ELMONT, N.Y. , The Tampa Bay Lightning kick off a two‑game road swing Saturday night with their only away game of the season at UBS Arena, taking on the New York Islanders. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Saturday’s matchup launches a three‑game series between the clubs. The teams will meet twice more later in the season in Tampa Bay, with games slated for Jan. 30 and March 13.
Tampa Bay arrives with a 3‑1‑0 record, sitting second in the Atlantic Division and cruising on a three‑game winning streak. The Lightning have swept all three home contests but lost their lone road game so far. New York sits at 2‑2‑0, sixth in the Metropolitan Division after a 4‑1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. The Islanders are perfect at home (2‑0‑0) and 0‑2‑0 on the road.
Special‑teams numbers tell two different stories after four games. New York ranks 16th on the power play (21.4 %) and 10th on the penalty kill (86.7 %), outscoring opponents 13‑8 overall. Tampa Bay’s power play sits at 30th (6.3 %) while its penalty kill is 19th (77.8 %), yielding an 11‑9 goal differential. Before Friday’s action, the Lightning spent 44.8 % of their time in the offensive zone,the league’s third‑highest figure.
Historically, Tampa Bay holds a 60‑47‑11 all‑time edge over the Islanders, including a 26‑29‑4 road record. Last season, New York swept the series, leaving Tampa Bay with an 0‑2‑1 mark.
Nikita Kucherov leads the Lightning’s offense through four games with six points (one goal, five assists). Defenseman John Carlson, Jake Guentzel and Brandon Hagel each tally four points, while Brayden Point adds three. Kucherov tops active Tampa Bay players in career production against New York with 39 points (11 goals, 28 assists) in 34 games, trailing franchise co‑leaders Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos, who each have 46 points versus the Islanders. He also sits at 1,130 career NHL points, just eight shy of overtaking Stamkos as Tampa Bay’s all‑time scoring leader.
Guentzel arrives with 38 career points (14 goals, 24 assists) in 36 games against the Islanders, split between Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh, ranking third among NHL skaters versus New York since 2016‑17.
Bo Horvat heads the Islanders with five points, including four goals, through four games. Brayden Schenn and Logan Stanley each have four points, followed by Matthew Schaefer with three and Emil Heineman with two.
Between the pipes, Andrei Vasilevskiy boasts a 14‑5‑1 career record against New York and a .937 save percentage,the second‑best mark in NHL history for goaltenders with at least ten starts versus the Islanders.
Last season, Vasilevskiy went 0‑1‑0 with a .917 save percentage against New York, while Jonas Johansson posted a 0‑1‑1 record and a .914 save percentage. Dennis Hildeby awaits his first career start against the Islanders.
Several Lightning players are on the cusp of personal milestones heading into Saturday. Defenseman Ryan McDonagh needs four blocked shots to pass Alex Pietrangelo for fourth‑most in NHL history. Forward Ilya Mikheyev sits at 99 career goals, just one shy of the century mark, while Anthony Cirelli requires three assists to reach 200. On defense, Erik Cernak is five assists from 100, and JJ Moser needs ten assists to hit his own century benchmark.
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