The Skinny: Vegas 1, Isles 0

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 57

Vegas 1, Isles 0

Reilly Smith scored the only goal with 35 seconds remaining in the second period and Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves for his 60th career shutout as the Vegas Golden Knights blanked the Isles 2-0 before a sellout crowd of 18,444 at T-Mobile Arena. 

Fleury recorded his 461st career win, which is the most of any active goalie (Henrik Lundqvist -459).

The Isles fall to 33-18-6; their 72 points matches last year's Islander team for the 2nd-highest total of points thru 56 games in the Post-Cup era (75 in 2014-15).

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

Reilly Smith (22) Jonathan Marchessault (21), Nate Schmidt (21) 19:25 NYI 0,VGK 1

3rd Period

No Goals

The Skinny        

The Isles are 5-3-2 in their last ten games… Mathew Barzal played in his 221th consecutive game, tying Richard Park for 9th on the all-time club list…Barry Trotz remains one win behind Terry Simpson for 3rd place on the all-time Isles win list…The Isles have allowed four goals (and both game-winning goals) to "Smith's" on this trip; neither Arizona or Colorado has a Smith on their roster.…The Isles allowed 20 shots in the second period and 43 in the game - most in any period or game this season,….It's the fourth time this season (and second consecutive time) that the Isles have been shut out…. Only Martin Brodeur (10) and Tomas Vokoun (6) have shut out the Isles more often than Marc-Andre Fleury (5)…There were two fights in the first period; it's only the 2nd time this season that there have been multiple fights in an Isles game (1/13 vs NYR)… It was the first time since January 21, 2013 vs. Tampa Bay that the Isles have been involved in a fight in the first three seconds of the game…This was the second-latest into an Isles goal without a goal; the Isles scored a goal in the 3rd period vs. Colorado (Anders Lee), which was a 1-0 Isles win…Semyon Varlamov's 42 saves were his most since March 20, 2018 (for Colorado vs. Chicago) when he made 44…Reilly Smith is 5-9-14 in 18 career (regular season) games against the Isles…The Isles were outshot 43-19; it's the most shots that they have allowed since they were outshot 47-21  on December 20, 2018 (also in Vegas)… The Golden Knights lead the NHL in shots per game…It's the 2nd 1-0 regulation win in Golden Knights history and the first 1-0 regulation loss for the Isles since December 19, 2015 in Arizona. 

Straight B's in Hockey 

An Islander with a surname starting with "B" has earned a point on 20 of the Isles' 23 goals this month. 

Last Season vs. This Season

The Isles are 33-18-6 thru 57 games this season; they were 34-17-6 thru 57 games last season.  Their 72 points in 57 games is the 3rd-highest in the Post-Cup era (75 points in 2014-15, 74 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 11-7-1 on Coliseum ice, but only 2-5-1 in their last 8 games in Uniondale.  The Isles are 7-0-3 at Barclays Center this season and have not lost in Brooklyn (regular season) since January 12, 2019 (12-0-3); their next Brooklyn game is on March 3rd vs. Montreal.

Road Warriors

The Isles are 15-11-2 on the road this season, including 8-6-1 in the last 15 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 2-3-0 in this stretch:

• 2/8 - @ Lightning L 1-3

• 2/10 - @ Capitals W 5-3

• 2/11 – Vs. Flyers W 5-3

• 2/13 - @ Predators L 0-5

• 2/15 - @ Golden Knights L 0-1

• 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 843-613-60-147 in 1,663 games, and he is now seven 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  920

3. Ken Hitchcock    849

4. Barry Trotz    843

5. Al Arbour    782

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,694

3. Barry Trotz        1,663

4. Al Arbour 1,607

First Things First

The Isles are 21-7-3 when scoring first and are 12-11-3 when allowing the opening goal.

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

• .545 (18-13-2) 2014-15

• .462 (12-11-3) 2019-20

• .459 (17-18-2) 2018-19

• .410 (14-21-4) 1985-86

The Shots

Isles     6-4-9=19

Vegas  8-20-15=43

The Isles are 12-7-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 21-10-2 when they are outshot.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 52-21-8 when outshot; the 52 wins are the most in the NHL.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 33-18-6 overall: 18-7-4 at home (11-7-1 on Long Island and 7-0-3 in Brooklyn) and 15-11-2 on the road.  

Vegas is 28-22-7 overall: 13-11-4 at home and 15-11-3 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 11-7-2 in Division games and 22-11-4 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 24-10-3 against the East and 9-8-3 against the West.  

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 42 saves but falls to 17-10-4 on the season and 3-3-0 in his career against Vegas.  

Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves; he is 22-14-5 on the season and 26-11-5 against the Isles.  It was his fourth shutout of the season and his 60th career shutout.  Five of the 60 have come against the Isles.

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-2 in 1:58 of power play time; Vegas was 0-3 in 3:58 of power play time.

The Isles are 12-5-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 21-13-5 when they do not.  The Isles are 13-9-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 20-10-4 when they do not.

The Isles are 5-5-3 when they have more power plays than the opposition, 4-6-0 when the power plays are even, and 24-7-3 when the opposition has more power plays.

First 2 / Last 2

The Isles have outscored their opponents 14-13 in the first two minutes of regulation periods.

The Isles have been outscored 17-11 (excluding ENGs) in the last two minutes of regulation periods. 

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 29-2-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 4-16-3 when they do not.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 65-4-5 when scoring three or more, with two of the four regulation losses coming against Nashville.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 16-5-6 in games decided by a single goal including 5-5 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.

Greatest Percentage of 1-goal games won 

• 1981-82 -- .800

• 1982-83 & 1976-77 -- .667

• 1991-92 -- .619

• 2014-15 -- .605

• 2018-19 -- .594

• 2019-20 -- .593

Tired vs. Rested 

• The Isles are 3-0-0 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 21-16-5 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (24:28); Vegas: Nate Schmidt (23:06)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 23:23 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leader: Adam Pelech (9-2-0), Ryan Pulock (12-6-3), Devon Toews (3-6-1), Scott Mayfield (2-1-0), Nick Leddy (5-3-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (1-0-0).

Face-offs

Isles 27, Vegas 21 (56%)  

Derick Brassard won 7 of 9 for the Isles; Paul Stastny won 11 of 20 for Vegas.

Hit Count

Isles 42 (Matt Martin & Tom Kuhnhackl -7)

Vegas 25 (Nick Holden and William Carrier -6)

 

Fights

Ross Johnston fought Ryan Reaves off the opening faceoff and Anders Lee fought Nick Holden later in the first period.  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 13  (2 with 2)

Vegas 9 (Nate Schmidt-3)

The Isles lead the NHL with 985 blocked shots.

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 36, Vegas 68

Corsi: 5-on-5 Isles 24, Vegas 61

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  No Islander was a plus.

Vegas: Shea Theodore +17

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 8, Vegas 15  (including 9-1 Vegas' favor in 2nd pd)

5-on-5: Isles 4, Vegas 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 29-17-4 in night games and 4-1-2 in matinees. The next matinee will be Monday in Arizona. 

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 257, Brock Nelson 234, Mathew Barzal 221, Ryan Pulock 184, Josh Bailey 142, Anthony Beauvillier 132, and Devon Toews 105. 

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 257

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 234

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

        Mathew Barzal 10/6/17- CURRENT 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 184

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Adam Pelech-INJ), (Cal Clutterbuck-INJ), (Casey Cizikas-INJ), Kieffer Bellows, Sebastian Aho, Cole Bardreau.

Total games lost: 124.

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 PIT – 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 854…

17. John Tonelli 594 *** 18. Ken Morrow and Matt Martin 550 *** 20. Duane Sutter 547 *** 21. Lorne Henning 543 *** 22. Brock Nelson 537 *** 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 169 *** 14. Ziggy Palffy 168 *** 15. Patrick Flatley 160 *** 16. Josh Bailey 152 *** 17. Pierre Turgeon 147 ***18. Mariusz Czerkawski and Brock Nelson 145

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 318 …

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 470…

20. Ziggy Palffy 331 *** 21. Mariusz Czerkawski 295 *** 22. Duane Sutter 292 *** 23. Anders Lee 291 *** 24. Alexei Yashin 290 *** 25. Ed Westfall and Brock Nelson 286

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 139

 

Coaching Wins

1. Al Arbour 740 *** 2. Jack Capuano 227 *** 3. Terry Simpson 81 *** 4. Barry Trotz 80

Season Series Stats

The teams split the season series 1 game to 1 (Vegas earned 3 points to the Isles' 2).

The Isles are 3-3-0 all-time vs. Vegas, sweeping the series in 2017-18, being swept last season, and splitting the two games this season.

On the Farm   

The Sound Tigers earned three points in two games, losing 3-2 in overtime to Lehigh Valley on Friday and beat Wilkes Barre-Scranton 3-2 in regulation on Saturday.  Rookie Simon Holmstrom led the offense, scoring once in Lehigh Valley and twice at home on Saturday; he now had four goals in the last four games after tallying three times in his first 32 professional games.

Bridgeport heads to Providence for a holiday matinee on Monday and then hosts Lehigh Valley on Wednesday.

Up Next

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17th  -  ISLANDERS AT ARIZONA –4:00 PM

[MSG+ (pre-game at 3:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN-1050]

The Isles will look for their first win on the road trip on Monday in Glendale, as they try to sweep the season series from the Coyotes.

The Coyotes were the 5th victim during the Isles' 17-game point streak, with the Isles earning a 4-2 win at the Coliseum on October 24th.   The Isles are 5-0-2 in the last seven games and 8-1-2 in the last 11 games against the Coyotes.

However, the Isles (3-0-0 vs Coyotes under Barry Trotz) will be looking to win consecutive games in the desert for the first time EVER.  The Isles won their last two games in Winnipeg against the original Jets and that was their last road winning streak against this franchise.

Barry Trotz will again be looking for his 81st win behind the Isles bench, which would tie Terry Simpson for 3rd place on the all-time club list.

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