The Skinny: Rangers 5, Isles 0

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 20

Rangers 5, Isles 0

Filip Chytil and Cody McLeod scored in the first 3:30 and that was more than the Rangers needed as they blanked the Isles 5-0 before a crowd of 17,297 at Madison Square Garden.

Alexandar Georgiev made 29 saves to record his first career shutout. It was the first time that the Rangers had blanked the Isles since April 13, 2013 when they did so on a Dan Girardi overtime goal at the Coliseum.

 

The loss snapped an eight-game Islander winning streak against the Rangers dating back to Opening Night of the 2016-17 season; it was the Isles' longest win streak vs. the Blueshirts in the history of the rivalry. The loss also is the Isles' first against a Metro Division opponent; they had gone 7-0-0 to start the season in divisional games.

Georgiev is the first Ranger other than Henrik Lundqvist to blank the Isles since Mike Dunham did so on St. Patrick's Day 2003.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Filip Chytil (5) Kevin Shattenkirk, Chris Kreider 00:29 NYI 0,NYR 1

Cody McLeod (1) Tony DeAngelo, Ryan Strome 03:30 NYI 0,NYR 2

Neal Pionk (4) Vladislav Namestnikov, Mika Zibanejad 08:04 NYI 0,NYR 3 PPG

2nd Period

Kevin Hayes (5) Kevin Shattenkirk 17:17 NYI 0,NYR 4

3rd Period

Chris Kreider (12) Mika Zibanejad 16:19 NYI 0,NYR 5

The Skinny  

Mathew Barzal's point streak ended at five games as he was blanked by the Rangers for the first time in six career meetings…The Isles have allowed 16 goals in the last three games (prior to Thursday they had allowed five goals in a game only once); it's the first time they have allowed at least five goals in three consecutive games since December 31, 2017-January 4, 2018…The Isles had been 7-0-0 in the division before tonight's loss; it's their best start ever in their own division…Filip Chytil became the 20th NHL teenager (and first Ranger) to score a goal in five straight games…Cody McLeod ended a 44-game scoreless streak before he left the game following a fight with Ross Johnston.. The Isles were shutout for the first time this season and will carry a 79:35 scoreless streak into Friday's game…Ryan Strome is the 74th player to play for both the Islanders and Rangers; he earned an assist in tonight's game for his first point as a Ranger…The Rangers have won seven straight games on home-ice by a combined 26-10 score.

Quicker off the Draw

The Isles edged the Rangers in face-offs, winning 27 of 53.  The Isles have now won the majority of draws in five consecutive games (157-132 in total or 54.3%).  This is the first time that they won the majority of draws in five straight games since  1/21-2/1/2011 (also five games).

Home for Thanksgiving

The Isles are in the midst of  a streak of seven consecutive games in the New York area; they are 2-2-0 in this stretch:

• Nov 13 vs Van Canucks 5-2 Win

• Nov 15 vs NY Rangers 7-5 Win

• Nov 18 vs Dallas 2-6 Loss

• Nov 21 @ NY Rangers 0-5 Loss

• Nov 23 @ NJ Devils

• Nov 24 vs Car Hurricanes

• Nov 26 vs Was Capitals

The only remaining game this month out of the metro area will be in Boston on November 29th.  That will be the final game before the Isles return to the Coliseum for the first time (in a regular season game) since April 2015.

Coach Trotz

Until Ken Hitchcock came out of retirement earlier this week, Barry Trotz was both the winningest and most experienced active NHL coach.  He is now second to Hitchcock in wins among active coaches. Trotz' NHL record is 772-576-60-136 in 1544 games.

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1244

2. Joel Quenneville  890

3. Ken Hitchcock    824

4. Al Arbour   782

5. Barry Trotz   772

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman  2141

2. Joel Quenneville 1636

3. Al Arbour   1607

4. Barry Trotz   1544

5. Ken Hitchcock   1537

Trotz will catch Al Arbour in games coached on Opening Night next season. If Quenneville doesn't return to coaching Trotz would pass him sometime in December 2019.

This Season vs. Last Season

This Season: 10-8-2 (22 points), with 63 goals scored and 60 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

Last Season: 11-7-2 (24 points), with 73 goals scored and 66 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

First Things First

The Isles are 7-2-2 when scoring first and 3-6-0 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles     11-5-13=29

Rangers  11-5-11=27

The Isles are 1-5-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 9-2-2 when they are outshot. 

Home and Road

The Islanders are 10-8-2 overall; 5-2-2 at home (all in Brooklyn) and 5-6-0 on the road.  The Isles will play 21 games in Uniondale and 20 games in Brooklyn this season.

The Rangers are 12-8-2 overall; 9-3-0 at home and 3-5-2 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 7-1-0 in Division games and 3-7-2 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 7-3-2 against the East and 3-5-0 against the West.  

In the Nets

Robin Lehner made 22 saves  but falls to 4-5-1 on the season and 2-5-2 in his career against the Rangers.

Alexandar Georgiev made 29 saves for his first career shutout as he improved to 4-2-0 on the season and 1-1-0 in his career against the Isles.

 

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-1 on the power play in 2:00 of PP time; The Rangers were 1-3 on the power play in 5:04 of PP time.

The Isles are 9-1-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 1-7-1 when they do not.  The Isles are 3-4-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 6-4-0 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 8-1-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-7-1 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 3-1-2 in games decided by a single goal including 1-1 in regulation. They are 1-1 in games decided in overtime and are 1-1 in shootouts.  The Isles are 1-2 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs 

The Isles are 1-1-0 in the front half and 2-0-0 in the back half. The next back-to-back is this weekend: Black Friday in New Jersey and at home vs. Carolina on November 23-24. 

 

Tired vs. Rested

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

• The Isles are 1-0-1 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 2-0-0 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 7-8-1 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (23:05); Rangers: Kevin Shattenkirk (21:51)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 22:02 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Ryan Pulock (8-3-2), Nick Leddy (2-4-0), Scott Mayfield (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 27, Rangers 26 (51%).

Valtteri Filppula won 10 of 17 for the Isles; Mika Zibanejad won  12 of 16 for the Rangers. 

Face-offs by period: 1st period  14/25; 2nd period 8/16; 3rd period 5/12.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 27/47, Power play 0/2, Penalty kill 0/4

Hit Count

Isles 38 (Leo Komarov and Adam Pelech -9)  

Rangers 24 (Chris Kreider & Brady Skjei -4)

Fights

Ross Johnston fought Cody McLeod in the second period. Season total – 4 (Scott Mayfield -2, Ross Johnston, Anders Lee).  

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 17 shots (Scott Mayfield -5).  

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 70, Rangers 51 

5-on-5 Isles 66, Rangers 36

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Mathew Barzal +18

Rangers: No Rangers was a "+", but Steven Fogarty was on for 12 shot attempts, all by the Isles. 

Matinee Isles

The Isles are 8-7-2 in night games and 2-1-0 in matinees. The next matinee is on Friday in Newark against the Devils. 

Ironmen

Anders Lee 138, Brock Nelson 115, Mathew Barzal 102

Scratches

(Matt Martin -IR, Andrew Ladd – IR, Casey Cizikas- IR), Cal Clutterbuck -ill , Luca Sbisa. 

Total games lost: 23

Late Heroes

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

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal twice 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.

11/8 – TB Lightning – Tyler Johnson scored the winning goal (18:34)

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 …

5. Bob Bourne 814***6. Mike Bossy 752 *** 7. Josh Bailey 735

Goals

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

16. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 17. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 18. Josh Bailey and Anders Lee 130…

24. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 27. Ray Ferraro 116 *** Brock Nelson 108

Assists

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

12. Pat LaFontaine 279***13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Josh Bailey 266

Points

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

12. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 396

Games Played (Goalies)

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

7. Glenn Healy 176 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136 *** 9.Thomas Greiss 131

Wins (Goalie)

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

5. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Thomas Greiss 68

Season Series Stats

The season series is tied one game to one (and 2 points to 2).  The teams will complete the season series with a home-and home series (January 10 at MSG, January 12 at Barclays) 

Despite the loss the Isles are 12-2-0 in their last 14 against the Rangers overall and are 9-4-0 in their last 13 visits to the Garden. 

On the Farm 

Bridgeport is 11-5-2-0 and has earned points in eight straight games (7-0-1-0).  The Sound Tigers are off until Friday when they host Hartford in the front-end of a home and home.  A home game with Springfield concludes their "3 in 3" weekend.

 

Leaders:  Goals: Michael Dal Colle (on recall to Isles) 7; Assists: Joshua Ho-Sang 15; Points: Devon Toews 17.  Goalies: Christopher Gibson 6-3-1 (3.70 GAA); Jeremy Smith 5-2-1 (2.80 GAA)

Up Next

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23rd –  ISLANDERS AT DEVILS 4:00PM 

[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 3:30pm), WRCN 103.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, Radio.com] 

The Isles will try to shake off these consecutive losses and get back on track when they face the Devils in Newark.

It's the second meeting of the season between the teams; the Isles blanked the Devs 3-0 back on November 3rd.  The Isles have had success in New Jersey in recent years, going 8-3-1 in the last 12 (although the Devils recorded a pair of one-goal victories on their home ice last season).

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