The Skinny: Nashville 4, Isles 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 2

Nashville 4, Isles 3

Viktor Arvidsson scored two goals and Juuse Saros made 26 saves as the Nashville Predators held on for a 4-3 win over the Islanders, spoiling the home opener before a crowd of 12,517 at Barclays Center.

The Isles outshot the reigning President's Trophy champions 22-11 over the 40 minutes but could not find the equalizer.  Josh Bailey and Mathew Barzal each had multi-point games for the Isles.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

3:42         Viktor Arvidsson (1) Assists: Filip Forsberg, P.K. Subban 0-1

12:01 Mathew Barzal (1) Assists: Josh Bailey 1-1

16:56 Mattias Ekholm (1) Assists: P.K. Subban, Colton Sissons 1-2

2ND PERIOD

2:46         Valtteri Filppula (2) Assists: Tanner Fritz, Luca Sbisa 2-2 

13:30 Craig Smith (1) Assists: Kyle Turris, Ryan Ellis 2-3

16:42 Viktor Arvidsson (2) Assists: Ryan Johansen, Anthony Bitetto 2-4

19:31 Anders Lee (1) (Power Play) Assists: Josh Bailey, Mathew Barzal 3-4

 

3RD PERIOD

No Goals Scored

The Skinny  

Valtteri Filppula scored for the second straight game; Luca Sbisa earned his first point on the play…Captain Anders Lee scored his first goal of the season on a power play, tying Josh Bailey as the leading goal scorer among all active Islanders (125) …Mat Barzal had a goal and an assist, but finished -3 as he was on-ice for all four Predator goals; Anthony Beauvillier was also on for all four goals…The Isles allowed only 23 Predator shots (half of what they allowed in Carolina) and the Preds had only 37 attempts; the Isles allowed more than 37 attempts in 81 of 82 games each of the last two seasons…Brock Nelson played his 400th NHL game…Ryan Pulock celebrated his 24th birthday…Colton Sissons played 16:24 for Nashville, including 11:16 when Barzal was also on the ice…The Isles scored a power play goal and did not allow a goal while shorthanded for the second straight game; it's only the second time in the last 14 seasons (January 2013) that the Isles have scored a PP goal in each of their first two games while not allowing a goal on their PK.

 

For Openers

The Isles lose their home opener for the first time since January 19, 2013 (2-1 to New Jersey).  The Isles are 27-13-6 all-time in home openers.

 

The Western World

This was the first of 6 straight games against the West.  The Isles are playing their entire season series with both Nashville and San Jose in these six games.  The Isles are 0-1-0 in this stretch:

• 10/6 Lost 4-3 to NSH Predators

• 10/8 Vs. SJ Sharks

• 10/13 @ NSH Predators

• 10/17 @ ANA Ducks

• 10/18 @ LA Kings

• 10/20 @ SJ Sharks

99'ers

Brock Nelson has 99 career goals; Thomas Greiss has 99 career wins.

First Things First

The Isles are 1-0-0 when scoring first and 0-1-0 when allowing the first tally. Last season, the Isles were 23-10-5 when they scored first and were 12-27-5 when they allowed the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles          7-15-7=29

Nashville  12-6-5=23

The Isles are 0-1-0 when they outshoot their opponents and 1-0-0 when they are outshot.  Last season, the Isles were 10-15-5 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 tied the club record, set by the 1983-84 team)

Home and Road

The Islanders are 1-1-0 overall; 0-1-0 at home (all in Brooklyn) and 1-0-0 on the road.  

Nashville is 2-0-0 overall; 0-0-0 at home and 2-0-0 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 1-0-0 in Division games and 0-1-0 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 1-0-0 against the East and 0-1-0 against the West.  

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 19 saves but falls to 1-1-0 on the season and 3-5-0 in his career against Nashville.  

Juuse Saros made 26 save to improve to 1-0-0 on the season and 2-1-0 in his career against the Isles.

 

Power Plays

The Isles were 1-4 on the power play in 6:35 of PP time; Nashville was 0-1 on the power play in 1:40 of PP time.

The Isles are 1-1-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 0-0-0 when they do not.  The Isles are 0-0-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 1-1-0 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 0-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-0-0 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 1-1-0 in games decided by a single goal including 0-1 in regulation. They are 1-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-0 in shootouts.  The Isles are 0-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs

The Isles will play 13 back-to-backs this season.  The first back-to-back is in Anaheim and Los Angeles on October 17-18.

 

Tired vs. Rested

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

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

• The Isles are 0-0-0 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 1-1-0 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (23:11); Nashville: PK Subban (25:09).  

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:46 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Pulock (1-0-0), Leddy (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 31, Nashville 25 (55%).

Valtteri Fillpula won 7 of 10 for the Isles; Colton Sissons won 9 of 14 for Nashville. 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 9/14; 2nd period 13/22; 3rd period 9/20.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 27/47, Power play 3/6, Penalty kill 1/3.

Hit Count

Isles 18 (Matt Martin -6)  

Nashville 28 (Zac Rinald0-6)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 0.  The Isles had 15 fights last season; Ross Johnston led the team with four.

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 7 shots (7 with 1).

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 53, Nashville 37 

5-on-5 Isles 37, Nashville 34

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Adam Pelech +8

Nashville: Craig Smith +8

Night and Day 

The Isles are 1-1-0 in night games and 0-0-0 in matinees. The first matinee of the season is Monday vs. San Jose (1:00)

Ironmen

Anders Lee 120, Brock Nelson 97, Mathew Barzal 84. 

Scratches

(Andrew Leddy-IR), Scott Mayfield, Ross Johnston, Tom Kuhnhackl

Total games lost:2

Late Heroes

The Isles have not yet scored the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal one time in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:

10/4 – CAR Hurricanes – Jordan Staal tied game (18:25), but Isles won in overtime.

Offside Challenges

The Isles have not challenged a goal due to an offside this season. 

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 717

Goals

1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …

17. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Josh Bailey and Anders Lee 125 

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Josh Bailey 255

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 380

Games Played (Goalies)

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

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 120

Wins (Goalie)

1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…

6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Thomas Greiss 63

Season Series Stats

Nashville leads the season series one game to none (and 2 points to 0). The teams will conclude the season series next week in Nashville.

The regulation loss was the Isles' first in the last four games against Nashville.

 

On the Farm

Kieffer Bellows scored his first professional goal and fellow former first round picks Michael Dal Colle and Joshua Ho-Sang each had two points, but Bridgeport dropped their season opener 6-3 to Lehigh Valley on Saturday.  Bridgeport visits Hershey on Sunday before opening the home season with matinees against Rochester on both October 13 and 14.

 

Up Next

MONDAY, OCTOBER 8th—SAN JOSE AT ISLANDERS  1:00PM 

[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 12:30pm), WRCN 103.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, Radio.com] 

  

The Islanders conclude the brief two-game homestand as they welcome the Sharks to Barclay's Center in a holiday matinee. 

The teams have alternated sweeps of the season series in the last three seasons, with all games played before the end of November.  Former Shark Thomas Greiss beat San Jose twice in a week last season; the Isles also swept in 2015-16 with San Jose winning a pair in 2016-17.

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