The Skinny: Montreal 3, Isles 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 64

Montreal 3, Isles 1

Jonathan Drouin's power play goal (the first allowed by the Isles in six games) broke a 1-1 tie and the Canadiens overcame an early Mathew Barzal goal to defeat the Islanders 3-1 before a sellout crowd of 21,302 at Bell Center.

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

03:50 New York Mathew Barzal (18) ASST: Jordan Eberle (24), Thomas Hickey (14) 1-0

11:02 Montreal Paul Byron (15) ASST: Artturi Lehkonen (7), Jonathan Drouin (22) 1-1

2ND PERIOD

08:29 Montreal PPG - Jonathan Drouin (10) ASST: Jeff Petry (21), Alex Galchenyuk (23) 1-2

13:37 Montreal         Nikita Scherbak (2) ASST: Brendan Gallagher (16), Jacob De La Rose (4) 1-3

3RD PERIOD

No Scoring

The Skinny  

Isles are 14-21-5 in their last 40 games … Including shootout winners, the Isles have scored 208 goals in the first 64 games (highest since 1993-94 when they had 217) and allowed 228 goals (highest since 1995-96, when they also allowed 250) … The Isles finish February with a 4-6-2 record … The Isles remain four points behind Columbus for the final playoff spot; the Isles have also played one additional game… The Isles allowed a power play goal for the first time in six games … The Isles are 0-3-1 in their last four games… Mathew Barzal now has an NHL-leading 25 points vs. Original Six teams... Anders Lee played his 100th consecutive game; Brandon Davidson and Chris Wagner made their Isles debuts. ..Jordan Eberle earned his 7th assist on a Mathew Barzal goal; Barzal has assisted on 17 of Eberle's 22 goals…Barzal extended his point lead to three points over John Tavares as he finished February with 16 points (2-14-16); Tampa Bay's Yanni Gourde shared the rookie scoring lead with Barzal for the month (5-11-16)…The Isles have been outscored 83-67 in the 2nd period…Karl Alzner played in his 603rd consecutive game (4th longest active streak and 12th longest in NHL history)…Montreal finished their homestand 2-0-2 and the Habs have earned points in five straight games (2-0-3)…Jaroslav Halak's 21 regulation losses are the most in his career and the most for an Islander since Joey MacDonald lost 26 in 2008-09…The Isles finished with a season-high 82 attempts; the last time the Isles had that many attempts in a road game that ended in regulation was in an October 13, 2005 win in Washington with Garth Snow in net.

 

Lots of Rubber for Jaro

Since December 1st, Jaroslav Halak has faced 1,138 shots.  This is 78 more than any other goaltender in that span (Frederik Andersen has faced 1,060).   Halak has faced 1,512 shots this season (6th in NHL); each goalie who has faced more shots have played in at least seven more games than Halak.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with 49 assists in 64 games, he is on pace for a rookie franchise record-tying 63 assists: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. Stefan Persson 50 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 49 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 67 2017-18 

Over the last 10 seasons, no rookie has more assists than Barzal. (Nicklas Backstrom had 55 assists and Patrick Kane had 51 assists in 2007-08.)

Denis Potvin is the only rookie to ever lead the Isles in assists; Billy Harris, Potvin, Trent Hunter (tied) and John Tavares are the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in point.

Countdown to 50

Mathew Barzal has 49 assists and Josh Bailey has 47. No Islander has had 50 assists since John Tavares reached the mark in 2011-12; Pierre Turgeon is the only Islander to exceed 50 assists in the last 28 seasons (74 in 1992-93 and 56 in 1993-94).

Three's Company

Mathew Barzal has eight games of at least three points this season (five games with three points and three games with five points). Since 1993-94, only Sidney Crosby (11 times), Artemi Pararin (10 times) and Alex Ovechkin (8 times) have done so as often in their rookie seasons.

One and Done

The Isles are 16-2-2 this season when leading after one period.  

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals ten times at home (9-1-0) and seventeen times overall (16-1-0). 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 nine times at home (1-6-2) and seventeen times overall (1-14-2).  

First Things First

The Isles have scored first 28 times this season (19-7-2). 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 19-7-2 when they score first and are 10-21-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

This Year vs. Last Year

The Isles are 29-28-7 (65 points) this season; they were 30-23-11 (71 points) through 64 games last season.  

Catching Chico

By defeating the Isles tonight, it was Antti Niemi, not Jaroslav Halak, who tied Chico Resch for 61st on the all-time win list with 231 career wins; Jaro is tied with Corey Crawford, Gerry Cheevers and Martin Biron for 63nd on the all-time NHL win list with 230 NHL wins.

Fastest to 50

Doug Weight is now 53-40-11 as an NHL coach. On February 3rd vs. the Blue Jackets, he reached 50 wins faster than any coach in Islander history:

Fewest Games to 50 Wins by an Islander Coach:

93 – Doug Weight (50-34-9)

98 – Ted Nolan 2006-07 & 2007-08 (50-36-12)

102- Terry Simpson 1986-87 & 1987-88 (50-39-13)

103– Peter Laviolette 2001-02 & 2002-03(50-39-10-4)

106—Steve Stirling 2003-04 & 2005-06 (50-40-11-5)

The Shots

Isles       11-9-8=28

Montreal 11-10-5=26

The Isles are 7-10-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 22-17-3 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.

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

• 10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful

• 1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 

• 2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

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

Home and Road

The Islanders are 29-28-7 overall; 16-11-4 at home and 13-17-2 on the road.  

Montreal is 24-29-10 overall; 16-10-8 at home and 8-19-2 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 10-9-1 in Division games and 19-19-6 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 17-19-2 against the East and 12-9-5 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 16-11-4 at home; they are 9-8-0 against the East and 7-3-4 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 28-7-7 all-time at Barclays against the West.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 23 saves but falls to 18-21-5 on the season and 4-3-0 in his career against Montreal. 

Antti Niemi made 27 saves to improve to 4-6-2 on the season and 3-1-1 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play in 4:00 of PP time; Montreal was 1-2 on the power play in 3:32 of PP time.

The Isles are 17-10-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-18-5 when they do not.  The Isles are 16-19-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 13-9-5 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 27-8-4 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-20-3 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 12-7-7 in games decided by a single goal including 3-7 in regulation. They are 6-5 in games decided in overtime and are 3-2 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

The Isles are 6-6-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-7-0 on the back-end. The Isles will play four sets of back-to-backs in March, beginning March 2nd vs. Montreal and March 3rd in Pittsburgh. 

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 2-3-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 6-1-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 3-4-0 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 17-20-7 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (21:39); Montreal: Mike Reilly (22:56)

Josh Bailey led Isles forwards in ice-time (18:39) 

Face-offs

Isles 17, Montreal 23 (43%).

John Tavares won 8 of 15 for the Isles; Philip Danault won 8 of 11 for Montreal.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 5/13; 2nd period 6/17; 3rd period 6/10.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 12/33, Power play 3/4, Penalty kill 2/3.

Hit Count

Isles 39 (Cal Clutterbuck -7)

Montreal 17 (Mike Reilly-4)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 11: (Boychuk 2, Johnston 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 16 shots (Five players had 2)

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 82, Montreal 50 (Including 32-9 in the Isles' favor in the third period).

5-on-5 Isles 62, Montreal 40.

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Adam Pelech +14

Montreal: All 18 players had "-" Corsi

Night and Day 

The Isles are 25-27-6 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.  All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen

Overall: Jordan Eberle 216 (including 152 for the Oilers), Nick Leddy 141, Anders Lee 100, Chris Wagner 78 (including 77 for the Ducks) 

As Isles: Leddy 141, Lee 100, Brock Nelson 77, Eberle/Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 64.

Top 5 Club

Nick Leddy now hold the fifth longest consecutive game streak in Islander history for a defenseman: 

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. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 141

(*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Scott Mayfield - IR), (Thomas Greiss-IR), (Alan Quine-IR), Sebastian Aho, Ross Johnston, Dennis Seidenberg, Brandon Davidson

Total games lost: 216

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored four times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:

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

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime.

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal five times 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

2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime.

2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game

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. Josh Bailey 699*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 651

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 265

…

18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Duane Sutter and Josh Bailey 121 *** 21 Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 *** 23. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 26. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 27. Anders Lee 114

Assists

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

5. John Tonelli 338 *** 6. John Tavares 336

…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 16. Josh Bailey 247

Points

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

5. Brent Sutter 610 *** 6. John Tavares 601

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Kyle Okposo & Stefan Persson 369 *** 16. Josh Bailey 367

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 168 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 115

Wins (Goalie)

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

5. Jaroslav Halak 86 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 

9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats

The season series is even one game to one (Montreal has earned three points to the Isles' two). The season series will conclude in Brooklyn on Friday.

The loss snaps a three-game Islander winning streak vs. Montreal; they have not won four straight vs. the Canadiens since 1993-94.

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 26-22-5-3 after beating Charlotte 1-0 at home on Sunday and winning 2-1 in overtime in Rochester on Wednesday. Kristers Gudlevskis won both games, including a 39 save shutout on Sunday. Joshua Ho-Sang set-up Travis St. Denis for the overtime winner on Wednesday.  

Tanner Fritz (on recall to the Isles) leads Bridgeport with 37 points (10-27-37); Rookie Scott Eansor leads the team in goals with 16. Christopher Gibson (also on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

The Sound Tigers now head to Canada for games in Laval (QC) on Friday and Belleville (ONT) on Saturday. 

Up Next

FRIDAY, MARCH 2nd –MONTREAL AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 

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

The Isles play their only home game in an eight-game stretch as they play the back-end of this home-and-home series with Montreal.  This is the third home-and-home series between the teams in the last eight seasons; Montreal swept each of the prior two series.

The Isles beat Montreal last January 26th at Barclays Center; that win ended a six-game Islander home losing streak (0-5-1) against the Habs.

Note that game will be telecast on MSG (and not on the team's regular TV home, MSG+).

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 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

The Skinny: New Jersey 2, Isles 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 63

New Jersey 2, Isles 1

Long Island native Kyle Palmieri scored twice in a 4:36 span of the third period and Long Island's Keith Kinkaid made 30 saves as the New Jersey Devils rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 16,514 at Prudential Center.

The Devils, who before the game retired the jersey of Patrik Elias, improved to 7-19-2 in games they trailed after 40 minutes while the Isles fell to 2-2-2 this month in games they led in the second intermission.

Jordan Eberle scored for the second straight game; it was his 4th goal in the last eight games. Anthony Beauvillier and Mathew Barzal assisted on the goal as Barzal extended his club lead in both assists (49, to Josh Bailey's 47) and points (66, to John Tavares' 64).

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

No Scoring

2ND PERIOD

03:55 New York Jordan Eberle (22) ASST: Anthony Beauvillier (10), Mathew Barzal (49) 1-0

3RD PERIOD

06:35 New Jersey Kyle Palmieri (15) ASST: Taylor Hall (39), Nico Hischier (28) 1-1

11:11 New Jersey Kyle Palmieri (16) ASST: Sami Vatanen (21), Taylor Hall (40) 1-2

The Skinny  

Isles are 14-20-5 in their last 39 games … Including shootout winners, the Isles have scored 207 goals in the first 63 games (highest since 1993-94 when they had 213) and allowed 225 goals (highest since 1995-96, when they also allowed 247) … The Isles are 4-5-2 in February, including 2-2-2 in the six games that they had led after two periods.… Mathew Barzal has earned 17 assists on Jordan Eberle's 22nd goals … The Isles fall two points behind Columbus for the final playoff spot; the Isles have also played one additional game…Kyle Palmieri now has three goals against the Isles this season…The Isles did not allow a power play goal for the fifth straight game; it's the club's longest streak since they did so to end last season…The Devils have now retired five jerseys and are 5-0-0 in those five games…Taylor Hall was credited with two assists; he now has points in 14 straight games, and in the last 21 games that he played.  He is the first Devil since Ilya Kovalchuk (2010-11) to record a 14-game point streak and is one shy of the team record shared by Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta…Michael Grabner made his Devils debut; he is the 11th player to appear for all three New York-area teams…The Isles are 0-2-1 in their last three games.

 

Lots of Rubber for Jaro

Since December 1st, Jaroslav Halak has faced 1,112 shots.  This is 94 more than any other goaltender in that span (Frederik Andersen has faced 1,018).   Halak has faced 1,486 shots this season (6th in NHL); each goalie who has faced more shots have played in at least seven more games than Halak.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with 49 assists in 63 games, he is on pace for a rookie franchise record 64 assists: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. Stefan Persson 50 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 49 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 66 2017-18 

Over the last 10 seasons, no rookie has more assists than Barzal. (Nicklas Backstrom had 55 assists and Patrick Kane had 51 assists in 2007-08.)

Denis Potvin is the only rookie to ever lead the Isles in assists; Billy Harris, Potvin, Trent Hunter (tied) and John Tavares are the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in point.

Countdown to 50

Mathew Barzal has 49 assists and Josh Bailey has 47. No Islander has had 50 assists since John Tavares reached the mark in 2011-12; Pierre Turgeon is the only Islander to exceed 50 assists in the last 28 seasons (74 in 1992-93 and 56 in 1993-94).

Three's Company

Mathew Barzal has eight games of at least three points this season (five games with three points and three games with five points). Since 1993-94, only Sidney Crosby (11 times), Artemi Pararin (10 times) and Alex Ovechkin (8 times) have done so as often in their rookie seasons.

One and Done

The Isles are 16-2-2 this season when leading after one period.  Their February 5th overtime loss to the Predators ended a 19-game winning streak when scoring first and their February 11th regulation loss to the Flames ended a 22-0-2 streak dating back to last season in which they have earned points.

 

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals ten times at home (9-1-0) and seventeen times overall (16-1-0). 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 nine times at home (1-6-2) and seventeen times overall (1-14-2).  

First Things First

The Isles have scored first 27 times this season (19-6-2). 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 19-6-2 when they score first and are 10-21-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

This Year vs. Last Year

The Isles are 29-27-7 (65 points) this season; they were 30-22-11 (71 points) through 63 games last season.  

Lots of Wins

Jaroslav Halak has 230 career wins; he is tied with Antti Niemi, Corey Crawford, Gerry Cheevers and Martin Biron for 62nd on the all-time NHL win list; Chico Resch owns 231 NHL wins.

Fastest to 50

Doug Weight is now 53-39-11 as an NHL coach. On February 3rd vs. the Blue Jackets, he reached 50 wins faster than any coach in Islander history:

Fewest Games to 50 Wins by an Islander Coach:

93 – Doug Weight (50-34-9)

98 – Ted Nolan 2006-07 & 2007-08 (50-36-12)

102- Terry Simpson 1986-87 & 1987-88 (50-39-13)

103– Peter Laviolette 2001-02 & 2002-03(50-39-10-4)

106—Steve Stirling 2003-04 & 2005-06 (50-40-11-5)

The Shots

Isles            7-11-13=31

New Jersey 11-11-11=33

The Isles are 7-9-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 22-17-3 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.

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

• 10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful

• 1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 

• 2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

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

Home and Road

The Islanders are 29-27-7 overall; 16-11-4 at home and 13-16-2 on the road.  

New Jersey is 32-22-8 overall; 17-12-3 at home and 15-10-5 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 10-9-1 in Division games and 19-18-6 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 17-18-2 against the East and 12-9-5 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 16-11-4 at home; they are 9-8-0 against the East and 7-3-4 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 28-7-7 all-time at Barclays against the West.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves but falls to 18-20=5 on the season and 12-6-2 in his career against New Jersey. 

Keith Kinkaid made 30 saves to improve to 14-8-2 on the season and 2-3-2 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

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

The Isles are 17-10-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-17-5 when they do not.  The Isles are 16-18-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 13-9-5 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 27-8-4 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-19-3 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 12-7-7 in games decided by a single goal including 3-7 in regulation. They are 6-5 in games decided in overtime and are 3-2 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

The Isles are 6-6-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-7-0 on the back-end. The Isles will play four sets of back-to-backs in March, beginning March 2nd vs. Montreal and March 3rd in Pittsburgh. 

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 2-3-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 6-1-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 3-4-0 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 17-19-7 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (23:12); New Jersey: Sami Vatanen (23:09)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards in ice-time (18:49) 

Face-offs

Isles 29, New Jersey 26 (53%).

John Tavares won 10 of 15 for the Isles; Travis Zajac won 14 of 23 for New Jersey.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 9/17; 2nd period 8/16; 3rd period 12/22.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 26/49, Power play 2/2, Penalty kill 1/4.

Hit Count

Isles 34 (Cal Clutterbuck and Johnny Boychuk-4)

New Jersey 34 (Three with 4)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 11: (Boychuk 2, Johnston 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 15 shots (Brock Nelson & Adam Pelech-3)

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 51, New Jersey 52.

5-on-5 Isles 47, New Jersey 42.

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Jordan Eberle & Mathew Barzal +8

New Jersey: Kyle Palmieri +9

Night and Day 

The Isles are 25-26-6 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.  All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen

Overall: Jordan Eberle 214 (including 152 for the Oilers): 

As Isles: Nick Leddy 140, Anders Lee 99, Brock Nelson 76, Jordan Eberle/Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 63.

Top 5 Club

Nick Leddy now hold the fifth longest consecutive game streak in Islander history for a defenseman: 

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. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 140

(*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Scott Mayfield - IR), (Thomas Greiss-IR), (Alan Quine-IR), Jason Chimera, Dennis Seidenberg, Brandon Davidson

Total games lost: 210

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored four times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:

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

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime.

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal five times 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

2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime.

2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game

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. Josh Bailey 698*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 650

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 265

…

18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Duane Sutter and Josh Bailey 121 *** 21 Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 *** 23. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 26. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 27. Anders Lee 114

Assists

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

5. John Tonelli 338 *** 6. John Tavares 336

…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 16. Josh Bailey 247

Points

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

5. Brent Sutter 610 *** 6. John Tavares 601

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Kyle Okposo & Stefan Persson 369 *** 16. Josh Bailey 367

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 167 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 115

Wins (Goalie)

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

5. Jaroslav Halak 86 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 

9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats

New Jersey leads the season series two games to none (and five points to two). The season series will conclude in New Jersey on March 31st.

Despite the loss, the Isles are 8-2-1 in their last 11 trips to New Jersey.

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 24-22-5-3 after losing 5-3 in Providence and 2-1 at home to Charlotte.  The Sound Tigers are 1-5-1-1 in their last eight games.

Tanner Fritz (on recall to the Isles) leads Bridgeport with 37 points (10-27-37); Rookie Scott Eansor leads the team in goals with 16. Christopher Gibson (also on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

The Sound Tigers conclude their 3-in-3 weekend at 3pm Sunday against Charlotte. 

Up Next

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28th – ISLANDERS AT MONTREAL 7:00PM 

[MSG+2 (Islander pre-game at 6:30PM), WFAN 660AM/101.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM]

The Isles begin a home-and-home-series with the Canadiens as they visit La Belle Province for the second time this season.  Back on January 15th, Thomas Greiss made a career-high 53 saves and John Tavares scored in overtime as the Isles won 5-4 for their third straight win over the Canadiens (all with Thomas Greiss in goal).

Mathew Barzal has had a lot of success against "Original Six" teams this season, tallying an NHL-leading 24 points. (Thanks, Elias Sports Bureau)

This will be the third home-and-home series between the teams in the last eight seasons; Montreal swept each of the prior two series.

The Isles will be looking for their fourth straight win over Montreal; they haven't done that since Ron Hextall led the Isles to four straight wins over the Habs in the 1993-94 season.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 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

The Skinny: Toronto 4, Isles 3 (SO)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 62

Toronto 4, Isles 3 (SO)

Auston Matthews scored the tying goal was 3:29 to play and Tyler Bozak scored the only goal of the shootout as the Toronto Maple Leafs overcame three points from Mathew Barzal to defeat the Isles 4-3 before a sellout crowd of 18,856 at Air Canada Center.

Islander rookies Ryan Pulock and Mathew Barzal scored 3:06 apart in the first period to give the Isles a 2-0 lead.  Barzal finished with at least three points for the eighth time this season as he took over the club lead in assists (48, to Josh Bailey's 47) and points (65, to John Tavares' 64).

 

Toronto has won eight straight games at home; it's their longest home winning streak since 2007.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

08:39 New York Ryan Pulock (6) ASST: Thomas Hickey (13), Mathew Barzal (47) 1-0

11:45 New York Mathew Barzal (17) ASST: Anthony Beauvillier (8), Sebastian Aho (3) 2-0

17:39 Toronto Mitchell Marner (15) ASST: Nazem Kadri (21), Patrick Marleau (14) 2-1

2ND PERIOD

No Scoring

3RD PERIOD

01:28 Toronto Morgan Rielly (6) ASST: Connor Brown (11), James van Riemsdyk (14) 2-2

03:07 New York Jordan Eberle (21) ASST: Mathew Barzal (48), Anthony Beauvillier (9) 3-2

16:31 Toronto Auston Matthews (28) ASST: Jake Gardiner (34), Zach Hyman (21) 3-3

OT PERIOD

No Scoring

The Shootout:

Toronto Goal - Tyler Bozak (game deciding goal)

New York Missed - Jordan Eberle

Toronto Missed - William Nylander

New York Missed - Mathew Barzal

Toronto Missed - Mitchell Marner

New York Missed - John Tavares

The Skinny  

Isles are 14-19-5 in their last 38 games … Including shootout winners, the Isles have scored 206 goals in the first 62 games (highest since 1993-94 when they had 210) and allowed 223 goals (first time since 1995-96, when they also allowed 240) … The Isles are 4-4-2 in February …The Isles allowed only 31 shots; it's the 2nd fewest shots (22 in Buffalo) that they have allowed since December 19th vs Detroit…Jordan Eberle passed last season's total with his 21st goal; Mathew Barzal has assisted on 16 of the 21. ..Barzal now has eight game with at least three points; Bryan Trottier holds the club record with nine…Nazem Kadri's 1st period assist was his 300th NHL point… Andrew Ladd played in his 900th NHL game….Every Islander but Ross Johnston had at least one shot on goal   …The Isles tied Columbus in points for the final playoff spot; however, the Blue Jackets hold the spot because the Isles have played one additional game…Toronto is 3-12-0 in games they trail after one period, with all three wins in overtime or shootouts…The Leafs are 6-1 in shootouts and are 12-2-0 in their last 14 games…Mitch Marner scored his 10th goal in the last 16 games; he has not gone consecutive games without a goal in that stretch.

The Injury 

Austin Mathews left the game after a collision late in regulation; he did not return.

 

Lots of Rubber for Jaro

Since December 1st, Jaroslav Halak has faced 1079 shots.  This is 84 more than any other goaltender in that span (Frederik Andersen has faced 995). 

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with 61 assists in 82 games, he is on pace for a rookie franchise record-tying 63 assists: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. Stefan Persson 50 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 48 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 65 2017-18 

Over the last 10 seasons, no rookie has more assists than Barzal. (Nicklas Backstrom had 55 assists and Patrick Kane had 51 assists in 2007-08.)

Denis Potvin is the only rookie to ever lead the Isles in assists; Billy Harris, Potvin, Trent Hunter (tied) and John Tavares are the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in point.

Countdown to 50

Mathew Barzal has 48 assists and Josh Bailey has 47. No Islander has had 50 assists since John Tavares reached the mark in 2011-12; Pierre Turgeon is the only Islander to exceed 50 assists in the last 28 seasons (74 in 1992-93 and 56 in 1993-94).

Three's Company

Mathew Barzal has eight games of at least three points this season (five games with three points and three games with five points). Since 1993-94, only Sidney Crosby (11 times), Artemi Pararin (10 times) and Alex Ovechkin (8 times) have done so as often in their rookie seasons.

One and (Usually) Done

The Isles are 16-2-2 this season when leading after one period.  Their February 5th overtime loss to the Predators ended a 19-game winning streak when scoring first and their February 11th regulation loss to the Flames ended a 22-0-2 streak dating back to last season in which they have earned points.

 

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals ten times at home (9-1-0) and seventeen times overall (16-1-0). 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 nine times at home (1-6-2) and seventeen times overall (1-14-2).  

First Things First

The Isles have scored first 26 times this season (19-5-2). 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 19-5-2 when they score first and are 10-21-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

This Year vs. Last Year

The Isles are 29-26-7 (65 points) this season; they were 30-22-10 (70 points) through 62 games last season.  

Lots of Wins

Jaroslav Halak has 230 career wins; he is tied with Antti Niemi, Corey Crawford and Martin Biron for 62nd on the all-time NHL win list; Chico Resch owns 231 NHL wins.

Fastest to 50

Doug Weight is now 53-38-11 as an NHL coach. On February 3rd vs. the Blue Jackets, he reached 50 wins faster than any coach in Islander history:

Fewest Games to 50 Wins by an Islander Coach:

93 – Doug Weight (50-34-9)

98 – Ted Nolan 2006-07 & 2007-08 (50-36-12)

102- Terry Simpson 1986-87 & 1987-88 (50-39-13)

103– Peter Laviolette 2001-02 & 2002-03(50-39-10-4)

106—Steve Stirling 2003-04 & 2005-06 (50-40-11-5)

The Shots

Isles      13-7-11-4=35

Toronto 7-10-10-4=31

The Isles are 7-9-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 22-16-3 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.

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

• 10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful

• 1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 

• 2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

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

Home and Road

The Islanders are 29-26-7 overall; 16-11-4 at home and 13-15-2 on the road.  

Toronto is 38-20-5 overall; 21-8-2 at home and 17-12-3 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 10-8-1 in Division games and 19-18-6 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 17-17-2 against the East and 12-9-5 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 16-11-4 at home; they are 9-8-0 against the East and 7-3-4 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 28-7-7 all-time at Barclays against the West.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves; he is 18-19-5 on the season and 8-3-4 in his career against Toronto. 

Frederik Andersen made 32 saves to improve to 31-16-4 on the season and 5-1-1 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play in 4:00 of PP time; Toronto was 0-3 on the power play in 6:00 of PP time.

The Isles are 17-10-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-16-5 when they do not.  The Isles are 16-18-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 13-8-5 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 27-8-4 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-18-3 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 12-6-7 in games decided by a single goal including 3-6 in regulation. They are 6-5 in games decided in overtime and are 3-2 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

The Isles are 6-6-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-7-0 on the back-end. The Isles will play four sets of back-to-backs in March, beginning March 2nd vs. Montreal and March 3rd in Pittsburgh. 

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 2-3-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 6-1-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 3-4-0 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 17-18-7 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (23:48); Toronto: Morgan Rielly (23:26)

Josh Bailey led Isles forwards in ice-time (19:11) 

Face-offs

Isles 29, Toronto 34 (46%).

John Tavares won 13 of 19 for the Isles; Tyler Bozak won 11 of 14 for Toronto.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 12/18; 2nd period 5/17; 3rd period 11/24; Overtime 1/4.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 24/50, Power play 2/3, Penalty kill 3/10.

Hit Count

Isles 30 (Adam Pelech-6)

Toronto 18 (Zach Hyman-6)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 11: (Boychuk 2, Johnston 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 19 shots (Ryan Pulock & Adam Pelech-4)

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 60, Toronto 59.

5-on-5 Isles 49, Toronto 42.

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Thomas Hickey +8

Toronto: Travis Dermott +6

Night and Day 

The Isles are 25-25-6 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.  All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen

Overall: Jordan Eberle 213 (including 152 for the Oilers): 

As Isles: Nick Leddy 139, Anders Lee 98, Brock Nelson 75, Jordan Eberle/Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 62.

Top 5 Club

Nick Leddy now hold the fifth longest consecutive game streak in Islander history for a defenseman: 

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. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 139

(*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Scott Mayfield - IR), (Thomas Greiss-IR), Alan Quine, Jason Chimera, Dennis Seidenberg

Total games lost: 204

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored four times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:

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

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime.

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal five times 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

2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime.

2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game

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. Josh Bailey 697*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 649

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 265

…

18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Duane Sutter and Josh Bailey 121 *** 21 Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 *** 23. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 26. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 27. Anders Lee 114

Assists

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

5. John Tonelli 338 *** 6. John Tavares 336

…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 16. Josh Bailey 247

Points

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

5. Brent Sutter 610 *** 6. John Tavares 601

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Kyle Okposo & Stefan Persson 369 *** 16. Josh Bailey 367

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 166 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 115

Wins (Goalie)

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

5. Jaroslav Halak 86 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 

9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats

Toronto leads the season series two games to none (and four points to one). The season series will conclude in Brooklyn on March 30th.

The Isles are 0-2-2 over the past three seasons in Toronto.

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 24-20-5-3 heading into Friday's game in Providence.

Tanner Fritz (on recall to the Isles) leads Bridgeport with 37 points (10-27-37); Rookie Scott Eansor leads the team in goals with 16. Christopher Gibson (also on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

Bridgeport returns home to face Charlotte on both Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

Up Next

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24th – ISLANDERS AT NEW JERSEY 8:00PM 

[MSG+2 (Islander pre-game at 7:30PM), WMCA 570AM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, WRCN 103.9FM]

The Devils will raise Patrik Elias' jersey to the rafter and then entertain the Isles in Newark.  It's the third meeting of the teams this season; the teams split a pair of games in Brooklyn in January, with the Isles' win coming in a shootout. 

The Isles are 8-1-1 in their last 10 trips to Newark; the teams will complete their season series at Prudential Center on March 31st.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 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

The Skinny: Minnesota 5, Isles 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 61

Minnesota 5, Isles 3 

The Minnesota Wild scored three goals in a 4:12 span of the second period to overcome a 2-1 deficit and held on to defeat the Isles 5-3 before a holiday crowd of 15,342 at Barclays Center.

Anders Lee and Tanner Fritz each had milestone goals in the second period for the Islanders; it was Lee's 30th goal of the season and the first of Fritz' NHL career.

Joel Eriksson Ek scored his first goal since opening night to end the Isles' shutout streak at 140:18; Islander goalies had stopped 102 consecutive shots in that span.

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

07:02 Minnesota Joel Eriksson Ek (2) ASST: Charlie Coyle (16), Tyler Ennis (9) 0-1

19:15 New York Ross Johnston (3) ASST: Johnny Boychuk (7), Casey Cizikas (8) 1-1

2ND PERIOD

01:57 New York Anders Lee (30) ASST: Thomas Hickey (12), Ryan Pulock (14) 2-1

09:54 Minnesota Matt Cullen (6) ASST: Ryan Suter (31), Matt Dumba (22) 2-2

12:17 Minnesota Jason Zucker (24) ASST: Ryan Suter (32), Matt Dumba (23) 2-3

14:06 Minnesota Tyler Ennis (8) ASST: Matt Cullen (9), Jared Spurgeon (23) 2-4

16:31 New York Tanner Fritz (1) ASST: Anders Lee (18), Sebastian Aho (2) 3-4

3RD PERIOD

16:38 Minnesota Jason Zucker (25) ASST: Eric Staal (27) 3-5

The Skinny 

Tanner Fritz is the 366th player in Islander history to score a goal…The Isles are 14-19-4 in their last 37 games … Including shootout winners, the Isles have scored 203 goals in the first 61 games (highest since 1993-94 when they had 206) and allowed 219 goals (first time since 1995-96, when they also allowed 234) … The Isles fall to 4-4-1 in February as they failed to win a third consecutive game for the first time since mid-January…The Isles allowed only 32 shots; it's the fewest shots that they have allowed in a home game since December 19th vs Detroit…Eric Staal's late assist was his 899th NHL point (and 49th vs. the Isles)..Ryan Pulock finished with a career-high 7 shots on goal (and 12 attempts).   He is the first Islander rookie defenseman since Travis Hamonic (4-9-11 vs Pittsburgh) to have at least 7 shots on goal…The Isles PP went 0-9 vs. Minnesota this season…The Wild are 4-1-2 in their last seven games…The Wild's defense contributed five assists; Minnesota leads the NHL with 143 points from the backline… The Isles finished with a +25-shot attempt differential (75-50); it was their best home differential in over two years (1/17/2016 vs. Vancouver) … Cullen, who turned 41 in November, is the oldest opponent to score vs. Isles since Jaromir Jagr did so on March 1, 2014 (just after his 42nd birthday).  Cullen is the oldest player in the NHL…The loss dropped the Isles out of a playoff spot; while tied in points with Carolina, the Isles have played one additional game.

Look at Me, I'm Anders Lee!

Anders Lee reached 30 goals for the 2nd straight season; dating back to November 20, 2016, Lee's 63 goals are the most by any NHL player. Lee also added an assist for his first multi-point game since December 29th.

Lee joins John Tavares in the 30-goal club.  It’s the first time since 1992-93 that the Isles have had two players with 30 goals before the end of February (Turgeon and King).

A Salute to Dad

The Wild's Zach Parise has a new son, who was born 11 days ago.  The Parise's third child was given the name Theodore Jean-Paul Parise; JP Parise scored one of the most famous goals in Islander history when he tallied at :11 of overtime to eliminate the Rangers in 1975. 

Lots of Rubber for Jaro

Since December 1st, Jaroslav Halak has faced 1048 shots.  This is 90 more than any other goaltender in that span (Henrik Lundqvist has faced 958). 

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. Stefan Persson 50 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 46 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 62 2017-18 

Over the last 10 seasons, Artemi Panarin (then with Chicago) is the only rookie with more assists than Barzal's 46.  Panarin finished his campaign with 47.  (Nicklas Backstrom had 55 assists and Patrick Kane had 51 assists in 2007-08.)

Countdown to 50

Josh Bailey has 47 assists and Mathew Barzal has 46. No Islander has had 50 assists since John Tavares reached the mark in 2011-12; Pierre Turgeon is the only Islander to exceed 50 assists in the last 28 seasons (74 in 1992-93 and 56 in 1993-94).

One and (Usually) Done

The Isles are 16-2-1 this season when leading after one period.  Their February 5th overtime loss to the Predators ended a 19-game winning streak when scoring first and their February 11th regulation loss to the Flames ended a 22-0-2 streak dating back to last season in which they have earned points.

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals ten times at home (9-1-0) and seventeen times overall (16-1-0). 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 nine times at home (1-6-2) and seventeen times overall (1-14-2).  

First Things First

The Isles have scored first 25 times this season (19-5-1). 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 19-5-1 when they score first and are 10-21-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

This Year vs. Last Year

The Isles are 29-26-6 (64 points) this season; they were 29-22-10 (68 points) through 61 games last season.  

Lots of Wins

Jaroslav Halak has 230 career wins; he is tied with Corey Crawford and Martin Biron for 62nd on the all-time NHL win list; Chico Resch owns 231 NHL wins.

Fastest to 50

Doug Weight is now 53-38-10 as an NHL coach. On February 3rd vs. the Blue Jackets, he reached 50 wins faster than any coach in Islander history:

Fewest Games to 50 Wins by an Islander Coach:

93 – Doug Weight (50-34-9)

98 – Ted Nolan 2006-07 & 2007-08 (50-36-12)

102- Terry Simpson 1986-87 & 1987-88 (50-39-13)

103– Peter Laviolette 2001-02 & 2002-03(50-39-10-4)

106—Steve Stirling 2003-04 & 2005-06 (50-40-11-5)

The Shots

Isles         12-6-17=35

Minnesota 11-12-9=32

The Isles are 7-9-3 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 22-16-3 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.

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

• 10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful

• 1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 

• 2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

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

Home and Road

The Islanders are 29-26-6 overall; 16-11-4 at home and 13-15-2 on the road.  

Minnesota is 32-20-7 overall; 20-5-6 at home and 12-15-1 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 10-8-1 in Division games and 19-18-5 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 17-17-1 against the East and 12-9-5 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 16-11-4 at home; they are 9-8-0 against the East and 7-3-4 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 28-7-7 all-time at Barclays against the West.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 27 saves but falls to 18-19-4 on the season and 3-3-4 in his career against Minnesota. 

Devyn Dubnyk made 32 saves and improves to 24-11-5 on the season and 5-4-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-4 on the power play in 7:23 of PP time; Minnesota was 0-1 on the power play in 2:00 of PP time.

The Isles are 17-10-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-16-4 when they do not.  The Isles are 16-18-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 13-8-4 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 27-8-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-18-3 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 12-6-6 in games decided by a single goal including 3-6 in regulation. They are 6-5 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

The Isles are 6-6-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-7-0 on the back-end. The Isles will play four sets of back-to-backs in March, beginning March 2nd vs. Montreal and March 3rd in Pittsburgh. 

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 2-3-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 6-1-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 3-4-0 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 17-18-6 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (22:23); Minnesota: Ryan Suter (30:04)

Anders Lee led Isles forwards in ice-time (19:30) 

Face-offs

Isles 34, Minnesota 29 (54%).

Mathew Barzal won 7 of 11 for the Isles; Eric Staal won 8 of 12 for Minnesota.

Face-offs by period: 1st period 10/27; 2nd period 12/17; 3rd period 12/19.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 27/51, Power play 6/11, Penalty kill 1/1.

Hit Count

Isles 25 (Cal Clutterbuck-5)

Minnesota 29 (Joel Eriksson Ek-4)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 11: (Boychuk 2, Johnston 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 13 shots (Ryan Pulock & Thomas Hickey -3)

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 75, Minnesota 50.

5-on-5 Isles 58, Minnesota 45.

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: 3 with +10

Minnesota: 3 with +5

Night and Day 

The Isles are 25-25-5 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.  All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen

Overall: Jordan Eberle 212 (including 152 for the Oilers): 

As Isles: Nick Leddy 138, Anders Lee 97, Brock Nelson 74, Jordan Eberle/Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 61.

Top 5 Club

Nick Leddy now hold the fifth longest consecutive game streak in Islander history for a defenseman: 

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. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 138

(*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Scott Mayfield - IR), (Thomas Greiss-IR), Alan Quine, Jason Chimera, Dennis Seidenberg

Total games lost: 199

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored four times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:

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

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime.

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal five times 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

2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime.

2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game

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. Josh Bailey 696*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 648

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 265

…

18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Duane Sutter and Josh Bailey 121 *** 21 Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 *** 23. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 26. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 27. Anders Lee 114

Assists

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

5. John Tonelli 338 *** 6. John Tavares 336

…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 16. Josh Bailey 247

Points

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

5. Brent Sutter 610 *** 6. John Tavares 601

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Kyle Okposo & Stefan Persson 369 *** 16. Josh Bailey 367

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 165 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 115

Wins (Goalie)

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

5. Jaroslav Halak 86 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 

9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats

Minnesota wins the season series two games to none (and four points to zero). 

This was the Wild's first win ever at Barclays Center; the Wild have won the last three meetings between the teams overall.

On the Farm

Christopher Gibson made 22 saves for his second consecutive shutout, and Travis St. Denis scored twice and Bridgeport blanked Hartford 4-0 on Sunday, improving their record to 24-20-5-3. 

Tanner Fritz (on recall to the Isles) leads Bridgeport with 37 points (10-27-37); Rookie Scott Eansor leads the team in goals with 16. Christopher Gibson (also on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

Bridgeport visits Providence on Friday and then hosts Charlotte on both Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

Up Next

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd –ISLANDERS AT TORONTO 7:30PM 

[MSG+2 (Islander pre-game at 7:00PM), WNYM 970AM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, WRCN 103.9FM]

The Isles begin a three-game road trip (and start a stretch of 7 out of 8 on the road) as they head to Toronto to visit the Maple Leafs.

The Isles will look to avenge a 5-0 defeat back on January 31st and will be looking for their first win in Toronto under Doug Weight (0-2-0).

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 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

The Skinny: Isles 3, Carolina 0

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 60

Isles 3, Carolina 0   

Thomas Greiss made 45 saves for his 8th career shutout as the Islanders recorded shutouts on back-to-back nights for the first time in their history as the Islanders moved back into a playoff spot with a 3-0 blanking of the Carolina Hurricanes before a crowd of 15,448 at PNC Arena.

It's the Isles' first road shutout since Jaroslav Halak blanked Carolina on April 6th in Raleigh and the first time they had consecutive shutouts since January 16-19, 2017 vs Boston (in Jack Capuano's finale) and Dallas (in Doug Weight's coaching debut).

Doug Weight coached his 100th game; he has the best record through 100 games of any coach in Islander history.  An awarded goal for John Tavares in an empty net situation allowed him to reach 30 goals for the 4th time in his career.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

No Scoring

2ND PERIOD

10:06 New York Johnny Boychuk (4) ASST: Brock Nelson (11), Ross Johnston (2) 1-0

3RD PERIOD

12:00 New York Anthony Beauvillier (14) 2-0

19:28 New York EN - John Tavares (30) 3-0

The Skinny 

The Isles are 14-18-4 in their last 36 games … Including shootout winners, the Isles have scored 200 goals in the first 60 games (highest since 1993-94 when they had 201) and allowed 214 goals (first time highest since 2005-66, when they also allowed 214) … Josh Bailey played in his 695th Isles game (passing Brent Sutter for 8th place)…The Isles improve to 4-3-1 in February as they won consecutive games for the first time since a 3-game win streak in mid-January…The Isles had an opponents' goal reversed for the second straight game; Jeff Skinner's 200th career goal was overturned due to an offside...The Isles are now 9-2-2 in the game following a win over the Rangers, including 3-0-0 this season…The Isles have not allowed a goal in 133:16; the club record is 199:14 and includes the only three consecutive shutouts in Islander history (April 1998)…Nine of Anthony Beauvillier's goals have come on the road; ten have been scored since January 7th…Three of Johnny Boychuk's four goals this season, seven of his 28 Islander goals, and ten of his 47 career goals, have been game-winners.  Boychuk is 6-10-16 vs. Carolina; he has more goals, assists and points against the Canes than any other opponent… It's only the second time this season that Carolina has been shutout; however, the Canes have been held to one goal or fewer four times in the last eight games….Counting the end of the Columbus game, Islander goalies have stopped 99 straight shots…Thomas Greiss had never faced more than 32 shots in a shutout; he is now 5-1-1 in his career when facing at least 45 shots…It's the 4th time in his career that Greiss has made at least 45 saves; three of the four have happened in his last four starts.

Shutout Stats: Rewriting the History Books

It's the 11th time in Isles history that the team has recorded consecutive shutouts, but the first in which they have done so on consecutive days.  The Isles had gotten consecutive shutouts from two different goalies on two prior occasions: February 9-12, 1980 and January 20-22, 1981. Billy Smith had the first shutout in 1980 and the second in 1981, while Chico Resch had the other two.

The Isles are the first team in NHL HISTORY to record shutouts with of at least 40 shots on consecutive days and are the first team in NHL HISTORY to record consecutive shutouts of at least 45 shots. 

Most Shots Faced in a Shutout

51- Glenn Healy 1/16/00 vs. Vancouver

50- Jaroslav Halak 2/15/18 vs. NY Rangers

45- Thomas Greiss 2/16/18 @ Carolina

45- Evgeni Nabokov 2/7/12 @ Philadelphia (shootout)

The First 100 Games

Doug Weight became the 10th man to coach 100 Islander games. He has won more games (53) and earned more points (116) than any other Islander coach through 100 games.

Here are all the Isles who coached 100 games and their records through game 100:

Doug Weight 53-37-10 

Ted Nolan         51-37-12

Terry Simpson 49-38-13

Peter Laviolette 48-39-9-4

Steve Stirling 47-38-11-4

Jack Capuano     38-46-16

Scott Gordon 32-53-15

Butch Goring 30-57-11-2

Al Arbour         28-48-24

Mike Milbury 26-58-16

Lots of Rubber for Jaro

Since December 1st, Jaroslav Halak has faced 1016 shots.  This is 122 more than any other goaltender in that span (Henrik Lundqvist has faced 894). 

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. Stefan Persson 50 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 46 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 62 2017-18 

Over the last 10 seasons, Artemi Panarin (then with Chicago) is the only rookie with more assists than Barzal's 46.  Panarin finished his campaign with 47.  (Nicklas Backstrom had 55 assists and Patrick Kane had 51 assists in 2007-08.)

What a Good Helper!

Since January 8th, when he had five points at Madison Square Garden, Mathew Barzal has 23 points, leaving him tied with Sidney Crosby for 2nd in the league lead in points (Evgeni Malkin has 24).  Barzal has an NHL-leading 20 assists in that span, one ahead of Crosby. 

Countdown to 50

Josh Bailey has 47 assists and Mathew Barzal has 46. No Islander has had 50 assists since John Tavares reached the mark in 2011-12; Pierre Turgeon is the only Islander to exceed 50 assists in the last 28 seasons (74 in 1992-93 and 56 in 1993-94).

One and (Usually) Done

The Isles are 16-2-1 this season when leading after one period.  Their February 5th overtime loss to the Predators ended a 19-game winning streak when scoring first and their February 11th regulation loss to the Flames ended a 22-0-2 streak dating back to last season in which they have earned points.

 

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals ten times at home (9-1-0) and seventeen times overall (16-1-0). 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 eight times at home (1-5-2) and sixteen times overall (1-13-2).  

First Things First

The Isles have scored first 24 times this season (19-5-1). 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 19-5-1 when they score first and are 10-20-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

This Year vs. Last Year

The Isles are 29-25-6 (64 points) this season; they were 29-21-10 (68 points) through 60 games last season.  The Isles (and Thomas Greiss) also earned a shutout in game 60 last season, winning in Montreal.

Lots of Wins

Jaroslav Halak has 230 career wins; he is tied with Corey Crawford and Martin Biron for 62nd on the all-time NHL win list; Chico Resch owns 231 NHL wins.

Fastest to 50

Doug Weight is now 53-37-10 as an NHL coach. On February 3rd vs. the Blue Jackets, he reached 50 wins faster than any coach in Islander history:

Fewest Games to 50 Wins by an Islander Coach:

93 – Doug Weight (50-34-9)

98 – Ted Nolan 2006-07 & 2007-08 (50-36-12)

102- Terry Simpson 1986-87 & 1987-88 (50-39-13)

103– Peter Laviolette 2001-02 & 2002-03(50-39-10-4)

106—Steve Stirling 2003-04 & 2005-06 (50-40-11-5)

The Shots

Isles       7-8-7=22

Carolina 16-12-17=45

The Isles are 7-8-3 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 22-16-3 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.

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

• 10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful

• 1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 

• 2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

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

Home and Road

The Islanders are 29-25-6 overall; 16-10-4 at home and 13-15-2 on the road.  

Carolina are 27-23-9 overall; 15-10-5 at home and 12-13-4 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 10-8-1 in Division games and 19-17-5 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 17-17-1 against the East and 12-8-5 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 16-10-4 at home; they are 9-8-0 against the East and 7-2-4 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 28-6-7 all-time at Barclays against the West.

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 45 saves for his 8th career shutout (and his 96th career win).  Greiss improves to 11-7-2 on the season and 5-3-1 in his career against Carolina. 

Cam Ward made 19 saves but falls to 17-8-3 on the season and 23-5-5 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles did not have a power play; Carolina were 0-2 on the power play in 4:00 of PP time.

The Isles are 17-10-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-15-4 when they do not.  The Isles are 16-18-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 13-7-4 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 27-7-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-18-3 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 12-6-6 in games decided by a single goal including 3-6 in regulation. They are 6-5 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 6-6-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-7-0 on the back-end. The next set of back-to-back is March 2nd vs. Montreal and March 3rd in Pittsburgh. 

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 2-3-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 6-1-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 3-4-0 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 17-17-6 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (21:31); Carolina: Jaccob Slavin (23:02)

John Tavares led Isles forwards in ice-time (18:13) 

Face-offs

Isles 21, Carolina 37 (36%).

No Islander who took multiple face-offs won more than he lost; Elias Lindholm won 12 of 18 for Carolina.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 9/18; 2nd period 3/12; 3rd period 9/28.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 18/50, Power play 0/0, Penalty kill 3/8.

Hit Count

Isles 37(Johnny Boychuk -7)

Carolina 23 (Jordan Staal -8)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 11: (Boychuk 2, Johnston 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 27 shots (Thomas Hickey & Cal Clutterbuck -4). Every Islander except Anthony Beauvillier blocked at least one shot.

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 42, Carolina 92.

5-on-5 Isles 40, Carolina 70.

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Tanner Fritz +6

Carolina: Jaccob Slavin +21

Night and Day 

The Isles are 25-25-5 in night games and 4-0-1 in matinees.  The Isles have only one matinee remaining this season: February 19th vs Minnesota (1pm).

Ironmen

Overall: Jordan Eberle 211 (including 151 for the Oilers): 

As Isles: Nick Leddy 137, Anders Lee 96, Brock Nelson 73, Jordan Eberle/Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 60.

Top 5 Club

Nick Leddy now hold the fifth longest consecutive game streak in Islander history for a defenseman: 

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. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 137

(*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Scott Mayfield - IR), Alan Quine, Jason Chimera, Dennis Seidenberg

Total games lost: 196

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored four times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:

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

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime.

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal five times 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

2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime.

2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game

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. Josh Bailey 695*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 647

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 265

…

18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Duane Sutter and Josh Bailey 121 *** 21 Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 *** 23. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 26. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 27. Anders Lee 113

Assists

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

5. John Tonelli 338 *** 6. John Tavares 336

…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 16. Josh Bailey 247

Points

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

5. Brent Sutter 610 *** 6. John Tavares 601

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Kyle Okposo & Stefan Persson 369 *** 16. Josh Bailey 367

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 164 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 115

Wins (Goalie)

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

5. Jaroslav Halak 86 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 

9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series two games to one (and four points to two).  The season series will conclude on March 18th in Brooklyn.

The Isles have beaten Carolina four times in the last five games (4-1-0), despite playing only one of the five games in Brooklyn.

On the Farm

Christopher Gibson made 30 saves for a shutout, but the Sound Tigers fell 1-0 in a shootout in Providence Bridgeport is 23-20-5-3 heading into their game at home against Hartford on Sunday afternoon. 

Tanner Fritz (on recall to the Isles) leads Bridgeport with 37 points (10-27-37); Rookie Scott Eansor leads the team in goals with 16. Christopher Gibson is 17-11-3 in the nets with 3 shutouts.

Up Next

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19th –MINNESOTA AT ISLANDERS 1:00PM 

[MSG+ (Islander pre-game at 12:30PM), WFAN 660AM/101.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM]

The Isles will look to earn a split of the season series as they entertain the Minnesota Wild in their final home game of the month of February.

The Wild defeated the Isles 6-4 in St. Paul; it was their second consecutive 6-4 win over the Isles. However, both of those games were at the Xcel Energy Center; the Isles have won both previous meetings at Barclays Center and are 4-1-1 in their last six home games against the Wild.

 

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 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