The Skinny: Rangers 4, Isles 3 (OT)

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 62

Rangers 4, Isles 3 (OT)

The Isles scored twice in the final 5:37 to force overtime, but Mika Zibanejad scored his 100th goal as a Ranger just 28 seconds into the extra session as the Blueshirts beat the Isles 4-3 before a sellout crowd of 13,917 at Nassau Coliseum.  

J-G Pageau scored a goal and recorded 17 penalty minutes in his Islander debut; Jordan Eberle (14:23) and Brock Nelson (19:42) scored late in the third to force overtime. Mathew Barzal assisted on both third period goals and now has 201 career points. 

With the point, the Isles fall two points behind the third place Flyers; the Isles do hold a game-in-hand. The Isles are three points behind second place Pittsburgh. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Artemi Panarin (32) Ryan Lindgren (10), Tony DeAngelo (33) 17:02 NYR 1,NYI 0

2nd Period

Greg McKegg (4) Brendan Lemieux (10), Adam Fox (26) 07:48 NYR 2,NYI 0

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (25) Ryan Pulock (25), Josh Bailey (27) 17:04 NYR 2,NYI 1

3rd Period

Brett Howden (8) Brendan Smith (4), Ryan Lindgren (11) 09:34 NYR 3,NYI 1

Jordan Eberle (14) Mathew Barzal (35), Anders Lee (20) 14:23 NYR 3,NYI 2 PPG

Brock Nelson (23) Devon Toews (19), Mathew Barzal (36) 19:42 NYR 3,NYI 3

OT

Mika Zibanejad (29) Artemi Panarin (53) 00:28 NYR 4,NYI 3 

The Skinny        

The Isles are 6-5-2 in February; they have scored 33 goals in the eight games that they earned points but only three goals in their five regulation losses…The Isles are  5-0-2 in the last seven games at home; the Rangers set a franchise record with their eighth straight road win.…Jordan Eberle, Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal each extended their point streaks to four games…Artemi Panarin now has a career-high 32 goals and a 10-game point streak…The Isles had 84 attempts in the game; it was their most since January 17, 2016 vs. Vancouver (94)… Brock Nelson scored his second last-minute tying goal this month (2/1 vs Vancouver); it was his 147th goal and 291st point as an Islander, breaking ties with Pierre Turgeon in goals and Alexei Yashin in points…The Isles failed to overturn a goalie interference call that would have produced a goal with 7:44 remaining in the third period; while 22 of 50 goalie interference calls have been successfully challenged in the NHL this season, only two have resulted in a goal being awarded…J-G Pageau set a career-high with 17 penalty minutes in his fight with Jacob Trouba; he had only 153 penalty minutes as a Senator (428 games)…The Isles scored four power play goals against the Rangers in 13 attempts this season…Jordan Eberle scored for the 11th time in the last 21 games…Brock Nelson's goal was his 50th point of the season; it's the second straight year he has reached that mark.  He is now three goals and three points shy of his career highs, set in different seasons…The Isles finished with a season-high 45 shots (most since they had 50 on January 3, 2019 vs. Chicago); the Isles outshot the Rangers 85-56 in the two meetings at the Coliseum but lost once on a last-minute goal and once in overtime…This was the first Islander -Ranger game to be decided by an overtime goal since April 13, 2013, when Dan Girardi scored the only goal of the game in the extra session; the Isles have never won a (regular season) overtime game against the Rangers at home…The team that scored first has won the last ten Islander games; the team that allowed the first goal has not led in any of those games.

The Injuries

Andy Greene suffered an upper-body injury in the first period after a collision with Brendan Lemieux; Michael Dal Colle suffered an upper-body injury with 14:08 to play in a hit from Jacob Trouba.  Neither player returned to the game.

Rewriting the History Books

Alexandar Georgiev made 42 saves on 45 shots;  it's the most saves a Ranger goalie has ever made against the Isles. John Vanbiesbrouck had held the record since November 9, 1984, when he stopped 41 of 45.  Those games 35 years apart are the only games in which the Isles had at least 45 shots against the Rangers. 

Time to Get Even

Brock Nelson's goal at 19:42 of the third period was the latest tying goal for the Isles since Anders Lee scored in Dallas at 19:58 of the 3rd period on March 3, 2015.   It was the latest for the Isles in any home game since PA Parenteau scored against Toronto at 19:47 of the third period on January 24, 2012.

It's the first time that the Isles have EVER scored a last-minute tying goal against the Rangers; the previous latest was at 18:58, as Ray Ferraro beat Mike Richter at the Garden on February 2, 1994.

Nelson also scored a last-minute tying goal against Vancouver on February 1st; It's the first time that the Isles (as a team) have tied two games in the last minute in the same calendar month since March 1987 when Mikko Makela did it twice (3-3-1987 vs. BOS, 3-14-1987 vs. NJD).

Straight B's in Hockey 

An Islander with a surname starting with "B" has earned a point on 30 of the Isles' 36 goals this month. 

Barzy Hits 200

Mathew Barzal now has 201 points in 228 games; he is the fastest Isle to 200 points since Ziggy Palffy, who did it in his 205th game and the second-fastest in the post-Cup era.  

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

22-275 Mathew Barzal

There are only sixteen active NHL players with more points in their first 228 games than Barzal.

Last Season vs. This Season

The Isles are 35-20-7 thru 62 games this season; they were 36-19-7 thru 62 games last season.  Their 77 points in 62 games is tied for the 3rd-highest in the Post-Cup era (82 points in 2014-15, 79 points last season, 77 in 2015-16).

It's Good to be Home(s)

The Isles are playing 28 of their 41 home games this season at the Coliseum.  The Isles are 13-7-2 on Coliseum ice where they have sold out five straight games (and nine games this 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 2-0-1 in this stretch.

• 2/21 Vs Red Wings (W 4-1)

• 2/23 Vs Sharks (W 4-1)

• 2/25 Vs Rangers (L 3-4 OT)

• 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 845-615-60-148 in 1,668 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  923

3. Ken Hitchcock    849

4. Barry Trotz    845

5. Al Arbour    782

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,699

3. Barry Trotz        1,668

4. Al Arbour 1,607

First Things First

The Isles are 23-7-3 when scoring first and are 12-13-4 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

• .414 (12-13-4) 2019-20

• .410 (14-21-4) 1985-86

The Shots

Isles      15-16-14-0=45

Rangers 7-13-7-1=28

The Isles are 13-7-5 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 35-20-7 overall: 20-7-5 at home (13-7-2 on Long Island and 7-0-3 in Brooklyn) and 15-13-2 on the road.  

The Rangers are 35-24-4 overall: 17-13-2 at home and 18-11-2 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

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

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves; he is 19-12-5 on the season and 6-5-2 in his career against the Rangers.  

Alexandar Georgiev made 41 saves to improve to 15-12-1 on the season and 5-2-0 against the Isles.  

Power Plays

The Isles were 1-3 in 4:07 of power play time; the Rangers were 0-2 in 2:14 of power play time.

The Isles are 13-5-2 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 21-12-5 when they do not.

The Isles are 7-6-4 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 13 goals and allowed 17 goals (excluding ENGs) in the last two minutes of regulation periods. 

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 31-2-4 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 67-4-6 when scoring three or more, with two of the four regulation losses coming against Nashville.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 16-6-7 in games decided by a single goal including 5-6 in regulation. They are 8-5 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 22-18-6 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Devon Toews (26:28); Rangers: Ryan Lindgren (21:40)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 24:27 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Adam Pelech (9-2-0), Ryan Pulock (13-6-3), Devon Toews (3-6-2), 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 (Career High)

• 24:27 – Mathew Barzal – 2/25/20 vs. NYR (Career High)

• 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

• 23:15 - Anders Lee – 2/25/20 vs. NYR (Career High)

Face-offs

Isles 29, Rangers 18 (62%))  

J-G Pageau won 10 of 14 for the Isles; no Ranger won more than he lost.

Hit Count

Isles 19 (Matt Martin -4)

Rangers 17 (Jacob Trouba -4)

 

Fights 

J-G Pageau fought Jacob Trouba in the third period.  Season total:15 – 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), Pageau (vs NYR).

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 13  (Ryan Pulock -4)

Rangers 23 (Two with 3)

The Isles lead the NHL with 1,068 blocked shots.

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 84, Rangers 48 

Corsi: 5-on-5 Isles 66, Rangers 44

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Josh Bailey +19

Rangers: Tony DeAngelo +2

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 27, Rangers 9 

5-on-5: Isles 21, Rangers 9

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 32-18-4 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 262, Brock Nelson 239, Mathew Barzal 226, Ryan Pulock 189, Josh Bailey 147, Anthony Beauvillier 137, and Devon Toews 110.  No other Islander has played every game this season.

Iron Man

Anders Lee has tied Denis Potvin for the fourth-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. Anders Lee 1/26/2017 – CURRENT 262

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

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 239

9. Mathew Barzal 10/6/17- CURRENT 226

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 189

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Adam Pelech-INJ), (Cal Clutterbuck-LTIR/Conditioning), (Casey Cizikas-INJ), Kieffer Bellows, Ross Johnston, Noah Dobson.

Total games lost: 141.

Late Heroes 

The Isles have scored five 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.

2/26 vs NYR – Brock Nelson scored at 19:42, but the Isles lost in OT

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, 2 failures (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), (no goalie interference 2/25 vs NYR)

The Isles are 4-0-0 in games that they are successful and 0-0-2 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 859…

17. John Tonelli 594 *** 18. Matt Martin 555 *** 19. Ken Morrow 550 *** 20. Duane Sutter 547 *** 21. Lorne Henning 543 *** 22. Brock Nelson 542 *** 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 and Brock Nelson 147

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 320 …

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 473…

20. Ziggy Palffy 331 ***  21. Anders Lee 296  ***22. Mariusz Czerkawski 295 *** 23. Duane Sutter 292 *** 24. Brock Nelson 291

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 144

 

Coaching Wins

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

Season Series Stats

The Rangers win the season series 3 games to 1 (and 6 points to 3).

The Rangers have won their last three games as visitors against the Isles; all three gave been decided in overtime with the Isles going 0-2-1. Prior to that, the Isles had won seven straight against the Rangers at home.

On the Farm   

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

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27th  -  ISLANDERS AT ST. LOUIS –8:00 PM

[MSG+ (pre-game at 7:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN-1050]

The Isles will look to reverse their recent road troubles as they visit the Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues.

The Isles rallied from a 2-0 deficit with six minutes to play to defeat St. Louis 3-2 in overtime on Columbus Day; that was the second win in what became a 17-game point streak.

The Isles have won four straight from St. Louis (three by a single goal, with two in overtime) and will be looking for their third straight win at Enterprise Center.

It will be the Isles' first road game since their recent four-game trip in which they were outscored 11-2.  The Isles are 2-8-1 in Western Conference road games this season.

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