The Skinny: Isles 2, Philadelphia 1 (OT)

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 33

Isles 2, Philadelphia 1

Ilya Sorokin got the Islanders to overtime; Anthony Beauvillier made sure it ended there.  Sorokin made 36 saves for his 8th straight win and Beauvillier tallied his third career overtime goal as the Islanders defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 before a socially-distanced crowd of 2,820 at Wells Fargo Center. 

Oskar Lindblom and Oliver Wahlstrom had fought each other on Saturday; they had the only two goals in regulation, as Wahlstrom's third period tally knotted the game.  The Flyers have had a lead in four of the five games that the teams have played this season; in each of those four games the Isles have rallied to tie, forcing overtime three times.

With the win, the Isles move two points ahead of Washington and back into the East Division point lead with 46 points; neither team will play Tuesday or Wednesday. The Capitals (44 points) have two games in hand.   The Isles are 2nd overall in the NHL, trailing only Tampa Bay (48 points).

The Scoring:

1st Period 

No Goals

2nd Period

Oskar Lindblom (5) Claude Giroux (17), Jakub Voracek (18) 12:03 NYI 0,PHI 1

3rd Period

Oliver Wahlstrom (8) Adam Pelech (8), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (9) 04:06 NYI 1,PHI 1

OT

Anthony Beauvillier (4) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (10) 03:41 NYI 2,PHI 1

The Skinny        

The Isles have points in 22 of their last 26 games (18-4-4) and are 13-2-1 in their last 16 games.… The Isles have outscored their opponents 34-19 in the first period and 39-21 in the third period – their +15 differential in the first period and their +18 differential in the third period are both the best in the NHL;  the Isles have been outscored 29-22 in the middle session… The Isles have 12 goals from rookies (Oliver Wahlstrom 8, Kieffer Bellows 3, Sebastian Aho 1); among East Division teams, only New Jersey (20) has more…Wahlstrom is the third NHL rookie with at least eight goals, tying Chicago's Pius Suter.  Minnesota's Kirill Kaprizov leads rookies with 10 goals...The Isles defense had one assist (by Adam Pelech), giving them 60 – most in the East.  The defense has earned 38.5% of the Isles assists (2nd to Vancouver's 40.4%)… Ilya Sorokin has allowed only 22 goals in his 11 games and now has a 1.98 goals-against average; he is the first Russian-born rookie goaltender to win eight straight games (Igor Shesterkin and Ilya Samsonov each won seven straight games last season)… Anthony Beauvillier recorded his third career overtime goal (12/14/19 vs. Buffalo and 2/4/20 vs. Dallas).  Beauvillier has three of the last four Islander overtime goals (Anders Lee 1/7/20 vs. New Jersey)…The Isles improve to 2-6-1 when trailing after two periods…The Isles are 8-1 against Brian Elliott in OT/SO; they have beaten him only twice in regulation (9-2-8)... Since the end of January, the Isles are 18-4-2 while the Flyers are 8-9-3. 

Wahli's World

Since February 22nd, Oliver Wahlstrom is tied with Brock Nelson for the team lead in goals (7) and leads the team in points [(7-6-13, one more than Nick Leddy (0-12-12)].  Wahlstrom is currently riding a four-game point streak (3-2-5).  

Wahlstrom is also tied with Minnesota's Kirill Kaprizov for the most goals among NHL rookies since February 22nd.

March to Greatness

The Isles are 10-2-0 this month; it is the most wins the Isles have had in March in 39 years.  The Isles went 11-1-2 in 1982 which is the only other March in club history with double-digit wins.  It is the first month since November 2014 that the Isles have recorded double-digit wins.

(Usually) Kings of 60

The Isles have won 18 games in regulation (out of 21 overall). Only Edmonton (20) and Tampa Bay (19) have more regulation wins.

Sorokin's Shining

Ilya Sorokin has allowed only 11 goals in his last eight games (8-0-0, 1.35, .944); in that span the Isles have allowed only 198 shots on goal (24.8 per game) . Sorokin has allowed 22 goals in 668 minutes this season (1.98), and since January 24th he has allowed only 17 goals in his ten appearances (1.68).  

Sorokin, who already holds the Islander rookie record for consecutive wins, is the first Russian-born rookie goaltender in NHL history to record eight straight wins.

Sorokin's goals against average remains the best in the East Division, with Semyon Varlamov (2.17) to second place.

Varly Streaking

Semyon Varlamov is 6-2-1 in his last nine games, allowing just 21 goals in that span.  Varly has won 13 games this season with a goals against average of 2.17 and save percentage of .923; he has the most wins and best save percentage in the East Division.  Varlamov now has 245 career wins, tying Kirk McLean for 65th all-time.

Towards the Top of the Table

The Isles have 46 points through 33 games, trailing only last year's team for most points over the last 40 years.

Most Points through 33 games:

• 51 1978-79 (22-4-7)

• 48 2019-20 (23-8-2)

• 46 1976-77 (21-8-4)

• 46 1980-81 (20-7-6)

• 46 1983-84 (22-9-2)

• 46 2014-15 (23-10-0)

• 46 2020-21 (21-8-4)

Home Sweet Home

The Isles have earned points in 15 of their first 16 home games (13-1-2), remaining tied with the 1978-79 team for the most in club history through 16 games:

Most Points at Home Through 16 Games

• 28 2020-21 (13-1-2)

• 28 1978-79 (12-0-4)

• 27 2019-20 (13-2-1)

Solid D

The Isles have allowed only 73 goals (including 1 shootout winner) in 33 games; it is the fewest goals that they have allowed through 33 games in their history:

• 73 (2020-21)

• 75 (1977-78)

• 79 (2015-16) 

• 79 (1976-77)

• 80 (1975-76)

Results vs. Each East Division Opponent

• Boston W-W-W-W  Remaining games: 4  (0 home, 4 away)

• Buffalo W-W-W-W-W-W         Remaining games: 2  (0 home, 2 away)

• New Jersey W-L-W-W-W-Wso Remaining games: 2  (2 home, 0 away)

• Rangers    W-L-W Remaining games: 5  (4 home, 1 away)

• Philadelphia Lot-Lot-L-W-Wot     Remaining games: 3  (2 home, 1 away)

• Pittsburgh         W-Lso-L-L-Lot-W Remaining games: 2  (0 home, 2 away)

• Washington L-L-L          Remaining games: 5  (4 home, 1 away)

Road Warriors

This was the sixth game in a stretch where the Isles are playing seven out of nine games on the road (after adjusting for Tuesday's postponement).  The Isles are 4-2-0 in this stretch:

• @ NJ W 3-2

• @ NJ Wso 3-2

• @WSH L 1-3

• PHI L 3-4

• PHI W 6-1

• @PHI Wot 2-1 

• @BOS 3/23 postponed

• @BOS 3/25

• @PIT 3/27

• @PIT 3/29

Following this stretch, 12 of the final 20 will be at home

Home and Road

The Isles are 21-8-4 overall; they are 13-1-2 at home and 8-7-2 on the road.

Philadelphia is 15-11-4 overall; they are 7-5-3 at home and 8-6-1 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 866-626-60-155 in 1,707 games. 

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville  945

3. Barry Trotz    866

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,736

3. Barry Trotz        1,707

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,428

2. Glen Sather 1,319

3. Lou Lamoriello 1,315

It All Starts at the Top

Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz have 2,181 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 14-1-2 when scoring first and are 7-7-2 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    4-6-5-4=19

Philadelphia    12-14-11-0=37

The Isles are 14-2-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 6-4-2 when they are outshot.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 59-29-12 when outshot.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made a career-high 36 saves to improve to 8-2-1 on the season and 2-0-1 in his career against Philadelphia.

Brian Elliott made 17 saves; he is 7-4-1 on the season and 9-2-8 in his career against the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-1 on the power play (2:00); Philadelphia was 0-2 (4:00).

The Isles are 9-3-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-5-1 when they do not.  The Isles are 4-6-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 17-2-2 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 15-2-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 6-6-1 when they do not.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 81-7-10 when scoring three or more.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 8-3-4 in games decided by a single goal including 5-3 in regulation. They are 1-3 in games decided in overtime and are 2-1 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

The Isles are 3-0-2 in the front-half and 4-0-1 in the back-half.  With Tuesday's game being postponed, the next back-to-back is scheduled for April 8th/9th, home games vs. Philadelphia and the Rangers.

 

Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 21-2-3 (.865) in back-ends. This is by far the best record of any NHL team in back-ends during this stretch.  Tampa Bay has the next best record: 19-6-3 (.732).

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, Devils, Flyers, and Capitals).

  

In two-game series, the Isles are 3-2-2 in the first game and 2-4-1 in the second game:

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

In three-game series, the Isles are 2-1-0 in the first game, 3-0-0 in the second game, and 3-0-0 in the third:

BUF (W/W/W), NJ (W/W/W), PHI (L/W/Wot)

Tired vs. Rested 

• The Isles are 4-0-1 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 1-2-0 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 16-6-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (24:16); Philadelphia: Ivan Provorov (24:00)

Josh Bailey led Isles forwards with 18:23 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Nick Leddy (8-2-0), Ryan Pulock (9-4-3), Scott Mayfield (1-1-0), Mathew Barzal (1-1-1), Adam Pelech (2-0-0).

Face-offs

Isles 17, Philadelphia 31 (65%)

No Isle who took multiple face-offs won more than he lost; Sean Couturier won 12 of 13 for Philadelphia.

The Isles are 12-6-2 when they win more face-offs than the opposition, 0-1-1 when they are tied, and 8-1-1 when they win fewer.

Hit Count

Isles 26 (Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin -4)

Philadelphia 24 (Kevin Hayes -6)

Fights 

There were no fights.  Season total: 2 (Cizikas -1, Wahlstrom -1)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 17 (Nick Leddy and Cal Clutterbuck -3)

Philadelphia 14 (Shayne Gostisbehere and Travis Sandheim -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 43, Philadelphia 63

Corsi: 5-on-5 Isles 35, Philadelphia 57

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Leo Komarov +2

Philadelphia: Philippe Myers +15

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 7, Philadelphia 6

5-on-5: Isles 5, Philadelphia 5

Scratches

Ross Johnston, Sebastian Aho, Cory Schneider, (Noah Dobson – COVID Protocol), (Anders Lee-LTIR)

Games Lost: 24

COVID Games Lost -5

250-Game Club

The Isles have two players who have active consecutive game streaks of at least 250 games, and they are two of just 15 players in the NHL whose streak began no later than the start of the 2017-18 season.   

Ironman Streaks: Brock Nelson 278, Mathew Barzal 265, Ryan Pulock 228, Josh Bailey 186.  All four players have appeared in every game since Barry Trotz became the Isles' coach.

Iron Man

Brock Nelson now has the longest active streak (and 5th-longest in club history); Mathew Barzal is 6th on this list while Ryan Pulock is 10th:

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 – 3/13/2021 295

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

5. Brock Nelson 3/16/2017 – CURRENT 278

6. Mathew Barzal 10/6/2017- CURRENT 265

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

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

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

10. Ryan Pulock 12/29/2017 – CURRENT 228

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Pulock's streak is the 2nd-longest by an Islander defenseman, trailing only Denis Potvin's 262-game streak.

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, 1 failure (goalie interference 1/14 @ NYR, no goalie interference 3/11 vs NJ)

The Isles are 1-0-0 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 3 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:  3 [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; Oskar Lindblom, 3/18/21 vs PHI (17:38)-winning goal]

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 898…

17. John Tonelli 594 *** 18. Matt Martin 593 *** 19. Brock Nelson 581 *** 20. Casey Cizikas 567 …

27. Kyle Okposo 529 *** 28. Anders Lee 520 *** 29. Dave Lewis 514 *** 30. Richard Pilon, Mick Vukota and Cal Clutterbuck 509 *** 33. Nick Leddy 495

Goals

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

11. John Tonelli 206 *** 12. Billy Harris and Anders Lee 184 *** 14. Ziggy Palffy 168 *** 15. Brock Nelson 162 *** 16. Patrick Flatley 160  *** 17. Josh Bailey 158

Assists

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

6.  John Tonelli 338 *** 7. Josh Bailey 336 …

19. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 20. Nick Leddy 188

Points

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

10. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 11. Derek King 499 *** 12. Josh Bailey 494…

20. Ziggy Palffy 331 ***  21. Anders Lee 320  *** 22.  Brock Nelson 313

Games Coached 

1. Al Arbour 1,500 *** 2. Jack Capuano 483 *** 3. Mike Milbury 192 *** 4. Terry Simpson 187 *** 5. Barry Trotz 183

 

Coaching Wins

1. Al Arbour 740 *** 2. Jack Capuano 227 *** 3. Barry Trotz 104

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 3-7-0-0 on the season (2-1-0-0 vs. Hartford and 1-6-0-0 vs. Providence) and trail Hartford by one point for second place in their division.

Bridgeport is off until March 27th when they visit Hartford and they should have Jakub Skarek available. Skarek spent the last few weeks with the Isles while Cory Schneider was on personal leave.

Season Series Stats

Philadelphia leads the season series 3 games to 2 (and 7 points to 6). The teams will meet three times in April to complete the season series. 

The Isles are 6-1-2 in the last nine regular season games against Philadelphia. Including their seven game playoff series in The Bubble, the Isles have lost just one of the last 16 games between the teams in regulation time.

In Philadelphia, the Isles have gone 4-0-2 in their last six games.

UP NEXT

THURSDAY, MARCH 25th  – ISLANDERS AT BOSTON 7:00pm

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

The Isles were supposed to be heading to Boston for a pair of games, but Tuesday's game was postponed as the Bruins currently have five players undergoing COVID protocol.

So instead, the Isles will have consecutive off days for the first time in a month while they wait to see whether they will play the Bruins on Thursday.

If they do, it will be their first visit to Boston of the season, after winning all four match-ups at the Coliseum.  Up until this season, the Isles had better success with the B's in Boston, going 3-2-1 in their last six games there.

This is scheduled to be the first time that the Bruins play before fans at home.

The Isles will head to Pittsburgh for games on Saturday and Monday to close the month of March.

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