The Skinny: Washington 3, Isles 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 64

Washington 3, Isles 1

Jakub Vrana and Alex Ovechkin scored 68 seconds apart in the third period as the Washington Capitals rallied for a 3-1 victory over the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 13,917 at the Nassau Coliseum.

Ovechkin, who became the first player in NHL history to record ten 45-goal seasons, was credited with the game-winning goal, when his shot deflected in off Johnny Boychuk's stick.  

The Isles fall back into a tie with Washington for the Metro Division lead; the Isles still hold a game in hand on the Stanley Cup Champs.  With Carolina winning and Pittsburgh earning a loser point, only six points separate the top five teams in the Division.

 

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Tom Kuhnhackl (4) 02:43 WSH 0,NYI 1

2nd Period

No Goals

3rd Period

Jakub Vrana (19) Nicklas Backstrom, Michal Kempny 03:26 WSH 1,NYI 1

Alex Ovechkin (45) T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov 04:34 WSH 2,NYI 1 PPG

T.J. Oshie (21)EN 18:32 WSH 3,NYI 1

The Skinny      

The Isles are 23-8-3 in their last 34 games …The Isles have surpassed last season's win and point total; including shootout winners they have scored 23 fewer goals and allowed 75 fewer goals than last year's first 64 games… The Isles have 42 points at home and 39 points on the road … An empty net goal was awarded to TJ Oshie when an errant Isles pass ended up in their own net.  That goal ended the Isles' club record  29-game streak of not allowing three goals in any period; the previous mark (26) was set in February-March 1976…The Isles are 7-4-1 in their last 12 games (7-2-1 against everyone but Calgary)…The Isles have scored the first goal vs. the Caps in all three meetings this season.  However, for the second time in those three games, the Isles did not score again…  The second period was scoreless; the Isles have outscored their opponents 57-43 in the middle frame.  The 43 goals allowed are the fewest in the NHL (Tampa Bay 48, Dallas 54) by a wide margin… Anthony Beauvillier played his 200th  NHL game…Jakub Vrana's goal was Washington's first vs. the Isles in 103:48 of play (dating back to an Ovechkin empty net goal on November 26th)..The Caps have scored six power play goals in their last six games…The Caps recorded their third victory when trailing after two periods (3-13-5), while the Isles suffered only their second regulation defeat (26-2-4) when leading thru 40 minutes…Tom Kuhnhackl's goal was his first since November 13th…Ross Johnston appeared in his first game since facing the Rangers on January 10th and 12th.

Take a Third Off

Through 64 games, the Isles have allowed 153 goals (including shootouts).  That is 75 goals fewer than they allowed through 64 games last season, meaning they have allowed nearly 1/3rd fewer goals this season than last season.

Strength in the Nets

Robin Lehner is 16-4-2 (1.71, .943) in his last 22 decisions. His NHL-leading GAA is 2.07 and his NHL-leading save percentage is .931.

Thomas Greiss is 5-2-1 in the last eight games, allowing a total of nine goals on 248 shots (5-2-1, 1.11 GAA, .964 save percentage). On the season, his GAA is 2.25 and his save percentage is .928. 

Lehner has won 20 games and Greiss 17.  It's only the 2nd time in the last 15 seasons that the Isles have gotten at least 17 wins from two different goalies.  Greiss won 23 games and Jaroslav Halak 18 in 2015-16.

Best Goals Against Average by An Islander in a Season

1. Robin Lehner 2018-19 2.07

2. Chico Resch 1975-76 2.08

3. Thomas Greiss 2018-19 2.25

Best Save Percentage by an Islander in a Season 

1. Robin Lehner 2018-19 .931 

2. Thomas Greiss 2018-19 .928 (.9277)

3. Chico Resch 1975-76 .928 (.9276)

4. Thomas Greiss 2015-16 .925

For the + Column

Casey Cizikas was EVEN tonight and is now +25 on the season.  In the last 30 seasons, only three Islander forwards have finished +23 or higher.

1. Marty McInnis 1993-94 +31 

2. Benoit Hogue 1991-92 +30

3. Ray Ferraro 1991-92 +25

        Casey Cizikas 2018-19 +25

5. Ryan Strome 2014-15 +23

        Trent Hunter 2003-04 +23

It's Good to be Home

The Isles are 7-3-2 on Coliseum ice; they are averaging 98.0% of capacity on Long Island (including eight sellouts).  

 

Most Points Thru 64 Games (Post-Cup Era)

• 84: 2014-15

• 81: 2015-16

• 81: 2018-19

Most Points Thru 32 Road Games

• 41: 1976-77

• 39: 2018-19

• 39: 1980-81

• 38: 1977-78

• 38: 1978-79

• 38: 1981-82

• 38: 2014-15

Most Points Thru 31 Home Games (Post-Cup Era)

• 46: 2014-15

• 46: 1984-85

• 45: 2003-04

• 44: 1987-88

• 44: 2015-16

• 42: 2016-17

• 42: 2018-19

Fewest Goals Allowed Thru 64 Games (Includes SO)

• 151 1975-76

• 153 2018-19

• 156 1976-77  

Road Warriors

The Isles are 9-3-2 in their last 14 road games and 12-4-2 in their last 18 road games.  

Worst to First

The Isles allowed the most goals in the NHL last season.  Only once in NHL history has a team allowed the most goals in one season and the fewest in the next; the Ottawa Senators did so in 1917-18 and 1918-19.   Here's where the Isles are this season:  

Fewest Goals Allowed This Season (Including SO goals) 

The Jennings Trophy is awarded based on goals allowed including shootout goals.

1. ISLES 153

2. Boston 161

3. Dallas 169

Fewest Goals Allowed This Season (excluding SO goals)

1. ISLES 148

2. Boston 158 

3. Dallas 169

Coach Trotz

Among active coaches, Barry Trotz has coached the most games and is 2nd to Ken Hitchcock in wins. Trotz' NHL record is 799-588-60-141 in 1,588 games. 

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville  890

3. Ken Hitchcock    840 

4. Barry Trotz   799

5. Al Arbour   782

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,636

3. Al Arbour   1,607

4. Barry Trotz   1,588

5. Ken Hitchcock   1,578

Trotz, who will coach his 1,600th game on March 24th, 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: 37-20-7 (81 points), with 186 goals scored and 153 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

Last Season: 29-28-7 (65 points), with 208 goals scored and 228 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

The Isles have allowed 75 fewer goals, a decrease of 32.9% as compared to last season.

Last Season (final): 35-37-10 (80 points), with 264 goals scored and 296 goals allowed (includes SO winners)

First Things First

The Isles are 22-8-5 when scoring first and are 15-12-2 when allowing the opening goal (which includes a 1-0 shootout loss).  

Highest Percentage of Games Won (Post-Cup Era) Allowing First Goal

• .545 (18-13-2) 2014-15

• .517 (15-12-2) 2018-19

• .410 (14-21-4) 1985-86

The Shots

Isles          9-4-8=21

Washington 12-7-10=29

The Isles are 11-11-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-2-0 when the shots are even and 26-7-6 when they are outshot. [The 26 wins when outshot are a franchise record; they won 25 in both 1983-84 and 2017-18.]

Home and Road

The Islanders are 37-20-7 overall; 19-9-4 at home (7-3-2 on Long Island and 12-6-2 in Brooklyn) and 18-11-3 on the road.  All their remaining regular season home games are at the Nassau Coliseum.

Washington is 37-21-7 overall; 19-9-5 at home and 18-12-2 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 15-6-1 in Division games and 22-15-5 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 22-10-5 against the East and 15-11-1 against the West.  

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 26 saves but falls to 17-10-2 on the season and 3-3-1 in his career against Washington (despite allowing only 15 goals in the seven games).   

Braden Holtby made 20 saves and improves to 23-16-4 on the season and 16-5-3 against the Islanders. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play in 4:00 of PP time; Washington was 1-3 on the power play in 2:13 of PP time.

The Isles are 22-2-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 15-18-5 when they do not.  The Isles are 13-13-5 when they allow at least one power play goal and 24-7-2 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 31-2-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 6-18-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 14-4-7 in games decided by a single goal including 6-4 in regulation. They are 5-2 in games decided in overtime and are 3-5 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-6 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Tired vs. Rested 

• The Isles are 4-0-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 6-0-1 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 5-1-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 22-19-5 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (23:14); Washington: John Carlson (23:20)

Josh Bailey led Isles forwards with 19:59 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Ryan Pulock (18-9-5), Nick Leddy (13-9-2), Scott Mayfield (6-1-0), Johnny Boychuk (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 24, Washington 31 (43%).  

Brock Nelson won 8 of 13 for the Isles; Nicklas Backstrom won 13 of 19 for Washington.

Face-offs by period: 1st period 7/16; 2nd period 11/21; 3rd period 6/18.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 20/49, Power play 2/3, Penalty kill 2/3.

Hit Count

Isles 36 (Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck -6)  

Washington 28 (Matt Niskanen -5)

   

Fights

There were no fights. Season total –13 (Scott Mayfield -4, Ross Johnston-3, Matt Martin -2, Anders Lee- 2, Josh Bailey, Johnny Boychuk).  

 

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 25 shots (Josh Bailey -4) 

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 40, Washington 69

5-on-5 Isles 30, Washington 65

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Ross Johnston -2

Washington: John Carlson +17

Back-to-Backs

Including tonight, the Isles are 7-3-1 in the front half and 9-1-1 in the back half. The next back-to-back is March 16-17 in Detroit and Minnesota and the final back-to-back of the season is the following week (March 23-24) in Philadelphia and vs. Arizona. 

The Isles won the first nine back-ends of back-to-backs this season, establishing a new club record for consecutive wins in back ends, but are 0-1-1 in the last two back-ends. 

Night and Day

The Isles are 31-18-7 in night games and 6-2-0 in matinees. The next matinee is on March 3rd vs. Philadelphia (at the Coliseum). 

Ironmen

Anders Lee 182, Brock Nelson 159, Mathew Barzal 146.  Four other Isles: Nick Leddy, Ryan Pulock, Josh Bailey and Leo Komarov have appeared in every game this season.

Scratches

(Matt Martin – INJ), Andrew Ladd, Thomas Hickey, Luca Sbisa, Dennis Seidenberg

Total games lost: 123

Comeback Kings

The Isles are 6-4-1 when trailing in a game by a 2-0 score, defeating NYR (11/15), CBJ (12/1), DET (12/8), OTT (12/28), STL (1/5) and COL (2/9 - OT), while earning a point vs. EDM (2/21 – OTL).

The Isles are 14-1-1 when scoring the game's first two goals.

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored once in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:

1/10- NY Rangers-Josh Bailey scored the winning goal (18:34)

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.

1/8 vs CAR Hurricanes – Isles goal overturned after successful Hurricane challenge

2/5 vs BOS Bruins – Isles goal overturned after successful Bruin challenge.

2/28 vs TOR Maple Leafs – Maple Leaf 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. Josh Bailey 779

Goals

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

15. Pierre Turgeon 147 ***16. Anders Lee 146 *** 17. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 18. Kyle Okposo 139 ***19. Josh Bailey 138…

21. Duane Sutter 121 *** 22. Frans Nielsen, Alexei Yashin & Brock Nelson 119

Assists

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

11. Derek King 288 ***12. Josh Bailey 287 …

25. David Volek 154 *** 26. Mariusz Czerkawski 150 *** 27. Nick Leddy 147

Points

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

12. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 425…

23. Ed Westfall 286 *** 24. Jason Blake 258 *** 25. David Volek and Anders Lee 249

Games Played (Goalies)

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

7. Glenn Healy 176 *** 8. Thomas Greiss 151

Wins (Goalie)

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

5. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 6.  Thomas Greiss 79

Shutouts (Goalie)

1. Glenn Resch 25 ***2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 16 *** 4. Tommy Salo 14***

5. Jaroslav Halak 12 *** 6.  Evgeni Nabokov and Thomas Greiss 9

Season Series Stats

Washington leads the season series two games to one (and 4 points to 2).  The teams will meet again in DC on April 6th to close out the regular season schedule. 

The road team has won all three games this season between the team; overall the Isles are 4-5-0 in the last nine games against Washington.

On the Farm  

The Sound Tigers are 9-1-1-0 in their last 11 games (including three OT wins and two shootout wins) and have improved to 33-18-5-2 on the season. Bridgeport begins a 5-game road trip in Hershey on Saturday.

Leaders:  Goals: Steve Bernier 18; Assists: Sebastian Aho 32; Points: Chris Bourque 44; +/-: Otto Koivula 17 (only AHL rookie with at least 17 goals and at least +17).  Goalies: Jeremy Smith 16-9-3 (2.92 GAA); Christopher Gibson 17-9-4 (2.96 GAA)

Up Next

SUNDAY, MARCH 3rd – PHILADELPHIA AT ISLANDERS AT NASSAU COLISEUM 3:00PM 

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

The Isles welcome the Flyers to the Coliseum for the first of three meetings between the teams this month.  It's only the second meeting of the teams this season; the Isles won in Philadelphia by a 6-1 score back on October 27th. 

The Isles have won four of the last five meetings between the teams; this will be the Flyers' first regular season game at the Coliseum since January 19, 2015. Philadelphia has, however, been the visitor for the pre-season game that has been played at the Coliseum each of the last two seasons.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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