Category: Sports News

The Islanders pulled off an impressive 4-1 win in Toronto despite losing two forwards for most of the game, with both Cal Ritchie and Matias Maccelli limping off to destinations unknown in the first period.

Ritchie was the first to leave, on his first shift, but he was at least able to skate off after an awkward but not high-velocity collision on the far boards. Maccelli’s exit late in the first period looked more concerning, both in how his leg looked as it folded under him and in how he needed help to get off the ice and down the hallway.

After a surprising strong start to his tenure with the Islanders, we’re going to be without our lovable Swedish Meatball for a while.

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

Anthony Duclair got the Isles on the board eight minutes into the game, following a good forecheck with a deceptive against-the-grain shot from the slot.

That was the only goal for most of the first two periods, the Isles playing a steady game with a short bench but whiffing on two first-period power plays. Bo Horvat double the lead to 2-0 late in the second off another strong forecheck and a nice move to the slot by Horvat, who ultimately put the rebound of Kyle Palmieri’s shot home. Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled out of the net to stop Palmieri’s shot, so Horvat had an empty cage to enjoy.

But Adam Pelech took a penalty that gave the Leafs a power play and opportunity for life to begin the third period. The Isles survived that penalty kill, only to have Emil Heineman called for a soft, borderline phantom tripping call to immediately put the Leafs back on the power play.

The Isles killed that one, too, despite some hairy moments, but the Leafs got on the board right after it expired with a point shot that took a perfect, fractional deflection off Matthew Schaefer, the post and in.

Clinging to a 2-1 lead in the third, the Isles were not getting any great looks as they went into survival mode. The dangerous-looking Leafs power play had one more chance to get them even when Schaefer took a puck-over-the-glass penalty at 10:10. But the Isles penalty kill held strong, and Simon Holmstrom created breathing room a couple minutes later with a whipped shot from the slot.

Holmstrom would add the empty netter, too, winning a battle behind the Isles net and carrying the puck out to center ice before scoring from the red line.

It’s a satisfying win for the Islanders, adjusting to 10 forwards and picking up three points from their two-game Ontario swing. Ilya Sorokin had 28 saves including 12 in the third period. But those injuries are going to hurt and test the Isles depth.

Up Next

The Islanders return home for another Tuesday-Thursday sequence, hosting the Ducks and Kings before heading out on a three-game Central Division tour.

TORONTO — Zoom in, focus only on Saturday’s outcome and the Islanders gave an excellent accounting of themselves.

They overcame two first-period injuries, played most of the night with 10 forwards, locked things down and retained the lead throughout on the road to take a 4-1 win over the Maple Leafs and three of four available points on a two-game trip through Ontario.

“That was probably our most complete game of the year and our smartest game of the year,” coach Pete DeBoer said. It’s hard to argue with that.

Big picture, though, those two injuries to Calum Ritchie and Matias Maccelli overshadow the game itself and then some.

The Islanders already have lost Alexander Romanov for the season with a torn ACL. They are already without Mat Barzal, or a timeline for his return, due to lingering issues around his kneecap.

Coach Pete DeBoer reminded everyone Saturday morning that “We don’t have a [Connor] McDavid and [Leon] Draisaitl” — in fact, the Islanders forward group is quite thin on offensive firepower, even at full strength.

But that was before Ritchie left the game after his first shift with an apparent left leg issue after a Nick Blankenburg hit along the neutral zone boards. And it was before Maccelli’s left knee bent the wrong way after Darren Raddysh’s stick got caught in his skate and he had to be helped down the tunnel.

DeBoer said both players would be evaluated upon the team’s return to New York.

To their credit, the Islanders — who had gone up 1-0 on Anthony Duclair’s goal prior to Maccelli’s injury — played airtight hockey in a rough situation to come away with two points.

Bo Horvat put away Kyle Palmieri’s rebound at 18:33 of the second to add a much-needed second goal, but this was mainly a defensive effort.

They held the Maple Leafs without a high-danger chance at 5-on-5 in the third period — Troy Stecher’s goal was a seeing-eye shot from the point — and went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill, including a huge kill when Matthew Schaefer took a delay-of-game penalty with 9:50 to go.

Shortly after the Islanders killed it, Bo Horvat found Simon Holmstrom in the slot to extend the lead to 3-1. Holmstrom tacked on an empty-netter to seal it.

“Guys dug deep. They battled. We battled for one another,” Casey Cizikas told The Post. “We did all the right things out there and just kept it as simple as possible.”

Cizikas and the players who started the night as his linemates — the lines became nominal given the injuries — were some of the Islanders’ best players. With Ondrej Palat on the ice, the Islanders out-attempted Toronto by a ridiculous 19-1 margin.

“He’s one of the leaders on our team right now,” Cizikas said.

The Islanders didn’t just end the game with 10 forwards, but the two they were missing represented one-third of their top six, and Maccelli had come into the night tied as their second-leading point-getter.

The Finnish winger was the Islanders’ only free agent signing of the summer to make the roster — they added Logan Stanley after training camp — and had played well above expectations. He’d earned his way onto the top line and impressed everyone with his skill and tenacity.

Ritchie had gotten off to a slower start, but the 21-year-old is one of the players the Islanders have staked their future on. Throwing an injury into the mix is the opposite of what anyone needed.

“Over the course of the season you always encounter [injuries],” Kyle Palmieri told The Post. “Sometimes they unfortunately come in little bunches and you just gotta battle through it.”

The lack of forward depth in the organization now becomes a problem too. Kyle MacLean, a healthy scratch in all eight games this season, can come into the lineup without an issue, but if the Islanders need to call up two forwards, they aren’t flush with options.

Liam Foudy and Pierre Engvall both have plenty of NHL experience but neither did much at training camp or grabbed onto opportunities with the Isles in the past. Mitchell Chaffee does too, and could play as a grinder in the bottom six, but is unlikely to fill an offensive hole. Cole Eiserman is tempting in that sense, but if the Islanders believed he was ready, the Boston University prospect would have made the team out of camp.

With two days before facing Anaheim on Long Island, the Islanders can hope that at least one of the injuries proves not to be as bad as it looked Saturday.

Otherwise, their season just got that much harder.

TORONTO (AP) — Bo Horvat scored the winner and added an assist to help the New York Islanders beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Saturday night.

Simon Holmstrom scored twice, the second into an empty net, and Anthony Duclair also connected for New York (4-3-1). Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves.

Colton Sissons replied for Toronto (3-4-2). Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 16 shots for the Maple Leafs. They have dropped three straight games and four of their last five.

The Islanders jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 8:18 of the first period when Duclair took a pass in the slot and changed the angle before firing through a partial screen on Bobrovsky.

Coming off a hat trick Thursday night in a 5-4 home shootout loss to Buffalo, Maple Leafs winger Kirill Marchenko had a couple of chances that Sorokin turned aside in the second.

No. 1 overall pick Gavin McKenna, who was benched for the second half of Thursday’s contest, had an opportunity it late in the second period on a partial breakaway, but fired high and wide. The Islanders raced the other way, with Horvat eventually beating Bobrovsky with 1:27 to go.

Sissons got Toronto — which topped New York 2-1 at Scotiabank Arena on Sept. 30 — within one at 3:54 of the third on a tipped shot through traffic, but Holmstrom restored the two-goal lead with 5:52 to go off Horvat's setup before firing into the empty net with just over two minutes remaining.

The Islanders' Matias Maccelli left in the first period and didn’t return with an apparent lower-body injury. The winger, who spent last season with Toronto, stepped on the stick of defenseman Darren Raddysh and fell awkwardly.

Up next

Islanders: Host Anaheim on Tuesday night

Maple Leafs: Host San Jose on Monday night.

___

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

The Philadelphia Flyers finally have their first win of the 2026-27 season.

Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone each had a goal and an assist as the Flyers (1-6-3) defeated the Senators 3-1.

It was a rough night all around for the Sens (6-3-0) who've scored just four regulation goals in their last three games. Not only did the Flyers first win come at their expense, but they also lost captain Thomas Chabot to injury.

Chabot appeared to hurt his right arm/wrist area, which has given him trouble at various times in his career for four or five years now.

In just nine games, the Senators have already had a season's worth of injuries on their blue line. Chabot joins Jake Sanderson, Artem Zub, Nikolas Matinpalo, and Cam Crotty as defensemen who've missed time due to injury.

Chabot not finishing the game is worrisome. Zegras’s skate appears to go directly on his right wrist/hand. He seemed to be favouring it right away in the penalty box as he was called tripping on the play in the first period. pic.twitter.com/Nu2ozaEw4i

— Steve Lloyd (@TSNSteveLloyd) October 18, 2026

The loss is the first of the season for Linus Ullmark (6-1-0) who made 26 saves in the loss. Dan Vladar had 25 saves for the Flyers.

After a scoreless opening period, the Senators finally broke through at 5:55 of the second when Drake Batherson finished off a beautifully executed two-on-one with Claude Giroux. Giroux delivered a perfect cross-ice pass, and Batherson made no mistake, burying a one-timer for his fourth goal of the season. Tim Stützle picked up the secondary assist.

But the Flyers responded just over three minutes later, thanks in part to a couple of mistakes by Chabot, who threw the puck away in his own zone, then lost track of Porter Martone in front of the net. Martone tipped home a Matvei Michkov shot at 9:03 to tie the game at one.

Philadelphia then grabbed its first lead of the night with just 1:27 remaining in the period. On the power play, Michkov pounced on a rebound in front and knocked it home for his fourth goal of the season, with Martone and David Jiricek drawing the assists.

The Flyers carried the 2-1 lead into the third period.

About five minutes into the third, the Sens picked up the pace, with Warren Foegele ringing one off the iron for the second straight game.

The Sens got a late power play after Tyson Foerster flipped a puck over the glass. Interestingly, after his first unit tried and failed to tie it up, Travis Green opted to close a crucial power play with Warren Foegele, Ridly Greig, and Fabian Zetterlund up front.

The Sens pulled the goalie and pressed again for the equalizer until Trevor Zegras iced it with an empty net goal to give the Flyers the 3-1 win.

The moral of this hockey story: It's difficult to match the desperation of a winless team. That's a big reason why Philly was the better team on the night.

After failing to kick the Flyers while they were down, the Senators are now off until Wednesday when they host Brady Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers.

It will be interesting to see if the current captain will be healthy enough to face the old one.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa

This story first appeared at The Hockey News Ottawa. For more Senators coverage from THN Ottawa, click one of the headlines below:

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Brady Tkachuk Calls Panthers Fans "The NHL's Best," Just Days Before His Ottawa ReturnThe former Senators captain has put up back-to-back hat tricks, and his post-game comments that Florida has the NHL's best fans won't make next week's return to Ottawa any friendlier.

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Talk about the game with Pens fans here!

CHICAGO - The Chicago Blackhawks were at the United Center for Saturday night hockey against the Dallas Stars. After winning two in a row, both at home, the Blackhawks came in feeling good about their game. 

The Stars came in after a lackluster 3-3-1 start to their season, looking to get back on track. Their record is better than Chicago's, but they have legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations, with a roster loaded with stars at every position, so expectations are different. 

It was an interesting first period. For most of it, the Dallas Stars controlled play. Jason Robertson scored a goal at one point to give the Stars a 1-0 lead, but it was reviewed and waved off for offside. The scoreless tie went through the first intermission. 

In the second period, Robertson didn't miss his chance to score one that counts. While on the power play, he made it 1-0 at 15:02. Robertson finished off a pretty passing play with Mikko Rantanen and Thomas Harley for the goal. 

At 5:50 in the middle frame, Artuu Hyry scored to give the Stars a 2-0 lead. With the way the Stars have been controlling the game, this definitely became a tough hill to climb for the Blackhawks. Hyry's goal came off a neat feed from Sam Steel on a 2-on-1. 

The 2-0 lead that the Dallas Stars built up held through the second intermission. It would have been worse if it weren't for Spencer Knight; things would likely have been worse for the Blackhawks through two. 

Hyry wasn't done there. Shortly into the third period, he scored his second of the game on a nifty backhand shot that beat Knight. Later in the third, Roope Hintz made it 4-0 with a snipe. That did it for the Blackhawks. 

The 4-0 score became the final at the end of regulation, and Chicago's winning streak ended at two. 

Watch Every Chicago Goal

The Chicago Blackhawks didn't score a goal in the loss. There were some chances, but nothing was able to beat Jake Oettinger, who now has three shutouts. In fact, all three of his wins were shutouts. 

What’s Next For The Blackhawks?

The Chicago Blackhawks are now going to be off game action for 6 days. This gives them plenty of time to rest, practice, and come back ready for a long stretch of games against good teams. Next Friday, they will face the Montreal Canadiens. This will be the first time in 2026-27 that the Blackhawks wear their black alternate sweaters. 

Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive, and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.

It’s been a pretty solid few days for the Florida Panthers.

Florida has now won three straight games during the young season, extending the streak thanks to Saturday’s dominant 8-3 victory over the Seattle Kraken.

It didn’t take long for the Panthers to get things started on the right skate.

Just 65 seconds into the game, Sam Bennett jumped on a Matthew Takchuk rebound, swatting the puck out of midair and into the Kraken net to give Florida a 1-0 lead.

Unfortunately for Bennett and the Cats, they didn’t stay ahead for very long.

Former fourth overall draft pick Sane Wright got his stick on a shot by Berkly Catton, getting just enough of the puck to change its direction and get it past Jacob Markstrom to knot the score at one at the 4:51 mark.

That’s how the score would remain for the majority of the period, with both goaltenders coming up with some big saves.

With just over two minutes left until the first intermission, Carter Verhaeghe one-timed a puck from the left faceoff circle over Joey Daccord’s glove to give the Cats a 2-1 lead, but he wasn’t done there.

Florida went on the power play less than a minute later thanks to Ryker Evans shooting the puck over the glass, and Verhaeghe found the back of the net again, this time off a nice feed from Brady Tkachuk, sending Florida into the break with a 3-1 advantage.

Keeping the good times rolling, Verhaeghe completed the natural hat trick by finishing off a pass from Niko Mikkola to extend Florida’s lead to 4-1.

There was some history that came with the goal, as Florida became the first team in NHL history to have players log natural hat tricks in three consecutive games.

The Panthers just became the FIRST TEAM EVER to have a player record a natural hat trick in 3 straight games for them 🎩

Brady got one in the last 2 games and now Verhaeghe adds one! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/MdZWEz9Jh3

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 17, 2026

Not too shabby, eh?

Just 40 seconds after that, Niko Mikkola’s long shot found its way over Daccord’s blocker to extend Florida’s lead to 5-1, and then Bennett gave the Cats a sixth goal by finishing off a 2-on-1 with Brady.

After a Freddy Gaudreau goal late in the second brought Seattle to within 6-2, Sam Reinhart scored on the power play to hit the extra point for Florida, one-timing a quick feed by Matthew Takchuk past Daccord.

Sure, the Kraken added a third goal just under four minutes into the period, but the bigger news of the final frame was Bennett becoming the second Panthers player DURING THIS GAME to pick up a hat trick.

Bennett’s third goal of the night was Florida’s eighth, marking the first time in Panthers history that two players recorded three goals in the same game.

The goal was also the 400th point of Benntt’s career.

SAM BENNETT SCORES THE PANTHERS' 4TH HAT TRICK IN 3 GAMES 🤯

Panthers fans are staring to run out of headwear 😭 pic.twitter.com/x8l7LNDn6c

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) October 18, 2026

Florida’s record has now improved to 5-2-2 on the young season. They’ll head back out on the road this week for a four-game trip, starting with a back-to-back Wednesday and Thursday in Ottawa and Pittsburgh.

Getting back to Florida’s scoring for a moment, the game saw a couple point streaks extended by the Tkachuk brothers.

Matthew Tkachuk finished the night with three assists, extending his point streak to eight games, racking up three goals and 14 points during the run.

As for Brady, his point streak is now at four games, logging six goals and 10 points over that span after picking up a pair of helpers on Saturday.

The timing couldn’t be better as Brady and the Panthers’ next game is against his former team, the Ottawa Senators.

We’ll see if they can keep the good times rolling when they travel north of the border.

Stay tuned.

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Photo caption: May 9, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center CarterVerhaeghe(23) celebrates with center SamBennett(9) and defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) after scoring against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the second period in game three of the second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

The Buffalo Sabres have finally got their offense untracked, generating 14 goals in their past three games. It’s not a coincidence they’ve won two of those three contests to improve their record to 4-3-1. 

But there’s still another issue the Sabres need to address – and that’s their play in their own zone. Because in those past three games, Buffalo has given up a combined 11 goals. And when you look at where the Sabres’ defense is at the moment, you can see why Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff needs to focus on improving his team’s play on ‘D’.

Indeed, right now, the Sabres have the NHL’s seventh-worst goals-against average – 3.63 goals-against per-game. And most of the teams that are as bad or worse in that department are notoriously sub-par teams, including the woeful Calgary Flames (5.00 goals-against), Vancouver Canucks (4.56), Columbus Blue Jackets (4.20), Los Angeles Kings (4.20) and Chicago Blackhawks (4.00). If you aren’t taking care of business defensively, it doesn’t much matter how potent your offense is.

How do the Sabres clamp down in their own end? Well, having captain Rasmus Dahlin back in the lineup will help in that regard – and it’s also not a coincidence Buffalo’s goals-against average spiked now that Dahlin has missed the past two games, as well as Saturday’s tilt against the Montreal Canadiens. Dahlin’s sky-high panic threshold sets a defensive tone for his teammates, and he’s Buffalo’s least-replaceable player.

That said, there’s still good reason to believe the Sabres have to do more to be more responsible on defense. And some of that falls squarely into the lap of Buffalo goalies Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Colten Ellis. With veteran netminder Alex Lyon sidelined with an injury of his own, Buffalo has had no choice but to ride Luukkonen and Ellis. And to say the results were mixed would be extremely charitable.

Indeed, although Luukkonen has been better of late – posting a save percentage of .921 or higher in two of his past three appearances – the reality is that, in six appearances this season, Luukkonen has a significantly-disappointing SP of .854 and a GAA of 3.52. You can say he hasn’t got a lot of support from his Sabres teammates, but Luukkonen has to own his own role in his bloated stats.

Meanwhile, in just three appearances this season, Ellis has been just as disappointing as Luukkonen, if not more so. He had a decent start to the season, putting up a .900 SP in an overtime win over the Minnesota Wild. But Ellis got worse in each of his next two games, posting an .867 SP in a 4-1 loss to the Utah Mammoth, then getting yanked after surrendering two goals on nine shots in a 5-3 loss to the Florida Panthers.

If Luukkonen can’t provide at least average individual numbers, and if Ellis isn’t a legitimate option to turn to when Luukkonen isn’t at his best…well, you can see why that’s going to be an ongoing problem. Now, if Sabres GM Jarmo Kekalainen can pull off a blockbuster trade for suspended Winnipeg Jets superstar goalie Connor Hellebuyck, everything changes for Buffalo. But otherwise, there aren’t many great netminding options for the Sabres to acquire.

In any case, Buffalo’s challenge is clear: get better on ‘D’, and get better right away. Last season, the Sabres had the league’s 10th-best goals-against average at 2.93 goals-against. And it’s not as if there have been a slew of changes to Buffalo’s roster. It’s mostly the same group, so there should be no excuses as to figuring out how to defend better.

If your defense is porous, it matters not how great your offense is. Ruff knows this, so it’ll be intriguing to see how he pushes his players to be better defensively. And the sooner that happens, the more likely it is the Sabres get back to the top of the Atlantic Division.

Montreal Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault has been the subject of trade rumors for a while. Now, that is only continuing during the early stages of the 2026-27 season.

In a recent article for The Athletic, Arpon Basu named Montembeault the Canadiens' top trade candidate.

"Montembeault is in the final year of his contract, and with Jakub Dobeš and Jacob Fowler ready to take over, the Canadiens could collect a trade asset from a goalie-needy team," Basu wrote. 

It would not be surprising in the slightest if the Canadiens moved Montembeault at some point this season. He lost the Canadiens' starting job last season, and Fowler is continuing to prove that he belongs in the NHL. Thus, the Canadiens would be wise to move Montembeault if they can find a team interested in him.

Montembeault has yet to play a game this season for Montreal and is currently sidelined due to injury. In 25 games last season for the Canadiens, he had an .872 save percentage and a 3.43 goals-against average. However, he also had a .901 save percentage or better from 2022-23 to 2024-25, so it is fair to wonder if another team could be willing to take a chance on him as a bounce-back candidate.

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if the Canadiens trade Montembeault this season. They would benefit by moving on from his $3.15 million cap hit.