The Skinny: Columbus 6, Isles 4

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 32

Columbus 6, Isles 4

Josh Bailey recorded his first career hat trick (all assisted by John Tavares) to help the Isles erase a 3-0 deficit, but Seth Jones and Nick Foligno scored 2:49 apart late in the second period as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Isles 6-4 before a crowd of 15,696 at Nationwide Arena..

The Isles pressed for the equalizer after Bailey's hat trick tally had cut the lead to 5-4 but Josh Anderson hit the empty net at 19:59 to seal matters, as the Isles suffered consecutive regulation losses for the first time this season.

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

03:57 Columbus Zach Werenski (10) ASST: Artemi Panarin (20) 0-1

06:23 Columbus Markus Nutivaara (2) ASST: Alexander Wennberg (10), Oliver Bjorkstrand (13) 0-2

15:52 Columbus PPG - Pierre-Luc Dubois (6) ASST: Zach Werenski (8), Artemi Panarin (21) 0-3

2ND PERIOD

05:00 New York Josh Bailey (6) ASST: John Tavares (17) 1-3

07:49 New York Casey Cizikas (5) ASST: Scott Mayfield (6), Calvin de Haan (10) 2-3

13:52 New York Josh Bailey (7) ASST: John Tavares (18), Anders Lee (14) 3-3

15:03 Columbus Seth Jones (4) ASST: Cam Atkinson (4), Oliver Bjorkstrand (14) 3-4

17:52 Columbus Nick Foligno (7) ASST: Oliver Bjorkstrand (15), Alexander Wennberg (11) 3-5

3RD PERIOD

07:11 New York PPG - Josh Bailey (8) ASST: John Tavares (19) 4-5

19:59 Columbus EN - Josh Anderson (12) 4-6

The Skinny  

The Isles allowed the first goal for the 21st  time in 32 games (6-12-3); the Isles have scored the first goal fewer times than any other team in the NHL …Josh Bailey's hat trick goal came on the power play as the Isles connected with the extra man for the second straight game; he is the 11th Islander to record a hat trick in a losing effort.  John Tavares (10-23-10 in Florida) is the only other Islander to do so in the last 21 years… Josh Bailey (8-30-38) retained his one point lead over John Tavares (18-19-37); the linemates have each earned six points on the last seven Islander goals... Both Bailey and Anders Lee now have four-game point streaks while both Bailey and Tavares are now in the top 10 in the NHL in points…Columbus received goals from 3 different defensemen; that's the first time an Islander opponent has done that since March 25, 2016 (Tampa Bay).. Oliver Bjorkstrand had his first three assist/three point game…The Isles used only three lines for most of the third period; Josh Ho-Sang had one shift (1:10) while Alan Quine had none…Mathew Barzal and Jordan Eberle were both -3; however, Eberle drew two penalties and Barzal drew one.  Barzal has now drawn a team-leading 18 opposing penalties; starting play tonight, only Calgary's Matthew Tkachuk (20) had drawn more. Eberle has drawn 12, second on the team…The Isles were outshot 35-25, but the Isles had 42 other attempts that either went wide or were blocked… The score has been 3-0 at some point of each of the last three Islander games…The Isles improved to 20.2% on the power play; the Isles haven't finished a season with a 20% power play efficiency since the 1993-94 season…Including shootout winners, the Isles have scored 114 goals in the first 32 games (most since 1993-94, when they had scored 120)  and allowed 111 goals (tied-highest since 2008-09, when they allowed 119)…The Jackets had never won a game in their history when allowing an opposing hat trick (0-33-0)…The Jackets have scored five 1st period goals in two games against the Isles but only 18 first period goals in their other 30 games this season…The Isles allowed a goal on a delayed penalty for the second straight game and the third time this season…Jack Johnson went +3 in his Blue Jacket game, while Nick Foligno's winner was his 100th goal with Columbus.

Where Have I Heard That Time Before?

Josh Bailey's hat trick was completed at 7:11 of the third period.  As long-time readers know, I tweet a link to The Skinny every morning at exactly 7:11 in honor of Bob Nystrom's Stanley Cup winning goal.  Bailey's goal was the first that the Islanders had scored at 7:11 of any period since January 19, 2010, when Richard Park did so in the third period of a game vs. Pittsburgh.

Leading goal scorers in NHL

1. Alex Ovechkin 22

2. Nikita Kucherov 21

3. Anders Lee 19

4. John Tavares 18

5. Sean Monahan 17

Club 19-18

Anders Lee has 19 goals and John Tavares has 18 goals; no Islander had reached 19 goals before Christmas since 2006 when Jason Blake did so.

Tavares and Lee are the first Islander teammates to score 18 goals before Christmas in 25 years (Derek King and Pierre Turgeon in 1992-93) and are the first teammates since Mike Bossy and Brent Sutter in 1984-85 to have scored 18 goals by December 13th.

Lee needs one goal and Tavares needs two goals to reach 20.  The last Islander to score 20 goals before Christmas was Ziggy Palffy in 1996-97; the only time in club history that Islander teammates had 20 goals before Christmas was in 1977-78, when Mike Bossy (then a rookie) and Bryan Trottier did so.

Hello Old Friends

Josh Bailey has 230 career assists, remaining tied with both Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen for 16th place on the all-time Isles list.

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals eight times at home (7-1-0) and twelve times overall (11-1-0). The Isles have also scored one shootout winner for a five goal of the game (not included above). The Isles scored five goals (including shootout winners) in only 10 games all last season.

First Things First

The Isles have scored first eleven times this season (11-0-0).  It's the first time that the Isles have won at least eleven straight games (single season) that they scored first since December 16, 2010 – February 21, 2011 (11-0-0).

The Isles also won the last 5 games that they scored first last season, giving them a franchise-record 16 straight wins when the Isles score first.  The Isles won 14 straight games when scoring first between January 4 – February 25, 1982, including in 12 games of their 15-game winning streak.

A Favorable Comparison

The Isles are 17-12-3 this season; they were 12-14-6 through 32 games last season and won only 17 of their first 42 games last season (17-17-8).  Their 17th win came in Jack Capuano's final game as Islander head coach. 

Lots of Wins

Jaroslav Halak has 221 career wins; he is tied with Ilya Bryzgalov for 68th place on the all-time NHL win list.   

Greiss, Greiss, Baby

Thomas Greiss is 8-4-2 on the season (8-3-2 in his last 13 decisions). Greiss is 5-2-0 in his last seven decisions and is 6-2-1 in his last 9 decisions.

Fastest to 40

Doug Weight is now 41-23-7 as an NHL coach. On December 4 in Florida, he reached 40 wins faster than any coach in Islander history:

Fewest Games to 40 Wins by an Islander Coach:

66 – Doug Weight (40-20-6)

80– Peter Laviolette 2001-02 (40-28-8-4)

82 – Ted Nolan 2006-07 (40-30-12)

86—Steve Stirling 2003-04 (40-31-11-4)

The Shots

Isles             4-12-9=25

Columbus    16-10-9=35

The Isles are 5-4-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 12-7-1 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 an Islander goal due to an offside so far this season.

Busy December

This was the seventh game of a stretch in which the Isles will play eight games in 13 days.  The Isles are 2-4-1 in this stretch:

12/4 - @ Panthers W 5-4 (SO)

12/5 - @ Lightning L 2-6

12/7 - @ Penguins L 3-4 (OT)

12/9 - @ Bruins L 1-3

12/11- Vs. Caps W 3-1

12/13- Vs. Stars L 2-5

12/14 - @ Blue Jackets L 4-6

12/16- Vs. Kings

The Isles are playing 15 games this month, matching their record for most December games (done several other times).  

Home for the Holidays

This was the third game of a stretch in which the Isles will play seven out of eight games on home-ice.  The Isles are 1-2-0 in this stretch:

12/11- Vs. Caps W 3-1

12/13- Vs. Stars L 2-5

12/14 - @ Blue Jackets L 4-6

12/16- Vs. Kings

12/19 – Vs. Red Wings

12/21 -  Vs. Ducks

12/23 – Vs. Jets (1pm)

12/27 – Vs. Sabres

Home and Road

The Islanders are 17-12-3 overall; 9-2-2 at home and 8-10-1 on the road.  

Columbus is 20-11-1 overall; 12-6-0 at home and 8-5-1 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 5-4-1 in Division games and 12-8-2 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 9-7-1 against the East and 8-5-2 against the West.

Our House

The Isles are 9-2-2 at home; they are 4-1-0 against the East and 5-1-2 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 26-5-5 all-time at Barclays against the West.

Most Points Through 13 Home Games

22- 1984-85

22- 1978-79

21- 1974-75

21- 1977-78

20- 2017-18

20- 2014-15

20- 1982-83

20- 1981-82

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 29 saves but falls to 8-4-2 on the season and 5-6-3 in his career against Columbus.  

Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves as he improved to 17-8-1 overall and 14-5-0 against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 1-4 on the power play in 6:04 of PP time; Columbus was 1-2 in 3:03 of PP time. 

The Isles are 10-6-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 7-6-3 when they do not.  The Isles are 10-8-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 7-4-2 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 16-4-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-8-2 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 5-4-3 in games decided by a single goal including 1-4 in regulation. They are 2-2 in games decided in overtime and are 2-1 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-2 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal 

The Isles are 11-0-0 when they score first and are 6-12-3 when they allow the opening goal. 

Back-to-Backs

Including tonight, the Isles are 4-3-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 3-4-0 on the back-end. 

The next back-to-back set is January 4th in Philadelphia and January 5th vs. Pittsburgh.

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 1-2-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 4-0-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 2-2-0 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 9-8-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (23:35); Columbus: Zach Werenski (24:11)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (3-1-1), Nick Leddy (10-10-1), John Tavares (2-1-0), Calvin deHaan (2-0-0).

John Tavares led the forwards in ice-time (21:01). Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (16-9-3), Josh Bailey (1-0-0), Brock Nelson (0-1-0), Mathew Barzal (0-2-0).

Face-offs

Isles 35, Columbus 31 (53%). 

Casey Cizikas won 13 of 20 for the Isles; Boone Jenner won 15 of 26 for Columbus.

Face-offs by period: 1st period 10/23; 2nd period 13/23; 3rd period 12/20.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 28/55; Power play 6/7; Penalty kill 1/4

Hit Count

Isles 20 (Calvin deHaan-3)

Columbus 21 (David Savard-4)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 3: (Boychuk 1, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 17 shots; Ryan Pulock, Scott Mayfield and Adam Pelech each had 3.

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 67, Columbus 64 (including 52-33 in the Isles favor in the second and third periods)

5-on-5 Isles 55, Columbus 53

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Josh Bailey +12

Columbus: Pierre-Luc Dubois and Josh Anderson +7

Night and Day 

The Isles are 16-12-2 in night games and 1-0-1 in matinees.  The Isles, who went 2-3-1 in matinees last season, will play six matinees this season; the next one is December 23rd vs. Winnipeg (1pm).

Ironmen

Jason Chimera – 220 (including 106 for the Capitals); Jordan Eberle 183 (including 151 for the Oilers), Josh Bailey 181, Calvin deHaan 117, Nick Leddy 109.

Century Club

Calvin deHaan and Nick Leddy have joined a select group of defensemen in Islander history who have played at least 100 consecutive regular season games:

1. Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979 262

2. Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220 (*) (**)

3. Gerry Hart 3/1/1975-11/22/1977 198

4. Andrew MacDonald 12/19/2011- 3/2/2014 164 (**)

5. Janne Niinimaa 3/13/2004-1/7/2006 136 (**)

6. Ken Morrow 3/1/1980-12/29/1981 134 (*)

7. Mark Streit 10/8/2011-4/26/2013 130

8. Calvin deHaan 4/7/2016- CURRENT 117

  . Travis Hamonic 2/24/2012-1/12/2014 117

10. Travis Hamonic 11/24/2010– 2/4/2012 113 (*)

11. Jean Potvin 10/23/1975-1/2/1977 110

12. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 109

13.  Kenny Jonsson 12/26/1996-2/4/1998 104

14. Thomas Hickey 4/26/2013- 11/22/2014 103

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Thomas Hickey-IR), Shane Prince-conditioning, Anthony Beauvillier, Dennis Seidenberg

Total games lost: 75

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored twice in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:

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

12/7 – PIT Penguins – Brock Nelson (18:50); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

7-11

The Isles have used 7 defensemen twice this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ) and are 2-0-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-0-0 when they dress seven natural defensemen.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

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

…

7.  Patrick Flatley 712 *** 8. Brent Sutter 694 *** 9. Josh Bailey 671 *** 10. Derek King 638 *** 11. Billy Harris 623 *** 12. Stefan Persson 622 *** 13. John Tavares 619

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. John Tavares 253

…

22.  Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 25. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 26. Josh Bailey 114 *** 27. Benoit Hogue and Ed Westfall 105 *** 29. Anders Lee 103

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553*** 4. Clark Gillies 359***

5. John Tonelli 338 *** 6. Patrick Flatley 328 *** 7. Brent Sutter 323 *** 8. John Tavares 321

…

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

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052 *** 4. Clark Gillies 663 ***

5. Brent Sutter 610 *** 6. John Tavares 574

…

14. Kyle Okposo & Stefan Persson 369 *** 16. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 17.  Josh Bailey 344

Games Played (Goalies)

1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 142 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 107

Wins (Goalie)

1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130***4. Kelly Hrudey 106 ***

5. Rollie Melanson and. Jaroslav Halak 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 

9. Evgeni Nabokov and Thomas Greiss 57

Season Series Stats

Columbus leads the season series two games to none (and four points to zero). The teams will conclude the season series with games in Brooklyn on February 3rd and February 13th.

The Isles are swept in Ohio for the second straight season; they have been outscored 24-6 in the four games. 

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 12-10-1-1 on the season heading into a 3-game in 3-day weekend as the Sound Tigers visit Springfield on Friday, host Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Saturday and host Lehigh Valley at 3pm on Sunday.

Tanner Fritz continues to lead Bridgeport with 24 points (8-17-25); Bernier and Rookie Scott Eansor lead the team in goals with 10. Christopher Gibson is 8-5-0 in the nets, while Krister Gudlevskis is 4-5-2.  

Up Next

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16th –LOS ANGELES AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 

[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 6:30PM), WNYM 970 AM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, WRCN 103.9FM]

The Isles return home to begin a 5-game home stand as they face the Los Angeles Kings.

It's the second meeting of the season between the squads, and the Isles will be looking for a split of the season series after the Kings beat the Isles 3-2 back on October 15th in Los Angeles. The home team has won all five meetings between the teams over the last three seasons.

While the Isles will be rested, the Kings will be on the back-end of a back-to-back, as they face the Rangers on Friday night.

And Finally …

Congratulations to my son Evan, who was admitted to Vanderbilt University (Class of 2022) today.  I couldn't be prouder of him, or his older brother Adam, who graduates from Cornell this spring!

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