The Skinny: Pittsburgh 4, Isles 3 (OT)

"The Skinny"         

By Eric Hornick

Game 20

Pittsburgh 4, Isles 3 (OT)

Kris Letang did it to the Isles again. For the second straight Saturday night, Letang scored twice and this time the second goal was the overtime winner as the Pittsburgh Penguins overcame 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to defeat the Islanders 4-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.

Letang is the first opposing defenseman to ever record two multiple-goal games against the Isles in a single season (and only the fifth to record three career multiple-goal games, joining Ron Greschner, Paul Coffey, Brian Leetch, and Andrej Meszaros).

The Penguins have won four of five meetings this month (twice in extra time); the teams meet again on Sunday at 5pm. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Brock Nelson (6) Oliver Wahlstrom (3), Nick Leddy (12) 18:40 PIT 0,NYI 1 PPG

2nd Period

Mathew Barzal (8) Anders Lee (5), Scott Mayfield (4) 01:34 PIT 0,NYI 2

Sidney Crosby (7) Kris Letang (10) 02:17 PIT 1,NYI 2 PPG

Kris Letang (3) Kasperi Kapanen (7), Jake Guentzel (10) 02:43 PIT 2,NYI 2

Josh Bailey (2) Anthony Beauvillier (3), Brock Nelson (4) 14:51 PIT 2,NYI 3

3rd Period

Jared McCann (3) Evgeni Malkin (8) 00:18 PIT 3,NYI 3

OT

Kris Letang (4) Sidney Crosby (11) 04:34 PIT 4,NYI 3

The Skinny        

The Isles have points in 11 of their last 13 games (7-2-4); they are 6-0-2 against everyone but Pittsburgh in that stretch… The Isles are 7-2-2 in February… Michael Dal Colle returned to the lineup, replacing an injured Cal Clutterbuck (who missed his first goal of the season)… Nick Leddy's assist is his 7th in the last seven games; he leads the team with 12 assists and also leads the team with seven power play points (1-6-7)…The Isles are 6-0-2 at the Coliseum (5-0-0 vs. everyone but Pittsburgh)... Kris Letang recorded his 6th career overtime goal (and 2nd against the Isles); he joins Ron Hainsey and Brent Burns as the only defensemen with two career OT goals against the Isles…It is the second time that the Isles have allowed a goal this season in the last minute of overtime (Kevin Hayes 1-31-2021 for Philly vs. Ilya Sorokin)…All four of Letang's goals have come against the Islanders…Sidney Crosby's assist on the winning goal was his 81st against the Isles, breaking a tie with Mario Lemieux for 2nd place; Jaromir Jagr had 94…Brock Nelson now has five power play goals; it is only the 2nd time in his eight year NHL career he has had at least 5 (10 in 2014-15)… Oliver Wahlstrom has a point in three straight games; all three of his assists have come on the power play….Josh Bailey's goal was his 1st since January 31st, and allowed him to remain tied with Brock Nelson for 16th place on the all-time Isles list (156 goals)… Andy Greene played a season-high 20:55; it was his highest ice-time as an Islander…Nelson has 14 goals in 30 games vs. Pittsburgh; Jason Blake (17) and Kyle Okposo (14) are the only Isles in the 2000's with at least 14 goals vs. Pittsburgh… Max Pacioretty (also 14 goals in 30 games) is the only other active NHL player with at least 14 goals in 32/fewer career games v. the Pens…Dating back to last season, the Isles have lost eight straight regular season games that have gone to overtime (0-6 in overtime, 0-2 in shootout). It is the first time since the shootout was introduced in the 2005-06 season that the Isles have lost eight straight games in extra time.

First Times in a Long Time

• Nick Leddy is the first Islander defenseman with at least 12 assists in the first 20 games since 2005-06, when Alexi Zhitnik had 14

• Jared McCann is the first opponent to score in the first 18 seconds of a period since Dale Weise scored on Jaroslav Halak 10 seconds into the 2nd period at Bell Centre on January 17, 2015.

Most Goals by a Defenseman vs. Isles (one season)

5 – Paul Coffey 1989-90

5-  Mike McEwen 1978-79

4-  Kris Letang 2020-21

4-  Jaccob Slavin 2016-17

4-  Sergei Gonchar 2005-06

4-  Kevin Hatcher 1990-91

4-  John van Boxmeer 1980-81

4-  Ron Greschner 1978-79

Just Give Us a Chance!

The Isles have had just 17 power play attempts in eleven games this month.  The power play is 7-17 (41.2%) this month.

The Isles have had just 16 power play attempts in eight home games this season. They are 7-16 on the power play at home (43.8%), including 6-8 (75.0%) in the five home games against opponents other than Boston (with at least one power play goal in all five games).

Home Sweet Home

The Isles have earned points in their first eight home games (6-0-2).  The 14 points match the most in the first eight home games since 1978-79, when they opened 7-0-1.  The Isles, who are the only team in the NHL without a regulation loss at home, can match the best eight-game start in franchise history with a win on Sunday.

Most Points at Home Through 8 Games

• 15 1978-79 (7-0-1)

• 14 2020-21 (6-0-2)

• 14 2017-18 (6-0-2)

• 14 1986-87 (7-1-0)

• 14 1984-85 (7-1-0)

• 14 1982-83 (7-1-0)

Longest Home Point Streak to Open a Season

• 23 1978-79 (19-0-4)

• 10 2017-18 (8-0-2)

• 8 1976-77 (6-0-2)

• 8 2020-21 (6-0-2)

Lots of Home Cooking

The Isles are in a stretch where they are playing nine out of 10 at home.  The Isles are 2-0-1 in this stretch:

• W BUF 3-2

• W BOS 7-2

• Lot PIT 3-4

19 in 33

This Isles are in a stretch in which they are scheduled to play 19 games in 33 days for the first time in franchise history.  The Isles are 1-0-1 in this stretch.

Home and Road

The Isles are 10-6-4 overall; they are 6-0-2 at home and 4-6-2 on the road.

Pittsburgh is 11-7-1 overall; they are 7-1-0 at home and 4-6-1 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 855-624-60-155 in 1,694 games. 

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville  937

3. Barry Trotz    855

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,724

3. Barry Trotz        1,694

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,423

2. Glen Sather 1,319

3. Lou Lamoriello 1,304

It All Starts at the Top

Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz have 2,159 wins between 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 7-1-2 when scoring first and are 3-5-2 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles         9-10-6-2=27

Pittsburgh  7-10-11-3=31

The Isles are 8-2-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 2-3-2 when they are outshot.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 56-28-12 when outshot. 

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves; he is 9-4-3 on the season and 6-4-4 in his career against Pittsburgh.

Tristan Jarry made 24 saves to improve to 7-6-1 on the season and 6-1-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-1 on the power play (0:33); Pittsburgh was 1-5 on the power play (8:06) .  It was the second time this season that the Isles had four fewer power plays than the opposition (1/16/2021 @ Rangers)

The Isles are 6-2-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 4-4-1 when they do not.  The Isles are 2-5-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 8-1-2 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 8-1-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-5-1 when they do not.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 75-6-10 when scoring three or more.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 3-2-4 in games decided by a single goal including 3-2 in regulation. They are 0-3 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 1-0-2 in the front-half and 1-0-1 in the back-half. This back to back concludes on Sunday. The next back-to-back is scheduled for March 6th/7th, both home games with Buffalo.

Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 18-2-3 in back-ends.

Series

The schedule as currently comprised has the Isles playing the same opponent in consecutive games seventeen times this season (including three-game stretches vs. the Sabres and Devils in early March, vs the Flyers in late March and vs. the Caps in late April).  The Isles are 3-2-2 in the first game and 1-4-1 in the second game:

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

Tired vs. Rested 

• The Isles are 1-0-1 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 8-6-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock  (25:21); Pittsburgh: Kris Letang (25:06)

Josh Bailey led Isles forwards with 20:25 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Nick Leddy (4-1-0), Ryan Pulock (5-3-3), Scott Mayfield (0-1-0), Mathew Barzal (0-1-1), Adam Pelech (1-0-0).

Face-offs

Isles 33, Pittsburgh 21 (61%)

Brock Nelson won 11 of 15 for the Isles; no Penguin who took multiple face-offs won more than he lost. 

The Isles are 7-4-2 when they win more face-offs than the opposition, 0-1-1 when they are tied, and 3-1-1 when they win fewer.

Hit Count

Isles 30 (Ryan Pulock-5)

Pittsburgh 23 (Anthony Angello -5)

Fights 

There were no fights.  Season total: 1 (Cizikas – 1)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 15 (Scott Mayfield – 5)

Pittsburgh 19 (Two with 3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 57, Pittsburgh 62

Corsi: 5-on-5 Isles 50, Pittsburgh 48

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Anthony Beauvillier +9

Pittsburgh: Jared McCann +10 

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 17, Pittsburgh 11

5-on-5: Isles 12, Pittsburgh 6

Scratches

Ross Johnston, Sebastian Aho, (Cal Clutterbuck)

Games Lost: 18

250-Game Club

The Isles have three players who have active consecutive game streaks of at least 250 games, and they are three of just 16 players in the NHL whose streak began no later than the start of the 2017-18 season.   

Ironman Streaks: Anders Lee 288, Brock Nelson 265, Mathew Barzal 252, Ryan Pulock 215, Josh Bailey 173.  All five players have appeared in every game since Barry Trotz became the Isles' coach.

Iron Man

Anders Lee has the third-longest consecutive game streak in club history while Brock Nelson has the fifth-longest and Mathew Barzal has the seventh-longest. 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. Anders Lee 1/26/2017 – CURRENT 288

4. Matt Moulson 10/3/2009 - 4/4/2013 284

5. Brock Nelson 3/16/2017 – CURRENT 265

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

7. Mathew Barzal 10/6/2017- CURRENT 252

8. 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 215 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 215

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Challenges

Isles: 1 successful, 0 failures 

The Isles are 1-0-0 in games that they are successful and 0-0-0 in games that they are unsuccessful.(offsides 2/16 @BUF)

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 885…

17. John Tonelli 594 *** 18. Matt Martin 580 *** 19. Brock Nelson 568 *** 20. Casey Cizikas 554 …

28. Dave Lewis 514. *** 29. Anders Lee 513 *** 30. Richard Pilon and Mick Vukota 509*** 32. Cal Clutterbuck 497

Goals

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

12. Billy Harris 184 *** 13. Anders Lee 181 *** 14. Ziggy Palffy 168 *** 15. Patrick Flatley 160 *** 16. Josh Bailey and Brock Nelson 156

Assists

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

6.  John Tonelli 338 *** 7. Josh Bailey 330 …

20. Ed Westfall 181 *** 21. Nick Leddy 180

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 486…

20. Ziggy Palffy 331 ***  21. Anders Lee 315  *** 22.  Brock Nelson 305

Games Coached 

1. Al Arbour 1,500 *** 2. Jack Capuano 483 *** 3. Mike Milbury 192 *** 4. Terry Simpson 187 *** 5. Scott Gordon 181 *** 6. Barry Trotz 170

 

Coaching Wins

1. Al Arbour 740 *** 2. Jack Capuano 227 *** 3. Barry Trotz 93

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 2-4-0-0 on the season (1-1-0-0 vs. Hartford and 1-3-0-0 vs. Providence) following a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Providence on Thursday. Bridgeport is off until next Thursday when they again play Providence in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

Season Series Stats

Pittsburgh leads the season series 4 games to 1 (and 8 points to 4). The teams will meet again at the Coliseum on Sunday before the final two match-ups are played in Pittsburgh.

The Isles are 0-2-2 in the last four meetings overall with Pittsburgh.  Despite that, the Isles have earned at least a point in eight straight home games vs. Pittsburgh (4-0-4, including 2-0-4 in games decided beyond regulation).  It is the Isles' longest home point streak against Pittsburgh since they went 12-0-1 vs. Pittsburgh between 1983 and 1986, including ten straight wins.

UP NEXT

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28th  – PITTSBURGH AT ISLANDERS 5:00pm

[MSG+ (pre-game at 4:30], WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN 1050]

The Isles conclude the homestand and the month of February as they once again host the Pittsburgh Penguins.  It is the 6th meeting of the teams this month, who will conclude their season series with a pair of games in Pittsburgh in late March.

This could be the Penguins' last-ever game at the Coliseum.

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