Andrew Gross: The Islanders need sustained winning to really find their groove
Brayden Schenn of the New York Islanders reacts to his goal with Mitchell Chaffee and Matias Maccelli against the Kings on November 12, 2026 in Los Angeles. Credit: Getty Images/Harry How
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Ace Frehley’s famous refrain of being back in the “New York Groove” blared in the Islanders’ dressing room, just as it has every time they’ve won this season.
But that’s been eight times in 18 matches. The Islanders aren’t so much back in the groove after snapping an 0-2-2 skid but hoping to find one.
Now, if they get to play their victory song again following Saturday night’s match with the Ducks at Honda Center to conclude a three-game California swing, there will be more of an argument that the Islanders are getting the traction that has been elusive this season.
Beating the struggling Kings, 5-2, on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena can’t be a one-off win. Not if the Islanders are serious about being playoff contenders.
“Yeah, exactly,” captain Bo Horvat told Newsday. “It’s the following up. Being consistent with it. We’re playing a high, offensive mindset team that’s got a lot of skill up front. If we can play well defensively like we did tonight and take away their time and space, it’s going to benefit us for sure.”
But can they?
Short answer: Who knows?
It’s been maddeningly frustrating trying to determine exactly what the Islanders are in their first full season under coach Pete DeBoer. It hasn’t helped that they haven’t been at full health yet. At times, they play well defensively. Goalie Ilya Sorokin has been outstanding the last three games. But both Sorokin and remarkable comeback story Semyon Varlamov have had shaky moments, the defense suffered mightily in the four games Ryan Pulock missed with a shoulder issue and not finishing scoring opportunities has been a season-long theme.
So they’ve covered all the bases: The good (a 4-1 win in Toronto on Oct. 17 after losing Cal Ritchie and Matias Maccelli to injuries and a 4-3 overtime win in Minnesota on Oct. 29 against one of the NHL’s better teams); The bad (a 6-3 loss in Dallas on Oct. 25 and a 4-0 loss to the visiting Oilers on Oct. 31); The ugly (squandering Sorokin’s brilliant 45 saves by failing to protect a two-goal lead in the third period of a 5-4 overtime loss to the Devils at UBS Arena this past Saturday).
Thursday’s victory wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing. But it was a win and the Islanders got to hear Frehley’s anthem (technically a cover song but who remembers British band Hello originally singing the Russ Ballard-penned tune?)
The lineup got healthier with Pulock and speedy forward Maccelli, who should soon slot back into the top six, returning. Mathew Barzal, last season’s leading scorer, keeps inching closer to this season’s debut after inflammation in his left knee sidelined him on Day 1 of training camp.
The Islanders are hoping third-line center Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s absence from Thursday’s lineup because of a lower-body issue is a one-off occurrence.
“We played a solid game, the whole team,” Maccelli told Newsday said after logging 13:35 with a power-play assist in his first game back. “I think we were more detailed. We were trying to put pucks behind them and not mess around too much with it in the neutral zone and trying to make plays all the time.”
The question from here is twofold: How sustainable is this return to the win column and how much better can the Islanders be if they do ever find a groove?
The NHL season is rapidly approaching its quarter pole. While there’s no doubt the Islanders must be a better team to reach the playoffs — an issue that may be complicated if general manager Mathieu Darche opts to be a seller with veterans Kyle Palmieri and Casey Cizikas in the last season of their deals and financial flexibility and roster spots for next season made a priority — there certainly is a path to the postseason in the Metropolitan Division.
The Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes and Devils, now that they’ve acquired three-time Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck, are the division’s two best teams. The Flyers, Penguins and Blue Jackets are all in various states of disarray. That seemingly leaves the Islanders in a third-place battle with the Capitals and Rangers, minus No. 1 goalie Igor Shesterkin for the season.
The Islanders must find their groove to emerge with their first playoff berth since 2024.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
