The Skinny: Washington 6, Isles 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 71

Washington 6, Isles 3

Alex Chiasson scored a goal and added two assists as Washington completed a sweep of the home-and-home series and defeated the Isles 6-3 before a sellout crowd of 18,506 at Capital One Arena.

Ross Johnston was ejected from the game as he was assessed 27 penalty minutes for a fight with Washington's Tom Wilson.

The Isles fall to 1-6-4 in their last 11 games.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

14:33 Washington PPG - T.J. Oshie (15) ASST: Alex Ovechkin (34), Evgeny Kuznetsov (49) 0-1

2ND PERIOD

05:30 New York PPG - Mathew Barzal (19) 1-1

07:12 Washington PPG - Nicklas Backstrom (19) ASST: Evgeny Kuznetsov (50), John Carlson (44) 1-2

17:55 Washington Matt Niskanen (5) ASST: Alex Chiasson (6), Nicklas Backstrom (37) 1-3

3RD PERIOD

01:46 Washington PPG - Alex Chiasson (8) ASST: Jakub Vrana (12), Dmitry Orlov (20) 1-4

10:56 Washington Jakub Vrana (13) ASST: Alex Chiasson (7) 1-5

13:52 New York PPG - Brock Nelson (17) ASST: Jordan Eberle (26), Ryan Pulock (17) 2-5

16:14 New York PPG - John Tavares (32) ASST: Mathew Barzal (53), Ryan Pulock (18) 3-5

18:02 Washington EN - Lars Eller (17) ASST: Jay Beagle (15) 3-6

The Skinny  

Isles are 15-24-8 since December 1st and fall below NHL-.500 (30-31-10); 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 allowed the opening goal for the first time in six games … The Isles have scored three goals or fewer in 14 of the last 15 games... Ryan Pulock's 25 points rank second among Islander defensemen, behind Nick Leddy's 40; he is the 11th rookie defenseman in Islander history with at least 25 points… The Caps improve to 24-0-1 when leading after one period…The Isles have been outscored 92-72 in the second period… Brock Nelson scored his 97th career goal; it's the first time since October that he has scored in consecutive games…The Isles allowed 13 goals in the back-to-back; it's the first time that they have allowed at least six goals in consecutive games since October 30-November 3, 2010 and the first time it's happened in a home-and-home since October 15-17, 1991 (vs. Pittsburgh)…Each team scored three power play goals in an Islander game for the first time since March 30, 2007 in Buffalo…Jaroslav Halak is 0-5-2 in his last seven decisions…Ross Johnston's 27 penalty minutes were the most by an Islander since Travis Hamonic had 32 on March 1, 2014 vs. New Jersey; tonight was the first game since that day that the Islanders allowed eight opponent power plays…The Isles' road power play improved from 16.5% to 18.5% with the three power play goals.  Their overall power play improved to 21.5%; the Isles haven't converted 20% of their power plays...Evgeny Kuznetsov reached 50 assists for the 2nd time in his career; he had five assists in the home-and-home… None of the 13 Caps goals in the two games were scored by Alex Ovechkin; Ovechkin did not have a goal in the season series against the Isles.  It's the first time that the Isles have held Ovechkin without a goal in four consecutive games.

The Injury

Cal Clutterbuck left the game with an injury and did not play in the third period.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with a team-leading 53 assists and a team-leading 72 points in 71 games, he is on pace for 61 assists and 83 points: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. MATHEW BARZAL 53 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 72 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 five rookies since 1995 with at least 53 assists in a season.  You'll recognize the names!

1. Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 63

2. Nicklas Backstrom WSH 2007-08 55

3. Alex Ovechkin WSH 2005-06 54

4. MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 53

He is also one of only seven rookies since 2000-01 with at least 72 points.

Most 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 Patrick Kane CHI 2007-08   72

  MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18   72

32 Goal Club

Anders Lee has 33 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.

53 Helpers

Mathew Barzal has 53 assists and Josh Bailey has 48. 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.

One and Done

The Isles are 16-2-4 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 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 10-23-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles               4-9-12=25

Washington 10-10-11=31

The Isles are 7-12-5 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 23-18-5 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 30-31-10 overall; 16-13-4 at home and 14-18-6 on the road.  

Washington is 41-23-7 overall; 25-9-2 at home and 16-14-5 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 10-11-2 in Division games and 20-20-8 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 17-22-3 against the East and 13-9-7 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 16-13-4 at home; they are 9-9-0 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 7-13-2 in their last 22 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 25 saves but falls to 18-23-6 on the season and 9-9-0 in his career against Washington. 

Braden Holtby made 22 saves to improve to 30-15-4 on the season and 14-4-3 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 3-5 on the power play in 7:44 of PP time; Washington was 3-8 on the power play in 11:46 time.

The Isles are 17-12-3 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 14-10-7 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 28-11-5 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 12-7-10 in games decided by a single goal including 3-7 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

Including tonight, 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 6-1-0 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: Adam Pelech (21:41); Washington: Matt Niskanen (22:19)

John Tavares led Isles forwards with 19:43 of ice-time.

Face-offs

Isles 30, Washington 36 (45%).

John Tavares won 14 of 24 for the Isles; Lars Eller won 9 of 13 for Washington.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 9/19; 2nd period 13/24; 3rd period 8/23.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 19/39, Power play 5/12, Penalty kill 6/15.

Hit Count

Isles 16 (Ryan Pulock -3).  

Washington 15 (Brooks Orpik-4)

Fights

Ross Johnston fought Tom Wilson in the second period. 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 (Adam Pelech-4)

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 57, Washington 60 

5-on-5 Isles 40, Washington 39

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Andrew Ladd +10

Washington: Brooks Orpik +9

Night and Day 

The Isles are 26-30-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.  All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen

Nick Leddy 148, Anders Lee 107, Brock Nelson 84, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 71.

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 148

(*) 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, Chris Wagner, Dennis Seidenberg  

Total games lost: 259

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 706*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 658

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 122 *** 20. Diane Sutter 120 *** 21 Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 *** 23. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 26. Anders Lee 117

Assists

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

5.  John Tavares 340

…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 16. Josh Bailey 248

Points

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

5. Brent Sutter 610 *** 6. John Tavares 607

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 370 

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 172 *** 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

Washington wins the season series three games to one (and six points to two). 

The Isles are 3-5-1 in their last nine games in DC.

On the Farm

Joshua Ho-Sang scored a goal and added an assist but the Sound Tigers allowed two third period goals in a 3-2 loss in Hershey.

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 (31-24-5-3) are five points behind Charlotte for the final playoff spot. Bridgeport hosts Providence on Sunday afternoon.

Up Next

SUNDAY, MARCH 18th –CAROLINA AT ISLANDERS 5:00PM 

[MSG+ (Islander pre-game at 4:30PM), WNYM 970AM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, WRCN 103.9FM]

The Isles begin a 5-game homestand as they entertain Carolina.  The last time the Isles saw Carolina was on February 16th; Thomas Greiss made 45 saves in a 3-0 shutout win.  Greiss was injured late in that game and has not played since.

The Isles are 2-1-0 against Carolina this season and have won four of the last five meetings between the teams.  The Isles are 6-3-1 in the last 10 games against the Canes.

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