The Skinny: Toronto 3, Isles 0

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 40

Toronto 3, Isles 0

Michael Hutchinson made 33 save for his 5th career shutout while Pierre Engvall and Auston Mathews scored 2:42 apart in the second period to break a scoreless tie as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Isles 3-0 before a sellout crowd of 19,536 at Scotiabank Arena.

Zach Hyman added an empty-net goal as the Isles dropped their second straight game to open 2020 and fall to 25-12-3 on the season.

The Leafs are 9-0-1 in their last ten games. It's the first time since March 26- April 15, 2006 that the Leafs have earned a point in ten straight games.  The Isles did prevent the Leafs from becoming the first NHL team since 1993 to score at least four goals in ten straight games.

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

Pierre Engvall (6) Kasperi Kapanen 13:25 NYI 0,TOR 1

Auston Matthews (28) Mitchell Marner, Justin Holl 16:07 NYI 0,TOR 2

3rd Period

Zach Hyman (10)EN Mitchell Marner, Auston Matthews 17:52 NYI 0,TOR 3

The Skinny      

Johnny Boychuk played his 700th NHL game… The Isles were not penalized for the first time this season; they remain a perfect 11-11 over the last five games...The Isles are 12-2-0 against the Atlantic Division and are 19-4-1 in their last 24 games against the East… Matt Martin played in his 533rd Isles game, passing Tomas Jonsson for 22nd place; it was his 665th career game....The Isles have gone 92:27 without a goal and have scored only 12 goals in their last six games…Jordan Eberle had a season-high six shots…Auston Matthews has seven goals in 11 career games against the Isles…The Isles were shut-out for the second time this season (in Anaheim by John Gibson to end the 17-game point streak)…The Leafs tied the Isles with 53 points, but the Isles still have three games in hand…Barry Trotz coached his 122nd Isles game, tying Doug Weight for 10th place on the all-time list.…Auston Mathews has 21 goals at home this season; he is the first NHL since Cam Neely (24 in 1993-94) to score at least 21 goals in his team's first 20 home games.

It's Good to be Home(s)

The Isles are 9-5-1 on Coliseum ice, including 0-3-1 in the last four games.  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 11th vs. Boston.

Coach Trotz

Barry Trotz is second among active coaches, trailing only Joel Quenneville, in both wins and games. Trotz' NHL record is 835-607-60-144 in 1,646 games.

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville  911 

3. Ken Hitchcock    849

4. Barry Trotz    835

5. Al Arbour    782

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,677

3. Barry Trotz        1,646

4. Al Arbour 1,607

First Things First

The Isles are 14-5-2 when scoring first and are 11-7-1 when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles      7-16-10=33

Toronto 6-7-10=23

The Isles are 7-5-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 18-6-1 when they are outshot.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 25-11-3 overall; 13-5-2 at home (9-5-1 on Long Island and 4-0-1 in Brooklyn) and 12-7-1 on the road.  

Toronto is 24-14-5 overall; 11-4-5 at home and 13-10-0 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 7-4-1 in Division games and 18-82 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 19-6-1 against the East and 6-6-2 against the West.  

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 20 saves but falls to 14-5-3 on the season and 6-5-2 in his career against Toronto. 

 

Michael Hutchinson made 33 saves for his 5th career shutout; he is 3-5-1 on the season and 1-0-1 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-1 on the power play in 2:00 of power play time; Toronto did not have a power play.

The Isles are 10-2-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 15-10-2 when they do not.  The Isles are 9-6-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 16-6-2 when they do not.

The Isles are 4-3-1 when they have more power plays than the opposition, 4-3-0 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 22-1-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-11-1 when they do not.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 60-3-4 when scoring three or more, with two of the three regulation losses coming against Nashville.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 13-3-3 in games decided by a single goal including 4-3 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 17-10-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Devon Toews (23:41); Toronto: Morgan Reilly (23:50)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 19:17 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Adam Pelech (9-2-0), Ryan Pulock (10-3-3), Devon Toews (3-4-0), Scott Mayfield (1-1-0), Nick Leddy (0-2-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (1-0-0).

Face-offs

Isles 19, Toronto 24 (44%)  

Derick Brassard won 8 of 9 for the Isles but his teammates won only 11 of 34; Auston Mathews won 7 of 9 for Toronto.

Hit Count

Isles 25 (Leo Komarov -4)

Toronto 17 (Two with 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 13 (Four with 2)

Toronto 9 (Travis Dermott -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 48, Toronto 48

Corsi: 5-on-5 Isles 46, Toronto 45

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Ryan Pulock +10

Toronto: Morgan Rielly +12

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 7, Toronto 12

5-on-5: Isles 7, Toronto 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 21-12-2 in night games and 4-0-1 in matinees. The next matinee will be January 18th against 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 240, Brock Nelson 217, Mathew Barzal 204, Ryan Pulock 167, Josh Bailey 125, Anthony Beauvillier 115, and Devon Toews 88. 

Iron Man

Anders Lee is now tied with JP Parise for the sixth-longest consecutive game streak in Isles history, while Brock Nelson is closing in on the top 10:

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

6. Anders Lee 1/26/2017 – CURRENT 240

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

8. Richard Park 10/5/2006 - 2/18/2009 221

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

10. Bryan Trottier 3/7/1981 - 1/12/1984 219

11. Lorne Henning 12/28/1974 - 11/6/1977 218

12. Brock Nelson 3/16/2017 – CURRENT 217

 (*) 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 167

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Adam Pelech-INJ), (Cal Clutterbuck-INJ), Ross Johnston, Sebastian Aho.

Total games lost: 96.

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 two 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. 

Challenges

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

Opponents: 2 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), (Komarov--goalie interference 1/2 vs. NJ)

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 837…

20. Lorne Henning 543 *** 21. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 22.  Matt Martin 533 *** 23. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 24. Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 25. Kyle Okposo 529 *** 26. Casey Cizikas 521 *** 27. Brock Nelson 520

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 and Brock Nelson 139

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 308 …

22. Duane Sutter and Alexei Yashin 171*** 24. Jean Potvin 167 *** 25. Jeff Norton 166 *** 26. Nick Leddy 165

Points

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

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

23. Alexei Yashin 290 *** 24. Ed Westfall 286 *** 25. Anders Lee 281 *** 26. Brock Nelson 272

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 …

6. Peter Laviolette 164 *** 7. Ted Nolan 163 *** 8. Butch Goring 154 *** 9. Steve Stirling 124 *** 10. Doug Weight and Barry Trotz 122

 

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 73

Season Series Stats

The season series is even, 1 game to 1 (and 2 points to 2).  The teams will meet again in Toronto on March 19th.

The Isles are 1-3-2 in their last six games in Toronto. Overall, the Isles are 3-2-0 against the Leafs in the post-Tavares era.

On the Farm   

The Sound Tigers have also lost their first two games of 2020, falling 3-1 in Binghamton on Friday and 2-1 in Hershey on Saturday.  Andrew Ladd had the Sound Tigers' only goal on Saturday as he played his 1,000th professional game. 

Bridgeport will remain in Chocolate City USA to face the Bears again on Sunday at 3pm; the Sound Tigers will then be off until Friday, when they visit Springfield to begin another 3-in-3 weekend.

Up Next

MONDAY, JANUARY 6th   —  COLORADO AT ISLANDERS AT NASSAU COLISEUM –7:00 PM

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

Johnny Boychuk did not score a goal in the four games he played to begin his NHL career with the Avs, but he has scored a game-winning goal in each of the last two seasons against Colorado.

The Isles meet the Avs for the first time this season as they begin a stretch of 11 out of 12 games in the New York area (4 at the Coliseum, 4 at Barclays, 2 at MSG, 1 at Prudential Center, and 1 in Carolina).

The Isles have won four of the last five games between the teams, with a defenseman scoring the last three game-winning goals (Boychuk -2, Pulock -1).  

The Isles are 5-0-0 in their last five home games against the Avs and have won 11 out of the last 12 games in New York  between the teams (a stretch that began with Butch Goring's first home game behind the Isles' bench on October 10, 1999). 

This is the front-end of a back-to-back set that concludes Tuesday in New Jersey.

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