The New York Islanders are set to continue their seven-game road trip with a game against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday afternoon. The matchup follows the Islanders’ recent 1-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers, where Anthony Duclair scored the only goal during a power play and Ilya Sorokin made 35 saves for his fifth shutout of the season.
David Rittich will start as goaltender for the Islanders against his former team, the Flames. Rittich began his NHL career in Calgary and played there for five years. This season, he has recorded an 11-5-3 record with a 2.40 goals-against average (GAA), a .910 save percentage (SV%), and two shutouts. Against Pacific Division opponents, Rittich is undefeated with three wins, a 1.30 GAA, a .953 SV%, and one shutout.
Mathew Barzal recently achieved his 500th career point after assisting on Duclair’s goal against Edmonton. “A lot of credit to my teammates,” Barzal said. “[I’ve been] more so a passer my entire career, so a lot of credit to my teammates for putting the puck in the back of the net.” With this milestone, Barzal surpassed Derek King for 14th most points in Islanders history and is currently fourth among active players on the team.
Duclair has shown strong performance in January, scoring goals in consecutive games for the first time since March 2024 and leading the Islanders with five goals this month.
Saturday’s contest marks the first of two meetings between New York and Calgary this season. In their last two road games against Calgary over previous seasons, both were decided by shootouts with New York holding a record of one win and one overtime loss.
The Flames enter Saturday’s game following a 3-1 win over Chicago Blackhawks but have struggled overall recently, winning just two out of their last seven games. After starting their season at last place in their division with only five wins in twenty games, they have improved but remain seventh in their division standings.
Calgary will be without Blake Coleman due to injury; he was placed on injured reserve after being hurt during a loss to Boston Bruins earlier this month.
The second meeting between these teams is scheduled for March 14 at UBS Arena.
