The Skinny: Isles 6, Ottawa 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 36

Isles 6, Ottawa 3

Mathew Barzal scored two straight goals to break a 3-3 tie as the Islanders rallied from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits for a 6-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators before a crowd of 13,434 at Barclays Center.

 

The Isles are 5-1-0 in their last six games; it's the fourth time this season that the Isles have won a game that they trailed 2-0 (and all four wins have come in regulation). 

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Mark Stone (17) 16:18 OTT 1,NYI 0

2nd Period

Matt Duchene (15) Bobby Ryan, Thomas Chabot 02:47 OTT 2,NYI 0 PPG

Josh Bailey (8) Mathew Barzal 03:11 OTT 2,NYI 1

Cody Ceci (5) Chris Tierney, Mikkel Boedker 06:11 OTT 3,NYI 1

Anders Lee (14) 17:28 OTT 3,NYI 2

3rd Period

Johnny Boychuk (2) Casey Cizikas, Matt Martin 02:57 OTT 3,NYI 3

Mathew Barzal (6) Leo Komarov, Anthony Beauvillier 04:51 OTT 3,NYI 4

Mathew Barzal (7) Josh Bailey 12:24 OTT 3,NYI 5

Casey Cizikas (10)EN Tom Kuhnhackl 19:06 OTT 3,NYI 6

The Skinny    

Josh Bailey scored his first goal in 14 games.  Bailey was playing his 751st game as an Islander (one fewer than Mike Bossy)…Johnny Boychuk's tying goal was his 2nd in the last four games; it was his first game since his wife gave birth to their 3rd child…Casey Cizikas' empty-netter goal set a new career high; it was his 10th goal of the season…Anders Lee extended his team lead in goals (14); the 14 goals have come in 14 different games …Mathew Barzal recorded his 4th career multi-goal game and his 10th career game with at least three points; the reigning Calder Trophy winner leads the team in both assists (25) and points (32) …Anthony Beauvillier's assist on the winning goal was his first in 15 games…The Isles have an identical record as last season through 36 games; including shootout winners they have scored 23 fewer goals and allowed 26 fewer goals than last year's first 36 games… There were three fights in the final 30 seconds; it was the first time since November 17, 1993 that the Isles have had three fights in a game with Ottawa (Mick Vukota -2, Joe Day)… Devon Toews made his home debut and played 18:51. Toews had four shots on goals, six attempts and finished +2..Mark Stone has points in six straight games against the Isles…Cody Ceci's goal came in his 400th NHL game…The Isles improve to 4-5-0 when trailing after one period and 2-9-0 when trailing after two periods…The Isles are a season-high six games over NHL-.500 (19-13-4); they were last six over .500 when they were 20-14-4 last season…The Isles scored four goals in a period for the second time this season (10/18 in Los Angeles); it's the first time they have done so at home since February 9th vs. Detroit (5 goals)…The Isles clinched a winning month for the third straight month (7-4-1 in December); it's the first time since 2015-16 that they have opened the season with three winning months.

 

The Injury

Ottawa's Thomas Chabot left in the second period with an injury and did not return.

Comeback Kids

The Isles are 4-3-0 when trailing in a game by a 2-0 score, defeating NYR (11/15), CBJ (12/1), DET (12/8) and OTT (12.28); all four wins have been in regulation.

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

Streaking Lehner

Robin Lehner has won three consecutive decisions  for the first time as an Islander and the first time since February 14-18, 2017.  Lehner has allowed only seven goals in his last six games (3-1-2, 1.24 GAA, .952 save percentage).  In six December appearances, Lehner's GAA is 1.30, which is the best in the NHL among goalies who have appeared in at least two games.

Fewest Goals Allowed This Season (Including SO goals)

1. Nashville 97

2. Boston 101

        ISLES 101

Fewest Goals Allowed This Season (excluding SO goals)

1. Nashville 96

2. ISLES 98

3. Boston 101

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 88 assists, 117 points

Barzal's 22nd birthday is not until May.

USA Hockey

Anders Lee's goal was the 138th of his career, leaving him one goal behind Kyle Okposo.  Okposo is 2nd on the Islander goal-scoring list among American-born players, trailing only Pat LaFontaine (287).

Chasing Al

Among active coaches, Barry Trotz has coached the most games and is 2nd to Ken Hitchcock in wins. Trotz' NHL record is 781-581-60-138 in 1560 games and is now just one win 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   781

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman  2141

2. Joel Quenneville 1636

3. Al Arbour   1607

4. Barry Trotz   1560

5. Ken Hitchcock   1553

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: 19-13-4 (42 points), with 107 goals scored and 101 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

Last Season: 19-13-4 (42 points), with 130 goals scored and 127 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

First Things First

The Isles are 10-5-4 when scoring first and are 9-8-0 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    10-15-14=39

Ottawa 10-11-6=27

The Isles are 4-8-1 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 19-13-4 overall; 9-5-3 at home (2-0-1 on Long Island and 7-5-2 in Brooklyn) and 10-8-1 on the road.  The Isles will play 21 games in Uniondale and 20 games in Brooklyn this season.

Ottawa is 15-19-4 overall; 11-6-3 at home and 4-13-1 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 10-3-1 in Division games and 9-10-3 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 13-5-4 against the East and 6-8-0 against the West.  

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 14 saves before being removed after Ottawa's third goal.  Robin Lehner stopped all ten shots he faced to improve to 7-6-3 on the season and 7-0-3 in his career against Ottawa.   

Mike McKenna made 33 saves but falls to 1-4-1 on the season and 1-2-0 in his career against the Isles. 

 

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-1 on the power play in 2:00 of PP time; Ottawa was 1-2 on the power play in 0:42 of PP time. 

The Isles are 13-1-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 6-12-3 when they do not.  The Isles are 7-9-3 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 17-1-1 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 

Including tonight, the Isles are 4-1-0 in the front half and 4-0-0 in the back half. This back-to-back concludes in Toronto on Saturday.  The next back-to-back is January 12th vs. the Rangers and January 13th vs. Tampa Bay.

 

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 12-13-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Scott Mayfield (21:46); Ottawa: Cody Ceci (26:07)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 19:50 of ice-time.

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

Face-offs

Isles 37,Ottawa 21 (64%).  

Valtteri Filppula won 9 of 12 for the Isles; Zack Smith won 3 of 5 for Ottawa. 

Face-offs by period: 1st period  14/16; 2nd period 13/23; 3rd period 10/19

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 36/55, Power play 0/1, Penalty kill 1/2.

Hit Count

Isles 20 (Matt Martin -4)  

Ottawa 24 (Mark Borowiecki-6)

   

Fights

There were three fights, all in the last thirty seconds of the game (Matt Martin vs. Mark Borowiecki, Christian Jaros vs. Ross Johnston, Ben Harpur vs. Scott Mayfield). Season total –11 (Scott Mayfield -4, Ross Johnston-3, Josh Bailey, Johnny Boychuk, Anders Lee, Matt Martin).  

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 14 shots (Scott Mayfield -3).  

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 65, Ottawa 50

5-on-5 Isles 63, Ottawa 45

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Mathew Barzal/Anthony Beauvillier/Josh Bailey all +19

Ottawa: Nick Paul +2

 

Matinee Isles

The Isles are 16-12-4 in night games and 3-1-0 in matinees. The next matinee is on January 12th vs. the Rangers. 

Ironmen

Anders Lee 154, Brock Nelson 131, Mathew Barzal 118

Scratches

(Andrew Ladd – IR), (Thomas Hickey- IR), (Jordan Eberle-INJ), (Cal Clutterbuck-INJ),  Luca Sbisa

Total games lost: 65

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.

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 751

Goals

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

16. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 17. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 18.  Anders Lee 138 ***19. Josh Bailey 132…

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 275

Points

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

12. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 407

Games Played (Goalies)

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

7. Glenn Healy 176 *** 8. Thomas Greiss 142

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 Isles lead the season series one game to none (and 2 points to 0).  The teams will  finish their head-to-head schedule with a home-and-home series in early March.

The Isles have won four of the last five games between the squads.

On the Farm 

The Sound Tigers picked up after Christmas where they left off, beating Hartford on Thursday and Springfield on Friday.  

On Thursday, Scott Eansor scored a paired of goals (giving him four goals in three games) as they beat the Wolf Pack 3-2. Then, on Friday Parker Wotherspoon tied the game at 19:58 of the 2nd period and Otto Koivula scored the winning goal in the third period as the Sound Tigers began 6-game road trip with a 4-3 win in Springfield.  Michael Dal Colle assisted on three of the Bridgeport goals.

Bridgeport is 20-9-4-1 and has earned points in 20 of their last 24 games (16-4-3-1). The Sound Tigers will close out 2018 on Saturday night in Hartford. 

Leaders:  Goals: Michael Dal Colle 16 (tied-5th in AHL) ; Assists: Sebastian Aho/Joshua Ho-Sang 20; Points: Dal Colle 28.  Goalies: Jeremy Smith 10-5-1 (2.67 GAA); Christopher Gibson 10-4-4 (3.06 GAA)

Up Next

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29th – ISLANDERS AT TORONTO 7:00PM 

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

The Isles close out 2018 with a two-game road trip, beginning on Saturday in Toronto when they face former captain John Tavares and the Maple Leafs.

It's the first meeting of the season between the teams, who will finish their head-to-head schedule with a pair of games at the Nassau Coliseum on February 28th and April 1st.

The Leafs have won the last four games from the Isles, outscoring NY 21-8 (including a SO winner); Fredrik Andersen has been in goal for all four games.

The last Islander win in Toronto came three years ago to the day (12-29-2015) by a 6-3 score. Since then the Leafs have won all four meetings, including twice in shootouts.

The Isles' final game of 2018 will be on New Year's Eve in Buffalo on Monday.

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