The Skinny: Tampa Bay 7, Isles 6

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 74

Tampa Bay 7, Isles 6

Ryan Pulock, Anders Lee and Anthony Beauvillier each scored twice, but it wasn't enough as the Isles dropped a 7-6 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning before a crowd of 10,354 at Barclays Center.

The Isles scored three unanswered goals in a 3:01 span to cut into a 7-3 Lightning advantage but couldn't find the equalizer.

 

The Isles are 5-12-1 at home in 2018.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

02:09 Tampa Bay Anthony Cirelli (3) ASST: Braydon Coburn (11), Yanni Gourde (33) 0-1

02:35 Tampa Bay Tyler Johnson (21) ASST: Chris Kunitz (13), Mikhail Sergachev (28) 0-2

10:24 New York PPG - Ryan Pulock (8) ASST: Jordan Eberle (27), John Tavares (44) 1-2

14:17 Tampa Bay Victor Hedman (14) ASST: Brayden Point (32), Ondrej Palat (23) 1-3

2ND PERIOD

02:43 Tampa Bay SHG - Brayden Point (28) ASST: Anthony Cirelli (5), Ryan McDonagh (25)1-4

03:20 New York PPG - Ryan Pulock (9) ASST: Anthony Beauvillier (12), Jordan Eberle (28)2-4

05:15 New York Anders Lee (37) ASST: Josh Bailey (50) 3-4

08:27 Tampa Bay J.T. Miller (19) ASST: Steven Stamkos (59), Braydon Coburn (12) 3-5

11:22 Tampa Bay PPG - Mikhail Sergachev (9) ASST: Yanni Gourde (34), Brayden Point (33)3-6

18:20 Tampa Bay PPG - J.T. Miller (20) ASST: Nikita Kucherov (58), Victor Hedman (41) 3-7

3RD PERIOD

01:35 New York PPG - Anders Lee (38) ASST: Josh Bailey (51), John Tavares (45) 4-7

03:21 New York Anthony Beauvillier (15) ASST: Jordan Eberle (29) 5-7

04:36 New York Anthony Beauvillier (16) ASST: Johnny Boychuk (11), Mathew Barzal (56)6-7

The Skinny  

Isles are 16-26-8 since December 1st and fall two games below NHL-.500 (31-33-10) … Ryan Pulock's 29 points rank second among Islander defensemen, behind Nick Leddy's 41; Pulock, who is 4th in scoring among NHL rookie defensemen, now has a point in five straight games.  Pulock is the first rookie defenseman in Islander history to score two power play goals in a game… Pulock is the first Islander rookie defenseman with at least 29 points since Chris Campoli …Mathew Barzal assisted on the final goal to extend his point streak to five games.,, The Isles scored three more times on the power play, giving them nine power play goals (in 18 attempts) in the last four games.  The power play is now operating at 22.6%; the Isles haven't converted 20% of their power plays since the 1993-94 season (20.1%)… Tampa Bay's Yanni Gourde is the only rookie in the NHL that has more points (58) than Barzal has assists (56) ..John Tavares has seven assists in the last three games; he now leads the team in scoring with 77 points, one ahead of Barzal…Josh Bailey recorded two assists, giving him 51 on the season and 251 in his Islander career. He is the 15th Islander to record at least 250 assists…The Isles allowed at least six goals for the 12th time this season; it's the first time that's happened since they allowed a half-dozen goals 16 times in 1995-96…Anders Lee has five goals in the last three games and has an NHL-best 19 goals in the third period…Tampa scored four goals in the second period, giving them an NHL-high 102 in the middle session this year; the Isles have allowed 98 goals in 2nd period… It was the first time the Isles have allowed seven goals in the first two periods of a home game since March 21, 2000…Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded his 83rd win, tying Nikolay Khabibulin for 2nd on the Lightning list…Anthony Beauvillier recorded his 4th two-goal game of the season…Jon Cooper recorded his 239th win, tying John Tortorella's club record…JT Miller's first goal was the 263rd of the season for the Lightning, establishing a new club record…The Lightning are 12-2-1 in their last 15 games, and established a club record with their 51st win... It's only the second time this season the Isles have allowed 7 goals in a game (3/15 – Washington).

What a Night for Ryan Pulock

Ryan Pulock rewrote the Islander rookie record book tonight as he became the first rookie defenseman in Islander history to score two power play goals.  Pulock, who played a career-high 23:57, also finished with nine shots on goal.  The nine shots on goal matched Bryan Berard's record for an Islander rookie defenseman (1-10-1997 at Pittsburgh).  Pulock's 2 goals tied the Islander rookie record for defensemen set by Denis Potvin and matched once by Vladimir Malakhov and twice by Scott Lachance.

Pulock Moving up on Rookie Season Lists Too!

Pulock now has 9 goals on the season; only two rookie defensemen (Denis Potvin-17 and Vladimir Malakhov-14) have scored more goals.  Ken Leiter, Chris Campoli and Tomas Jonsson also finished their rookie seasons with 9 goals.

Four of Pulock's goals have come on the power play.  Among Islander rookie defensemen, only Malakhov (7) and Potvin (6) have more.  Ken Leiter also scored four power play goals as a rookie.

Pulock is only the 8th Islander rookie defenseman to record 29 points in his rookie season. Ken Leiter also had 29 points.

Three x Two

Ryan Pulock, Anders Lee and Anthony Beauvillier are the first trio of Islanders to ever score twice each in a loss.  The last time the Isles had three players score two goals in a game was on January 12, 1993 against Calgary when Vladimir Malakhov, Scott Lachance and Iain Fraser all did so in an 8-2 victory. (Those were the two goals Fraser ever scored as an Islander)

22 x Two

Anders Lee recorded his 22nd career two-goal game (he has never had a hat trick).  Nine of the 22 have occurred this season, making Lee the first Islander since Ziggy Palffy in 1997-98 to have as many as nine multi-goal games.

Continuing to Climb the List

Anders Lee scored two more goals to move into 20th place on the all-time Isles goal scoring list.  He has scored five goals in the last three games, passing six former Islanders in the process.

Isles Goal List:

19. Josh Bailey 123

20. Anders Lee 122

21 Diane Sutter 120

22 Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 

24. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with a team-leading 56 assists and 77 points in 74 games, he is on pace for 62 assists and 85 points: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. MATHEW BARZAL 56 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 76 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 six rookies since 1983-84 with at least 56 assists in a season.   

1. Joe Juneau BOS 1992-93 70

2. Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 63

3. Sergei Makarov CGY 1989-90 62

4. Mario Lemieux PIT 1984-85 57

5. Teemu Selanne WPG 1992-93 56

MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 56

(With his assist tonight, he passed Chris Chelios and Nicklas Backstrom, both of whom had 55)

He is also one of only six rookies since 2000-01 with at least 76 points.

More points by a rookie: last 18 seasons

1 Alex Ovechkin WSH 2005-06 106

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   76

32 Goal Club

Anders Lee has 38 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 and the first to combine for at least 70 goals since Ziggy Palffy (45) and Robert Reichel (25) did so in 1997-98.

38 Goal Club

Anders Lee is only the 3rd Islander in the last 20 years to score 38 goals in a season:

1. Jason Blake 40 2006-07

2. John Tavares 38 2014-15

      ANDERS LEE 38 2017-18

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

56 Helpers

Mathew Barzal has 56 assists; it's the most by an Islander since Pierre Turgeon also had 56 assists in 1993-94.  Turgeon had 74 helpers in 1992-93, which is the most by an Islander in the Post-Cup era.

Two Over 50

Barzal and Josh Bailey are the first Islander teammates with more than 50 assists 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 11 times at home (9-2-0) and 19 times overall (17-2-0). The Isles have also scored two shootout winners for a fifth goal of the game (not included above). 

Chili

The Isles have scored at least six goals nine times this season.  Prior to tonight, the Isles had won 45 straight games, dating back to 2005, when they score at least six times.  This is only the second regulation loss AT HOME in Isles history when they scored at least six goals (10-20-1981, 9-6 loss to Los Angeles).

Five's Trouble

The Isles have allowed at least five goals 12 times at home (1-9-2) and 21 times overall (1-18-2).  

First Things First

The Isles have scored first 34 times this season (21-8-5). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season but are only 10-8-5 in the last 23 games that they scored first.

First Goal 

The Isles are 21-8-5 when they score first and are 10-25-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles            11-16-14=41

Tampa Bay 16-10-10=36

The Isles are 8-13-5 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 31-33-10 overall; 17-15-4 at home and 14-18-6 on the road.  

Tampa Bay is 51-19-4 overall; 27-8-2 at home and 24-11-2 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 11-12-2 in Division games and 20-21-8 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 18-24-3 against the East and 13-9-7 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 17-15-4 at home; they are 10-12-0 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 8-15-2 in their last 25 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets

Christopher Gibson made 18 saves before being pulled after Tampa Bay's 6th goal.  Jaroslav Halak stopped 11 of 12 in relief but is charged with the loss. He is now 18-25-6 on the season and 4-5-0 in his career against Tampa Bay. 

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves and improves to 42-14-3 on the season and 4-2-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 3-5 on the power play in 6:32 of PP time; Tampa Bay was 2-4 on the power play in 4:17 of PP time.

The Isles are 18-14-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-19-7 when they do not.  The Isles are 16-22-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 15-11-7 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 29-13-5 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 12-9-10 in games decided by a single goal including 3-9 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 19-23-9 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (23:57); Tampa Bay: Victor Hedman (23:23)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:03 of ice-time.

Face-offs

Isles 40, Tampa Bay 27 (60%).

John Tavares won 17 of 24 for the Isles; Steven Stamkos won 10 of 15 for Tampa Bay.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 16/25; 2nd period 15/24; 3rd period 9/18.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 32/52, Power play 3/7, Penalty kill 5/8.

Hit Count

Isles 19 (Casey Cizikas -3)  

Tampa Bay 10 (JT Miller -3)

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 12 shots (Ryan Pulock-2)

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 68, Tampa Bay 58 

5-on-5 Isles 49, Tampa Bay 45

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Josh Bailey and Thomas Hickey +10

Tampa Bay: Anton Stralman +8

Night and Day 

The Isles are 27-32-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.   All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen

Nick Leddy 151, Anders Lee 110, Brock Nelson 87, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 74.

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 151

(*) 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 -INJ, Ross Johnston 

Total games lost: 276

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 709*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 661

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. Anders Lee 122 

Assists

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

5.  John Tavares 347

…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Josh Bailey 251

Points

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

5.  John Tavares 614

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 374 

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 174 *** 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

Tampa Bay wins the season series two games to one (and four points to two). 

Tampa Bay has won 5 out of six from the Isles over the last two seasons, including all three games at Barclays Center.

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 31-25-5-3 heading into Friday's game in Syracuse.

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 has 12 games to play and Charlotte only 10.  Bridgeport visits Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Sunday afternoon.

Up Next

SATURDAY, MARCH 24th –CHICAGO AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 

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

Western Conference teams have generally had trouble winning at Barclays Center, but the Chicago Blackhawks have been victorious in each of their two prior trips to Brooklyn.

The Blackhawks earned an overtime win in the first game in Barclays Center history and the Hawks also won 5-4 in Brooklyn last season.

The Isles used a 5-point game from Ryan Pulock to defeat the Hawks 7-3 at United Center on January 20th in the only previous meeting this season.  That is the only Isles win in the last six games between the teams (1-3-2).  

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