Detroit City Wire

The Detroit Red Wings will face the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Thursday night, wrapping up their first back-to-back series of the 2025-26 NHL season. The Red Wings, currently holding a 5-2-0 record with 10 points, are coming off a 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres and aim to move past that defeat.

Broadcast coverage for Thursday’s game, scheduled for a 7 p.m. start, will be available on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit).

“We need a response [on Thursday],” said J.T. Compher, who scored his first goal of the season in Buffalo. “I believe this group will be ready to go in New York.”

Compher addressed the team’s performance in Buffalo, particularly regarding penalties taken early in the game: “It’s no excuse, but it’s something that happens,” he said. “Once you get everyone out there, after maybe five to six minutes of the game, you should be able to settle in. I don’t think we did that quick enough in the first.”

Head coach Todd McLellan also discussed how early penalties affected team rhythm and player fatigue: “That whole sequence affects how some guys feel, as far as fatigue goes already,” McLellan said. “And then how others feel, like guys are skating around during TV timeouts and stretching on the bench. They’re anxious. They’ve been in the proverbial starting blocks for six, seven minutes. It throws the whole rhythm off. We didn’t recover well. We finally got it going in the second, but by then it’s 2-2 and we take another three penalties. Certainly hurt us.”

Despite penalty trouble against Buffalo—where they finished 4-for-5 on penalty kills—the Red Wings have successfully killed off 16 of 18 penalties so far this season for an 88.9 percent success rate.

The Islanders enter Thursday’s contest after securing their third consecutive win with a victory over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night. Rookie Matthew Schaefer—selected first overall in this year’s NHL Entry Draft—scored the deciding goal against San Jose and shares his team’s points lead with Bo Horvat at seven each.

“We just need to forget about [Wednesday’s game] and focus on [Thursday’s game],” Finnie said. “We’re going to have to be ready for [the Islanders].”