The Skinny: Anaheim 6, Isles 5 (SO)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 34

Anaheim 6, Isles 5 (SO)

Jakob Silfverberg scored the deciding goal of the shootout as the Anaheim Ducks emerged victorious in a wild game, defeating the Isles 6-5 before a sellout crowd of 13,917 at the Nassau Coliseum.

Seven different Islanders had multiple points in a game that was tied five separate times. Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves as the Isles ended their season-long starting goalie rotation.

 

The Isles' record is 23-8-3; the 23 wins remains tied for the club record (now with three other years) through 34 games. 

The Scoring: 

1st Period

Anders Lee (10) Mathew Barzal, Jordan Eberle 01:50 ANA 0,NYI 1

Max Comtois (3) Isac Lundestrom, Hampus Lindholm 16:27 ANA 1,NYI 1 PPG

Sam Carrick (1) 17:03 ANA 2,NYI 1 SHG

Brock Nelson (13) Ryan Pulock, Nick Leddy 17:50 ANA 2,NYI 2 PPG

2nd Period

Adam Henrique (11) Michael Del Zotto, Korbinian Holzer 05:23 ANA 3,NYI 2

Mathew Barzal (15) Anders Lee, Jordan Eberle 09:20 ANA 3,NYI 3

Nick Leddy (3) Brock Nelson, Derick Brassard 14:15 ANA 3,NYI 4

Jakob Silfverberg (13) Adam Henrique, Hampus Lindholm 14:41 ANA 4,NYI 4

3rd Period

Cam Fowler (7) Nicolas Deslauriers 10:19 ANA 5,NYI 4 

Ryan Pulock (5) Nick Leddy, Derick Brassard 13:19 ANA 5,NYI 5 PPG

OT

No Goals

The Shootout

Jordan Eberle (NG) – Ondrej Kase (NG)

Mathew Barzal (NG) – Max Comotois (G)

Josh Bailey (G) – Jakob Silfverberg (G/GDG)

It's the Ducks' first-ever shootout win over the Isles, who fall to 3-1 in shootouts this year.  Jakob Silfverberg is credited with his 7th career game-deciding goal.

The Isles fall to 82-64 all-time in shootouts as they still hold the NHL record for shootout wins (Pittsburgh has 79 and the Rangers have 77). Anaheim is 3-1 in shootouts this season.

Semyon Varlamov stopped two of the four shots he faced to fall to 32-16 all-time in shootouts; his save percentage in shootouts is .745 (best in NHL history among goalies who have faced at least 100 shots).   [Thomas Greiss at .784 is the best among those who have faced 75 shots]

The Skinny     

Both Ryan Pulock and Mathew Barzal played their 200th NHL game; they have been in the lineup together for 161 consecutive games…The Isles are 7-5-2 in their last 14 games as they remain 15 games over NHL -.500… The Isles are 18-3-1 against the East, but only 5-5-2 against the West… Nick Leddy  recorded his third three-point game of the season; he has scored nine of his 14 points this season in those three games… Matthew Barzal scored his team-leading 15th goal; he is just three goals shy of last year's total.  The Isles are now 10-2-1 when Barzal scores a goal…The Isles had won their first 38 games under Trotz when scoring at least four goals, including shootout winners…The Isles' power play is 6-16 in the last six games, but they have allowed six power play goals in their last 17 times short…The Isles scored within the first two minutes for the fourth time this season (2-0-2).

Fit to Be Tied

The game was tied on five different occasions.  It's the first time that has happened since February 13, 2011 in Buffalo (won by the Isles 7-6 on a Michael Grabner overtime goal).

The game was tied 2-2 after one period and 4-4 after two periods.  It's only the third time in club history that has happened (10/18/1980 vs. Edmonton – 5-5 tie and 3/12/1992 in Pittsburgh – 6-4 loss).

It's Good to be Home(s)

The Isles are 9-3-1 on Coliseum ice.  The Isles will play 28 of their 41 home games this season at the Coliseum.   The Isles are 4-0-1 at Barclays Center this season and have not lost in Brooklyn (regular season) since January 12th (9-0-1); their next Brooklyn game is on January 11, 2020 vs. Boston.

Coach Trotz

Barry Trotz is second among active coaches, trailing only Joel Quenneville, in both wins and games. Trotz' NHL record is 833-603-60-144 in 1,640 games.

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville  907 

3. Ken Hitchcock    849

4. Barry Trotz    833

5. Al Arbour    782

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,670

3. Barry Trotz        1,640

4. Al Arbour 1,607

The Rotation Is Over

The Islanders' goalie rotation has ended after 33 games.  It's the 7th -longest streak of alternating two goalies to start the season in NHL history and the longest team since the Sharks in 2006-07 alternated starting goalies for each of the first 35 games of the season. (The Sharks used Vesa Toskala in the odd games and Evgeni Nabokov in the even games before Nabokov started games 36 and 37 around the Christmas break)

This was the longest streak of rotating goalie (at any point of the season) in Isles history:

• 33 games (Varlamov/Greiss) 10/4/2019-12/9/2019

• 31 games (Smith/Resch) 1/20/1979-4/1/1979

• 24 games (Hrudey/Smith) 10/12/1985-12/3/1985

• 24 games (Melanson/Smith) 1/15/1983-3/10/1983

• 23 games (Smith/Melanson)10/5/1982-11/20/1982

• 23 games (Resch/Smith) 11/11/1978 12/30/1978

  

First Things First

The Isles are 13-2-2 when scoring first and are 10-6-1 when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles     12-8-11-2=33

Anaheim 9-10-6-3=28

The Isles are 6-2-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 17-5-1 when they are outshot.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 23-8-3 overall; 13-3-2 at home (9-3-1 on Long Island and 4-0-1 in Brooklyn) and 10-5-1 on the road.  

Anaheim is 15-17-4 overall; 9-7-2 at home and 6-10-2 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 6-2-1 in Division games and 17-6-2 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 18-3-1 against the East and 5-5-2 against the West.  

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves and then stopped 1 of 3 in the shootout. He is now 12-3-3 on the season and 4-6-3 in his career against Anaheim. He is 32-16 in shootouts.

 

John Gibson made 18 saves and then stopped 2 of 3 in the shootout; he is 11-14-2 on the season and 4-0-1 in his career against the Isles. He is now 12-7 in shootouts.

Power Plays

The Isles were 2-3 on the power play in 3:17 of power play time, but they allowed a shorthanded goal; Anaheim was 1-4 on the power play in 7:11 of PP time.

The Isles are 10-2-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-6-2 when they do not.  The Isles are 9-5-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 14-3-2 when they do not.

The Isles are 4-2-1 when they have more power plays than the opposition, 3-1-0 when the power plays are even, and 16-5-2 when the opposition has more power plays.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 20-1-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-7-1 when they do not.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 58-3-4 when scoring three or more, with two of the three regulation losses coming against Nashville.

One Goal Games

The Isles are 12-1-3 in games decided by a single goal including 3-1 in regulation. They are 6-2 in games decided in overtime and are 3-1 in shootouts.  The Isles are 3-1 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Tired vs. Rested 

• The Isles are 2-0-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 5-1-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

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

• The Isles are 15-6-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (23:27); Anaheim: Hampus Lindholm (26:32)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:49 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Adam Pelech (8-2-0), Ryan Pulock (9-1-3), Devon Toews (3-2-0), Scott Mayfield (1-1-0), Nick Leddy (0-2-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (1-0-0).

Face-offs

Isles 33, Anaheim 24 (58%)  

Mathew Barzal won 7 of 10 for the Isles; Sam Steel won 9 of 12 for Anaheim.

Hit Count

Isles 35 (Matt Martin -6)

Anaheim 25 (Michael Del Zotto -6)

   

Fights

There were no fights.  Season total: 7 – Johnston-3 (vs. FLA, vs PHL, vs TB), Cizikas-2 (vs. OTT, vs SJ), Mayfield (vs ANA), Lee (vs FLA).

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 13 (Scott Mayfield - 4)

Anaheim 14 (Cam Fowler - 4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 52, Anaheim 52

Corsi: 5-on-5 Isles 42, Anaheim 37

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Ryan Pulock +16

Anaheim: Sam Carrick +11

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 12, Anaheim 4

5-on-5 Isles 11, Anaheim 3

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 3-1-0 in the front-half and 3-1-0 in the back-half. The next back-to-back will be January 6th vs Colorado and January 7th  in New Jersey. Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 14-2-1 in back-ends.

Night and Day

The Isles are 20-8-2 in night games and 3-0-1 in matinees. The next matinee will be December 31st in Washington.

Ironmen

Anders Lee 234, Brock Nelson 211, Mathew Barzal 198, Ryan Pulock 161, Josh Bailey 119, Anthony Beauvillier 109, and Devon Toews 82. 

Iron D

Ryan Pulock is only the 5th defenseman in Islander history to play at least 161 consecutive regular season games:

1. Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979 262

2. Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220 (*) (**)

3. Gerry Hart 3/1/1975-11/22/1977 198

4. Andrew MacDonald 12/19/2011- 3/2/2014 164 (**)

5. Ryan Pulock 12/29/2017 – CURRENT 161

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

Noah Dobson, (Michael Dal Colle -INJ), (Cal Clutterbuck-INJ).

Total games lost: 86.

Late Heroes 

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

10/14 vs. STL – Mathew Barzal scored at 19:33 and the Isles won in OT.

11/19 @ PIT – Ryan Pulock scored at 18:38 and the Isles won in OT.

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed one goal in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:

11/21 vs. PIT – Patric Hornqvist scored at 19:30, but the Isles won in OT.

12/14 vs. BUF -Jack Eichel scored at 18:14, but the Isles won in OT. 

Challenges

Isles: 2 successful, 1 failure (offside-11/19 vs. PIT), (offside-12/9 vs. TBL), (no goalie Interference 12/21 vs, ANA)

Opponents: 1 successful, 2 failures (Nelson-kick 10/8 vs. EDM), (Lee- no high stick 11/1 vs. TB), Cizikas- no goalie interference 11/23 vs. SJ)

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.  Josh Bailey 831…

22. Tomas Jonsson 522 *** 23.*** Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 24. Kyle Okposo 529 *** 25. Matt Martin 527 *** 26. Casey Cizikas 515 *** 27. Dave Lewis and Brock Nelson 514

Goals

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

13. Ziggy Palffy 168 *** 14. Anders Lee 162 *** 15. Patrick Flatley 160 *** 16. Josh Bailey 148 *** 17. Pierre Turgeon 147 ***18. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 19. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 20. Brock Nelson 137

Assists

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

9. Stefan Persson 317 *** 10. Josh Bailey 307 …

25. Jeff Norton 166 *** 26. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 27. Nick Leddy 162

Points

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

12. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 13. Josh Bailey 455…

24. Ed Westfall 286 *** 25. Anders Lee 278 *** 26. Brock Nelson 269

Games Played (Goalies)

1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 *** 4. Kelly Hrudey 241 ***

5. Tommy Salo 187 *** 6. Thomas Greiss 179

Wins (Goalie)

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

5.   Thomas Greiss 96

Shutouts (Goalie)

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

5. Jaroslav Halak 12 *** 6.  Thomas Greiss 10

Games Coached 

1. Al Arbour 1,500 *** 2. Jack Capuano 483 *** 3. Mike Milbury 192 …

9. Steve Stirling 124 *** 10. Doug Weight 122 *** 11. Barry Trotz 116

 

Coaching Wins

1. Al Arbour 740 *** 2. Jack Capuano 227 *** 3. Terry Simpson 81 *** 4. Peter Laviolette 77 ***

5. Ted Nolan 74 *** 6. Barry Trotz 71

Season Series Stats

Anaheim wins the season series 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 1).   

Despite the shootout loss, the Isles are 5-3-2 in the last ten games against Anaheim, including 3-0-2 at home.

On the Farm   

Bridgeport fell to 11-16-3-1 on the season with a 3-1 loss in Springfield on Friday.

Bridgeport host Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Saturday in their final game because the Christmas holiday.

Up Next

MONDAY, DECEMBER 23rd   —  COLUMBUS AT ISLANDERS (NASSAU COLISEUM) –7:00 PM

[MSG+ (pre-game at 6:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN 1050] 

It's the final home game of 2019 as the Isles host the Columbus Blue Jackets.

It's the third meeting of the season between the teams; the Isles have won the first two (3-2 in overtime in Columbus and 2-0 in the combined goalie shutout game in Brooklyn).

The Isles are 5-1 in the last six games against the Jackets, including 3-0 at home.  The Isles have blanked Columbus in their last 151:27 of play on home-ice.

Following the league-mandated holiday break, the Isles will close out 2019 with a three-game road trip, beginning on Friday in Chicago.

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