The San Jose Sharks take the team’s first East Coast road trip of the season, and the first stop is a showdown between the top two picks of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. The Sharks will face the New York Islanders on Long Island this afternoon, with Matthew Schaefer and Michael Misa both expected to play.
Of the two, Schaefer is the standout. He is the youngest defenseman to open his career with a five-game point streak. Schaefer has a goal and four assists in his first five games. If he scores a point tonight, he’ll tie the longest point streak to begin an NHL career by a defenseman. That record was set by Marek Zidlicky in 2003-04.
As for Misa, while he has yet to register his first NHL point, he looked pretty dangerous in his most recent NHL start. Misa had some good scoring chances, including this pair of opportunities against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.
Misa getting his first point against the Islanders would be a pretty good way to get things going for the young rookie. The Sharks getting the team’s first in of the season would be good as well.
The Islanders are 2-3-0 to start the season. After a tough 0-3-0 start, the team has reeled off two straight wins. The Isles beat the Ottawa Senators 5-4 on Saturday. Anders Lee had three points in the game, including the game winner with just over a minute remaining in the third period. Veterans Bo Horvat, Emil Heineman and Kyle Palmieri also scored. Ilya Sorokin won his first game of the season. The normally steadfast netminder has had a tough start to the season. He is 1-3-0 for the season with a 4.13 goals against average and .860 save percentage. He’s expected to start in the net against the Sharks.
San Jose Sharks lines tonight
The Sharks are dealing with injuries to the blueline and called up Luca Cagnoni to help backfill. According to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, John Klingberg is practicing, but it does not look like he’s in the lines for morning skate. Neither is Cagnoni. This is what Peng reports the lines look like. Yaroslav Askarov is expected to start in the net. Adam Gaudette is ill, if he can’t go tonight, Philipp Kurashev is play.
Forwards
Tyler Toffoli – Macklin Celebrini – Will Smith
William Eklund – Alex Wennberg – Jeff Skinner
Collin Graf – Michael Misa – Adam Gaudette
Barclay Goodrow – Ty Dellandrea – Ryan Reaves
Defense
Dmitry Orlov – Mario Ferraro
Nick Leddy – Vincent Iorio
Sam Dickinson – Vincent Desharnais
Goaltenders
Yaroslav Askarov
Alex Nedeljkovic
New York Islanders projected lines
According to NHL.com, these are the lines the Islanders are expected to use tonight.
Forwards
Jonathan Drouin – Bo Horvat – Emil Heineman
Anthony Duclair – Mathew Barzal – Kyle Palmieri
Anders Lee – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Max Shabanov
Max Tsyplakov – Casey Cizikas – Simon Holmstrom
Defense
Adam Pelech – Ryan Pulock
Adam Boqvist – Tony DeAngelo
Matthew Schaefer – Scott Mayfield
Goaltenders
Ilya Sorokin
David Rittich
How to watch San Jose Sharks at New York Islanders Oct. 21, 2025
The puck drops at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET at UBS Arena in Nassau County.
Sharks fans can watch the game on NBC Sports California or listen on the Sharks Audio Network.
Islanders fans can watch on MSNSN or stream through the Gotham Sports App. You can also listen on 88.7 FM, 103.9 FM or through the Islanders+ or UBS Arena App.
And as always, be sure to come back here and join other Sharks fans to talk about what’s happening on the ice.
