The Skinny: Isles 4, Colorado 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 32

Isles 4, Colorado 1

Johnny Boychuk and Anders Lee scored second period power play goals and Jordan Eberle added a goal and an assist as the Isles defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 before a crowd of 15,066 at Pepsi Center.  

Along the way, the Isles snapped Mikko Rantanen's 14-game point streak and held the Avs to just a single goal; it's only the 4th time this season that the Avs have been held to one goal or fewer (Nashville, Tampa Bay x2)

The Scoring: 

1st Period

Jordan Eberle (7) Brock Nelson, Anders Lee 18:20 NYI 1,COL 0

2nd Period

Johnny Boychuk (1) Ryan Pulock, Josh Bailey 02:07 NYI 2,COL 0 PPG

Gabriel Landeskog (22) Tyson Barrie, Nathan MacKinnon 06:45 NYI 2,COL 1 PPG

Anders Lee (12) Nick Leddy, Jordan Eberle 18:25 NYI 3,COL 1 PPG

3rd Period

Valteri Filppula (8) Ryan Pulock 17:36  NYI 4,COL 1 ENG

The Skinny  

The Isles' power play had scored only five goals since November 1 but has scored three times in the last two games.… The Isles allowed a power play goal on the opponent's first chance for the third straight game... The Isles move back into third place, tying Pittsburgh in points but holding a game-in-hand. The Isles won 3 of 6 face-offs on the power play and have won 24 of 32 on the power play over the last five games after winning only 20 of 43 over the prior nine games…Johnny Boychuk led the Isles with six shots – matching a season high for an Isles defensemen; his game-winning goal was his 1st goal since March 30th…Jordan Eberle scored for the first time in 11 games; Valtteri Filppula scored for the first time in nine games…Mathew Barzal's assist streak ended at four games…Anders Lee drew two penalties; he has drawn 10 penalties this season…The Isles have won 14 games when outshot, tying Toronto for the most in the NHL…The Isles are now just one point off last season's pace; including shootout winners they have scored 19 fewer goals and allowed 21 fewer goals than last year's first 32 games…The Isles have earned 17 points in 16 road games this season; they had only 17 points through 22 road games last season…Thomas Greiss has won three straight, allowing only six goals on 77 shots (92.0%, 1.93 GAA).  Greiss now has 12 wins, one shy of last year's total and has lowered his goals against average to 2.50...The Isles have won two straight and moved to four games over NHL-.500 for the sixth time this season; they are have gone 0-4-1 in their prior five attempts to go to five games over .500.

The Injuries

Thomas Hickey left the game with an upper body injury late in the second period. He did not return.  

Brock Nelson left the game after being kneed by Ian Cole late in the second period. He did not return

We'll Be Home for Christmas…After This Four-Game Road Trip

The Isles are 1-0-0 on this four-game road trip:

12/17- Beat COL Avalanche 4-1

12/18- @ ARI Coyotes

12/19- @ VEG Golden Knights

12/22- @ DAL Stars

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

1. John Tavares 84

2. Anthony Beauvillier 40

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 86 assists, 112 points

Barzal's 22nd birthday is not until May.

USA Hockey

Anders Lee has 136 career goals, leaving him three 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 778-580-60-138 in 1556 games and is now just five wins behind Al Arbour on the all-time win list.

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1244

2. Joel Quenneville  890

3. Ken Hitchcock    833

4. Al Arbour   782

5. Barry Trotz   778

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman  2141

2. Joel Quenneville 1636

3. Al Arbour   1607

4. Barry Trotz   1556

5. Ken Hitchcock   1549

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: 16-12-4 (36 points), with 93 goals scored and 92 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

Last Season: 17-12-3 (37 points), with 114 goals scored and 111 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

First Things First

The Isles are 10-4-4 when scoring first and 6-8-0 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    7-7-7=21

Colorado 11-12-8=31

The Isles are 2-8-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 14-3-3 when they are outshot. 

Home and Road

The Islanders are 16-12-4 overall; 8-5-3 at home (2-0-1 on Long Island and 6-5-2 in Brooklyn) and 8-7-1 on the road.  The Isles will play 21 games in Uniondale and 20 games in Brooklyn this season.

Colorado is 18-10-6 overall; 7-4-3 at home and 11-6-3 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 10-3-1 in Division games and 6-9-3 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 12-5-4 against the East and 4-7-0 against the West.  

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 30 saves and improves to 12-6-1 on the season and 7-2-1 in his career against Colorado.   

Semyon Varlamov made 17 saves; he is 11-8-3 on the season and 3-3-1 in his career against the Isles.

Power Plays

The Isles were 2-4 on the power play in 6:20 of PP time; Colorado was 1-4 on the power play in 7:10 of PP time. 

The Isles are 12-1-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 4-11-3 when they do not.  The Isles are 6-8-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 9-4-1 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 14-1-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-11-3 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 1-3 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 3-1-0 in the front half and 3-0-0 in the back half.  This back to back concludes Tuesday in Arizona. 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 2-0-0 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 11-12-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (21:41); Colorado: Tyson Barrie (23:52)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 15:48 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Ryan Pulock (10-5-3), Nick Leddy (5-6-1), Scott Mayfield (1-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 30, Colorado 28 (52%).

Casey Cizikas won 12 of 20 for the Isles; Gabriel Landeskog won 5 of 8 for Colorado. 

Face-offs by period: 1st period  11/19; 2nd period 14/25; 3rd period 5/14

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 27/46, Power play 3/6, Penalty kill 0/6.

Hit Count

Isles 19 (Matt Martin & Adam Pelech -3)  

Colorado 12 (Five with 2)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total –7 (Scott Mayfield -2, Ross Johnston-2, Josh Bailey, Johnny Boychuk, Anders Lee).  

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 24 shots (Thomas Hickey-4).  Fifteen different players blocked at least one shot.

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 50, Colorado 70

5-on-5 Isles 36, Colorado 48

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Jordan Eberle +4

Colorado: Nathan McKinnon +17 

Matinee Isles

The Isles are 13-11-4 in night games and 3-1-0 in matinees. The next matinee is on January 12th vs. the Rangers. 

Ironmen

Anders Lee 150, Brock Nelson 127, Mathew Barzal 114

Scratches

(Andrew Ladd – IR), (Tom Kuhnhackl-INJ), Ross Johnston, Luca Sbisa

Total games lost: 47

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 6-0-1 when scoring the game's first two goals.

Offside Challenges

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

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 747

Goals

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

16. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 17. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 18.  Anders Lee 136 ***19. Josh Bailey 131…

24. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 27. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 28. Brock Nelson 109

Assists

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

12. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Josh Bailey 272

Points

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

12. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 403

Games Played (Goalies)

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

7. Glenn Healy 176 *** 8. Thomas Greiss 140

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 74

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series one game to none (and 2 points to 0).  The season series will conclude in Brooklyn on February 9th. 

Prior to tonight, the home team had won the last eight games in the series, including a 6-1 Avs win last New Year's Eve.  This was the first Islander win in Denver since January 10, 2014, when a Michael Grabner overtime goal made Kevin Poulin a winner.

On the Farm 

Sebastian Aho scored the game's only goal and Christopher Gibson did the rest as the Sound Tigers completed a perfect 3-in-3 weekend with a 1-0 shutout over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  

The Sound Tigers played without Michael Dal Colle.  Dal Colle  had a hat trick on Friday in a 4-3 overtime win in Providence and then scored twice in a 5-3 win over Springfield on Saturday, earning him AHL player of the week honors.

Bridgeport is 17-8-3-1 and has earned points in 16 of their last 19 games (13-3-2-1) overall and in 14 straight home games (11-0-2-1). The Sound Tigers begin a three-game road trip at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Wednesday.

Leaders:  Goals: Michael Dal Colle 14 (tied-5th in AHL) ; Assists: Joshua Ho-Sang 20; Points: Dal Colle 23.  Goalies: Jeremy Smith 8-5-1 (2.83 GAA); Christopher Gibson 9-3-3 (3.08 GAA)

Up Next

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18th – ISLANDERS AT ARIZONA 9:00PM 

[MSG+2 (Islanders pre-game at 8:30pm), WRCN 103.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, Radio.com] 

The Isles look to sweep the back-to-back when they head to Glendale, Arizona to face the Coyotes.

While the Isles are 5-1-2 in the last eight games vs. the Coyotes, the home team has won the last seven games.  The Isles' last win in Arizona was a 1-0 shutout behind Jaroslav Halak on November 8, 2014; Frans Nielsen had the only goal in that game. 

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