Featured Post

The Skinny: Isles 6, Toronto 3

"The Skinny"  By Eric Hornick Game 34 Isles 6, Toronto 3 The Isles jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 4:48 and the Maple Leafs ...

Sunday, February 23, 2020

The Skinny: Isles 4, San Jose 1

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 61
Isles 4, San Jose 1
Friday night belonged to John Tonelli; tonight belonged to the active player wearing 27, Anders Lee.  Lee scored two goals and passed up a shot at an empty net to add an assist as the Islanders defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-1 before a sellout crowd of 13,917 at Nassau Coliseum.  

Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves as he improved to 4-4-0 since the All-Star break (.934, 2.07). He has allowed two goals or fewer in four of his last five starts.

It was the 24th 2-goal game for Lee (most of any NHL players without a hat trick; Mathew Barzal had two assists and now has 199 career points. 

The win pushes the Isles within one point of the third place Flyers; the Isles also hold a game-in-hand. The Isles remain just six points off the Metro lead which is once again held by Washington.

The Scoring:
1st Period
Anders Lee (18) Mathew Barzal (33), Jordan Eberle (22) 06:49 SJS 0,NYI 1
Dylan Gambrell (5) Radim Simek (7), Timo Meier (21) 10:36 SJS 1,NYI 1

2nd Period
Anders Lee (19) Mathew Barzal (34), Devon Toews (18) 01:10 SJS 1,NYI 2
Devon Toews (6) Brock Nelson (26) 17:38 SJS 1,NYI 3

3rd Period
Josh Bailey (13)EN Anders Lee (19), Brock Nelson (27) 17:41 SJS 1,NYI 4

The Skinny        
Barry Trotz recorded his 82 win as Isles coach, passing Terry Simpson for 3rd place on the all-time Isles win list; the Isles are 13-1-1 under Trotz when they didn't play the previous day but their opponents did …The Isles are 6-5-1 in February; they have scored 30 goals in the seven games that they earned points but only three goals in their five regulation losses…The Isles have scored an empty-net goal in each of the last three home games … Kieffer Bellows returned to the lineup and had two shots on goal; he also hit a post…The Isles have won five straight home games (and are 5-0-1 in the last six at home); it is the third time this season that the Isles have won at least five straight at home….The Isles improved to 10-10-3 against the West, including 8-2-2 at home…Anders Lee's 24 multi-goal games leave him two behind John Tonelli's 26; however, Derek King has the most multi-goal games from a #27, with 29…Both Anders Lee and Josh Bailey had only one goal since the All-Star break, before combining for three goals tonight…Jordan Eberle, Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal each extended their point streaks to three games.

Straight B's in Hockey 
An Islander with a surname starting with "B" has earned a point on 27 of the Isles' 33 goals this month. 

Barzal's Looking For 200
Barzal has 199 points in 227 games; his next point will make him the fastest Isle to 200 points since Ziggy Palffy, who did it in his 205th game.  

Pat LaFontaine did it in game 230 (but that was before Palffy). The only one who is anywhere close (since Palffy) is John Tavares, who reached 200 points in game 241.  As long as he beats Tavares, Barzal will be the 2nd-fastest Islander to 200 points in the last 30+ years.

Youngest Islanders to Record 200 Points
YR DAY
21 125 Bryan Trottier
21 260 John Tavares
22  55 Mike Bossy
22 112 Denis Potvin
22 217 Brent Sutter
22 235 Pat LaFontaine
(Barzal  will be 22-275 on Tuesday; he will be the 7th-youngest on this list once he gets there)

There are only sixteen active NHL players with more points in their first 227 games than Barzal.

Last Season vs. This Season
The Isles are 35-20-6 thru 61 games this season; they were 36-18-7 thru 61 games last season.  Their 76 points in 61 games is the 3rd-highest in the Post-Cup era (80 points in 2014-15, 79 points last season).

It's Good to be Home(s)
The Isles will play 28 of their 41 home games this season at the Coliseum.  The Isles are 13-7-1 on Coliseum ice where they have sold out four straight games (and eight games on the season).  The Isles are 7-0-3 at Barclays Center this season and have not lost a regular season game in Brooklyn since January 12, 2019 (12-0-3); their next Brooklyn game is on March 3rd vs. Montreal.

On the Road
The Isles are 15-13-2 on the road this season but are only 3-7-1 in the last 11 games.

Lots of Home Cooking 
The Isles are in a stretch in which they play six of eight games at home.  The Isles are 2-0-0 in this stretch.

2/21 Vs Red Wings (W 4-1)
2/23 Vs Sharks (W 4-1)
2/25 Vs Rangers (Coliseum)
2/27 @ Blues
2/29 Vs Bruins (Coliseum – Goring Day)
3/3 Vs Canadiens (Barclays)
3/5 @ Senators
3/7 Vs Hurricanes (Coliseum)

Following these eight games, the Isles will play nine of the following twelve 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 845-615-60-147 in 1,667 games, and he is now five wins shy of supplanting Ken Hitchcock as the 3rd-winningest coach in NHL history.

Most Coaching Wins
1. Scotty Bowman  1,244
2. Joel Quenneville  922
3. Ken Hitchcock  849
4. Barry Trotz 845
5. Al Arbour    782

Most Games Coached
1. Scotty Bowman   2,141
2. Joel Quenneville 1,698
3. Barry Trotz        1,667
4. Al Arbour 1,607

First Things First
The Isles are 23-7-3 when scoring first and are 12-13-3 when allowing the opening goal.

Highest Percentage of Games Won (Post-Cup Era) Allowing First Goal
.545 (18-13-2) 2014-15
.459 (17-18-2) 2018-19
.429 (12-13-3) 2019-20
.410 (14-21-4) 1985-86

The Shots
Isles    8-6-12=26
San Jose 10-10-10=30
The Isles are 13-7-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 22-12-2 when they are outshot.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 53-23-8 when outshot; the 53 wins are the most in the NHL.

Home and Road
The Islanders are 35-20-6 overall: 20-7-4 at home (13-7-1 on Long Island and 7-0-3 in Brooklyn) and 15-13-2 on the road.  
San Jose is 26-32-4 overall: 14-15-1 at home and 12-17-3 on the road.  

By Division & Conference
The Isles are 11-7-2 in Division games and 24-13-4 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 25-10-3 against the East and 10-10-3 against the West.  

In the Nets
Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves and improves to 19-12-4 on the season and 6-6-4 in his career against San Jose.  

Martin Jones made 22 saves but falls to 14-19-2 on the season and 3-2-0 against the Isles.  

Power Plays
The Isles were 0-3 in 6:00 of power play time; San Jose was 0-1 in 0:34 of power play time.

The Isles are 13-5-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 22-15-5 when they do not.  The Isles are 14-9-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 21-12-4 when they do not.

The Isles are 7-6-3 when they have more power plays than the opposition, 4-6-0 when the power plays are even, and 24-8-3 when the opposition has more power plays.

First 2 / Last 2     
The Isles have scored 15 goals and allowed 14 goals in the first two minutes of regulation periods.
The Isles have scored 12 goals and allowed 17 goals (excluding ENGs) in the last two minutes of regulation periods. 

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 31-2-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 4-18-3 when they do not.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 67-4-5 when scoring three or more, with two of the four regulation losses coming against Nashville.

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 16-6-6 in games decided by a single goal including 5-6 in regulation. They are 8-4 in games decided in overtime and are 3-2 in shootouts.  The Isles are 5-3 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Tired vs. Rested 
The Isles are 3-0-0 when both teams played the night before. 
The Isles are 7-1-0 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 22-18-5 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Mathew Barzal (20:55); San Jose: Brent Burns (23:57)
Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:55 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Adam Pelech (9-2-0), Ryan Pulock (13-6-3), Devon Toews (3-6-1), Scott Mayfield (2-1-0), Nick Leddy (5-3-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-2-0).

Highest Ice-Time by Isles Forwards Under Trotz
24:59 -  Mathew Barzal – 2/20/20 vs. DET
24:35 -  Mathew Barzal – 2/17/20 vs. ARI
24:35 - Brock Nelson – 11/9/19 vs. FLA
24:01 - Jordan Eberle – 2/17/20 vs. ARI
23:52 – Mathew Barzal – 12/15/18 vs. DET
23:23 - Mathew Barzal – 2/15/20 vs. VGK
23:11 - Mathew Barzal -1/2/20 vs. NJD
23:11 - Mathew Barzal – 12/3/19 vs. MON

Face-offs
Isles 29, San Jose 26 (53%)  
Brock Nelson won 16 of 18 for the Isles; Joel Kellman won 5 of 6 for San Jose.

Hit Count
Isles 19 (Matt Martin -4)
San Jose 30 (Barclay Goodrow-5)
 
Fights 
There were no fights.  Season total:14 – Johnston-6 (vs. FLA, vs PHL, vs TB, vs NYR, vs WAS, vs VGK), Cizikas-3 (vs. OTT, vs SJ, vs. LA), Lee-2 (vs FLA, vs VGK), Martin-2 (vs NYR, vs NAS), Mayfield (vs ANA).
Blocked Shots
Isles 18  (Ryan Pulock  -4)
San Jose 15 (Four with 2)
The Isles lead the NHL with 1,056 blocked shots.

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 47, San Jose 63
Corsi: 5-on-5 Isles 36, San Jose 60

5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Devon Toews EVEN
San Jose: Evander Kane and Stefan Noesen +14

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 9, San Jose 12  
5-on-5: Isles 8, San Jose 12

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 5-3-0 in the front-half and 6-1-1 in the back-half. The next back-to-back will be March 12th in Calgary and March 13th in Edmonton. Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 17-2-2 in back-ends.

Night and Day
The Isles are 31-18-4 in night games and 4-2-2 in matinees. The next matinee will be on February 29th vs Boston. 

200 Game Club
The Isles have three players who have active consecutive game streaks of at least 200 games, and they are three of just 25 players in the NHL who have played every game since the start of the 2017-18 season.  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 261, Brock Nelson 238, Mathew Barzal 225, Ryan Pulock 188, Josh Bailey 146, Anthony Beauvillier 136, and Devon Toews 109.  No other Islander has played every game this season.

Iron Man
Anders Lee now has the fifth longest consecutive game streak while Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal have also moved into 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. Anders Lee 1/26/2017 – CURRENT 261
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 238
9. Mathew Barzal 10/6/17- CURRENT 225
10. Richard Park 10/5/2006 - 2/18/2009 221

 (*) 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 188
 (*) Start of NHL career.
(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches
(Adam Pelech-INJ), (Cal Clutterbuck-LTIR/Conditioning), (Casey Cizikas-INJ), (Derick Brassard-INJ), Ross Johnston, Noah Dobson.
Total games lost: 138.

Late Heroes 
The Isles have scored four times 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.
2/1 vs VAN – Brock Nelson scored at 19:34, but the Isles lost in OT.
2/11 vs PHI – Ryan Pulock scored the winning goal at 19:19.

Late Goals Allowed
The Isles have allowed four 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.
2/11 vs. PHI – Sean Couturier scored at 18:28, but the Isles won in regulation.

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: 4 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), (Lee-goalie interference 2/4 vs. DAL), (offside- 2/9 vs TBL)
The Isles are 1-1-1 in games where opponents' challenges go their way and 1-3-0 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 858…
17. John Tonelli 594 *** 18. Matt Martin 554 *** 19. Ken Morrow 550 *** 20. Duane Sutter 547 *** 21. Lorne Henning 543 *** 22. Brock Nelson 541 *** 23. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 24. Casey Cizikas 534

Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
12. Billy Harris 184 *** 13. Anders Lee 171 *** 14. Ziggy Palffy 168 *** 15. Patrick Flatley 160 *** 16. Josh Bailey 153 *** 17. Pierre Turgeon 147 ***18. Brock Nelson 146

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553…
6.  John Tonelli 338 *** 7. Pat Flatley 328 *** 8. Brent Sutter 323 *** 9. Josh Bailey 319 …
20. Ed Westfall 181 *** 21. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 22. Duane Sutter and Alexei Yashin 171*** 24. Nick Leddy 168

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052…
11. Derek King 499 *** 12. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 13. Josh Bailey 472…
20. Ziggy Palffy 331 ***  21. Anders Lee 296  ***22. Mariusz Czerkawski 295 *** 23. Duane Sutter 292 *** 24. Alexei Yashin and. Brock Nelson 290

Games Played (Goalies)
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 *** 4. Kelly Hrudey 241 ***
5. Thomas Greiss 190

Wins (Goalie)
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130*** 4. Kelly Hrudey 108***
5.   Thomas Greiss 101

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 143
Coaching Wins
1. Al Arbour 740 *** 2. Jack Capuano 227 *** 3. Barry Trotz 82

Season Series Stats
The teams split the season series 1 game to 1 (the Isles earned 3 points to San Jose's 2).

The Isles are 5-1-0 in their last six home games against the Sharks.

On the Farm   
Bridgeport lost to Hershey on Saturday (5-4 in a shootout) and Hartford on Sunday (4-1). Cal Clutterbuck played in both games as he has been assigned to the Sound Tigers to continue his injury rehab.  

The Sound Tigers are off until Friday, when they begin a 3-in-3 weekend in Providence.  Bridgeport will host Hartford on Saturday and Binghamton on Sunday. 

Up Next
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25th  -  RANGERS AT ISLANDERS AT NASSAU COLISEUM –7:00 PM
[MSG+ (pre-game at 6:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN-1050]
The Isles look to complete a 3-0-0 homestand as they host the Rangers in the final meeting of the regular season between the teams.

The other three meetings were all in a 9-day span in January; the Rangers won the first two before the Isles defeated the Blueshirts 4-2 at the Garden in the final game before the All-Star Break. 

The Isles have won 7 of the last 9 at home against the Rangers, although the Rangers have earned one-goal victories in the last two Islander home games.

Alexandar Georgiev has been in goal for all three meetings with the Isles this season but Igor Shesterkin has won seven straight to match the Ranger rookie record.

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

No comments: