The Skinny: Carolina 4, Isles 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 72

Carolina 4, Isles 3

Trevor Van Riemsdyk scored the winning goal with 6:49 to play as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Islanders 4-3 before a crowd of 10,688 at Barclays Center.

The Isles had rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits as John Bailey scored his 18th goal and then Anders Lee scored twice, giving him a career-high 35.  John Tavares assisted on all three goals.

The Isles have lost three straight (0-3-0) and are 1-7-4 in their last 12 games.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

02:50 Carolina Jaccob Slavin (8) ASST: Joakim Nordstrom (3), Victor Rask (17) 1-0

04:44 Carolina Lee Stempniak (3) 2-0

2ND PERIOD

10:29 New York Josh Bailey (18) ASST: Ryan Pulock (19), John Tavares (39) 2-1

12:22 New York PPG - Anders Lee (34) ASST: John Tavares (40), Mathew Barzal (54) 2-2

14:04 Carolina Victor Rask (14) ASST: Joakim Nordstrom (4), Jaccob Slavin (17) 3-2

3RD PERIOD

08:05 New York PPG - Anders Lee (35) ASST: Josh Bailey (49), John Tavares (41) 3-3

13:11 Carolina      Trevor van Riemsdyk (2) ASST: Teuvo Teravainen (37), Sebastian Aho (32) 4-3

The Skinny  

Isles are 15-25-8 since December 1st and fall two games below NHL-.500 (30-32-10) for the first time since December 20, 2016 (12-14-6); it's the first time since they ended the 2013-14 season with 79 points that the Isles have been below .500 this late in the season … The Isles have scored three goals or fewer in 15 of the last 16 games... Ryan Pulock's 26 points rank second among Islander defensemen, behind Nick Leddy's 40; Pulock is now 4th in the NHL in scoring among rookie defensemen …Jaroslav Halak is 0-6-2 in his last eight decisions… The Isles scored twice on the power play, giving them five power play goals in the last two games.  The power play is now operating at 21.8%; the Isles haven't converted 20% of their power plays since the 1993-94 season (20.1%)… Lee's 2nd goal was his 200th NHL point…Lee Stempniak scored a goal in his 900th NHL game; Teuvo Teravainen recorded his 100th point as a Hurricane…

Fist-bumping Ahead of Parrish

Anders Lee scored twice to move from 26th place to a tie for 21st place on the all-time Isles goal scoring list.  Along the way he passed Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas, all of whom had 118 goals as an Islander.  Lee fist-bumped Parrish, who was working for MSG Network "Between the Benches" after passing him. 

Isles Goal List:

20. Diane Sutter 120

21 Anders Lee, Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 

24. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 

Other Milestone Men

John Tavares' three assists give him 610 points, tying him with Brent Sutter for 5th place on the all-time Isles list.

Josh Bailey recorded his 249th assist, tying Tomas Jonsson for 15th place on that Isles list.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with a team-leading 54 assists and a co-team-leading 73 points in 72 games, he is on pace for 62 assists and 83 points: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. MATHEW BARZAL 54 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 73 2017-18 

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 points.

Nice Company

Mathew Barzal is one of only four rookies since 1995 with at least 54 assists in a season.   

1. Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 63

2. Nicklas Backstrom WSH 2007-08 55

3. Alex Ovechkin WSH 2005-06 54

MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 54

He is also one of only six rookies since 2000-01 with at least 73 points.

More points by a rookie: last 18 seasons

1 Alex Ovechkin WSH2005-06 106

2 Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 102

3 Evgeni Malkin PIT 2006-07   85

4 Paul Stastny COL 2006-07   78

5 Artemi Panarin CHI 2015-16   77

6 MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18   73

32 Goal Club

Anders Lee has 35 goals and John Tavares has 32.  They are the first Islander teammates with at least 32 goals since Pierre Turgeon, Steve Thomas and Benoit Hogue all did so in 1993-94.

35 Goal Club

Anders Lee is only the 6th Islander in the last 20 years to score 35 goals in a season:

1. Jason Blake 40 2006-07

2. John Tavares 38 2014-15

3. Matt Moulson 36 2011-12

4. ANDERS LEE 35 2017-18

        Mariusz Czerkawski 35 1999-2000

        Miroslav Satan 35 2005-06

Lee is also the first Islander with multiple 34-goal seasons since Ziggy Palffy (1995-76 to 1997-78).

54 Helpers

Mathew Barzal has 54 assists and Josh Bailey has 49. Barzal is the first Islander with over 50 assists since Pierre Turgeon had 56 assists in 1993-94.

When Bailey reaches 50, the Isles will have teammates with 50 assists for the first time since Mike Bossy (62) and Bryan Trottier (59) did so in 1985-86.

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 Panarin (10 times) and Alex Ovechkin (8 times) have done so as often in their rookie seasons.

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals ten times at home (9-1-0) and eighteen times overall (17-1-0). 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 eleven times at home (1-8-2) and 20 times overall (1-17-2).  

First Things First

The Isles have scored first 33 times this season (20-8-5). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season but are only 9-8-5 in the last 22 games that they scored first.

First Goal 

The Isles are 20-8-5 when they score first and are 10-24-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles        6-11-12=29

Carolina 13-17-9=39

The Isles are 7-12-5 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 23-19-5 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Home and Road

The Islanders are 30-32-10 overall; 16-14-4 at home and 14-18-6 on the road.  

Carolina is 31-30-11 overall; 16-14-6 at home and 15-16-5 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 10-12-2 in Division games and 20-20-8 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 17-23-3 against the East and 13-9-7 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 16-14-4 at home; they are 9-11-0 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.  However, after opening the season 9-0-2 on home ice, the Isles are 7-14-2 in their last 23 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 35 saves but falls to 18-24-6 on the season and 3-6-1 in his career against Carolina. 

Scott Darling made 26 saves to improve to 12-17-7 on the season and 3-2-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 2-3 on the power play in 3:51 of PP time; Carolina was 0-3 on the power play in 6:00 of PP time.

The Isles are 17-13-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-19-7 when they do not.  The Isles are 16-21-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 14-11-7 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 28-12-5 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-20-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 12-8-10 in games decided by a single goal including 3-8 in regulation. They are 6-7 in games decided in overtime and are 3-3 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 6-8-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-8-1 on the back-end. The next back-to-back set will be on March 26th vs. Florida and March 27th in Ottawa.

 

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 2-4-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 6-2-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 3-4-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 18-22-9 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (22:59); Carolina: Justin Faulk (22:10)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 21:52 of ice-time.

Face-offs

Isles 28, Carolina 32 (47%).

Casey Cizikas won 7 of 11 for the Isles; Elias Lindhom won 9 of 14 for Carolina.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 5/14; 2nd period 12/23; 3rd period 11/23.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 23/52, Power play 2/3, Penalty kill 3/5.

Hit Count

Isles 22 (Johnny Boychuk -7).  

Carolina 15 (Klas Dahlbeck-6)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 14: (Johnston 4, Boychuk 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1, Clutterbuck 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 13 shots (Thomas Hickey and Adam Pelech-3)

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 50, Carolina 62 

5-on-5 Isles 41, Carolina 48

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Chris Wagner +8

Carolina: Jeff Skinner +8

Night and Day 

The Isles are 26-31-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees. (The NHL considers 5:00 starts to be night games.)   All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen

Nick Leddy 149, Anders Lee 108, Brock Nelson 85, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 72.

Top 5 Club

Nick Leddy now holds 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 149

(*) 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), Brandon Davidson, Ross Johnston, Dennis Seidenberg  

Total games lost: 265

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored five 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

3/5 – VAN Canucks – Jordan Eberle (18:56); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal six 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

3/9 – EDM Oilers – Connor McDavid (18:10); tied game and Oilers won in shootout

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.

7-11

The Isles have used 7 defensemen four times this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ, 1/16 vs. NJ, 3/2 vs. MTL) and are 2-2-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-2-0 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 707*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 659

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 267

…

18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Josh Bailey 123 *** 20. Diane Sutter 120 *** 21 Anders Lee, Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 *** 24. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 

Assists

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

5.  John Tavares 343

…

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

Points

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

5. Brent Sutter and John Tavares 610

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 372 

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 173 *** 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 teams split the season series two games to two (and four points to four). 

The Isles are 6-4-1 in their last 11 games vs. Carolina.

On the Farm

Bridgeport fell to 31-25-5-3 with a 4-1 defeat in Providence on Sunday. John Stevens scored the only goal for the Sound Tigers.

Tanner Fritz (on recall to the Isles) leads Bridgeport with 37 points (10-27-37); Travis St. Denis lead the team in goals (20) and is now tied with Fritz for the club point lead. Christopher Gibson (also on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

The Sound Tigers are seven points behind Charlotte for the final playoff spot, although Bridgeport does hold two games-in-hand.  Bridgeport visits Syracuse on Friday and Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Sunday afternoon.

Up Next

TUESDAY, MARCH 20th –PITTSBURGH AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 

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

The Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins will be looking to sweep the season series as they visit the Isles on Tuesday.

The Penguins have won the first three meetings, needing overtime goals from Matt Hunwick and Sidney Crosby to record two of the victories.

Christopher Gibson stopped 47 of 50 Penguin shots in the most recent meeting, on March 3rd in the Steel City.  Tristan Jarry has earned the victory in all three meetings this season.

Overall, the Isles are 7-4-4 in their last 15 games against the Penguins.

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