The San Jose Sharks have taken the show on the road, kicking off the team’s first East Coast road trip on Long Island. Unfortunately for the Sharks, it looks like the team has packed up its troubles and hauled them along for the trip. The Sharks, despite some offensive pop, lost another one last night, falling 4-3 to the New York Islanders.
Unlike in past games, the Sharks played a complete game from start to finish, jumping out of the gate and attacking the Islanders. Looking at Natural Stat Trick’s Corsi in all situations, you can see that the Sharks took control of the game early and then did not relinquish that control. While there were moments when the Islanders pushed back, the Sharks did not allow those stretches to last for long periods.
Askarov struggling early in the season
This, unfortunately, is where the Sharks would have liked the team’s young goaltender, Yaroslav Askarov, to come up with a big save here or there. Sometimes, a team that is teetering on the edge of a win needs a goaltender to come up with a big save or two to bail them out. But Askarov isn’t there yet, and the defense in front of him isn’t doing him any favors.
For example, on the Islanders’ second goal.
Cizikas lights the lamp!#Isles | @Ford pic.twitter.com/46soP2vYlo
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) October 21, 2025
Yes, Sam Dickinson has a terrible giveaway to Casey Cizikas, but you would have liked Askarov to be better prepared for the shot, ideally by positioning his body to get in front of it. Be in the right place at the right time to stop the shot. A stop like that would have kept the Sharks in the game. It’s a bit of luck, but it’s something that Askarov doesn’t have right now, and you can tell that he’s feeling it.
His goals against for the game was 4.15 according to Natural Stat Trick, while his expected goals against was 3.99. Conversely, the Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin had a 3.01 goals against average and a 3.80 expected goals against average. You can see that a little something extra makes all the difference in the world.
So, while yes, the defense had some issues in front of Askarov, such as watching the puck more than playing the bodies in front of the net, Askarov still needs to make the stops.
This night, compared to most, the Sharks did a good job of winning the offensive battle. The team had 37 scoring chances to the Islanders’ 29 and 36 shots to the Islanders’ 27. It was a better game overall, so one extra save might have made all the difference in the world.
Impactful players of the night
The eye test and stats test are always interesting things to compare. Sometimes they match up, and sometimes they don’t. In this case, it seems pretty comparable.
NHL GameScore Impact Card for San Jose Sharks on 2025-10-21: pic.twitter.com/386I34LpSB
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) October 22, 2025
Nick Leddy had another difficult outing. He’s not doing well on the second pairing, and his partner, Vincent Iorio, didn’t seem to do well either in this game, though I will say that it seemed like, visually, Leddy was worse than Iorio. When Shakir Mukhamadullin is healthy enough to play again, it’s hard to see him not slotting back in. This current pairing isn’t sustainable defensively and the Sharks are absolutely getting taken advantage of.
Dmitry Orlov, so far, isn’t an ideal top-pairing defenseman, but he’s the closest thing that the Sharks have to one. He and Mario Ferraro did okay as the top pair. Orlov and Ferraro each had an assist last night. Orlov played 24:37 last night.
What’s disconcerting defensively is that going down the list in terms of ice time, the next three players are all forwards. Macklin Celebrini played 22:45 last night, Will Smith played 21:31 and Tyler Toffoli played 20:01. The fifth-highest player in terms of ice time is Leddy with 19:55. If Leddy, a player who was waived by the St. Louis Blues because the team didn’t want him as a seventh defenseman, is your team’s second-highest defenseman in terms of ice time, then your blueline is in trouble.
Schaefer came as advertised
As a Sharks fan, it was tough to see what could have been. While I’ve liked Michael Misa’s game and I’ve been a bit baffled by the coaches’ “plans” for Misa, seeing Michael Schaefer play yesterday really twisted the knife on what the Sharks almost had.
Schaefer was as advertised, scoring the game-winning goal and adding an assist. He moved the puck well, was solid defensively and did a bunch of little things right that showed just how mature his game was for an 18-year-old defenseman learning how to play in the NHL. He is clearly going to be the cornerstone of the Islanders moving forward and has to make the team feel okay about moving on from Noah Dobson.
It’s an extra knife twist as we watch the Sharks struggle defensively and wonder who will take the reins on the blueline for San Jose in this rebuild. While Dickinson has been good, there’s a clear difference from where Schaefer’s game is at currently and where Dickinson’s game is at.
Highlight
This one goes out to Misa because the kid got his first NHL point. Extra credit to Dickinson for a very good keep in. While he didn’t get an assist, he did the work that made the play happen. Way to go!
Check out this passing play from the @SanJoseSharks! 🤩
— NHL (@NHL) October 21, 2025
And Michael Misa has his first NHL point! 🦈 pic.twitter.com/xQoZz4IQCi
Scoring summary San Jose Sharks at New York Islanders Oct. 21, 2025
First period
8:29 SJS Collin Graf from Ty Dellandrea shorthanded
9:26 NYI Bo Horvat from Mathew Barzal and Matthew Schaefer on the power play
10:30 NYI Casey Cizikas from Simon Holmstrom
14:16 SJS Adam Gaudette from Michael Misa and Collin Graf
19:28 NYI Emil Heineman from Anders Lee and Maxim Shabanov on the power play
Second period
6:38 NYI Matthew Schaefer from Anthony Duclair and Kyle Palmieri
Third period
10:16 SJS Macklin Celebrini from Dmitry Orlov and Mario Ferraro
