The Skinny: Boston 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 47

Boston 5, Isles 2

Patrice Bergeron scored three goals for his second hat trick this month as the Boston Bruins overcame an early Jordan Eberle goal to defeat the Isles 5-2 before a crowd of 11,803 at Barclays Center.

The win stretches the Bruins' point streak to fifteen games (11-0-4); the B's also improve to 5-0-0 all-time in Brooklyn as they sweep the season series from the Islanders.

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

07:35 New York Jordan Eberle (15) ASST: Mathew Barzal (32) 1-0

13:41 Boston Patrice Bergeron (17) ASST: Brad Marchand (25), David Pastrnak (23) 1-1

2ND PERIOD

09:47 Boston Ryan Spooner (7) ASST: David Krejci (14) 1-2

13:49 Boston PPG - Patrice Bergeron (18) ASST: Torey Krug (18), Ryan Spooner (10) 1-3

3RD PERIOD

03:45 Boston Patrice Bergeron (19) ASST: Brad Marchand (26), Charlie McAvoy (20) 1-4

14:24 New York John Tavares (25) ASST: Josh Bailey (39) 2-4

18:59 Boston EN - Brad Marchand (20) ASST: David Krejci (15), Riley Nash (15) 2-5

The Skinny 

The Isles scored the opening goal for the fifth straight game …The Isles are 8-13-2 in their last 23 games … It was only the third time in 19 games (16-3-0) this season that the Isles have lost when scoring first…Mathew Barzal assisted on Jordan Eberle's opening goal; Barzal has assisted on 10 of the 15 goals Eberle has scored this season and 9 of the 10 assists have been primary assists; Eberle has now scored at least 15 goals in all eight of his NHL seasons…. Including shootout winners, the Isles have scored 161 goals in the first 47 games (first time since 1992-93 when they had 186) and allowed 173 goals (highest since 1995-96, when they allowed 179) … The Isles have allowed a power play goal in four straight games…Patrice Bergeron's hat trick was the first by a Bruin against the Isles since Phil Kessel had a hat trick in the 2008-09 season finale…With their defeat, the Isles fell one point behind last season's pace through 47 games (51 last year, 50 this year) … Torey Krug's assist on Patrice Bergeron's second goal was his 200th NHL point…All-Star Josh Bailey returned to the lineup as assisted on John Tavares' goal.  It was Bailey's team-leading 39th assist (19 of which are primary, tops on the team).

 

NHL Leading Goal Scorers

1. Alex Ovechkin 28

2. Nikita Kucherov 27

3. Anders Lee 26

4. Sean Couturier 26

5. John Tavares 25

A Very Helping Hand

Mathew Barzal continues to lead all rookies with 32 assists.  

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie, Post-Cup Era 

Rk Player A Season

1 Bryan Berard 40 1996-97

2 Vladimir Malakhov 38 1992-93

3 Pat LaFontaine 35 1984-85

4 David Volek 34 1988-89

5 MATHEW BARZAL 32 2017-18 

Most Seasons With 30+ Assists (Isles)

1. Denis Potvin 15

2. Bryan Trottier 13

3. Mike Bossy 10

4. JOHN TAVARES 8

       John Tonelli 8

Most Seasons with 25+ Goals (Isles)

• Bryan Trottier 12 

• Mike Bossy 10 (consecutive)

• John Tavares 7

• Clark Gillies 7

One and Done

The Isles are 14-0-0 this season when leading after one period.  Dating back to last season the Isles have won 18 straight games and are 21-0-1 in their last 22 games when leading after twenty minutes.

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals nine times at home (8-1-0) and fifteen times overall (14-1-0). The Isles have also scored two shootout winners for a fifth goal of the game (not included above). The Isles scored five goals (including shootout winners) in only 10 games all last season.

Five's Trouble

The Isles have allowed at least five goals six times at home (0-5-1) and thirteen times overall (0-12-1).  They have allowed at least five goals in five of their seven regulation losses at home.

First Things First

The Isles have scored first 19 times this season (16-3-0). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season and had won a franchise-record 16 straight dating back to last season.

First Goal 

The Isles are 16-3-0 when they score first and are 7-17-4 when they allow the opening goal. 

This Year vs. Last Year

The Isles are 23-20-4 (50 points) this season; they were 21-17-9 (51 points) through 47 games last season.

Lots of Wins

Jaroslav Halak has 225 career wins, tying Ken Wregget for 67th place on the all-time NHL win list.   

Greiss, Greiss, Baby

Thomas Greiss is 10-6-2 on the season, including 7-4-0 in his last 11 decisions.

Fastest to 45

Doug Weight is now 47-32-8 as an NHL coach. On January 7th vs. the Devils, he reached 45 wins faster than any coach in Islander history:

Fewest Games to 45 Wins by an Islander Coach:

83 – Doug Weight (45-30-8)

89– Peter Laviolette 2001-02 & 2002-03(45-31-9-4)

91 – Ted Nolan 2006-07 & 2007-08 (45-34-12)

95- Terry Simpson 1986-87 & 1987-88 (45-37-13)

97—Steve Stirling 2003-04 & 2005-06 (45-37-11-4)

The Shots

Isles     10-9-5=24

Boston 7-11-16=34

The Isles are 6-6-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 17-13-2 when they are outshot.

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged three times and been successful twice.

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

10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful

1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 

The opponents have not yet challenged an Islander goal due to an offside this season.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 23-20-4 overall; 13-7-3 at home and 10-13-1 on the road.  

Boston is 26-10-8 overall; 15-5-4 at home and 11-5-4 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 7-7-1 in Division games and 16-13-3 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 13-13-1 against the East and 10-7-3 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 13-7-3 at home; they are 6-6-0 against the East and 7-1-3 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 28-5-6 all-time at Barclays against the West.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves but falls to 13-14-2 on the season and 8-9-0 in his career against Boston. 

Anton Khudobin made 23 saves to improve to 10-2-4 on the season. He is 3-4-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play in 4:00 of PP time; Boston was 1-1 in 0:15 of PP time.

The Isles are 13-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 10-12-3 when they do not.  The Isles are 13-15-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 10-5-2 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 22-6-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-14-2 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 9-4-4 in games decided by a single goal including 1-4 in regulation. They are 5-3 in games decided in overtime and are 3-1 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-3 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs

Including tonight, the Isles are 5-4-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 3-6-0 on the back-end. The next back-to-back set is January 30th vs Florida and January 31st in Toronto.

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 1-3-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 5-1-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 2-3-0 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 14-13-4 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (23:27); Boston: Zdeno Chara (25:32)

Josh Bailey led the forwards in ice-time (21:46). 

Face-offs

Isles 29, Boston 28 (51%) 

Brock Nelson won 6 of 10 for the Islanders; Patrice Bergeron won 12 of 18 for Boston.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 10/19; 2nd period 8/18; 3rd period 11/20.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 27/52, Power play 2/4, Penalty kill 0/1.

Hit Count

Isles 19 (Cal Clutterbuck 4, Scott Mayfield 4)

Boston 26 (Four players with 3)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 8: (Boychuk 1, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 11 shots (Adam Pelech -3).

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 44, Boston 58.

5-on-5 Isles 36, Boston 53.

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Jordan Eberle +3

Boston: Jake DeBrusk +11

Night and Day 

The Isles are 19-20-3 in night games and 4-0-1 in matinees.  The Isles, who went 2-3-1 in matinees last season have only one matinee remaining this season: February 19th vs Minnesota (1pm).

Ironmen

Overall: Jason Chimera 235 (including 106 for the Capitals), Jordan Eberle 198 (including 151 for the Oilers: 

As Isles: Jason Chimera 129, Nick Leddy 124.

Century Club

Nick Leddy is only the 8th defenseman in Islander history to have played at least 120 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.  Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 124

9. Calvin deHaan 4/7/2016- 12/16/2017 118

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

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

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

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), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Johnny Boychuk -IR), (Andrew Ladd-IR), (Casey Cizikas – Injured), Dennis Seidenberg, Alan Quine

Total games lost: 135

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored three times 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

12/27- BUF Sabres – Josh Bailey (18:51); tied game, and Isles won in overtime

Late Goals Allowed

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

12/16 – LA Kings – Anze Kopitar (19:47); tied game, but Isles won in overtime

12/21—Ana Ducks – Rickard Rakell (18:45); tied game and Ducks won in overtime

7-11

The Isles have used 7 defensemen three times this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ, 1/16 vs. NJ) and are 2-1-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-1-0 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 682 *** 10. Derek King 638 *** 11. John Tavares 634

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 260

…

20. Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 *** 22. Josh Bailey, Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 26. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 27. Anders Lee 109

Assists

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

5. John Tonelli 338 *** 6. John Tavares 332

…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 16. Josh Bailey 239

Points

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

5. Brent Sutter 610 *** 6. John Tavares 592

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Kyle Okposo & Stefan Persson 369 *** 16. Josh Bailey 357

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 153 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 112

Wins (Goalie)

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

5. Jaroslav Halak 81 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 

9. Thomas Greiss 59

Season Series Stats

Boston sweeps the season series three games to none (and six points to zero).  

The Bruins improve to 5-0-0 all-time at Barclays Center.  They remain the only Eastern Conference team the Isles have not beaten in Brooklyn.

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 18-15-4-2 on the season following a 4-3 loss in Charlotte on Wednesday. The Sound Tigers allowed three third period goals after building a 3-1 lead in a game that was closed to the public due to poor road conditions.

Tanner Fritz (on recall to the Isles) leads Bridgeport with 37 points (10-27-37); Rookie Scott Eansor leads the team in goals with 14. Christopher Gibson is 14-8-2 in the nets with 2 shutouts.

The Sound Tigers return home to host Providence on Saturday and Toronto on Sunday.  

Up Next

SATURDAY, JANUARY 20th – ISLANDERS AT CHICAGO 8:30PM 

[MSG+ (Islander pre-game at 8:00PM), WFAN 660AM/101.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM]

The Isles begin a three-game road trip that will take them in to the All-Star break as they visit the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center.

It's the first meeting of the season between the teams, who will meet in Brooklyn on March 24th. The Blackhawks have swept the season series each of the last two seasons (with the Isles earning one point in each season) and have won five straight over the Islanders overall.

The last Islander win over the Hawks was a 3-2 victory on December 13, 2014 at Nassau Coliseum; the Isles are 0-4-2 in six trips to Chicago since Peter Mannino beat the Hawks 4-2 on March 15, 2009 for his only NHL win.

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