New York Islanders Matthew Schaefer (48) scores against the San Jose Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov (30) in the second period at UBS Arena in Elmont Tue Oct 21, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Jessica Kwong

ELMONT, NY. — The San Jose Sharks (0-4-2) played their best game yet of the season but fell 4-3 to the New York Islanders (3-3-0) at UBS Arena on Tuesday night and remain at a zero-win record.

San Jose had a promising start, with right wing Collin Graf making a shorthanded goal assisted by center Ty Dellandrea 8:29 into the first period, putting them up 1-0. Graf stood at the blue line and executed on getting it off as quickly as possible.

But that good start was short-lived, as Islanders center Bo Horvat less than a minute later made a power play goal assisted by center Mathew Barzal and defenseman Matthew Schaefer to tie the game. Then center Casey Cizikas scored an unassisted goal at 10:30 to put the Islanders up 2-1.

Graf called it “like the worst thing ever, basically”, to fall to the Islanders.

“I mean, it sucks especially when you play, like I thought we played well especially in a good road game and to you know, play really well at the start of the period and still be down is sort of frustrating,” he said.

“But I think as a group we still battled through the second and third period and we just came up a little bit short.”

At 14:16 into the first period, Sharks right wing Adam Gaudette scored, assisted by center Michael Misa and Graf to tie the game at 2-2. Misa, the second-overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, said it was a “good play” for Graf to find him in the middle of the pass and that he saw Guadette coming down and hit it over.

“It sucks, you know, we’re still trying to find out first win, it’s frustrating,” said Misa.

“I think we play well overall, we tried to play back there in the end, but you know, we’re just going to keep pushing.”

The Islanders came out on top at the end of the period as left wing Emil Heineman made a power play goal assisted by left wing Anders Lee and right wing Max Shabanov at 19:30.

In the second period, Schaefer scored assisted by left wing Anthony Duclair and center Kyle Palmieri at 6:38 to put the Islanders up 4-2. That set off “Matthew Schaefer” chants for the 18-year-old No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

Sharks center Macklin Celebrini scored at 10:16 into the third period, assisted by defensemen Dmitry Orlov and Mario Ferraro, cutting the Islanders’ lead to 4-3. But the Sharks offense faltered after that.

Despite the team’s 0-4-2 record, Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky had a positive outlook for the next game.

“Today was probably I think, our most complete game, even probably better than Vegas in a sense. We had some really good looks in the offensive zone. It’s going to start going in, it’s going to start turning. We’re going to stick together,” said Warsofsky.

“I told the group after, stick together, and just keep getting better and get a little bit better tomorrow and be ready to get our first win at MSG.”

The Sharks continue their four-game road trip facing the New York Rangers (3-4-1) at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. The puck drops at 4 p.m. PT.