The Skinny: Isles 3, Dallas 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 35

Isles 3, Dallas 1

Anders Lee scored a third period power play goal to break a 1-1 tie as the Isles headed to the Christmas break with a 3-1 victory over the Dallas Stars before a crowd of 18,031 at American Airlines Center.

The Isles head to Christmas off a 3-1-0 road trip, and they have the identical record thru 35 games that they had last season: 18-13-4.

The Scoring:  

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

Tyler Pitlick (4) Mattias Janmark, Jason Spezza 06:20 NYI 0,DAL 1

Casey Cizikas (9)14:10 NYI 1,DAL 1

3rd Period

Anders Lee (13) Nick Leddy, Mathew Barzal 08:50 NYI 2,DAL 1 PPG

Leo Komarov (4)EN 19:00 NYI 3,DAL 1

The Skinny    

Devon Toews made his NHL debut and played 18:05. Toews had three shots on goals, seven attempts and finished +1…Tyler Pitlick's goal was his first in 17 games…Casey Cizikas' tying goal was his 9th of the season, matching his career high (in 70 games in 2014-15)…The Isles improve to 4-1-0 in their last five games, both on the road and overall …Anders Lee regained the team lead in goals (13); he has seven of the team's 17 power play goals…Mathew Barzal's assist on the winning goal gives him the team lead in both assists (24) and points (29) at the break…Leo Komarov's empty-netter was his first goal in 17 games…The Isles have an identical record as last season through 35 games; including shootout winners they have scored 24 fewer goals and allowed 27 fewer goals than last year's first 35 games…The Isles have earned 21 points in 19 road games this season; they had only 21 points through 24 road games last season…The Isles have allowed 1 goal or fewer nine times this season; they allowed 1 goal or fewer eight times last season.

The Injury

Cal Clutterbuck left in the first period with an injury and did not return.

Streaking Lehner

Robin Lehner has won consecutive starts for the first time since October 28-November 1, when he suffered an injury against Pittsburgh.  Lehner has allowed only seven goals in his last five games (2-1-2, 1.37 GAA, .948 save percentage)

Most times allowing 0 or 1 goals (excluding shootouts) in first 35 games

• 1975-76 12

• 1976-77 11

• 2001-12 11

• 2018-19 11

The Isles allowed one goal or fewer only nine times all last season (three times in first 35 games).  They allowed one goal or fewer three times on this road trip.

Fewest Goals Allowed This Season (Including SO goals)

1. Nashville 95

2. Boston 96

3. ISLES 98

Fewest Goals Allowed This Season (excluding SO goals)

1. Nashville 94

2. ISLES 95

3. Boston 96

Heading Home for Christmas…After This Four-Game Road Trip

The Isles finish their four-game road trip with a record of 3-1-0:

12/17- Beat COL Avalanche 4-1

12/18- Beat  ARI Coyotes 3-1

12/19- Lost  VEG Golden Knights 2-4

12/22- Beat DAL Stars 3-1

Last 30 Seasons: Most Goals by an Islander Before 22nd Birthday:

1. John Tavares 84

2. Anthony Beauvillier 41

Beauvillier's 22nd birthday is not until June.

Last 30 Seasons: Most Assists and Points by an Islander Before 22nd Birthday:

1. John Tavares 118 assists, 202 points

2. Mathew Barzal 87 assists, 114 points

Barzal's 22nd birthday is not until May.

USA Hockey

Anders Lee's winning goal was the 137th of his career, leaving him two goals behind Kyle Okposo.  Okposo is 2nd on the Islander goal-scoring list among American-born players, trailing only Pat LaFontaine.

Chasing Al

Among active coaches, Barry Trotz has coached the most games and is 2nd to Ken Hitchcock in wins. Trotz' NHL record is 780-581-60-138 in 1560 games and is now just two wins behind Al Arbour on the all-time win list.

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1244

2. Joel Quenneville  890

3. Ken Hitchcock    832 

4. Al Arbour   782

5. Barry Trotz   780

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman  2141

2. Joel Quenneville 1636

3. Al Arbour   1607

4. Barry Trotz   1559

5. Ken Hitchcock   1552

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: 18-13-4 (40 points), with 101 goals scored and 98 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

Last Season: 18-13-4 (40 points), with 125 goals scored and 125 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

First Things First

The Isles are 10-5-4 when scoring first and 8-8-0 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    9-9-10=28

Dallas 7-7-6=20

The Isles are 3-8-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 15-4-3 when they are outshot. 

Home and Road

The Islanders are 18-13-4 overall; 8-5-3 at home (2-0-1 on Long Island and 6-5-2 in Brooklyn) and 10-8-1 on the road.  The Isles will play 21 games in Uniondale and 20 games in Brooklyn this season.

Dallas is 18-16-3 overall; 11-5-1 at home and 7-11-2 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 10-3-1 in Division games and 8-10-3 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 12-5-4 against the East and 6-8-0 against the West.  

In the Nets

Robin Lehner made 19 saves to improve to 6-6-3 on the season and 2-5-1 in his career against Dallas.   

Anton Khudobin made 25 saves but falls to 6-7-2 on the season and 3-5-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 1-3 on the power play in 5:25 of PP time; Dallas was 0-1 on the power play in 2:00 of PP time. 

The Isles are 13-1-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 5-12-3 when they do not.  The Isles are 6-9-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 11-4-1 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 16-1-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-12-3 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 7-2-4 in games decided by a single goal including 3-2 in regulation. They are 2-1 in games decided in overtime and are 2-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 2-4 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs 

The Isles are 3-1-0 in the front half and 4-0-0 in the back half.  The next back-to-back is December 28th vs. Ottawa and December 29th in Toronto.

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 1-0-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 2-0-1 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 4-0-0 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 11-13-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (22:31); Dallas: Esa Lindell (25:41)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 19:52 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Ryan Pulock (10-6-3), Nick Leddy (6-6-1), Scott Mayfield (2-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 22,Dallas 29 (43%).  

No Islander who took more than three face-offs won more than he lost; Jason Spezza won 10 of 11 for Dallas. 

Face-offs by period: 1st period  9/16; 2nd period 5/16; 3rd period 8/19

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 17/45, Power play 4/5, Penalty kill 1/1.

Hit Count

Isles 11 (Three with 2)  

Dallas 20 (Blake Comeau-4)

   

Fights

There were no fights. Season total –8 (Scott Mayfield -3, Ross Johnston-2, Josh Bailey, Johnny Boychuk, Anders Lee).  

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 9 shots (Ryan Pulock -2).  

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 59, Dallas 38

5-on-5 Isles 47, Dallas 34

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Mathew Barzal +13

Dallas: Tyler Seguin +7

Matinee Isles

The Isles are 15-12-4 in night games and 3-1-0 in matinees. The next matinee is on January 12th vs. the Rangers. 

Ironmen

Anders Lee 153, Brock Nelson 130, Mathew Barzal 117

Scratches

(Andrew Ladd – IR), (Thomas Hickey- IR), (Tom Kuhnhackl-INJ), Ross Johnston, Johnny Boychuk (paternity)

Total games lost: 61

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 four times 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)

11/23 – NJ Devils – Marcus Johansson tied game (19:49), but Isles won in overtime.

12/15- DET Red Wings – Thomas Vanek tied game (18:57), but Isles won in a shootout.

Comeback Kids

The Isles are 3-3-0 when trailing in a game by a 2-0 score, defeating NYR (11/15), CBJ (12/1) and DET (12/8); all three wins have been in regulation.

The Isles are 6-1-1 when scoring the game's first two goals.

Offside Challenges

12/8 vs DET Red Wings – Red Wings goal overturned after successful Isles challenge.

12/20 vs VEG Golden Knights – Golden Knights goal overturned after successful Isles challenge.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900 *** 4. Clark Gillies 872 *** 

5. Bob Bourne 814***6. Mike Bossy 752 *** 7. Josh Bailey 750

Goals

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

16. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 17. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 18.  Anders Lee 137 ***19. Josh Bailey 131…

24. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 27. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 28. Brock Nelson 111

Assists

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

12. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Josh Bailey 274

Points

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

12. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 405

Games Played (Goalies)

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

7. Glenn Healy 176 *** 8. Thomas Greiss 141

Wins (Goalie)

1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130*** 4. Kelly Hrudey 108***

5. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Thomas Greiss 74

Season Series Stats

The teams split the season series one game to one (and 2 points to 2).   

Tonight's win broke a three-game losing streak to Dallas in which the Stars had outscored the Isles 16-4. 

On the Farm 

The Sound Tigers closed out the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule by splitting a pair of games in Charlotte against the team with the best record in the AHL.

On Friday, Bridgeport beat Charlotte 6-1 as Steve Bernier scored twice in the first period and Michael Dal Colle added his club-leading (and career-high) 16th goal in the 2nd period. Scott Eansor had Bridgeport's only goal on Saturday in a 3-1 defeat; he also scored on Friday.

Bridgeport is 18-9-4-1 and has earned points in 18 of their last 22 games (14-4-3-1). The Sound Tigers will end 2018 with  3-games in 3-nights beginning on Thursday against Hartford. 

Leaders:  Goals: Michael Dal Colle 16 (tied-4th in AHL) ; Assists: Sebastian Aho/Joshua Ho-Sang 20; Points: Dal Colle 25.  Goalies: Jeremy Smith 9-5-1 (2.71 GAA); Christopher Gibson 9-4-4 (3.07 GAA)

Up Next

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28th –OTTAWA AT ISLANDERS AT BARCLAYS CENTER 7:00PM 

[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 6:30pm), WRCN 103.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, Radio.com] 

The Isles will spend the final weekend of 2018 playing the two teams from Ontario, beginning on Friday when they entertain Ottawa at Barclays Center.

It's the first meeting of the season between the teams, who will finish their head-to-head schedule with a home-and-home series in early March. 

The Isles have won three of the last four games between the teams; the road team won all three games last season.

Following this game, the Islanders will head to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs for the first time this 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