Hockey Is Back! | Islanders vs. Maple Leafs Takeaways

<p>Welcome back to the Isles Den Podcast. Hockey is officially back! <br /><br />Today Jack shared all of his takeaways from the New York Islanders season opener against the Toronto Maple Leafs, a game where the Isles came up just short on the scoreboard but left plenty of reasons to be impressed. We kicked things off with a reaction to Pierre LeBrun's new article on Mathieu Darche before getting into the on-ice takeaways. <br /><br />Cal Ritchie and Victor Eklund both looked good in their first game action of the season, Emil Heineman buried an excellent goal, and Jack made his case for why Simon Holmstrom deserves an extended run on the first line. It's one game out of 82, and if the Islanders bring this level of play every night, the results will come. <br /><br />The live postgame shows are back for the season and streaming on TikTok, so make sure you're following along after every Islanders game.</p><p>Enjoy!</p><p>Chapters</p><ul><li>00:00 Intro</li><li>0:44 Mathieu Darche Pierre LeBrun article reaction</li><li>09:47 NYI vs. TOR Postgame: Cal Ritchie, Victor Eklund, Emil Heineman, Matthew Schaefer impress!</li><li>17:15 Breaking Down Simon Holmstrom's Role</li><li>19:15: Islanders Ownership Sells 15%<br /><br /><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7646615/2026/09/30/islanders-kirill-marchenko-mathieu-darche/?unlocked_article_code=1.FFE.O-It.ZnvQoTBchq-u&amp;source=emp_shared_article&amp;smid=ta-ios-share" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Pierre LeBrun/Mathieu Darche Article</a></li></ul>