The thing about hockey, though, is that one player, even a generational player, doesn’t get to dictate everything.

Drouin set career highs with 37 assists and 56 points in 2023-24 with the Avalanche and had a career-high 21 goals along with 32 assists for the Lightning in 2016-17. He had 11 goals and 26 assists in 43 games for the Avalanche last season in an injury-marred campaign.

Staring down at Schaefer from the record books is one of the greatest defenders in NHL history. Phil Housley was the sixth-overall pick in 1982, and it started a career that spanned 1,495 games and 1,232 points. Schaefer

Anthony Duclair scored a hat trick to lead the Islanders to a 9-0 beatdown over the Devils, tying their largest margin of victory in franchise history.

Markstrom allowed goals on the first two shots he faced — from Mathew Barzal and Duclair — and three on five, finishing with nine on 24.

The Islanders, who currently sit second in the Metropolitan Division at 24–15–4, appear poised to return to the NHL playoffs for the first time since the 2022–23 season and are increasingly looking like the class of the tri-state area, with both the Devils and Rangers remaining out of the playoff hunt.

The New York Islanders dropped a game, 4-2, to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, but the final score was overshadowed by Mathew Barzal’s retaliatory incident with Mason Marchment. Midway through the second period, Blue Jackets forward Marchment delivered a knee-on-knee hit to Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer.

Welcome to the NHL On Tap. Three NHL.com writers will share what they are most looking forward to on the schedule each day. Today, their choices from the six games on Saturday.