After having their five-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday, the Detroit Red Wings look for a rebound in their second leg of a road back-to-back with matchup against the New York Islanders. The Detroit defense had their hot streak come to an end as they allowed four goals to the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday after allowing two or fewer goals in the prior four games.
They will now try to stop the new look New York Islanders, headed by rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who has broken onto the scene since being the top pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. The 18-year-old Calder trophy favorite has proven the pick to be an elite player early on with seven points in six games, second-most points by a defenseman in the NHL, only trailing Colorado’s Cale Maker.
This may be difficult for the Red Wings to get a read on a player they’ve never seen before but the Islanders also haven’t faced off against Detroit’s young rookies like Emmitt Finnie. The 20-year-old Lethbridge, Alberta native has impressed early on and has taken full advantage of his line placement with superstars Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond. So far this season, the trio have ten combined goals with Finnie adding his third goal of his early NHL career on Wednesday in the loss to Buffalo. This also doesn’t account for the two games Raymond missed but is back in the lineup.
With two teams battling with their young cores, it could be a future preview of matchups to come with this being just the first face-off of Schaefer and the Islanders versus Detroit’s rookie trio of Finnie, Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Michael Brandsegg-Nygård.
Missed Opportunities, Penalty Trouble Halt Red Wings’ Five-Game Winning Streak In Loss To Sabres
The five-game winning streak for the Detroit Red Wings was halted by the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday evening.
Lineup Storylines
The most interesting facet to Matthew Schaefer’s story early on has been his massive role right out of the gate. For other teams looking at the situation, they may think it’s strange to place such a young player in such a role like on the top defense pairing, top power play unit and have them play the most minutes on the team every given night unless they are a star in the making. This situation is one that few can understand but the Red Wings are apart of that few.
With Emmitt Finnie’s role on the top line as well as power play minutes for Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, both NHL clubs are doing rare sights that the league sees only rarely and now we get to see them face off. While the focal part of watching film will likely be learning how to maintain Schaefer, the Red Wings will also need to focus in on players like top line forward Bo Horvat, who was known as an elite center during his time with the Vancouver Canucks and has transitioned his game to the Big Apple over the last three seasons.
The 30-year-old London, Ontario native is a steady presence up the middle for New York with consistent 55-65 point upside while also serving as a locker room leader. Horvat’s start to the season has been better than expected with five goals and a pair of assists for seven points in his first six games. The three-time 30-goal scorer is an underrated offensive threat and Detroit will need to treat him as such.
Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features.
Playing the second leg of a back-to-back, let alone one on the road, can be challenging especially considering they’ll be travelling throughout the day or the night prior, they don’t get to sleep in like usual or will get little sleep cause of the travel and creates an overall less comfortable experience than a normal road trip where you can have time to adjust.
This will mean some players will be off their game and will need different sources of scoring to pitch in if they want to bounce back from a tough road loss on Wednesday. The hope for all Red Wings fans is that the source is rookie Michael Brandsegg-Nygård.
After a stellar pre-season with six points in seven exhibition games, the 20-year-old Norwegian winger is still being placed in a favorable position to break out and should at some point. With power play minutes on the second unit, Brandsegg-Nygård has done what he can with the fourth-most shots on the team, tied with Emmitt Finnie at 13 and the second-most hits on the team at 21 in seven games this season. The chances will eventually lead to results, which hopefully means a clutch goal in a big spot on Thursday.
“Guys Have Really Bought In”: Red Wings Preach Team Game Amidst Key Absences
James van Riemsdyk, who is playing his first season with the Red Wings, said he and his teammates have completely bought in to a team-first mentality in the absences of key players like Lucas Raymond and Patrick Kane.
Player & Betting Trends (Presented By BetMGM)
DET ML (+115) | NYI ML (-139)
DET +1.5 (-208) | NYI -1.5 (+170)
O/U 6.0 Goals
Over the past two seasons, the Red Wings have played in 20 back-to-backs with six of them featuring two consecutive road games. In those stints, Detroit won both games once, split the set twice and lost both games the remaining three times. In the 20 spots overall, the Red Wings managed to win both games four times, at least get a split nine times and losing both games seven times. This means that what would normally be 35 per cent of the time they drop both games, jumps to 50 per cent when both games are on the road.
The odds and history are against the Red Wings in this spot but their track record versus the Islanders is favorable enough that it promises it tight contest. Detroit has bested New York in four straight games including three straight wins on the road at UBS arena.
Based on the projected starters, this matchup shapes up to be a low-scoring affair or at least that’s likely what Detroit will need to make it a winnable game. The Red Wings will turn to Cam Talbot, who has a solid record against the Islanders, but they’ll still need to generate some offense as the 37-year-old veteran has surrendered three or more goals in half of his 14 career appearances versus New York.
On the other side, the Islanders are expected to start backup goalie David Rittich. That might sound like an advantage for Detroit, but the 33-year-old journeyman has historically stymied the Red Wings, boasting nearly flawless numbers in this matchup. For Detroit to come out on top, they’ll either need to lock things down defensively or finally solve a goaltender who’s had their number for quite some time.
Goalie Matchup
Detroit: Cam Talbot (Season: 3-0-0 record, 1.78 GAA, .932 SV% | VS NYI: 4-4-2 record, 2.47 GAA, .911 SV% in 11 Games)
New York: David Rittich (Season: 1-0-0 record, 2.00 GAA, .939 SV% | VS DET: 4-0-1 record, 1.68 GAA, .926 SV% in Six Games)
Never miss a story by adding us to your Google News favorites!
Look To Kasper, Schaefer For Scoring in High-Flying Red Wings-Islanders Clash
Count on Marco Kasper and Matthew Schaefer igniting the ice. Witness a rising rivalry featuring young talent and scoring fireworks as the Red Wings and Islanders clash.
