The Skinny: Isles 4, Rangers 3 (shootout)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 7

Isles 4, Rangers 3 (SO)

Matthew Barzal scored his first NHL goal early in the second period to give the Isles a 3-1 lead and following a Ranger comeback, Jordan Eberle and John Tavares added shootout tallies as the Isles defeated the Rangers 4-3 before a sellout crowd of 18,006 at Madison Square Garden. 

Anders Lee had opened the scoring in the first period as the Isles scored on the power play for the first time this season.  The Isles earn a split of the four-game road trip (2-2-0) and regain NHL-.500 (3-3-1).

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD

02:40 Isles PPG - Anders Lee (3) ASST: Ryan Pulock (1), Jordan Eberle (4) 1-0

05:02 Rangers David Desharnais (2) ASST: Kevin Shattenkirk (5), Marc Stael (2) 1-1

06:06 Isles Brock Nelson (4) ASST: Andrew Ladd (3) 2-1

2ND PERIOD

01:15 Isles Mathew Barzal (1) ASST: Calvin de Haan (3), Josh Bailey (2) 3-1

3RD PERIOD

03:29 Rangers Mats Zuccarello (2) ASST: Brendan Smith (1) 3-2

14:06 Rangers Kevin Hayes (2) ASST: Jester Fast (1), Ryan McDonagh (3) 3-3

OT PERIOD

No Scoring

The Shootout

Rangers Goal - Mats Zuccarello

Isles Goal - Jordan Eberle

Rangers Missed - Mika Zibanejad

Isles Goal - John Tavares (Game Deciding Goal)

Rangers Missed - David Desharnais

The Isles improve to 72-57 all-time in shootouts, including 8-1 all-time against the Rangers.  The Isles have won seven straight shootouts against the Rangers since the Blueshirts' only win (March 5, 2007). Only Pittsburgh (73) has more all-time shootout wins than the Isles.

The Skinny:

Ryan Pulock made his season debut and assisted on Anders Lee's power play goal…The Isles scored the first goal for only the 2nd time in the first seven games… Brock Nelson scored for the third time in four games to retake the team lead in goals; he has scored 16 times in 44 career October games…John Tavares was held pointless for the fifth straight game…Since joining the Isles, Jaroslav Halak has beaten the Rangers eight times; this is the most of any goalie vs. the Rangers (Carey Price has seven wins)…Henrik Lundqvist is 1-7-2 in his last 10 decisions against the Isles…The Isles used seven defensemen for the first time this season; the Isles improved to 5-0-0 under Doug Weight when dressing seven defensemen…Weight has won all three games he has coached against the Rangers…The Isles have won four straight against the Rangers (and 8 of 9)…The Isles scored twice in the first 6:06 after tallying only three goals in the first period of the first six games…Lee's power play goal leaves Anaheim as the only NHL team without a power play goal this season…The Rangers have allowed 13 goals in the first period (most in the NHL)…John Tavares improved to 16-55 (29.1%) in shootouts with his 5th career game deciding goal; Tavares has scored a shootout goal in all three Islander shootout wins over the last two seasons. 

Barzal, Barzal… Mathew Barzal

Mathew Barzal became the 5th Islander to score his first regular season goal at Madison Square Garden, joining Ken Leiter, Jason Krog, Nate Thompson and Brian Strait.  Barzal is the 362nd Islander to score a goal; only 300 of them scored a second goal.

Matching Royalty

Anders Lee's goal was his 87th as an Islander, tying Butch Goring for 38th on the team's all-time list. John Tavares played in his 594th Islander game, tying another JT (John Tonelli) for 16th in club history among Isles skaters.

Beating The King

Jaroslav Halak improved to 8-3-0 as an Islander against the Rangers; Jaro is 11-1-0 in his last 12 head-to-head matchups with Henrik Lundqvist with a 1.53 goals against average and a .956 save percentage in those 12 games.

Most Games Without Isles Scoring a Power Play Goal (Start of Season)

• 7 - 1973-74

• 6 - 1977-78

• 6 - 2017-18

The Shots

Isles          13-10-13-2=38

Rangers    12-12-13-4=41

The Isles are 1-1-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even, and 2-2-0 when they are outshot.

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged twice and been successful once.

10/10 vs STL Blues – unsuccessful; Isles killed ensuing power play.

10/12 @ Ana Ducks -- successful

The opponents have not challenged so far this season.

Go West, Young Men

This was the fifth game of a stretch in which the Isles will play 13 of 15 games against Western Conference opponents.  The Isles are 2-2-1 in this stretch; the only Eastern Conference opponents they will face during this stretch are the Rangers (4-3 SO Win) and Capitals (11/2 in DC).

Chasing Bourne

John Tavares is 237-303=540 in his Islander career, leaving him one goal, one assist and two points behind Bob Bourne on the all-time Islander lists.

Career goals as an Islander:

7. Bob Bourne 238

8. John Tavares 237

9. Bobby Nystrom 235

Home and Road

The Islanders are 3-3-1 overall; 1-0-1 at home and 2-3-0 on the road.  

The Rangers are 1-5-2 overall; 1-3-2 at home and 0-2-0 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 1-1-0 in Division games and 2-2-1 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 2-1-0 against the East and 1-2-1 against the West.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 38 saves to improve to 2-2-0 on the season; he is 29-28 all-time in shootouts and is 15-7-0 in his career against Rangers. 

Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves; he is 1-3-2 on this season. Lundqvist is now 56-42 all-time in shootouts and 30-19-7 in his career against the Isles.

 

Power Plays

The Isles were 1-3 on the power play; the Rangers were 0-1.  

The Isles are 1-0-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-3-1 when they do not.  The Isles are 1-2-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 2-1-1 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 3-0-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-3-1 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 1-2-1 in games decided by a single goal including 0-2 in regulation. They are 0-0 in games decided in overtime and are 1-1 in shootouts.  The Isles are 1-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

The Isles were 15-10-12 in one-goal games last season.

First Goal 

The Isles are 2-0-0 when they score first and are 1-3-1 when they allow the opening goal. 

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 1-1-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 1-1-0 on the back-end.  The next back-to-back set is November 10th in Dallas and November 11th in St. Louis.

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 0-1-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 0-0-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 1-0-0 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 2-2-1 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: John Tavares (24:23); Rangers: Kevin Shattenkirk (23:13)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (1-1-1), Nick Leddy (1-1-0), John Tavares (1-1-0)

Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (3-3-1)

Face-offs

Isles 33, Rangers 28 (54%).  

Casey Cizikas won 15 of 22 for the Isles; David Desharnais won 8 of 10 for the Rangers.

Face-offs by period: 1st period 11/21; 2nd period 7/14; 3rd period 11/22; Overtime 4/4.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 29/56; Power play 3/4; Penalty kill 1/1.

Hit Count

Isles 20 (Jason Chimera 4)

Rangers 29 (Jesper Fast and Jimmy Vesey 5) 

Fights

None.  Season total – 1: (Boychuk 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 9 shots; Anders Lee and Brock Nelson led the Isles with 2.

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 61, Rangers 63 

5-on-5 Isles 48, Rangers 56

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Calvin de Haan +16

Rangers Brady Skjei and Jimmy Hayes +7

Day and Night

The Isles are 3-3-0 in night games and 0-0-1 in matinees.  The Isles, who went 2-3-1 in matinees last season, will play six matinees this season.

Ironmen

Jason Chimera – 195 (including 106 for the Capitals); Jordan Eberle 158 (including 151 for the Oilers), Josh Bailey 156, Calvin deHaan 92 

Scratches

(Alan Quine-IR, Shane Prince-IR), Anthony Beauvillier, Dennis Seidenberg, Nikolay Kulemin

Total games lost: 17

Late Hero

The Isles have scored once in the final minute of regulation to either tie or win a game:

10/9 – STL Blues – Anders Lee (19:00); tied game, but Isles lost in shootout

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900

….

8. Brent Sutter 694 *** 9. Josh Bailey 646

…

13. Frans Nielsen 606…14. Kenny Jonsson 597… 15. Garry Howatt 596 *** 16. John Tonelli and John Tavares 594

Goals

1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 *** 4. Clark Gillies 304***

5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. Bob Bourne 238 *** 8. John Tavares 237

…

22.  Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 25. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 26. Josh Bailey 109

…

36. Travis Green 92 *** 37. Michael Grabner 90 *** 38. Butch Goring and Anders Lee 87

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 

…

7. Brent Sutter 323 *** 8. Stefan Persson 317 *** 9. Bob Bourne 304 *** 10. John Tavares 303

…

15. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 16. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 ***18. Josh Bailey 201

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052

…

6. Pat LaFontaine 566 *** 7. John Tonelli 544 *** 8. Bob Bourne 542 *** 9.  John Tavares 540

…

17. Pierre Turgeon 340 *** 18. Tomas Jonsson 333 *** 19. Ziggy Palffy 331 *** 20. Josh Bailey 310

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series one game to none (and 2 points to 1).  The teams will next meet on January 13 at the Garden before the series moves to Brooklyn on February 15th and April 5th.

The Isles are 8-1-0 in their last nine games against the Rangers; it's the first time that they have won 8 of 9 in regular season play from the Rangers.  The Isles also improve to 9-2-0 in their last 11 games at Madison Square Garden.  That streak began with the Isles' last shootout win over the Rangers (February 14, 2013, also by a 4-3 score).

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 1-2-0 heading into Friday's game at Lehigh Valley.  The Sound Tigers will host Laval in their home opener on Saturday night. 

Up Next

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21st — SAN JOSE AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 

[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 6:30PM), WFAN 660/101.9FM (*), 88.7 WRHU-FM]

*Isles will air on WCBS 880AM if Yankees are playing

The Isles begin a two game homestand as they host the San Jose Sharks.  It will be the second (and final) meeting of the season between the teams.  

The Isles defeated the Sharks 3-1 in San Jose and will be looking to sweep the season series for the second time in three seasons.  The Sharks will play New Jersey on Friday before facing the Isles on Saturday.

Meetings between these teams tend to produce a limited number of power plays.  The Isles have had no more than three power plays in the last eight games and have been shorthanded only ten times in that span.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources.  Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog www.nyiskinny.com.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick