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The Skinny: Los Angeles 3, Isles 1

"The Skinny"  By Eric Hornick Game 30 Los Angeles 3, Isles 1 Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala scored to give Los Angeles a 2-0 lead an...

Friday, December 21, 2018

The Skinny: Vegas 4, Isles 2


"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 34
Vegas 4, Isles 2
William Karlsson and Paul Stastny scored 63 seconds apart in the third period as the Vegas Golden Knights rallied from a 2-1 third period deficit to defeat the Isles 4-2 before a sellout crowd of 18,226 at T-Mobile Arena.  
Mathew Barzal and Brock Nelson scored late in the first period to give the Isles a 2-0 lead after the first period.  It was the first time this season (6-1-1) that the Isles lost in regulation in a game that they scored the first two games. .

The Scoring: 
1st Period
Mathew Barzal (5) Josh Bailey 18:30 NYI 1,VGK 0
Brock Nelson (12) Jordan Eberle, Ryan Pulock 19:38 NYI 2,VGK 0

2nd Period
Brandon Pirri (1) Nate Schmidt, Cody Eakin 08:48 NYI 2,VGK 1 PPG

3rd Period
William Karlsson (14) Shea Theodore, Nate Schmidt 06:22 NYI 2,VGK 2
Paul Stastny (2) Reilly Smith, Nick Holden 07:25 NYI 2,VGK 3
Nate Schmidt (3)EN 19:45 NYI 2,VGK 4

The Skinny    
The Isles saw their 3-game win streaks, both on the road and overall, snapped by the loss … The Isles have allowed a power play goal in four of the last five games....Mathew Barzal led the Isles with four shots (a 5th attempt, which appeared to be stopped by Marc-Andre Fleury, was ruled a missed shot); Barzal's goal tied him for the team lead in points…Brock Nelson scored for the 2nd straight game and extended his point streak to three games; Josh Bailey extended his assist streak to four games while Jordan Eberle's point streak reached three.…The Isles remain just one point off last season's pace; including shootout winners they have scored 23 fewer goals and allowed 23 fewer goals than last year's first 34 games…The Isles have earned 19 points in 18 road games this season; they had only 19 points through 23 road games last season. … Ryan Pulock had an assist for the third straight game (0-5-5) …Brandon Pirri scored in his season debut for Vegas; he has played three games for the Golden Knights and scored four times…William Karlsson, who tonight became the last player to appear in every game in Golden Knight history, scored his 9th goal in 13 games…The Isles have outscored their opponents 33-28 in the first period but have been outscored 36-30 in the third period.

We'll Be Home for Christmas…After This Four-Game Road Trip
The Isles are 2-1-0 on this four-game road trip:
12/17- Beat COL Avalanche 4-1
12/18- Beat  ARI Coyotes 3-1
12/19- Lost  VEG Golden Knights 2-4
12/22- @ DAL Stars

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 86 assists, 113 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 779-581-60-138 in 1558 games and is now just three 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   779

Most Games Coached
1. Scotty Bowman  2141
2. Joel Quenneville 1636
3. Al Arbour   1607
4. Barry Trotz   1558
5. Ken Hitchcock   1550

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: 17-13-4 (38 points), with 98 goals scored and 97 goals allowed (includes SO winners)
Last Season: 18-13-3 (39 points), with 121 goals scored and 120 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

First Things First
The Isles are 10-5-4 when scoring first and 7-8-0 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots
Isles    8-5-8=21
Vegas 15-18-14=47
The Isles are 2-8-1 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 17-13-4 overall; 8-5-3 at home (2-0-1 on Long Island and 6-5-2 in Brooklyn) and 9-8-1 on the road.  The Isles will play 21 games in Uniondale and 20 games in Brooklyn this season.
Vegas is 20-15-2 overall; 11-3-1 at home and 9-12-1 on the road.  

By Division & Conference
The Isles are 10-3-1 in Division games and 7-10-3 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 12-5-4 against the East and 5-8-0 against the West.  

In the Nets
Thomas Greiss made 42 saves but falls to 12-7-1 on the season. It was his first career appearance against Vegas.   

Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves and improves to 20-10-2 on the season and 25-11-5 in his career against the Isles. 
Power Plays
The Isles were 0-2 on the power play in 4:00 of PP time; Vegas was 1-2 on the power play in 3:52 of PP time. 
The Isles are 12-1-1 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 10-4-1 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 15-1-1 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 1-4 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 3-0-0 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: Ryan Pulock (23:59); Vegas: Nate Schmidt (22:25)
Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 19:10 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Ryan Pulock (10-6-3), Nick Leddy (5-6-1), Scott Mayfield (2-1-0).

Face-offs
Isles 30,Vegas 30 (50%).  The Isles won exactly half of the face-offs in each period.

Josh Bailey won 6 of 8 for the Isles; Paul Stastny won 12 of 17 for Vegas. 
Face-offs by period: 1st period  8/16; 2nd period 11/22; 3rd period 11/22
Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 26/53, Power play 1/2, Penalty kill 3/5.

Hit Count
Isles 25 (Three with 4)  
Vegas 24 (William Carrier -7)

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 16 shots (Adam Pelech -4).  

For the Corsi Crowd 
All situations: Isles 49, Vegas 73 (including 34-12 in Vegas' favor in the second period)
5-on-5 Isles 45, Vegas 60

5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Josh Ho-Sang +8
Vegas: Brayden McNabb +12
Matinee Isles
The Isles are 14-12-4 in night games and 3-1-0 in matinees. The next matinee is on January 12th vs. the Rangers. 

Ironmen
Anders Lee 152, Brock Nelson 129, Mathew Barzal 116

Scratches
(Andrew Ladd – IR), (Thomas Hickey- IR), (Tom Kuhnhackl-INJ), Ross Johnston, Devon Toews
Total games lost: 58

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 749

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 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
Vegas wins the season series two games to none (and 4 points to 0).   

Both season series have ended in sweeps, with the Isles sweeping last season and Vegas doing so this season.
On the Farm 
Former Islander Kevin Czuczman scored the winning goal in overtime as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton rallied from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits for a 4-3 with over the Sound Tigers on Wednesday. Michael Dal Colle scored his team-leading 15th goal while rookie Otto Koivula added two assists.

Bridgeport is 17-8-4-1 and has earned points in 17 of their last 20 games (13-3-3-1). The Sound Tigers will finish their pre-Christmas schedule with a pair of games in Charlotte on Friday and Saturday.

Leaders:  Goals: Michael Dal Colle 15 (tied-4th in AHL) ; Assists: Joshua Ho-Sang 20; Points: Dal Colle 24.  Goalies: Jeremy Smith 8-5-1 (2.83 GAA); Christopher Gibson 9-3-4 (3.13 GAA)

Up Next
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 23th – ISLANDERS AT DALLAS 8:00PM 
[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 7:30pm), WRCN 103.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, Radio.com] 
The Isles will look to earn a split of the season series with the Stars as they play the final game before the Christmas break in Dallas.
The Stars defeated the Isles 6-2 in Brooklyn back on November 18th and have outscored the Isles 16-4 in the last three games between the teams (all Dallas victories).

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

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