The Skinny: Isles 4, Rangers 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 49

Isles 4, Rangers 2

Josh Bailey celebrated his 50th Islander-Ranger game with a goal and two assists and Thomas Greiss made 40 saves as the Isles built a 4-0 lead and defeated the Rangers 4-2 before 17,276 at Madison Square Garden.

The Isles finished January with a 4-5-2 record (2-4-1 vs Division foes); it is the Isles' first losing month under Barry Trotz.

 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Josh Bailey (11) Noah Dobson (4), Derick Brassard (16) 13:35 NYI 1,NYR 0 PPG

Anthony Beauvillier (13) Mathew Barzal (24), Josh Bailey (18) 16:35 NYI 2,NYR 0 PPG

2nd Period

Anders Lee (16) Mathew Barzal (25), Jordan Eberle (17) 09:52 NYI 3,NYR 0

3rd Period

Brock Nelson (20) Josh Bailey (19), Ryan Pulock (18) 03:13 NYI 4,NYR 0

Pavel Buchnevich (8) Adam Fox (21), Mika Zibanejad (20) 13:45 NYI 4,NYR 1 PPG

Chris Kreider (17) Mika Zibanejad (21), Ryan Strome (31) 15:32 NYI 4,NYR 2 PPG

The Skinny      

The Isles scored on both of their first period power plays; it's only the second time in the last two seasons (2/21/19 in Edmonton) that the Isles had at least two power play goals in the opening period…Barry Trotz  Peter Laviolette for 4th place on the all-time team list with 77 wins… Anders Lee's goal was his 168th, tying him with Ziggy Palffy for 13th place; it was his 287th point, passing  Ed Westfall for 24th…Brock Nelson reached 20 goals for the 5th time in 6 seasons (he had 19 in the other season); only five other NHL players have had 19+ in last six, including this one: Alex Ovechkin, Nikita Kucherov, Brad Marchand, Patrick Kane and Patrice Bergeron…Both Ranger goals came on a double-minor assessed to Scott Mayfield; the Rangers are 5-12 vs. the Isles on the power play this season…Josh Bailey has only one other multi-point game vs. the Rangers (10-10-2010 at the Coliseum).. The Isles finally solved Alexandar Georgiev; they had not scored more than two goals against him in previous five games…Thomas Greiss had his personal (and team) shutout streak stopped at 119:00 by Pavel Buchnevich's goal…The Rangers played without Artemi Panarin, who missed his first game of the season…The Isles are 25-22-3 in Josh Bailey's 50 Islander-Ranger games.

It's Good to be Home(s)

The Isles are 11-7-1 on Coliseum ice, but only 2-5-1 in their last 8 games in Uniondale.  The Isles will play 28 of their 41 home games this season at the Coliseum.   The Isles are 4-0-2 at Barclays Center this season and have not lost in Brooklyn (regular season) since January 12, 2019 (9-0-2); their next Brooklyn game is on February 1st vs Vancouver.

Road Warriors

The Isles are 14-8-2 on the road this season, including 7-3-1 in the last 11 games.

Metro Men

The Isles are in a stretch where they are playing 11 out of 12 games in the NY-Metro Area. The Isles are 4-3-2 in this stretch:

• 1/6 – Avs W 1-0

• 1/7 -  @ Devils W 4-3 (OT)

• 1/11 – Bruins L 2-3 (OT)

• 1/13 - @ NYRangers L 2-6

• 1/14 – Red Wings W 8-2

• 1/16 – NYRangers L 2-3

• 1/18 – Capitals  L 4-6

• 1/19 - @ Hurricanes L 2-1 (SO)

• 1/21 - @ NYRangers W 4-2

• 2/1 – Canucks (Barclays)

• 2/4 – Stars (Barclays)

• 2/6 - Kings (Barclays)

Following this stretch the Isles will play 17 of their next 27 (and 17 of their final 30) games on the road.

Coach Trotz

Barry Trotz is second among active coaches, trailing only Joel Quenneville, in both wins and games. Trotz' NHL record is 839-610-60-146 in 1,655 games.

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville  917 (pending 1/21 result)

3. Ken Hitchcock    849

4. Barry Trotz    839

5. Al Arbour    782

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,685

3. Barry Trotz        1,655

4. Al Arbour 1,607

First Things First

The Isles are 18-7-3 when scoring first and are 11-8-2 when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles        8-5-5=18

Rangers 14-15-13=42

The Isles are 9-6-3 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 20-8-2 when they are outshot.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 29-15-5 overall; 15-7-3 at home (11-7-1 on Long Island and 4-0-2 in Brooklyn) and 14-8-2 on the road.  

The Rangers are 23-21-4 overall; 13-10-2 at home and 10-11-2 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 9-7-2 in Division games and 20-8-3 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 22-9-3 against the East and 7-6-2 against the West.  

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 40 saves as he improves to 14-7-1 on the season and 5-0-1 in his career against the Rangers.

Alexandar Georgiev made 14 saves but falls to 12-10-1 on the season and 4-2-0 against the Isles.

Power Plays

The Isles were 2-2 in 2:31 of power play time; the Rangers were 2-5 on the power play in 8:53 of power play time.

The Isles are 11-4-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 18-11-4 when they do not.  The Isles are 11-9-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 18-7-3 when they do not.

The Isles are 4-4-2 when they have more power plays than the opposition, 4-5-0 when the power plays are even, and 21-6-3 when the opposition has more power plays.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 25-2-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 4-13-3 when they do not.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 61-4-4 when scoring three or more, with two of the three regulation losses coming against Nashville.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 15-4-5 in games decided by a single goal including 5-4 in regulation. They are 7-3 in games decided in overtime and are 3-2 in shootouts.  The Isles are 3-2 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 3-1-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 19-13-4 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (25:25); Rangers: Mike Zibanejad (25:51)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 19:38 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Adam Pelech (9-2-0), Ryan Pulock (11-5-3), Devon Toews (3-4-0), Scott Mayfield (2-1-0), Nick Leddy (2-3-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (1-0-0).

Face-offs

Isles 35, Rangers 19 (65%)  

Casey Cizikas won 14 of 20 for the Isles; no Ranger won more than he lost.

Hit Count

Isles 25  (Ryan Pulock -5)

Rangers 16 (Five with 2)

 

Fights

There were no fights.  Season total: 9 – Johnston-3 (vs. FLA, vs PHL, vs TB, vs NYR), Cizikas-2 (vs. OTT, vs SJ), Mayfield (vs ANA), Lee (vs FLA), Martin (vs NYR)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles: 16 (Johnny Boychuk -4)

Rangers: 11 (Jesper Fast -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 40, Rangers 73

Corsi: 5-on-5 Isles 29, Rangers 50

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Johnny Boychuk +2

Rangers: : Adam Fox +23

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 11, Rangers 21

5-on-5: Isles 9, Rangers 12

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 4-3-0 in the front-half and 5-1-1 in the back-half.  The next back-to-back will be February 10th at Washington and February 11th vs. Philadelphia. Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 16-2-2 in back-ends.

Night and Day

The Isles are 25-14-4 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees. The next matinee will be February 1st against Vancouver. 

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 249, Brock Nelson 226, Mathew Barzal 213, Ryan Pulock 176, Josh Bailey 134, Anthony Beauvillier 124, and Devon Toews 97. 

Iron Man

Anders Lee now has the fifth longest consecutive game streak while Brock Nelson has also moved into the top 8:

1. Billy Harris 10/7/1972 -11/30/1979 576 (*)

2. Bobby Nystrom 1/7/1975 - 11/25/1978 301

3. Matt Moulson 10/3/2009 - 4/4/2013 284

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

5. Anders Lee 1/26/2017 – CURRENT 249

6. John Tavares 10/16/2010 - 12/23/2013 246

7. J.P. Parise 1/7/1975 – 1/7/1978 240 (**)

8. Brock Nelson 3/16/2017 – CURRENT 226

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Iron D

Ryan Pulock has the fourth-longest consecutive game streak of any defenseman in Islander history: 

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 176

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Adam Pelech-INJ), (Cal Clutterbuck-INJ), Michael Dal Colle, Sebastian Aho

Total games lost: 118.

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 three goals 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. 

1/16 vs. NYR- Chris Kreider scored the winning goal at 19:35.

Challenges

Isles: 4 successful, 1 failure (offside-11/19 vs. PIT), (offside-12/9 vs. TBL), (no goalie Interference 12/21 vs, ANA), (offside-1/6 vs. COL), (offside 1/21 vs NYR)

The Isles are 4-0-0 in games that they are successful and 0-0-1 in games that they are unsuccessful.

Opponents: 2 successful, 3 failures (Nelson-kick 10/8 vs. EDM), (Lee- no high stick 11/1 vs. TB), (Cizikas- no goalie interference 11/23 vs. SJ), (Komarov-goalie interference 1/2 vs. NJ),(no offside 1/18 vs WSH)

The Isles are 1-1-1 in games where opponents' challenges go their way and 0-2-0 in games that go the opponent's way.

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 846…

20. Lorne Henning 543 *** 21. Matt Martin 542 *** Claude Lapointe 535  *** 23. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 24. Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 25. Kyle Okposo and Brock Nelson 529 *** 27. Casey Cizikas 528

Goals

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

13. Ziggy Palffy and Anders Lee 168 *** 15. Patrick Flatley 160 *** 16. Josh Bailey 151 ***

17. Pierre Turgeon 147 ***18. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 19. Brock Nelson 144

Assists

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

7.    Pat Flatley 328 *** 8.   Brent Sutter 323 *** 9. Stefan Persson 317 *** 10. Josh Bailey 312 …

22. Duane Sutter and Alexei Yashin 171*** 24. Jean Potvin 167 *** 25. Jeff Norton and Nick Leddy 166

Points

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

12. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 13. Josh Bailey 463…

23. Alexei Yashin 290 *** 24. Anders Lee 287 *** 25. Ed Westfall 286 *** 26. Brock Nelson 279

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 186

Wins (Goalie)

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

5.   Thomas Greiss 99

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 …

6. Peter Laviolette 164 *** 7. Ted Nolan 163 *** 8. Butch Goring 154 *** 9. Barry Trotz 131

 

Coaching Wins

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

Season Series Stats

The Rangers lead the season series 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 2).  The teams will meet at the Coliseum on February 25th to complete the season series.

The Isles are 9-3-0 in their last 12 trips to the Garden; the Isles have won at least once at MSG in each of the last eight seasons.

On the Farm   

The Sound Tigers are 2-1-0 in the last three games.  Bridgeport visits Hartford and Springfield next weekend.

Up Next

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1st  -   VANCOUVER AT ISLANDERS AT BARCLAYS CENTER–1:00 PM

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

Following ten consecutive off days, the Isles will begin the unofficial second half of the season as they battle the Canucks.

The Isles have won three straight vs. Vancouver in Brooklyn and are 6-0-1 in the last seven overall against the Canucks.

Vancouver is the 29th opponent to face the Isles this season; the Isles will face Calgary twice in six days in March.

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