The Skinny: Isles 3, Buffalo 1

"The Skinny"          

By Eric Hornick

Game 14

Isles 3, Buffalo 1 

Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored 1:44 apart in the first period, and Semyon Varlamov and the Islander defense did the rest as the Isles spoiled Buffalo's first game in over two weeks with a 3-1 win over the Sabres at KeyBank Center.

Victor Olofsson and Brock Nelson traded power play goals in the second period, and the Isles then shut the game down from there.  The Sabres did not have a shot on goal in the third period; it is the first time in the Isles' 3,746 game history that they did not allow a shot on goal in a complete period.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Anders Lee (5) Josh Bailey (4), Mathew Barzal (9) 16:37 NYI 1,BUF 0

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (5) Nick Leddy (6), Scott Mayfield (2) 18:21 NYI 2,BUF 0

2nd Period

Victor Olofsson (5) Rasmus Dahlin (3), Sam Reinhart (4) 01:40 NYI 2,BUF 1 PPG

Brock Nelson (3) Josh Bailey (5), Oliver Wahlstrom (1) 09:49 NYI 3,BUF 1 PPG

3rd Period

No Goals

The Skinny        

The Isles have points in seven straight (4-0-3); it is their longest point streak since last season's club-record 17-game streak.…The Sabres did not have a shot on goal in the final 23:06… Mathew Barzal has points on fifteen of the team's 35 goals this season, including 11 of 24 at even-strength; Barzal extended his point streak to a career-high nine games.  It is the longest point streak for the Isles since Josh Bailey had an 11-game point streak in last 2017…The Isles have scored 17 goals in the first period (most in the East), but only 18 goals in the second and third periods… JG Pageau has four goals in the last three games;  he has seven goals in 25 career games against Boston…Josh Bailey had a pair of primary assists for his first multi-point game of the season…Barry Trotz coached his 164th game for the Isles, passing Ted Nolan and tying Peter Laviolette for 6th place… The Isles are three games over .500 for the first time this season and are 4-0-1 in February…Victor Olofsson extended his point streak to seven games (3-5-8)…The Isles have won consecutive road games for the first time this season…Oliver Wahlstrom led the team in shots (4) and recorded his first career assist as the Isles connected for the third straight game on the power play. It is the first time since October 2018 (4 games) that the power play scored in consecutive games….The Sabres endured a shot-less period for the first time since October 7, 2011 vs. Anaheim (at Hartwell Arena in Helsinki) and for the fourth time in their history…Nick Leddy and Scott Mayfield both went +2…Barzal also appeared in his 246th consecutive Isles game, tying former Islander John Tavares for the 7th-longest streak in club history… Brock Nelson's goal was the first that the Isles had scored in the second period in February, ending a scoreless streak in second periods totaling 109:11.

Most 1st Period Goals

The Isles are tied for 3rd in first period goals this season:

1. Edmonton 22

2. Columbus 21 

3. ISLES 17 

        Montreal 17

Home Sweet Home

The Isles have earned points in their first five home games (4-0-1).  The nine points match the most in the first five games since 1982-83, when they opened 7-0-0.  The Isles opened 2017-18 with a 4-0-1 record in Brooklyn.

Home and Road

The Isles are 7-4-3 overall; they are 4-0-1 at home and 3-4-2 on the road.

Buffalo is 4-5-2 overall; they are 2-4-1 at home and 2-1-1 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 852-622-60-154 in 1,688 games, and he has passed Ken Hitchcock as the 3rd-winningest coach in NHL history.

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville  934

3. Barry Trotz    852

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,718

3. Barry Trotz        1,687

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello is the third-winningest general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,421

2. Glen Sather 1,319

3. Lou Lamoriello 1,301

It All Starts at the Top

Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz have 2,153 wins between the two of them.  They start each game with more than any other pair in NHL history (David Poile and Peter Laviolette had 2,036 after their last game together).   Bill Torrey and Al Arbour had a then-record 1,462 at the end of the 1991-92 season, which was their last season together.  

First Things First

The Isles are 6-1-1 when scoring first and are 1-3-2 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    8-9-12=29

Buffalo        9-12-0=21

The Isles are 6-1-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 1-2-1 when they are outshot.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 55-27-11 when outshot; the 55 wins are the most in the NHL.

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 20 saves to improve to 7-2-2 on the season and 10-2-1 against Buffalo.  

Linus Ullmark made 26 saves but falls to 3-2-2 on the season and 3-21 in his career against the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-2 on the power play (3:34); Buffalo was also 1-2 on the power play (3:06).

The Isles are 5-1-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-3-1 when they do not.  The Isles are 1-4-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 6-0-2 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 5-1-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-3-1 when they do not.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 72-6-9 when scoring three or more.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 2-1-3 in games decided by a single goal including 2-1 in regulation. They are 0-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-1 in shootouts.  The Isles are 0-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs

Including tonight, the Isles are 1-0-1 in the front-half and 0-0-1 in the back-half.  This back-to-back concludes on Tuesday. The next back-to-back is scheduled for February 27th/28th, both home games with Pittsburgh.

Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 17-2-3 in back-ends.

Series

The schedule as currently comprised has the Isles playing the same opponent in consecutive games nineteen times this season (including a three-game stretch vs. the Sabres in early March).  The Isles are 3-1-1 in the first game and 0-3-1 in the second game:

NYR (W/L); NJ (W/L); WAS (L/L); PHI (Lot/Lot), BUF(W/-)

Tired vs. Rested 

• The Isles are 0-0-1 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 1-0-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 0-0-0 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 6-4-2 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (22:02); Buffalo: Rasmus Dahlin (25:02)

Anders Lee led Isles forwards with 19:18 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Nick Leddy (2-0-0), Ryan Pulock (4-2-2), Scott Mayfield (0-1-0), Mathew Barzal (0-1-1), Adam Pelech (1-0-0).

Face-offs

Isles 28, Buffalo 24 (54%)

Casey Cizikas won 6 of 9 for the Isles; Eric Staal won 9 of 13 for Buffalo.

The Isles are 5-3-1 when they win more face-offs than the opposition, 0-1-1 when they are tied, and 1-1-1 when they win fewer.

Hit Count

Isles 17 (Three with 3)

Buffalo 15 (Matt Irwin -4)

Fights 

There were no fights.  Season total: 0

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 14 (Four with 2)

Buffalo 12 (Matt Irwin -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 54, Buffalo 46

Corsi: 5-on-5 Isles 47, Buffalo 37

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Nick Leddy +9

Buffalo: Two with +2

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 12, Buffalo 4

5-on-5: Isles 10, Buffalo 4

Scratches

(Anthony Beauvillier-IR), Ross Johnston, Sebastian Aho, Cory Schneider

Games Lost: 14

245 Game Club

The Isles have three players who have active consecutive game streaks of at least 245 games, and they are three of just 17 players in the NHL whose streak began no later than the start of the 2017-18 season.   

Ironman Streaks: Anders Lee 282, Brock Nelson 259, Mathew Barzal 246, Ryan Pulock 209, Josh Bailey 167.  All five players have appeared in every game since Barry Trotz became the Isles' coach.

Iron Man

Anders Lee has the fourth-longest consecutive game streak in club history while Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal have also moved into the top seven; it is the first time in club history that three different Isles have had concurrent streaks of at least 240 games:

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 282

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

6. Brock Nelson 3/16/2017 – CURRENT 259

7. Mathew Barzal 10/6/2017- CURRENT 246

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

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

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

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Iron D

Ryan Pulock has become the third Islander defensemen to play in 200 consecutive games: 

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

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

3. Ryan Pulock 12/29/2017 – CURRENT 209

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Challenges

Isles: 0 successful, 0 failures 

The Isles are 0-0-0 in games that they are successful and 0-0-0 in games that they are unsuccessful.

Opponents: 1 successful, 0 failure (goalie interference 1/14 @ NYR)

The Isles are 0-0-0 in games where opponents' challenges go their way and 1-0-0 in games that go the opponents' way.

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored 1 goal and allowed 2 goals in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime:

For: 1 [Anders Lee, 2/6/21 vs PIT (17:14) -winning goal]

Vs:  2 [Justin Schultz, 1/26/21 @ WSH (19:33)-winning goal; Evgeni Malkin, 2/11/21 vs PIT (19:42) – tying goal/PIT won in OT]

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900 *** 4. Josh Bailey 879…

17. John Tonelli 594 *** 18. Matt Martin 574 *** 19. Brock Nelson 562 *** 20. Ken Morrow 550 *** 21. Casey Cizikas 548 …

28. Dave Lewis 514. *** 29. Richard Pilon and Mick Vukota 509 *** 31. Anders Lee 507 *** 32. Ed Westfall 493 *** 33. Cal Clutterbuck 492

Goals

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

12. Billy Harris 184 *** 13. Anders Lee 177 *** 14. Ziggy Palffy 168 *** 15. Patrick Flatley 160 *** 16. Josh Bailey 155 *** 17. Brock Nelson 153

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553…

6.  John Tonelli 338 *** 7. Pat Flatley 328 *** 8. Josh Bailey 327 …

20. Ed Westfall 181 *** 21. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 22. Nick Leddy 174

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…

11. Derek King 499 *** 12. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 13. Josh Bailey 482…

20. Ziggy Palffy 331 ***  21. Anders Lee 309  *** 22.  Brock Nelson 301

Games Coached 

1. Al Arbour 1,500 *** 2. Jack Capuano 483 *** 3. Mike Milbury 192 *** 4. Terry Simpson 187 *** 5. Scott Gordon 181 *** 6. Peter Laviolette and Barry Trotz 164

 

Coaching Wins

1. Al Arbour 740 *** 2. Jack Capuano 227 *** 3. Barry Trotz 90

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 0-3-0 on the season (0-1-0 vs. Hartford and 0-2-0 vs. Providence).  They will host Hartford on Wednesday at 1pm.

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0).

The Isles have won four straight games from Buffalo, including two straight games at KeyBank Center.

The Isles are 8-2-3 in their last 13 games in Buffalo, dating back to 2013.

This was the first game of a twelve-game stretch in which the Isles are scheduled to face the Sabres six times, including games on Tuesday in Buffalo and a make-up at the Coliseum on February 22nd. 

UP NEXT

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16th  – ISLANDERS AT BUFFALO 7:00pm

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

The Isles and Sabres conclude their back-to-back set, and the Isles begin the 2nd quarter of their season as they face Buffalo again. 

The Isles will be looking for their fifth straight win over the Sabres, something they last did in 2002-2004 (seven straight wins).

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