New York Islanders face a wave of injuries, with Alexander Romanov sidelined for up to six months and JG Pageau out week-to-week. Can the Islanders’ next man up mentality fuel a playoff push despite these setbacks? Gil Martin spotlights the impact of losing Romanov’s physicality on defense and examines key roster adjustments—Cal Ritchie steps into a bigger role, Maxim Tsyplakov returns to the lineup, and Adam Boqvist fills the void on the blueline.
Gil Martin recaps the thrilling shootout win over the Seattle Kraken, dissecting Bo Horvat and Kyle Palmieri’s clutch performances, David Rittich’s shutout heroics, and Anders Lee’s efforts against the St. Louis Blues. With the power play faltering and scoring depth still in question, the episode weighs trade possibilities and opportunities for prospects like Marshall Warren and Isaiah George. Will the Islanders find the grit and consistency needed to stay in the playoff race?
All this and more on today’s Locked On Islanders Podcast with Gil Martin.
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44 Comments
44 injury gives 64 his chance. 7 wont solve anything. and rantanen got thrown out of next game thanks to a cheap hit. so rantanen is facing a suspension.
in W over lame-0 and kraken 35 and d saved isles. L vs. blows was expected as teams tend to come out flat first game back home after a long road trip. and one g in two games back home after road trip. i'd hope offense isn't hitting a post 20 game slumber and that first 20 games wasn't an aberration. and isles need to get 31st ranked pp going now when offense struggles. 14, 48 have 7 of isles 10 pp g's. maybe get 49 more pp time.
still don't know if depth is good enough especially with 44 out and bottom line struggles to score g's. now would be a good time for that bum 11 to contribute more. probably will look to add a cheap depth d man like 77 and 34 last season.
DeAngelo #77 haven't heard much about him, so maybe that is a good thing… giving Dave support here; boxing out!👍Olympic efforts' for Rittich so far this season; making for a nice story there too…
Salute Gil 🍷🍷🍷
Shoutout from Portugal 🇵🇹🇵🇹
NHL looks really bad failing to suspend Rantanen after he is out for season then he goes out and cheap shots another guy 2 games later. An absolute disgrace and a double standard
Darche needs to go out and find a physical defenseman.
Holmstrom got a shot because he is one of the few players to look good on previous shootout attempts. He has a nasty move that has worked at least three times, and multiple times he has been the only Islander to score in the shootout. I expected Holmstrom to be one of the shooters and would've been disappointed and surprised if he hadn't gotten a shot.
Physicality Gil? His name is Hunter Drew..signed to a 1 way..easily changed..He should be up Wednesday.
Hey Gil. I get that there are cap ramifications and Darshe & Roy don’t want to change things up too much but when is enough, enough ? What’s it’s gonna take ? An injury to Schaefer before they wake up ? That’s called malfeasance ! Now of the time for Warren to get some playing time. Enough with Boquist. Everyone wants to see the kids, well here’s the perfect opportunity but then people say well he’s not ready, well you can’t have your cake and eat it to. Either you give him a few games and a shot or send him back down and bring someone else up. As for JP’s spot, if they thought one of the kids was good enough, they shoudve traded JP by now but apparently no one is ready or they want a draft pick. Enough with the draft pick nonsense. Darshe has already rebuilt the system up pretty good, there are kids in the pipeline.
We can survive without romanov. Warren can fill the void and boquiest can step it up.wr cam also trade for another defensman if necessary.
ahh yes warren!
Good 🌄 Gil. How are you? The Islanders lost Romanov for the rest of the season. They called up Marshall Warren from Bridgeport. They lost JG Pageou to an upper body injury. Will Patrick Roy replace him with Cal Ritchie or Maxim Tsyplakov? We will see. The Islanders were Medusa, and turned the Kraken into 🪨. There were no goals during regulation. Simon Hohlstrom didn't look good at all, Barzy came up big, too. Emil Heineman had a lot of hits, and Kyle Palmieri scored the GW goal in a SO. Hero, David Rittich for putting on a show in goal, and keeping them in the game. 🐐, the PP for not going well, and the fact that it's 31st in the league isn't helping. The Islanders had a case of jet lag on Saturday afternoon and they lost 2-1 to the St. Louis 🎶. Hero, Anders Lee for scoring the only goal. 🐐 The inability to score. HAPPY 🎂MITCH RITZ. He drops the 🧤, and he won his fight in a win over the 🌩️. Hear from you later, Gil, but before I go, I compared Duane and Brent to Characters from The Godfather. Duane was Sonny, and Brent was Brent. Now, LET'S GO ISLANDERS.
Shabonov would have been a better choice versus Holmstrom.
Gil, if Holmstrom continues to struggle and has a soft game on Wednesday, please make him the scapegoat. He has been a non factor for this team and a glaring net negative at times. Shout me out when you do it as well lol
I love starting my work week listening to locked on islander's at 6am 😂😂 let's go islander's
Remember, folks: we are 2nd in the Division and 5th in the League overall. We are winning games we would have lost easily last year. Our defense and goaltending has suddenly jelled. LGI !
It always seems like the n h l screws the islanders
Good to see the win ! But where is the team from the road trip? With so many up and coming players one has to question who is our core and who will be traded off the Island. Have to ask if Holmstrom is a core player who is untouchable? Since Holmstrom can’t really crack the top 6 is he a candidate for a hockey trade to add a player around his age with more grit and bang? I am sure Darche will make some decisions that might not be popular but might be necessary to advance the team and create space for up coming players. One thing that really stood out last night is our face offs without JGP. Besides Horvat no one can win a faceoff especially Barzal. However interesting when Casey got tossed out of the faceoff and replaced by Tsyplakov I was intrigued. Sippy dominated and won the faceoff so cleanly couldn’t help to question has Tsyplakov ever played center? He might be an option just for taking faceoffs possibly. Davey R stood on his head and is looking good which we certainly needed from our back up! Kudos for Darche and Davey R
Good morning team! Gil, wonderful win yesterday, happy to finally win a shoot out, and I'm extremely impressed with the way the team tried to come back in the 3rd period against Columbus. The injury to Romanov, and how long he'll be out, is very hard to hear. When the injury happened I did have my doubt that he would be back quickly. Hearing 5 to 6 months is still way beyond the time I thought he would be out. So sorry to hear it. JGP is week to week on his injury. My hope goes out to both players for a very speedy recovery. Time for next man up. We're playing really well and we have been showing we'll be in every game, and we can't lose the now. Bruins game is next. Can't wait to give them a little bit of payback. Everyone, have a great day! See you all again tomorrow. Until then.. Let's Go Islanders!!
I have a few comments today. All about the shootout yesterday. First of all Barzy has to be cut from doing shootouts he's absolutely dreadful at them, holmstrom only has one move in shootouts. When it works its beautiful. But its pretty easy to defend when u know its coming. And also the kraken player who went last yesterday did not keep a forward motion up until the shot. That shot shoulda been waived off . I know he missed anyways. But watch it back, he went backwards right before he shot. Idk if that's a review able thing or not if it had went in? And lastly why is Shabanov not getting a chance? I gotta think he's pretty decent in shootouts. Im maybe going off of what Ruslan Ishkakov used to do. Lol but he reminds me of him so want to see what he's capable of.?
Un-f*****g-believable that Romanov is out that long and Rantanen gets nothing. The rematch, sorry to say because I usually would say focus on the win but this needs to be avenged. Montreal has a bunch of defensemen and barely use Arber Xhekaj and he would be a perfect answers at 6’4” and he is a perfect enforcer to keep the opponents honest.
Sunday was my first game at UBS. It really is a food court with an ice rink in the middle, haha. But the atmosphere was pretty good, the production is top notch and it was a great experience. Wish food was a little cheaper though
Romanov and Pageau were the only ones who ever threw checks besides Cizikas. Team in desperate need of toughness.
All they do is win with Boquist
Lee and holmstrom need to switch
Wow I guess rantannin really is that kind of player. I just don't understand hitting the numbers! Its like a street sign telling you to let up. My son plays college hockey and I watch alot of the college game. I see much more dirty hits in the pro game. If the NHL wants to be in the popular sport mix they have to start having a no tolerance to crap like this. As for the team very happy with the attitude and execution even tho barzel drives me nuts.
My shootout lineup – Shabanov, Heineman, Horvat, Palmieri … No Holmstrom and no Barzal .. If Pageau was healthy I'd use him instead of Heineman. JMO
The Power Play can look as pretty as it wants .. IT NEEDS TO SCORE!!! Pucks on net until they can't shoot anymore … JMO
Hi Gil good show. It HAS to be a defenseman they bring in a trade. Even if we think Warren or George might step in with 3rd pairing minutes. I think we can agree that the ones that are doing the 20plus minutes are not completely reliable. And are injury prone. If we get another major injury we are dead in the water.
Olympic year and condensed schedules, I think you find many games when fatigue sets in.
morning gil…QUESTION….WHATS HOLDING THEM FROM BRINGING UP KASHAWN AITCHESON…its a hitter a scorer and will drop the gloves….the entire league is afraid of him….?????
Gm Gil. Romanov is done for 2025/26. The fact that the league took no action on that hit angers me. His presence on the ice can't be overstated. How many times did we see him drop the hammer on someone with their head down skating through the center of the ice? The team is going to need to go out and add toughness to the roster. The upcoming game with the Stars I want to see payback delivered.
NHL Discipline Office screwed the Islanders. And Rantanen with another cheap shot the next game.
They will miss Pageau but Ritchie has looked good. I am not a Romanov fan. He often goes for big hit and gets out of position. He will be missed though.
How about trying to move Duclair for a physical D man ? I know his contract is hard to move. But he seems out of place on this team…
Bad. Bright side . Could have been Horvat
Another dirty hit from that cheap shot artist scumbag rantanen. Gil, I can't find video of rantanen's cheap shot spear to Barzal's groin, at the Barclays center, but it did happen. This guy is a scumbag. Always was, always will be. He gave Coronato, of the Flames a cheap shot as well. Shanahan is an even bigger scumbag than rantanen because he doesn't know how to do his job appropriately. He's suppose to protect the players from unacceptable plays and instead he enables it. The Islanders better teach scumbag rantanen a lesson when they meet again at Belmont Park. Last week, it was Romanov. Next time it could be Schaefer or Ritchie, or Barzal. The Islanders need to get their act together and bring in police men to watch over our assets. Ross Johnston never should have been waived/traded. We lose a vital D man in Romanov, for the rest of the season, and both Darche and Shanahan are sitting on their thumbs and rotating. Unacceptable. But then again, I would never describe shanahan as a class act.
Hi Gil—top notch show as always. We played really well and I mean really well. Deceiving score and we earned and deserved those two points. I am shocked we are not physically prepared for Wednesday! Romy and JG—-what’s it gonna take? For 1 game—-1—-bring up Mitchell and Drew—-1game ala the Pens game. 1—-take care Gil
Taking part in the shootout shootout is not a reward for good play. If coach Roy thinks Holmstrom has one of the better moves on the team, run him out there. Frans Neilson is an example. I never cared how good or bad of a game he had, I always wanted him to take one of the first 2 shoots of the shootout. Conversely Adam Pelech could be having the game of his life, I don't want him in the shootout.
What about a steady physical guy ,someone like or a little better then Bortuzzo couple years ago ?
Correct me if I am wrong, but with Romanov of LTIR, will free up cap space to try and find a stud defenseman.
What a gutsy win by the Islanders yesterday! Rittich stood tall with a shutout, Palmieri came through in the shootout, and the whole team showed incredible defensive commitment. Hoping Alexander Romanov heals quickly—we miss his presence on the ice and can’t wait to see him back. LGI
Good 🌄, Gil. How are you? I don't think Matthew Schafer should go represent 🇨🇦 in the Olympics. He's 18 years old, and he's still growing, and he might get hurt. They sent Warren back to Bridgeport. It seems that Rantinen did this again, and I don't think he deserves another slap on the wrist this time. I think that Matheiu Darche should make a deal for a defenseman to fill the void. I don't think it would be a good idea to put Tony D'Angelo as a forward. They should've done that during the preseason. Yes, Casper, YOU'RE PREACHING TO CHOIR. The Islanders need an enforcer, AND THEY KNOW IT. HAPPY 🎂, JEFF NORTON. He scored a PP goal, and had 2 helpers as they put out the 🔥. Hear from you later, Gil, but before I go, I'm going to try to do more Godfather comparisons. Now, LET'S GO ISLANDERS.
Gil, With all the extra cap space with Romanov out who can the Isles target? They need a stay at home tough defensemen.