The Skinny: Isles 3, Minnesota 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 37

Isles 3, Minnesota 1

Ryan Pulock and Matt Martin scored 97 seconds apart in the third period and Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves as the Isles rallied for a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild before a crowd of 17,506 at Xcel Energy Center.in St. Paul.

Ryan Donato's first period goal was all the scoring before Pulock and Martin turned the game upside-down as the Isles recorded their first regulation win since December 12th.

The win snaps a three-game losing streak (0-2-1) and pushes the Isles over 50 points with a 24-10-3 (51 points) record.  It's the earliest that the Isles have reached 50 points since 1983 (24-9-2 on 12/22/1983).

 

The Scoring: 

1st Period

Ryan Donato (8) Ryan Suter, Joel Eriksson Ek 15:43 NYI 0,MIN 1

2nd Period

No Goals

3rd Period

Ryan Pulock (6) Mathew Barzal, Adam Pelech 04:24 NYI 1,MIN 1

Matt Martin (3) Leo Komarov, Nick Leddy 06:01 NYI 2,MIN 1

Tom Kuhnhackl (1) Brock Nelson 17:29 NYI 3,MIN 1 

The Skinny     

Matt Martin scored for the first time since October 25th; Martin has 51 goals as an Islander and 12 of them are game-winners…The Isles killed all three Minnesota power plays and are a perfect 7-7 on this trip; they had allowed a power play goal in each of the five prior games (longest streak under Barry Trotz) … the Isles improve to 7-5-1 in December, clinching a winning December; the Isles have had a winning record in every month under Barry Trotz.… Nick Leddy earned an assist on the winning goal; it was his 164th as an Islander, breaking a tie with Zigmund Palffy for 26th place in club history…Ryan Pulock played in his 164th consecutive game, a streak that began two years ago tonight…Tom Kuhnhackl scored his first goal since March 1st…The three-game winless streak matched the longest under Trotz; the Isles are now 3-0-0 in the following game…The Isles are 4-9-0 when trailing after two periods (they were 5-19-0 last season when trailing after two periods)…The Wild had gone 13-4-4 in their prior 21 games; their 30 points were the most in the NHL in that span…The Isles allowed one goal or fewer for the first time in seven games. 

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 834-605-60-144 in 1,643 games.

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville  910

3. Ken Hitchcock    849

4. Barry Trotz    834

5. Al Arbour    782

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,674

3. Barry Trotz        1,643

4. Al Arbour 1,607

First Things First

The Isles are 13-4-2 when scoring first and are 11-6-1 when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles         10-10-8=28

Minnesota 12-5-9=26

The Isles are 7-4-2 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 23-10-3 overall; 13-4-2 at home (9-4-1 on Long Island and 4-0-1 in Brooklyn) and 11-6-1 on the road.  

Minnesota is 19-16-5 overall; 10-3-3 at home and 9-13-2 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 6-3-1 in Division games and 18-7-2 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 18-4-1 against the East and 6-6-2 against the West.  

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves as he improves to 13-3-3 on the season and 13-13-1 in his career against Minnesota. 

 

Devan Dubnyk made 25 saves but falls to 7-9-2 on the season and 5-6-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play in 3:25 of power play time; Minnesota was 0-3 on the power play in 5:25 of PP time.

The Isles are 10-2-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 14-8-2 when they do not.  The Isles are 9-6-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 15-4-2 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 17-6-2 when the opposition has more power plays.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-1-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-9-1 when they do not.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 59-3-4 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 16-8-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (22:05); Minnesota: Ryan Suter (22:36)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 19:09 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Adam Pelech (9-2-0), Ryan Pulock (9-3-3), 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 26, Minnesota 24 (52%)  

Brock Nelson won 10 of 17 for the Isles; Luke Kunin won 6 of 7 for Minnesota.

Hit Count

Isles 18 (Matt Martin and Nick Leddy -3)

Minnesota 7 (Ryan Suter-3)

   

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 19 (Johnny Boychuk -5)

Minnesota 14 (Five with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 47, Minnesota 59

Corsi: 5-on-5 Isles 42, Minnesota 45

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Adam Pelech +6

Minnesota: Ryan Hartman +12

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 8, Minnesota 8

5-on-5: Isles 7, Minnesota 8

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 21-10-2 in night games and 3-0-1 in matinees. The next matinee will be December 31st in Washington.

200 Game Club

The Isles have three players who have consecutive game streaks of at least 200 games.  It's the first time since November 25, 1978 that the Isles have had three players with streaks of at least 200 games.

Ironman Streaks: Anders Lee 237, Brock Nelson 214, Mathew Barzal 201, Ryan Pulock 164, Josh Bailey 122, Anthony Beauvillier 112, and Devon Toews 85. 

Iron D

Ryan Pulock is only the 5th defenseman in Islander history to play at least 164 consecutive regular season games; he tied Andrew MacDonald for fourth on the all-time club list tonight:

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. Ryan Pulock 12/29/2017 – CURRENT 164

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

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

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

Total games lost: 91.

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 834…

22. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 23.*** Pat LaFontaine and Matt Martin 530*** 24. Kyle Okposo 529 *** 26. Casey Cizikas 518 *** 27. Brock Nelson 517

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 308 …

25. Jeff Norton 166 *** 26. Nick Leddy 164

Points

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

12. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 13. Josh Bailey 456…

24. Ed Westfall 286 *** 25. Anders Lee 279 *** 26. Brock Nelson 270

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 181

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 119

 

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 72

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0).  The teams will meet again at the Coliseum on March 31st in the 80th game of the regular season.

The Isles have won three straight games vs. Minnesota and are 6-3-0 in their last nine games against the Wild.

On the Farm   

Kieffer Bellows scored a third period hat trick, but Bridgeport dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to Springfield on Saturday.  Bellows now has nine goals in his last eight games.

The Sound Tigers are 9-5-1-0 in their last 15 games and have climbed out of last place and back within seven points of a playoff spot.  Bridgeport wraps up 2019 with a 5:00 game at Hartford on New Year's Eve.

Up Next

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31st   —  ISLANDERS AT WASHINGTON –1:00 PM

[MSG+ (pre-game at 12:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN 1050] 

The Isles will wrap up 2019 and the road trip, as they face the Capitals in Washington on Tuesday afternoon.

It's the second meeting of the season between the teams; the Caps edged the Isles 2-1 on Opening Night.  It will be Barry Trotz' third trip back to DC as the Isles coach; the Isles won both games last season, blanking the Caps 2-0 in January and 3-0 in the regular season finale.

The Isles are 51-24-6 in 2019, while the Caps are 51-23-10.

The are 11-1-1 in their last 13 games on New Year's Eve, including a 3-1 win in Buffalo last season.  This will be only the second NYE meeting between the teams, with the Isles winning 6-4 in 1988 at the Coliseum.

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