The Skinny: Columbus 3, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 35

Columbus 3, Isles 2

Vladislav Gabrikov scored the winning goal with 3:29 to play as the Columbus Blue Jackets stretched the Isles' home winless streak to three games with a 3-2 win over the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 13,917 at the Nassau Coliseum.

It's the fifth straight win for the Jackets, who head into the Christmas break on an eight-game point streak (6-0-2).

 

The Isles' record drops to 23-8-3; they are 7-6-2 in their last 15 games. 

The Scoring: 

1st Period

Anders Lee (11) Mathew Barzal, Jordan Eberle 06:17 CBJ 0,NYI 1

2nd Period

Kevin Stenlund (2) Zach Werenski 06:18 CBJ 1,NYI 1 PPG

Nathan Gerbe (1) Alexander Wennberg 09:34 CBJ 2,NYI 1

Mathew Barzal (16) Johnny Boychuk, Jordan Eberle 13:40 CBJ 2,NYI 2

3rd Period

Vladislav Gavrikov (4) Alexandre Texier, Pierre-Luc Dubois 16:31 CBJ 3,NYI 2

The Skinny     

The Isles suffered their first one-goal loss in regulation since Opening Night (12-2-3)….Anders Lee opened the scoring for the second straight game and for the fourth time this season (all since November 30th)… Matthew Barzal scored his team-leading 16th goal; he is just two goals shy of last year's total...Jordan Eberle added two assists, giving him five assists in the last three games…The Isles allowed a power play goal for the fifth straight game (longest streak under Barry Trotz); they have allowed seven power play goals in their last 19 times short…Nathan Gerbe played in only the third NHL game in the last four seasons; he scored his first NHL goal since March 10, 2016…It was Vladislav Gavrikov's first Game-Winning Goal… Kevin Stenlund's goal was Columbus' first in 177:45 against the Isles in New York…Thomas Greiss is 1-4-0 in December…Scott Mayfield missed the game due to illness; he had played every game this season and 113 of the last 114 Islander games...Andrew Ladd appeared in his first NHL game since March 24th, and led the team with four hits.

It's Good to be Home(s)

The Isles are 9-4-1 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 833-604-60-144 in 1,641 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 1,671

3. Barry Trotz        1,641

4. Al Arbour 1,607

First Things First

The Isles are 13-3-2 when scoring first and are 10-6-1 when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles           9-17-11=37

Columbus 13-17-5=35

The Isles are 6-3-2 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 23-9-3 overall; 13-4-2 at home (9-4-1 on Long Island and 4-0-1 in Brooklyn) and 10-5-1 on the road.  

Columbus is 17-14-6 overall; 11-8-1 at home and 6-6-5 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 6-3-1 in Division games and 17-6-2 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 18-4-1 against the East and 5-5-2 against the West.  

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 32 saves but falls to 11-6-0 on the season and 10-8-3 in his career against Columbus.

 

Joonas Korpisalo made 35 saves to improve to 17-10-3 on the season and 3-1-2 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play in 4:00 of power play time; Columbus was 1-2 on the power play in 2:39 of PP time.

The Isles are 10-2-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-7-2 when they do not.  The Isles are 9-6-1 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, 3-2-0 when the power plays are even, and 16-5-2 when the opposition has more power plays.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 20-1-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-8-1 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 12-2-3 in games decided by a single goal including 3-2 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 15-7-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (23:53); Columbus: Seth Jones (25:38)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 20:03 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Adam Pelech (8-2-0), Ryan Pulock (9-2-3), 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 23, Columbus 29 (44%)  

Casey Cizikas won 7 of 13 for the Isles; Boone Jenner won 15 of 23 for Columbus.

Hit Count

Isles 28 (Andrew Ladd-5)

Columbus 31 (Three with 4)

   

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 8 (Nick Leddy-3)

Columbus 19 (Vladislav Gavrikov - 4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 68, Columbus 54

Corsi: 5-on-5 Isles 51, Columbus 48

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Anders Lee & Mathew Barzal +11

Columbus: Nick Foligno +7

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 17, Columbus 11

5-on-5 Isles 13, Columbus 11

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 20-9-2 in night games and 3-0-1 in matinees. The next matinee will be December 31st in Washington.

Ironmen

Anders Lee 235, Brock Nelson 212, Mathew Barzal 199, Ryan Pulock 162, Josh Bailey 120, Anthony Beauvillier 110, and Devon Toews 83. 

Iron D

Ryan Pulock is only the 5th defenseman in Islander history to play at least 162 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 162

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

Leo Komarov, (Scott Mayfield -ill), (Cal Clutterbuck-INJ).

Total games lost: 88.

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 832…

22. Tomas Jonsson 522 *** 23.*** Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 24. Kyle Okposo 529 *** 25. Matt Martin 528 *** 26. Casey Cizikas 516 *** 27. Brock Nelson 515

Goals

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

13. Ziggy Palffy 168 *** 14. Anders Lee 163 *** 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 279 *** 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 180

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 117

 

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

The Isles lead the season series 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 3).  The final meeting of the season will be in Columbus on March 30th.

Despite the loss, the Isles are 5-2-0 in the last seven games against Columbus.

On the Farm   

Bridgeport blanked Wilkes Barre-Scranton 3-0 on Saturday to improve to 12-16-3-1 on the season at the Christmas break.

The Sound Tigers are 8-5-0-0 in their last 13 games and have climbed back within six points of a playoff spot.  Bridgeport hosts Hartford on Friday and Springfield on Saturday before wrapping up 2019 with a 5:00 game at Hartford on New Year's Eve.

Up Next

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27th    —  ISLANDERS AT CHICAGO –8:30 PM

[MSG+2 (pre-game at 8:00), 88.7 WRHU-FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN 1050] 

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

It's the first meeting of the season between the teams, and the first possible reunion with former goaltender Robin Lehner.

The team split a pair of games last season; the Isles won on Long Island with a Devon Toews overtime goal while the Hawks won a shootout in Chicago.

The Isles are 1-4-3 in their last eight trips to Chicago, including three shootout losses.

And Finally…

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, and for the rest of us, Happy Festivus!

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