Early look The full preview opens on Monday 1 March, three days before puck drop, with the expected goalies, the latest team news and game-day prices. Until then this page shows the matchup as it stands.
Early look · NHL 2026-27

Vegas Golden Knights at New York Islanders: game preview

Puck drop4 Mar · 7:00 PM ET
VenueUBS Arena
All-time meetings16 completed
BasisLast 5 meetings + 2025-26
The thesis

Four points apart last season

Vegas finished last season 13th in the league on 95 points. NY Islanders finished 19th on 91.

Game-day prices arrive with the afternoon snapshot, about 4:30 PM ET on the day of the game.

Head-to-head

Meeting number 17

Across 16 completed games, NY Islanders lead the head-to-head 10-5-1.

All-time record10-5-1NY Islanders's record in the series
Meetings played16This is number 17
2025-26 series—
Last 54-1NY Islanders
DateResultShotsPower playWinner
9 Dec 2025VGK 4 – NYI 5 SO——NYI
13 Nov 2025NYI 4 – VGK 3 OT——NYI
4 Feb 2025VGK 1 – NYI 2——NYI
9 Jan 2025NYI 4 – VGK 0——NYI
23 Jan 2024VGK 3 – NYI 2——VGK
Head-to-head finder

The table on each 2025-26 meeting night

DateVegasNY Islanders
13 Nov 20257-4-5 · 19 pts19th9-6-2 · 20 pts15th
9 Dec 202514-6-9 · 37 pts6th17-11-3 · 37 pts8th

League rank after that night's games; a longer bar is a higher place. On 13 Nov 2025, Vegas were 19th in the league and NY Islanders 15th. By 9 Dec 2025 it was 6th and 8th.


Where the shots come from · last 5 meetings

Vegas out-attempted NY Islanders 125 to 108

Every attempt from the last meetings, both teams shooting right.

Vegas Golden Knights

125 att · 66 on goal · 7 G · 10.6%
Crease18 att · 1 G
Slot53 att · 6 G
Wing32 att · 0 G
Point19 att · 0 G
Neutral zone3 att · 0 G

New York Islanders

108 att · 51 on goal · 8 G · 15.7%
Crease14 att · 1 G
Slot34 att · 0 G
Wing44 att · 6 G
Point15 att · 1 G
Neutral zone1 att · 0 G
GoalOn goalMissedBlocked

Expected goals

Vegas have created the better chances, last 10 games

Shot quality both ways: expected goals weigh every unblocked attempt by its chance of scoring. Finishing above zero means more goals than the chances.

VegasNY Islanders
3.79xG for per game2.90
2.09xG against per game3.70
64.4%xG share44.0%
+1.8FinishingGoals minus expected goals+0.3
−1.6GoaltendingExpected goals against minus goals allowed+4.1

This season: 4 games for Vegas, 3 for NY Islanders. Small sample: early-season xG moves a lot from night to night.

Every team’s xG →


Special teams

Power play and penalty kill, season and series

This season's rates first, then 2025-26 and the last meetings between the two. Power-play chances are counted from the penalty log with coincidental minors cancelled; faceoffs are each club's wins over draws taken.

All bars share one scale · 0–100%SeasonLast meetings

Vegas

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2731.3%
Power play · 2025-2624.6% · 6th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2783.3%
Penalty kill · 2025-2681.4% · 7th
Faceoffs · 2026-2753.0% · 122/230
Drawn · 2026-2716 (4.00/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-2712 (3.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

NY Islanders

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2718.2%
Power play · 2025-2616.5% · 30th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2783.3%
Penalty kill · 2025-2680.8% · 10th
Faceoffs · 2026-2749.1% · 81/165
Drawn · 2026-2711 (3.67/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-2712 (4.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Skaters

Skaters to watch

Each club's top three forwards and defencemen by points this season, with 2025-26 one tap away.

PlayerGPGAPP/GP
9Jack Eichel428102.50
95Victor Olofsson44151.25
48Tomas Hertl43251.25
10Brayden Schenn31341.33
14Bo Horvat32131.00
53Casey Cizikas31120.67
Points leaders
PlayerGPGAPP/GP
27Shea Theodore41230.75
15Noah Hanifin41010.25
8Logan Stanley30220.67
3Adam Pelech30110.33
Defencemen stats

Goaltending

Who has stopped this matchup

Save percentage in the last meetings by goalie. Starters are confirmed on game day.

Expected startersAn estimate until the teams confirmEvery game tonight →

Expected starter after their game on 2 Mar: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Expected starter after their game on 1 Mar: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Vegas crease

VGK · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 1 Mar

Carter Hart.8903 GP · 2-1-0 · GSAx −1.1
Adin Hill.9001 GP · 1-0-0 · GSAx −0.5

No appearances against NY Islanders in the last meetings.

NY Islanders crease

NYI · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 1 Mar

Ilya Sorokin.9682 GP · 1-1-0 · GSAx +4.1
Semyon Varlamov.8641 GP · 0-1-0 · GSAx +0.4

No appearances against Vegas in the last meetings.


Totals

Scoring rates point to about 6.0 goals

No total is posted yet: it arrives with the game-day prices. Until then, the scoring rates and the recent meetings set the range.

Goals in the last 5 meetings

9 Dec 20259 · VGK 4–5 NYI
13 Nov 20257 · NYI 4–3 VGK
4 Feb 20253 · VGK 1–2 NYI
9 Jan 20254 · NYI 4–0 VGK
23 Jan 20245 · VGK 3–2 NYI

Bar length is total goals, coloured by the winner.

Scoring rates

Team26-27 GF26-27 GA25-26 GF25-26 GA
Vegas4.252.503.233.05
NY Islanders3.002.332.842.94

Goals for and against per game. The estimate averages each team’s scoring with the other’s goals allowed, and leans on 2025-26 until a team has played 20 games.

Scoring rates suggest6.0Goals in this game
Last 5 meetings5.6Goals per game
Line—No total posted yet
Books at the line—With the game-day prices

Team news

5 on the injury lists

Vegas · injuries

Lukas CormierUndisclosedIRReturn22 Oct
Raphael LavoieUndisclosedOutReturn8 Oct
Victor OlofssonUndisclosedDay-to-dayReturn8 Oct

NY Islanders · injuries

Alexander RomanovUndisclosedDay-to-dayReturn8 Oct
Mathew BarzalKneeIRReturn10 Oct
30 Sep · VGK

Signed C William Karlsson to a two-year contract.

29 Sep · VGK

Placed C Jakub Cormier, RW Matyas Hemmerling and C Jakub Uchacz on the injured non-roster list.

23 Sep · VGK

Placed D Jaycob Megna, D Adam Ginning, D Joe Fleming, C Jakub Demek and D Jeremy Davies on waivers.

27 Sep · NYI

Agreed to terms with LD Logan Stanley on a 1-Year contract worth $1.5M. Placed G Vitek Vanecek on waivers with the intention of sending to Hamilton (AHL)

26 Sep · NYI

Waived Fs Tanner Fritz, Matt Luff and Nathan Chaffee. Waived Fs Dylan Foudy and Hudson Kuefler for the purpose of sending to Hamilton (AHL).

24 Jul 2026 · NYI

Signed F Alex Jefferies to a one-year contract.

Injury report
#29Juho PiiparinenRound 1 · TapparaD
#63ForfeitedRound 2 ·
#92Benjamin WilmottRound 3 · BarrieC
#95Sean BurickRound 3 · PentictonD
Full draft

NY Islanders · 2026 draft

See all: NY Islanders · 2026 draft →
#13Malte GustafssonRound 1 · Hv71D
#109Lincoln KuehneRound 4 · Arizona StateD
#141Vladimir DraveckyRound 5 · BrantfordD
#173Artyom MatyukRound 6 · Nizhny Novgorod Jr.C
Full draft

Updated after every final