Semyon Varlamov, who looked at risk of getting pulled after allowing two goals on the first three shots he saw, recovered to stop 34 on the night, including a 10-bell diving save on Sean Walker’s one-timer late in the second. 

They played fast, intense and emotional hockey with an opponent against whom anything less would have meant getting swept away. 

The game rose to another level late in the second when Victor Eklund tied it at three with a high-slot one-timer from Brayden Schenn at 17:13 of the period. By the intermission, Varlamov and Brandon Bussi had traded terrific saves to keep the game tied. 

The power play, though, is one for its last 18 and reaching the point at which an inquest is necessary. It is not just that the Islanders were scoreless in four opportunities, but that they had just two shots on goal at five-on-four, rarely looking like they were actually at an advantage. 

Palmieri, DeBoer and Schenn all cited the Islanders’ struggle to deal with a pressure-heavy Carolina penalty kill as a reason why, 

“Three-point pressure, we call it, where guys are flexing out and essentially what they’re trying to do is push you away from the net,” Schenn said. “I think right now, we’re making one or two good plays, and then we really need that play to execute, to find the open man; we’re just not making it. It’s hitting a stick, or we’re not seeing it. There’s a bunch of stuff we need to clean up.” 

After two power plays went for naught in the third, their momentum faded at even strength too, with Carolina tilting the ice and the Islanders struggling to break out. 

By the time William Carrier knocked in a rebound with 5:08 to go to put the Canes ahead 4-3, Carolina had started to take on an air of inevitability. 

Jalen Chatfield’s desperation heave that landed in the back of an empty Islanders net with under a minute left only confirmed it. 

“We’ve gotta get a power-play goal,” DeBoer said. “I think that probably changes the game if we find a way to stick one in.” 

The schedule is what it is, and the Islanders can’t control the fact that the current favorites in the Western Conference and Eastern Conference just visited a few days apart. Nevertheless, this is the first time all year they’ve lost consecutive games in regulation, and stopping the losing streak at two in the last game of the homestand Saturday against the Devils will be crucial. 

The Islanders did show that they could play with the Hurricanes on Thursday. Just not for long. 

Whether that is a glass half-full or half-empty statement depends on how you read it. 

“I liked our game tonight. We deserved a point, probably two,” Schenn said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way.”

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Dawson Mercer scored his first goal for Winnipeg and added an assist in the Jets' 6-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.

Mark Scheifele also had a goal and an assist for Winnipeg, and Mario Ferraro, Neal Pionk, Alex Iafallo and Cole Koepke scored. Stuart Skinner made 24 saves.

The Jets were coming off a game Tuesday night in Montreal where they overcame a 4-0 deficit in the final 2:39 and won 5-4 in overtime.

Brock Boeser and Liam Ohgren scored for Vancouver. Leevi Merilainen stopped 23 of 29 shots.

Winnipeg improved to 6-8-3, and Vancouver fell to 3-14-1.

Up next

Canucks: At Edmonton on Saturday night.

Jets: Host Tampa Bay on Sunday.

___

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

The subtle double-fisted flex Pavel Dorofeyev made after scoring the Rangers’ game-tying power-play goal Thursday night said it all. 

Not only did the Blueshirts need it to eventually pull out a 3-2 win over the Flyers at Madison Square Garden, Dorofeyev needed his first big Rangers moment to muffle the concerns that have stemmed from his snakebitten play through his first 17 games as a Blueshirt. 

“It obviously helps,” the Russian wing said after the win, which was secured by Tye Kartye’s bullet shot off the rush with 4:39 left in regulation. “I just gotta keep focusing on my game, trying again and again. Hopefully, it’s going to come, like post and in, at some point.” 

It’s a good sign that Dorofeyev, who added a smile at the end of his remarks, can poke fun at the fact that he leads the NHL in posts/crossbars hit with seven. 

Aside from the situation in goal, the first five and a half weeks of this season have been consumed by figuring out where the 26-year-old fits best in the Rangers lineup. Head coach Mike Sullivan has run through numerous forward combinations to try to shake things up to help Dorofeyev start connecting on the abundance of scoring chances he’s generated. 

Sullivan even turned to former Rangers coach John Tortorella, who had Dorofeyev in Vegas last season. 

“He’s tried to offer me some insight on some of the things that he did when he was coaching him that he felt helped Pav move in the right direction,” Sullivan said of his “multiple” conversations with Tortorella. “I’m trying to utilize some of those insights, and it’s a work in progress. My experience has been, when a player changes teams like that, signs a fairly decent contract, sometimes there’s a little bit of an adjustment process that players go through. … I think Pav is going through that process with us right now, trying to figure out we’re a different team than what he was on. He’s playing with different players.” 

Thursday counted as the Rangers’ first comeback win of the season, and they were the last team in the NHL to record one. Playing with leads has been a strength of this Rangers team to start this campaign, but climbing out of any hole has been a lofty task. 

The Rangers broke that trend Thursday night and improved to 9-1 when scoring the first goal of the game. 

In their third straight game without Sean Durzi, who was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury before puck drop, the Rangers defense gave up few grade-A opportunities in the first period to make life a little easier on rookie goalie Dylan Garand in his 12th consecutive game. 

J.T. Miller helped get the Rangers on the board less than five minutes into the game when the captain got a stick on a Marcus Pettersson shot and the puck ricocheted in off Gabe Perreault. 

Once the home team’s energy waned, however, the Flyers were opportunistic with what was given. 

With Noah Cates screening in front, Simon Benoit’s shot from the blue line beat Garand above his right shoulder. Swarming the Rangers net just under two minutes later, Noel Acciari tapped in a turnaround feed from Denver Barkey to give his team its first lead of the night. 

“We started on time today,” Dorofeyev said. “Game slipped [away] in the second, but then we regrouped after second and dug in there and came back in the game.” 

NEW YORK (AP) — William Carrier scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 5-3 on Thursday night.

Logan Stankoven, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for Carolina, which won for the fourth time in five games. Sebastian Aho had two assists, and Brandon Bussi finished with 24 saves. Jalen Chatfield added an empty-net goal in the final minute of the third.

Brayden Schenn had a goal and an assist, and Mitchell Chaffee and Viktor Eklund also scored for the Islanders, who lost their second straight game. Semyon Varlamov made 34 saves.

Aho fired a shot from the left wall, and Carrier buried the rebound with 5:08 remaining in regulation.

The Hurricanes jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first 3:20, scoring on two of their first three shots.

Carolina took advantage of a New York miscue when forwards Anthony Duclair and Jean-Gabriel Pageau over-skated a bouncing puck, and Stankoven sent a wrist shot between Varlamov’s pads. Jackson Blake extended his point streak to eight games with the primary assist on the opening goal.

Matthew Schaefer tried to keep a play alive in the offensive zone late in a shift and was caught up ice. Jordan Martinook found Kotkaniemi behind the Islanders defense for an easy redirection 3:20 into the first to give Carolina a 2-0 lead.

New York responded with two goals in the first 5:44 of the second, tying the game.

Chaffee redirected Schaefer’s shot from the point for his first of the season, and Schenn converted a wraparound just over two minutes later to tie it.

Sixty seconds later, Svechnikov finished a feed from Aho to put Carolina in front.

Eklund answered with a one-timer from the slot with less than three minutes remaining in the period to even the score at 3.

The Islanders signed veteran defenseman Ben Hutton to a one-year contract Thursday. Hutton, 33, had joined New York on a professional tryout Monday after recording 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 55 games with the Vegas Golden Knights last season.

Up next

Hurricanes: Host Chicago on Saturday.

Islanders: Host New Jersey on Saturday.

The Islanders overcame a horrible start to make it a game, a winnable game even, against the defending Cup champion Hurricanes, but in the end mistakes killed them on the way to a loss

The Islanders hadn’t been in action for five days and looked it when the Canes pounced to a 2-0 lead in the first 3:20. They steadily got their bearings and though they hit the first intermission still trailing by two, they got two quick ones to make it a game again in the first six minutes of the second.

After trading goals once more, things looked possibly headed to overtime until William Carrier outmuscled J-G Pageau for a rebound to score the winner with 5:08 to go.

NHL Gamecenter | Game Summary | Event Summary | Natural Stat Trick]

Varly: Semyon Varlamov had a solid game facing Carolina’s trademark shot barrage, stopping 34. With Varly pulled for a sixth attacker, the Islanders had a decent chance to get set up but the refs errantly whistled play down for what they thought was too many men. Though the refs mitigated the error by not calling a penalty, that added to the frustration the Isles felt for the refs and the setting on through the final horn.

6-on-5: With Varlamov pulled, Jordan Martinook lost a stick but the Isles let an even better opportunity slip away as the bouncing puck eluded Brayden Schenn, who was checked out of the play by the stickless Martinook, while Jalen Chatfield chopped the puck the length of the rink and into the empty net.

Special teams: The Islanders’ power play was its usual mess on its four missed opportunities, but the penalty kill held up its end. Neither Brayden Schenn (who had a nice wraparound goal) nor Adam Pelech liked their tacky yet justifiable penalty calls, but their kill of Pelech’s penalty late in the second and at the beginning of the third — right after Victor Eklund tied the game at 3-3 — was huge.

The difference: At least, of course, until Carrier’s goal made it moot. Varlamov gloved the point shot through traffic, but Pageau was slow to react in a stick battle with Carrier, who beat Pageau and then Varlamov for his first of the season.

On balance, with the mistakes the Isles made, a regulation loss was the deserved result. But it stings more since the Isles erased their bad start and hung with the champs all game.

Up Next

After that bizarre November layoff in an 84-game season, the Islanders host the streaking Devils on Saturday before hitting the road for the California triangle.

Roster notes: Will Ben Hutton make an appearance? The Isles announced his signing before the game, though he did not play. They did not need all 10 days of the PTO to decide he needs to figure in their blueline depth.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Ilya Mikheyev scored twice to back Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Thursday night to remain perfect at home this season.

Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh also scored. Vasilevskiy made 24 saves, allowing only Roman Kantserov's goal with 49 seconds left.

The Lightning are 8-0-0 at home and 10-3-2 overall, while the Blackhawks are 0-7-1 on the road and 4-12-1 overall.

Arvid Soderblom stopped 31 shots for Chicago.

Hedman opened the scoring on a power play at 4:12 of the first period. The defenseman has four goals this season.

Mikheyev connected with 1:38 in the opening period.

McDonagh scored on a slap shot at 2:38 of the third, and Mikheyev added his second of the game and fourth of the season on a tip at 5:07.

Up next

Blackhawks: At Carolina on Saturday night.

Lightning: At Minnesota on Saturday night to open four-game trip.

___

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

DETROIT (AP) — Trevor Connelly broke a tie with 1:42 left and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Thursday night.

Braeden Bowman tied it for Vegas at 4:20 of third, and Carter Hart made 25 saves.

Playing the third game of four-game trip, the Golden Knights improved to 11-5-2 with their second straight victory.

Anton Johansson scored for Detroit at 2:02 of the third.

Daniil Tarasov stopped 32 shots for the Red Wings in their lone home game in a seven-game span. They have lost two in a row to fall to 7-7-3.

Up next

Golden Knights: At Buffalo on Sunday.

Red Wings: At Colorado on Saturday night.

___

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

Pregame

The Penguins get Evgeni Malkin back from injury and scratch Andrei Kuzmenko. Arturs Silovs gets the start.

Boston shows up with this lineup and backup Michael DiPietro in net.

First period

The Bruins are the better team early, with it looking like David Pastrnak is in full ownership of the puck. It takes the Penguins nine minutes to get a shot on goal, which at least also comes with a goal. Justin Brazeau finds a soft spot to sit down in, Hendrix Lapierre finds Brazeau with a pass and the big man quickly whips the puck into the net. 1-0.

Scoring that early goal has the effect of kicking a hornet’s nest based on Boston’s response with three goals before the whistle. First up, the Bruins win a wall battle and the puck gets down low to Pastrnak. You could tell he was on the cusp of scoring or setting up a goal all night, and he does the latter with a beautiful sauce pass that Pavel Zacha elevates to the top of the net. 1-1.

A little later, Boston wins another puck battle, this time after a faceoff. They get the puck back to Frederic Brunet at the point and he puts a shot on net that Mark Kastelic expertly deflects down and to the other side of the net from where the puck was tracking. Bruins pull ahead 2-1.

Self-inflicted damage pops up for the third goal. Erik Karlsson tries to pass the puck right through Elias Lindholm, which Lindholm easily accepts the gift and is able to score on the forehand. Woof. 3-1.

To make matters worse, Sidney Crosby took a routine looking slash to the arm and immediately skated off the ice and walked right to the lockerroom about ten seconds before this goal. Earlier, Declan Carlile was injured when a Pastrnak shot attempt hit him somewhere around the jaw or chin.

Not great stuff for the Pens early on. Shots are 10-5 Boston.

Second period

Whatever was said in the intermission was effective for Pittsburgh, they play much better and start getting a lot of shots and chances. One such chance is turned into a goal when Nick Robertson tips a Kaedan Korczak shot in. 3-2 game.

It’s also helpful that Crosby and Carlile are able to return for the second period, which is perhaps more surprising for the latter considering he blocked a shot with his head.

The Pens keep pushing, the offensive machine Korczak almost helps generate another goal but the deflection goes off the post. Pittsburgh has all the momentum and just when it looks like they might tie it up, Boston gets a 2-on-1 rush and Zacha scores again. JJ Peterka sets Zacha up and it’s another great pass and shot combo directly to the top of the net and now 4-2. Crosby screams a vulgarity in frustration.

It doesn’t get any better, Ville Koivunen is the next to try a low-percentage pass, to predictable results. The Bruins pick it off and quickly spring Morgan Geekie on a clear breakaway. 5-2.

The shame is it actually looked like the Pens for a while were in serious contention to make it a 3-3 game for a while there. Turns out, that is not the direction this game took. Boston up 5-2.

Third period

Not too much really going on, a Penguin falls down and Boston is off a on a 2-on-1. Fraser Minten called his own number and ripped a wrister far-side on Silovs. 6-2.

Both teams play out the stretch, Boston is coasting and Crosby almost sets up Ben Kindel for a goal but the teenager hits the post hard since there will be no nice things for the Penguins on this night. Clock drains away to 0.

Some thoughts

• The Penguins had their hands full tonight, as I’m sure we all figured that they would. Sam Girard and Erik Karlsson were hanging on for dear life and loosing grip against the Pastrnak line (it’s a rough watch for both of them on the first and fourth Boston goal). Beyond that, it might have been Kuraly, Kastelic and Jeannot on the fourth line that was even harder to handle with their size and physicality.
• One player who is really coming into his own right now is Korczak. Two assists for the second game in a row puts him up to 10 on the year. Nothing overwhelming but good things are happening with him on the ice and the puck on his stick, which you can’t really say about too many players on the team these days.
• While staying briefly positive, it was good to see Brazeau hit the back of the net and get on the board in only his second game of the season. Getting some secondary scoring would be a nice new layer for the team’s attack if he can keep it going.
• Zacha is a player who always sneaks onto our annual summer Penguin killer list, he did some damage to start making his case for next year already by scoring two goals tonight. I don’t know if it’s even realized that since 2021-22, the players with more total points vs. PIT go Kreider (25), McDavid (24), Kucherov (23) then Zacha tied with MacKinnon with 22. I forgot myself for the preview this morning to point out Zacha’s propensity for production. Both his goals were supreme class starting with the setups made to him and then perfect shots. If he played against the whole league the way he does against the Pens, Zacha would be a superstar.
• Can’t really say much about Silovs tonight, he didn’t have a chance. No goalie anywhere would be able to keep the score down in front of a team that is giving up so many easy and clean looks to the opposition. No point to even analyze the goaltending in this one when he was so hung out to dry.
• You could sum this game up by a play in the third period when Lapierre got the puck on a 2-on-1. It was looking promising, not that the result was going to change with the score already at 6-2. But Lapierre couldn’t get a shot or pass away, Brunet a third pair defender ended up working hard to get back pressure and disrupt the play. The Bruins scored, what three or four goals on odd-man rushes and no Penguin was able to do the same. In a nutshell that tells the tale of each team’s drive/ability/determination whatever word you want to use there.
• Normally a note here would point out that going out on the road, like the Pens now will do, could be a galvanizing type of bonding experience to turn things around. Then you remember their last Western swing ended up being an 0-4-0 trip. (On the bright side, at least they’re going to play three teams that are not above .500 this time around..)
• Speaking of that, what are the odds of a players’ only meeting happening? Has to be pretty high, for having so many older and veteran players it sure seems like the right time now to shut the doors, yell and scream a little and let everyone vent it out and hopefully turn a fresh page.

It’s only early November but it sure feels like this is going to be the longest season in a while to endure. Boston out-classed the Penguins, which is one thing. Persistent mistakes and misplays are not going away, perhaps only increasing, which is a troubling sign for this team.

Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj scored his first goal of the 2026-27 season against the Utah Mammoth on Thursday night.

It was a nice goal from Xhekaj, too, as he beat Mammoth goalie Sebastian Cossa top shelf with a beautiful one-timer slap shot from the point. 

With this goal, Xhekaj is now at the top of the NHL with an impressive stat. 

According to NHL Public Relations, Xhekaj has now recorded this season's hardest shot that resulted in a goal. Xhekaj's shot with his goal was 97.22 MPH, which is simply excellent. 

After scoring a goal like this, it is clear that Xhekaj should be looking to shoot the puck more from the point. This was undoubtedly a nice goal from the 25-year-old defenseman. 

In 245 career NHL games, Xhekaj has now recorded 11 goals and 35 points. The big blueliner may not be known as an offensive defenseman, but he certainly showed with this goal that he can shoot. 

It will now be interesting to see how Xhekaj builds off this great goal for the Canadiens from here. 

Arber Xhekaj evened the contest for the @CanadiensMTL on this season's hardest shot resulting in a goal so far according to NHL EDGE.#NHLStats: https://t.co/deMKaA98Qhpic.twitter.com/mlZD7XYhT6

— NHL Public Relations (@NHLPR) November 6, 2026

The Islanders signed Ben Hutton to a one-year deal Thursday, days after signing the defenseman to a professional tryout contract and hours before facing the Hurricanes at UBS Arena. 

Given that Hutton wasn’t needed in the lineup for the 5-3 loss to the Hurricanes, the timing of the announcement was curious. Nevertheless, it is another option in coach Pete DeBoer’s holster for an injury-plagued defense. 

Hutton, per PuckPedia, is on a prorated $900,000 salary. 

For two consecutive games, the Islanders have gone with a two-righty bottom pair of Matt Kessel and Scott Mayfield. Hutton, a lefty, would rebalance things. 

“You’re just trying to get him up to speed,” DeBoer said Thursday morning. “He hasn’t taken any real reps with NHL players since training camp. It’s a tough ask to come in midseason like that. 

“He’s excited to be here. I think he’s excited to be around the group. You can tell he wants to play hockey. No one likes sitting at home. I can see his enthusiasm about being back in a team environment again. Every day, we’re just trying to get him back up to speed so that, when we do get a chance to look at him, we give him a fair chance.” 

That chance may come awfully quickly. 

For all the attention and anxiety over the Islanders’ remade power play, which has lately fallen back to earth, it’s their penalty kill that might deserve some plaudits. 

Entering Thursday’s game, in which the PK was 2-for-2, the Islanders ranked top five in the league with a whopping 86 percent success rate on the penalty kill, even while taking Matthew Schaefer out of the PK rotation to conserve his minutes and even with injury hits to Ryan Pulock and Alexander Romanov, two defenders prominent in DeBoer’s PK plans. 

“Not just the defensemen; I think our group of penalty killers is really good, and they have a history of being good here,” DeBoer said. “If you look back even last year and previous years, some teams are built to have really good power plays, some teams are built to have good penalty kills. And if you can get both, then you’re in a good spot.” 

The Islanders debuted their Hometown Remix Fisherman jerseys Thursday. It’s the second time this decade they’ve brought back the infamous design, the first one during the 2022-23 season. 

Semyon Varlamov started in net against Carolina, making it a 50-50 split between him and Ilya Sorokin over the past six games. Sorokin has started 10 of the Islanders’ first 15, on pace for roughly 56 starts of 84 games should the current trend hold. Varlamov made 34 saves on 38 shot attempts. 

Mathew Barzal (left knee), Pulock (upper body) and Matias Maccelli (lower body) all took part in an optional Islanders morning skate while wearing red noncontact jerseys.