The Skinny: Tampa Bay 3, Isles 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 53

Tampa Bay 3, Isles 1 

Brayden Point broke a scoreless tie just 14 seconds into the second period and later assisted on an empty net goal as the Tampa Bay Lightning snapped the Isles' five-game point streak with a 3-1 victory over the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 19,092 at AMALIE Arena. 

Derick Brassard converted on the Isles' only power play, with 7:48 to play to cut Tampa Bay's lead to 2-1  but the Isles would not manage another shot on goal until the game's final seconds.

The Isles fall to 31-16-6; their 68 points matches last year's Islander team for the 2nd-highest total of points thru 53 games in the Post-Cup era (69 in 2014-15).

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

Brayden Point (20) Nikita Kucherov (41) 00:14 NYI 0,TBL 1

3rd Period

Carter Verhaeghe (7) Yanni Gourde (14), Mitchell Stephens (3) 06:25 NYI 0,TBL 2

Derick Brassard (10) Josh Bailey (21), Anthony Beauvillier (19) 12:12 NYI 1,TBL 2 PPG

Steven Stamkos (26)EN Brayden Point (31), Nikita Kucherov (42) 18:58 NYI 1,TBL 3 

The Skinny        

 Anthony Beauvillier is 5-6-11 in the last nine games as he extended his point streak to five games …The Isles are 4-5-0 when trailing 2-0… The Isles dressed eight of their own first round draft picks for the 3rd  straight game (and the 6th time this season)….The Isles went over 19 minutes without a shot on goal, beginning midway thru the second period…The Lightning have won six straight games, and are 18-2-1 in their last 21 games...Brayden Point has a point in six straight games while both Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov extended their point streaks to ten games.…Mathew Barzal had two late shots on goal to raise the Isles' total to 18, which still matched a season low (also 1/21 at MSG)…Brayden Point's goal was the earliest against the Isles in any period since Adam Lowry scored at :13 of the first period of the Isles' win in Winnipeg last March 28th; it was the 6th goal the Isles have allowed in the opening minute of a period (5 vs. Varlamov, all in 2nd/3rd periods, and 1 vs. Greiss (Quinn Hughes for Vancouver in OT)…The Isles outscored the Lightning 2-0 on the power play in the season series…Andrei Vasilevskiy improved to 16-0-2 in his last 18 games; the 18-game streak is the longest in Lightning history and the longest by any Russian-born goalie…It was the Lightning's 227th consecutive home sellout.

Straight B's in Hockey

An Islander with a surname starting with "B" has earned a point on 11 of the Isles' 13 goals this month.

Last Season vs. This Season

The Isles are 31-16-6 thru 53 games this season; they were an identical 31-16-6 thru 53 games last season.  Their 68 points in 53 games is tied for the 2nd-highest in the Post-Cup era (69 points in 2014-15).

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 11-7-1 on Coliseum ice, but only 2-5-1 in their last 8 games in Uniondale.  The Isles are 6-0-3 at Barclays Center this season and have not lost in Brooklyn (regular season) since January 12, 2019 (11-0-3); their next Brooklyn game is on Tuesday vs. Philadelphia.

Road Warriors

The Isles are 14-9-2 on the road this season, including 7-4-1 in the last 12 games.

The Road Ahead

The Isles are beginning a stretch in which they will play six out of seven games (and 17 of their next 27 games) on the road. The Isles are 0-1-0 in this stretch:

• 2/8 - @ Lightning L 3-1

• 2/10 - @ Capitals

• 2/11 – Vs. Flyers (Barclays)

• 2/13 - @ Predators

• 2/15 - @ Golden Knights

• 2/17- @ Coyotes

• 2/19 - @ Avalanche

Coach Trotz

Barry Trotz is second among active coaches, trailing only Joel Quenneville, in both wins and games. Trotz' NHL record is 841-611-60-147 in 1,659 games, and he is now nine 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  919

3. Ken Hitchcock    849

4. Barry Trotz    841

5. Al Arbour    782

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,690

3. Barry Trotz        1,659

4. Al Arbour 1,607

First Things First

The Isles are 19-7-3 when scoring first and are 12-9-3 when allowing the opening goal.

Highest Percentage of Games Won (Post-Cup Era) Allowing First Goal

• .545 (18-13-2) 2014-15

• .500 (12-9-3) 2019-20

• .459 (17-18-2) 2018-19

• .410 (14-21-4) 1985-86

The Shots

Isles       8-5-5=18

Tampa Bay   10-10-10-=30

The Isles are 11-6-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 20-9-2 when they are outshot.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 31-16-6 overall; 17-7-4 at home (11-7-1 on Long Island and 6-0-3 in Brooklyn) and 14-9-2 on the road.  

Tampa Bay is 35-15-5 overall; 18-7-2 at home and 17-8-3 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 9-7-2 in Division games and 22-9-4 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 22-10-3 against the East and 9-6-3 against the West.  

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves to fall to 16-9-4 on the season and 10-7-2 in his career against Tampa Bay.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 17 saves and improves to 29-9-3 on the season and 7-4-0 against the Isles.  

Power Plays

The Isles were 1-1 in 1:55 of power play time; Tampa Bay was 0-1 in 2:00 of power play time.

The Isles are 12-5-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 19-11-5 when they do not.  The Isles are 12-9-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 19-8-4 when they do not.

The Isles are 5-4-3 when they have more power plays than the opposition, 4-6-0 when the power plays are even, and 22-6-3 when the opposition has more power plays.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 27-2-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 4-14-3 when they do not.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 63-4-5 when scoring three or more, with two of the four regulation losses coming against Nashville.

One-Goal Games

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

Greatest Percentage of 1-goal games won 

• 1981-82 -- .800

• 1982-83 & 1976-77 -- .667

• 1991-92 -- .619

• 2019-20 -- .615

• 2014-15 -- .605

• 2018-19 -- .594

Tired vs. Rested 

• The Isles are 2-0-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 6-1-0 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 20-14-5 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Devon Toews (23:22); Tampa Bay: Victor Hedman (26:44)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 19:45 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Adam Pelech (9-2-0), Ryan Pulock (12-5-3), Devon Toews (3-5-1), Scott Mayfield (2-1-0), Nick Leddy (3-3-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (1-0-0).

Face-offs

Isles 24, Tampa Bay 26 (48%)  

Brock Nelson won 11 of 17 (for the 2nd straight game) for the Isles; Cedric Paquette won 6 of 9 for Tampa Bay.

Hit Count

Isles 30  (Derick Brassard and Kieffer Bellows -5)

Tampa Bay 36 (Luke Schenn -5)

 

Fights

There were no fights.  Season total:10 – Johnston-4 (vs. FLA, vs PHL, vs TB, vs NYR), Cizikas-3 (vs. OTT, vs SJ, vs. LA), Mayfield (vs ANA), Lee (vs FLA), Martin (vs NYR)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles: 10  (Anders Lee -2)

Tampa Bay: 17 (Onrej Palat & Brayden Coburn- 3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 47, Tampa Bay 50

Corsi: 5-on-5 Isles 38, Tampa Bay 47

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Ryan Pulock +9

Tampa Bay: Erik Cernak +19

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 6, Tampa Bay 7

5-on-5: Isles 4,Tampa Bay 7

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 27-15-4 in night games and 4-1-2 in matinees. The next matinee will be February 17th in Arizona. 

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 253, Brock Nelson 230, Mathew Barzal 217, Ryan Pulock 180, Josh Bailey 138, Anthony Beauvillier 128, and Devon Toews 101. 

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 253

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 230

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

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

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

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

13. Mathew Barzal 10/6/17- 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 180

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

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

Total games lost: 126.

Late Heroes 

The Isles have scored three 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.

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: 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 850…

18. Ken Morrow 550 *** 19. Duane Sutter 547 *** 20. Matt Martin 546 *** 21. Lorne Henning 543 *** Claude Lapointe 535  *** 23. Brock Nelson 533 *** 24. Tomas Jonsson and Casey Cizikas 532

Goals

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

12. Billy Harris 184 *** 13. Anders Lee 169 *** 14. Ziggy Palffy 168 *** 15. Patrick Flatley 160 *** 16. Josh Bailey 151 *** 17. Pierre Turgeon 147 ***18. Mariusz Czerkawski and Brock Nelson 145

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 314 …

21. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 22. Duane Sutter and Alexei Yashin 171*** 24. Jean Potvin and Nick Leddy 167

Points

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

12. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 13. Josh Bailey 465…

21. Mariusz Czerkawski 295 *** 22. Duane Sutter 292 *** 23. Alexei Yashin 290 *** 24. Anders Lee 289 *** 25. Ed Westfall 286 *** 26. Brock Nelson 283

Games Played (Goalies)

1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 *** 4. Kelly Hrudey 241 ***

5. Thomas Greiss 188

Wins (Goalie)

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

5.   Thomas Greiss 100

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 135

 

Coaching Wins

1. Al Arbour 740 *** 2. Jack Capuano 227 *** 3. Terry Simpson 81 *** 4. Barry Trotz 78

Season Series Stats

The Isles win the season series 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 2), outscoring Tampa Bay 11-6.  

The Isles haven't won two games in Tampa in a season since 2010-11 and haven't beaten the Lightning three times in a season since 2013.

On the Farm   

Christopher Gibson made 44 saves as the Sound Tigers beat Providence 4-2 on Saturday night in Bridgeport. The same two teams play in  Providence on Sunday afternoon.

Up Next

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10th  -  ISLANDERS AT WASHINGTON–7:00 PM

[MSG+2 (pre-game at 6:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN-1050]

The Isles conclude the road trip as they face Alexander Ovechkin and the Caps for the final time this season.

It's the eighth meeting of the teams since Barry Trotz became the Islander coach; the road team has won the first seven meetings, including all three this season.

Ovechkin is sitting on 698 goals; his chase of 700 has attracted national attention so NBCSN has added this game to its schedule. However, you can catch Brendan (for the 232nd consecutive Islander regular season game) and Butch on MSG+ as well.

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