The Skinny: Toronto 5, Isles 4

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 78

Toronto 5, Isles 4

Auston Matthews scored the game-winning goal with 3:59 to play and Frederik Andersen made 29 saves as he tied the Maple Leaf record for win by a goaltender (37- Ed Belfour & Andrew Raycroft) as Toronto defeated the Isles 5-4 before a crowd of 13,018 at Barclays Center.

The Isles went 1-7-0 at home in March, as they fall to 5-15-1 at home in 2018.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

12:04 New York Anthony Beauvillier (18) ASST: Jordan Eberle (31), Adam Pelech (14) 0-1

16:22 Toronto PPG - Nazem Kadri (31) ASST: Mitchell Marner (47), Morgan Rielly (44) 1-1

18:34 New York  PPG - Johnny Boychuk (6) ASST: Anthony Beauvillier (13), Brock Nelson (14) 1-2

2ND PERIOD

07:56 Toronto Nikita Zaitsev (5) ASST: Auston Matthews (25), Jake Gardiner (42) 2-2

10:45 New York Brock Nelson (19) ASST: Andrew Ladd (16), Adam Pelech (15) 2-3

17:18 Toronto Mitchell Marner (22) ASST: Jake Gardiner (43), Nazem Kadri (23) 3-3

3RD PERIOD

02:01 Toronto James van Riemsdyk (36) ASST: Ron Hainsey (19) 4-3

06:28 New York PPG - John Tavares (34) ASST: Anders Lee (22), Jordan Eberle (32) 4-4

16:02 Toronto Auston Matthews (31) ASST: William Nylander (39), Zach Hyman (24) 5-4

The Skinny  

Isles are 17-29-8 since December 1st …Anthony Beauvillier's goal gives the Isles seven players with at least 18 goals for the first time since 1993-94; Beauvillier has doubled last season's goal output (9).. Anders Lee earned his career-high 22nd assist as he remains at 39 goals …The Isles went 2-3 on the power play.  The power play is operating at 22.8%; the Isles will finish the season having converted 20% of their power plays over a full season for the first time since 1993-94 (20.1%)… The Isles are 3-11-4 in their last 17 games… This was the Isles' final game vs. a Canadian opponent; the Isles finished 6-7-4 North of the Border this year…Mitch Marner extended his point streak to 11 games as the Leafs reached the 100 point mark… Josh Bailey sat out the game with an injury; he remains tied with Patrick Flatley for 7th place on the all-time Isles games played list (712)…Adam Pelech had a pair of assists… A goal was deflected into the Isles' goal off an Islander defenseman for the fourth straight game ..Brock Nelson recorded his 99th career goal with his 19th goal of the season; he is one goal shy of his fourth consecutive 20-goal season…The Isles can not finish above .500 as they are now 32-36-10 on the season; the Isles have fallen under .500 at home(17-18-4) after starting the season 8-0-2 in Brooklyn.

Lottery Update

In addition to their own picks, the Isles own Calgary's first two picks in the upcoming entry draft.  At the end of play Friday, the Isles held the 8th and 11th picks heading into the upcoming draft lottery, giving them a 9.0% chance of winning the lottery.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with a team-leading 58 assists and 78 points in 78 games, he is on pace for 61 assists and 82 points: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. MATHEW BARZAL 58 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 78 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 1983-84 with at least 58 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. MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 58

He is also one of only five rookies since 2000-01 with at least 78 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

MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18   78

34 Goal Club

Anders Lee has 39 goals and John Tavares has 34.  They are the first Islander teammates with at least 34 goals since Pierre Turgeon, Steve Thomas and Benoit Hogue all did so in 1993-94 and the first to combine for at least 73 goals since Ziggy Palffy (48) and Bryan Smolinski (28) had 76 in 1996-97.

39 Goal Club

Anders Lee is only the 2nd Islander in the last 20 years to score 39 goals in a season:

1. Jason Blake 40 2006-07

2.    ANDERS LEE 39 2017-18

Lee is also the first Islander with multiple 34+ goal seasons since Ziggy Palffy (1995-96 to 1997-98). 

58 Helpers

Mathew Barzal has 58 assists; it's the highest total by an Islander since Pierre 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.

Pulock Moving up on Rookie Season Lists Too!

Pulock 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'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). 

Five's Trouble

The Isles have allowed at least five goals 13 times at home (1-10-2) and 22 times overall (1-19-2).  

First Things First

The Isles have scored first 36 times this season (22-9-5). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season but are only 11-9-5 in the last 25 games that they scored first.

First Goal 

The Isles are 22-9-5 when they score first and are 10-27-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    11-11-11=33

Toronto 11-12-9=32

The Isles are 8-15-5 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 24-20-5 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 32-36-10 overall; 17-18-4 at home and 15-18-6 on the road.  

Toronto is 47-24-7 overall; 27-9-2 at home and 20-15-5 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 11-12-2 in Division games and 21-24-8 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 19-26-3 against the East and 13-10-7 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 17-18-4 at home; they are 10-14-0 against the East and 7-4-4 against the West.  However, after opening the season 8-0-2 on home ice, the Isles are 9-18-2 in their last 29 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets

Christopher Gibson made 27 saves but falls to 2-3-2 on the season in his first career appearance against Toronto. 

Frederik Andersen made 29 saves and improves to 37-20-5 on the season and 6-1-1 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 2-3 on the power play in 5:19 of PP time; Toronto was 1-2 on the power play in 2:07 of PP time.

The Isles are 19-15-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-21-7 when they do not.  The Isles are 17-25-3 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 30-14-5 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-22-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 13-10-10 in games decided by a single goal including 4-10 in regulation. They are 6-7 in games decided in overtime and are 3-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-4 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 6-10-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 6-8-1 on the back-end.   The final back-to-back set of the season concludes Saturday in New Jersey.

 

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 3-4-0 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 19-26-9 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Mathew Barzal (21:13); Toronto: Ron Hainsey (23:53)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 21:13 of ice-time.

Face-offs

Isles 25, Toronto 30 (45%).

No Isle who took multiple draws won more than he lost; William Nylander won 8 of 9 for Toronto.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 8/19; 2nd period 6/14; 3rd period 11/22.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 20/47, Power play 2/4, Penalty kill 3/4.

Hit Count

Isles 13 (3 with 2)  

Toronto 14 (Connor Carrick -3)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 15: (Johnston 4, Boychuk 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1, Clutterbuck 1, Seidenberg 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 21 shots (Brandon Davidson -5)

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 58, Toronto 66 

5-on-5 Isles 37, Toronto 54

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Mathew Barzal +2

Toronto: William Nylander & Auston Matthews +16

Night and Day 

The Isles are 28-35-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.   All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen

Anders Lee 114, Brock Nelson 91, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 78.

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Alan Quine-IR), Casey Cizikas-INJ, Josh Bailey-INJ, Jaroslav Halak, Scott Mayfield

Total games lost: 304

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 

…

6. Mike Bossy 752 *** 7.  Patrick Flatley & Josh Bailey 712*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 665

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 269

…

17. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Josh Bailey 124 *** 20. Anders Lee 123 

Assists

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

5.  John Tavares 348

…

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 617

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 375 

Games Played (Goalies)

1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 *** 4. Kelly Hrudey 241 ***

5. Tommy Salo 187 *** 6. Glenn Healy and Jaroslav Halak 176 

…

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 87 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 

9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats

Toronto wins the season series three games to none (and six points to one). 

The Leafs have won four straight games from the Isles; it's their longest streak since 1999, when Toronto won all five games played in that calendar year.

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 33-27-5-3 after splitting a pair of games this week.  On Wednesday, the Sound Tigers beat Hershey 6-4, but Bridgeport was blanked 5-0 in Springfield on Friday.

 

Travis St. Denis leads the team in both goals (22) and points (43). Christopher Gibson (on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

Bridgeport heads to Hartford on Saturday.

 

Up Next

SATURDAY, MARCH 31ST – ISLANDERS AT NEW JERSEY 7:00PM 

[MSG+2 (Islander pre-game at 6:30PM), WNYM 970AM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

The Islanders will look to avoid a third straight loss to New Jersey for the first time in over five years as they look to earn a split of the season series with the Devils.

The Isles rallied for a shootout win against New Jersey on January 7th but have scored just one goal in each of the last two games against the Devs.

While the Isles have been struggling at home recently, the Isles have earned points in five of their six road games in March (2-1-3).

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