The Skinny: Isles 2, Rangers 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 81

Isles 2, Rangers 1

Thomas Hickey and Anthony Beauvillier scored 2:32 apart in the second period to overcome a 1-0 Ranger lead and Jaroslav Halak made 34 saves as the Islanders closed out the home season by defeating the Rangers 2-1 before a crowd of 14,152 at Barclays Center.

The win allowed the Islanders to finish with an above-NHL .500 record on home-ice (19-18-4) as they swept the season series from the Rangers for the second time in three seasons.  The Isles are 6-0-0 in Brooklyn all-time against the Blueshirts.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

04:25 New York PPG - Kevin Hayes (25) ASST: Brady Skjei (21), Mats Zuccarello (37) 0-1

2ND PERIOD

04:55 New York Thomas Hickey (5) ASST: Mathew Barzal (61) 1-1

07:27 New York Anthony Beauvillier (21) ASST: Andrew Ladd (17), Brock Nelson (16) 2-1

3RD PERIOD

No Scoring

The Skinny  

Isles are 19-30-8 since December 1st … Anthony Beauvillier's goal gives the Isles five players with at least 21 goals for the first time since 1993-94. Since New Year's Day, Beauvillier leads the team in goals (17), including goals in the last five games... Beauvillier is the 25th NHL player to have a 5-game goal streak this season (and the first Islander)…Anders Lee was held goalless for the fourth straight game as he remains at 39 goals; Lee was originally credited with the Isles' first goal but it was changed after replays showed the puck went in off a Ranger …The Isles went 0-2 on the power play.  The power play is operating at 23.0%; 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%); however the penalty kill remains at 73.5%, which would be the worst in club history (73.6% in 1988-89) and the lowest by any NHL team since Ottawa killed 73.3% in 1993-94… The Isles are 5-12-4 in their last 21 games; they have recorded consecutive wins for the first time since mid-February.… Mathew Barzal's assist tied him with John Tavares for the club lead in points with 8; he also tied Vladimir Malakhov's club rookie record with his 10th point against the Rangers.  Barzal is the only NYR opponent with ten points against them this season. …Thomas Hickey's goal gave him a career-high 24 points… The Isles have allowed 290 goals, most since Philadelphia allowed 297 in 2006-07…Kevin Hayes' goal gave the Rangers two centers with 25+ goals for the first time since Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky did so in 1996-97…The Isles improve to 25-13-7 all-time in home finales, including 5-1-0 against the Rangers.

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 Thursday, the Isles held the 10th pick and 12th pick heading into the upcoming draft lottery, giving them a 6% chance of winning the lottery.

The Isles will have somewhere between the 7th seed and 10th seed based on their finish and either the 11th or 12th seed, based on Calgary's finish.

The combined percentages mean that the Isles will have somewhere between a 6% and 9.5% chance of winning the lottery.

21/21/21

Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier have now both reached the 21-goal mark. They are the first duo in Islander history to each 21 games in the same season, prior to reaching their 21st birthday.  Toronto is the only team in the NHL to have two players with 21 goals at that young of an age.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; he has a team-leading 61 assists and 83 points and needs two assists on Saturday to tie Bryan Trottier's franchise record.

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. MATHEW BARZAL 61 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 83 2017-18 

Barzal will join Denis Potvin as the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in assists; he is tied with John Tavares for the club lead in points.  Billy Harris, Potvin, Trent Hunter (tied) and John Tavares are the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in points.

Barzal Earning an "A" in History

Mathew Barzal is one of only eight rookies in NHL history with at least 60 assists in a season.   

1. Joe Juneau BOS 1992-93 70

Peter Stastny QUE 1980-81 70

3. Bryan Trottier NYI 1975-76 63

Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 63

5. Sergei Makarov CGY 1989-90 62

6. MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 61

7. Neal Broten MIN  1981-82 60

Larry Murphy LA 1980-81 60

The Isles are the only team in National Hockey League history to have two rookies record 60-assist seasons.

He is also one of only four rookies since 2000-01 with at least 83 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 MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18   83

36 Goal Club

Anders Lee has 39 goals and John Tavares has 36.  They are the first Islander teammates with at least 36 goals since Pierre Turgeon, Steve Thomas and Benoit Hogue all did so in 1993-94 and the first to combine for at least 75 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). 

61 Helpers

Mathew Barzal has 61 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 the 8th Islander rookie defenseman to record 30 points in his rookie season. 

Three's Company

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

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals 12 times at home (10-2-0) and 19 times overall (18-2-0). 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 38 times this season (23-10-5). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season but are only 12-10-5 in the last 27 games that they scored first.

First Goal 

The Isles are 23-10-5 when they score first and are 11-27-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles      8-5-9=22

Rangers 8-13-14=35

The Isles are 9-15-5 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 25-21-5 when they are outshot.  (The 25 wins while being outshot ties the club record, set by the 1983-84 team)

Home and Road

The Islanders are 34-37-10 overall; 19-18-4 at home and 15-19-6 on the road.  

Rangers is 34-38-9 overall; 21-16-4 at home and 13-21-5 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 13-13-2 in Division games and 21-24-8 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 21-27-3 against the East and 13-10-7 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 19-18-4 at home; they are 11-14-0 against the East and 7-4-4 against the West.  However, after opening the season 8-0-2 on home ice, the Isles went 11-18-2 in their last 31 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 34 saves to improve to 20-26-6 on the season and 18-7-0 (with a .929 save percentage) in his career against the Rangers.  Halak went 4-0-0 against the Rangers this season.

Ondrej Pavelec made 20 saves but falls to 4-9-1 on the season and 4-9-3 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play in 2:49 of PP time; Rangers was 1-4 on the power play in 6:22 of PP time.

The Isles are 20-16-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 14-21-7 when they do not.  The Isles are 19-26-3 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 31-15-5 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-22-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 15-11-10 in games decided by a single goal including 6-11 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

The Isles went 6-10-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 6-9-1 on the back-end this season.

 

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 3-5-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 22-26-9 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Brandon Davidson (22:05); Rangers: Brady Skjei (23:18)

Anders Lee led Isles forwards with 18:20 of ice-time.

Face-offs

Isles 23, Rangers 23 (50%).

Chris Wagner won 5 of 8 for the Isles; Filip Chytil won 7 of11 for Rangers. 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 8/13; 2nd period 8/18; 3rd period 7/15.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 20/37, Power play 0/2, Penalty kill 3/7.

Hit Count

Isles 26 (Ross Johnston-5)  

Rangers 14 (Rob O'Gara-4)

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 17 shots (Brandon Davidson-3).

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 44, Rangers 61 (including 12-1 Rangers in the final 5:56)

5-on-5 Isles 41, Rangers 46

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Andrew Ladd +7

Rangers: Vladislav Namestnikov +9

Night and Day 

The Isles are 30-36-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.

Ironmen

Anders Lee 117, Brock Nelson 94, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 81.

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Alan Quine-IR), Casey Cizikas-INJ, Tanner Fritz-INJ, Johnny Boychuk-INJ, Scott Mayfield

Total games lost: 321

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 challenged an Islander goal due to an offside this season.

7-11

The Isles have used 7 defensemen six times this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ, 1/16 vs. NJ, 3/2 vs. MTL, 3/30 vs. TOR, 3/31 @NJ) and are 2-4-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-4-0 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. Josh Bailey 714*** 8. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 668

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 271

…

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 349

…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Josh Bailey 252

Points

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

5.  John Tavares 618

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 376 

Games Played (Goalies)

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

5. Tommy Salo 187 *** 6. Jaroslav Halak 177 

…

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 117

Wins (Goalie)

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

5. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 

9. Thomas Greiss 61

Season Series Stats

The Isles win the season series four games to none (and eight points to one). 

The Isles are 11-1-0 in their last 12 games against the Rangers.

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 35-27-5-3 heading into a 3-in-3 weekend that begins on Friday in Wilkes-Barre.

 

Travis St. Denis leads the team in both goals (23) and points (44). Christopher Gibson is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

The Sound Tigers have six games remaining; they will be played in two three-in-three weekends.  This weekend, following Friday's game at Wilkes-Barre, the Sound Tigers will host Providence on Saturday and host the baby Penguins on Sunday.  

Up Next

SATURDAY, APRIL 7th -- ISLANDERS AT DETROIT 7:00PM 

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

The Isles will close out the 2017-18 season as they make their first visit to Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

The teams have split a pair of games in Brooklyn this season, including a memorable come-from-behind 7-6 win on February 9th.

And Finally…

Congratulations to Stan Fischler, who worked his final NHL game only 27,540 days after attending his first NHL game.  Most people know him as "The Maven"; "The Mensch" would have worked just as nicely. 

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