The Skinny: Boston 3, Isles 0

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 44

Boston 3, Isles 0

David Pastrnak broke a scoreless tie with a goal with 2.4 seconds to play in the first period and Jeremy Swayman made 25 saves for his first career shutout as the Boston Bruins defeated the Isles 3-0 in the back-end of a back-to-back set of games at TD Garden in Boston before a socially-distanced crowd of 2,191. 

The Isles scored only one goal in the two games in Boston as the Bruins swept the back-to-back.

The Isles remain in 2nd place in the East Division, two points behind Washington and one point ahead of Pittsburgh. The Penguins have 13 games to play while the Isles and Washington has only 12. Boston is now just six points behind Washington and four behind the Isles; the Bruins have 14 games to play.

The Scoring:

1st Period

David Pastrnak (17) Mike Reilly (21), Patrice Bergeron (21) 19:57 NYI 0,BOS 1

2nd Period

Taylor Hall (4) David Krejci (23), Steven Kampfer (1) 00:47 NYI 0,BOS 2

3rd Period

Curtis Lazar (6)EN 18:48 NYI 0,BOS 3

The Skinny        

The Isles are 8-7-0 since the end of their 9-game win streak (and 12-game point streak) …Kyle Palmieri played 15:24 in his 600th NHL game …The Isles have killed 17 of the last 18 opponent power plays… Taylor Hall's second period goal was his third against the Isles this season (and second in two games); Hall's only other goal was scored on Opening Night…The Isles played without Cal Clutterbuck  and Josh Bailey; Bailey's absence ended his consecutive game streak at 196 games…The Isles have lost four straight on the road (two in Pittsburgh and two in Boston), surrounding their 5-1-0 homestand…David Pastrnak is the first player to score against Ilya Sorokin beyond the 19 minute mark of a period…Isles are 9-12-2 this season when allowing the first goal; the team that scored first has won the last seven Islander games.

First Time in a Long Time

Jeremy Swayman is the first goalie to shut out the Isles in one of his first five NHL games since Martin Jones (12/9/2013); he joins Jones and Louie Domingue as the only goalies to shut out the Islanders and the Sound Tigers in the same season.

Magic Number Time

The Islanders' magic number for clinching a playoff spot remains 17 (over the Rangers).

Varly Streaking

Semyon Varlamov is 9-5-1 in his last fifteen decisions, allowing just 36 goals in that span.  Varly has won 16 games this season with a goals against average of 2.24 and save percentage of .922.  Varlamov has 248 NHL wins and 31 shutouts, including four this season.   

Sorokin's Shining

Ilya Sorokin is 11-2-0 in his last thirteen starts (1.80, .928).  Among goalies who have played at least 10 games in that span, only Juuse Soros (1.58) has a lower goals against average in that span.

Sorokin is 8-0-0 at home.  He is the first goalie in NHL history to win his first eight career starts in one season (Harry Lumley for Detroit in 1944-45 and Jaroslav Halak for Montreal in 2006-07 had each started 7-0-0).  Two others have won at least eight straight over multiple seasons. Gord Mc Rae for Toronto in 1972-73 and 1974-75 (10); Michel Plasse for St. Louis and Montreal in 1970-71 and 1972-73 (8).

Only one other NHL rookie goalie in the last 39 years has won eight straight at home in a single season- Semyon Varlamov did that in 2009-10 for Washington.

Most Wins by an Islander Rookie Goalie (one season):

1. Chico Resch 23 (1975-76)

2. Roland Melanson 22 (1981-82)

3. Kelly Hrudey 19 (1984-85)

4. Chico Resch 12 (1974-75)

5. Ilya Sorokin 11 (2020-21)

(Resch appeared in 25 games in 1974-75 and thus was considered a rookie the following year; Sorokin will be a rookie next season as well if he does not appear in 26 games)

Home Sweet Home

The Isles have earned points in 20 of their first 22 home games (18-2-2); it is their best home record through 22 games in the Post-Cup Era:

Most Points at Home Through 22 Games

• 40 1978-79 (18-0-4)

• 38 2020-21 (18-2-2)

• 36 1977-78 (16-2-4)

• 36 1980-81 (17-3-2)

Towards the Top of the Chart

The Isles now have 58 points in 44 games; it is their second-highest point total through 44 games in the Post-Cup era:

• 61 2019-20

• 58 2020-21

• 58 2013-14

Solid D

The Isles have allowed only 105 goals (including 1 shootout winner) in 44 games; it matches the fewest goals that they have allowed through 44 games in their history:

• 105 (2020-21)

• 105 (1975-76)

• 108 (1977-78)

• 109 (1976-77)

Results vs. Each East Division Opponent

• Boston W-W-W-Wso-Wot-L-L Remaining games: 1  (0 home, 1 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-L-Wot Remaining games: 3  (2 home, 1 away)

• Philadelphia Lot-Lot-L-W-Wot-Wso-Wso Remaining games:1  (0 home, 1 away)

• Pittsburgh         W-Lso-L-L-Lot-W-L-L Remaining games: 0

• Washington L-L-L-W-W          Remaining games: 3  (2 home, 1 away)

Home and Road

The Isles are 27-13-4 overall; they are 18-2-2 at home and 9-11-2 on the road.

Boston is 24-12-6 overall; they are 13-6-3 at home and 11-6-3 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 872-631-60-155 in 1,718 games. 

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville  952

3. Barry Trotz  872

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman  2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,748

3. Barry Trotz        1,718

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,439

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,321

3. Glen Sather 1,319

It All Starts at the Top

Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz have 2,193 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 18-1-2 when scoring first and are 9-12-2 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Isles have won 85.7% of the games that they have scored first, which is the highest percentage in the NHL (just ahead of Edmonton's .850).  St. Louis is the only other team with one regulation loss but their record when scoring first is 8-1-5.

The Shots

Isles    10-6-9=25

Boston    8-12-8=28

The Isles are 17-5-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 9-7-2 when they are outshot.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 62-32-12 when outshot.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 22 saves but falls to 11-4-1 on the season and 0-1-0 in his career against Boston.

Jeremy Swayman made 25 saves for his first career shutout; he improves to 4-1-0 on the season and 1-0-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-5 on the power play (10:00); Boston was 0-3 on the power play (6:00).

The Isles are 11-4-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 16-9-1 when they do not.  The Isles are 6-9-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 21-4-2 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 20-3-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 7-10-1 when they do not.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 86-8-10 when scoring three or more.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 13-4-4 in games decided by a single goal including 6-4 in regulation. They are 3-3 in games decided in overtime and are 4-1 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 4-1-2 in the front-half and 4-2-1 in the back-half. The final back-to-back of the season will be on May 3rd/4th, both of which will be played in Buffalo.

 

Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 21-4-3 (.804) 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: 19-7-3 (.707).

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 3-5-2 in the first game and 3-6-1 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), PIT (L/L), NYR (L/Wot), BOS (L/L))

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 4-2-1 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 22-9-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (22:13); Boston: Charlie McAvoy (23:44)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 19:52 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Nick Leddy (9-4-0), Ryan Pulock (14-7-3), Scott Mayfield (1-1-0), Mathew Barzal (1-1-1), Adam Pelech (2-0-0).

Face-offs

Isles 28, Boston 27 (51%)

Brock Nelson won 12 of 17 for the Isles; Patrice Bergeron won 11 of 21 for Boston.

The Isles are 17-7-2 when they win more face-offs than the opposition, 0-4-1 when they are tied, and 10-3-1 when they win fewer.

Hit Count

Isles 32 (Matt Martin -7)

Boston 26 (Charlie McAvoy-4)

Fights 

There were no fights.  Season total: 4 (Cizikas -1, Wahlstrom -1, Martin -1, Johnston-1)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 11 (Five with 2)

Boston 9 (Two with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 44, Boston 46

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 27, Boston 39

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Matt Martin and Kyle Palmieri +3

Boston: Curtis Lazar +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 8, Boston 10

5-on-5: Isles 6, Boston 10

The Isles are 2nd in the NHL with 431 high-danger chances 5-on-5 and are 2nd in all-situation high-danger chances with 533.

Scratches

Sebastian Aho, Cory Schneider, (Anders Lee-LTIR), Ross Johnston, Brandon Coburn, (Cal Clutterbuck- INJ), (Josh Bailey -INJ)

Games Lost: 46

COVID Games Lost -6

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 14 players in the NHL whose streak began no later than the start of the 2017-18 season.   

Ironman Streaks: Brock Nelson 289, Mathew Barzal 276, Ryan Pulock 239.  All three players have appeared in every game since Barry Trotz became the Isles' coach.

Josh Bailey's streak ended at 196 games tonight.

Iron Man

Brock Nelson has the longest active streak (and now has the 4th-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. Brock Nelson 3/16/2017 – CURRENT 289

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

6. Mathew Barzal 10/6/2017- CURRENT 276

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 239

 (*) 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 one goal and allowed four 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:  4 [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; Anders Bjork, 3/25/21 vs BOS (17:54) – tying goal/Isles won in OT]

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 908…

14. Frans Nielsen 606 *** 15. Matt Martin 604 *** 16. Kenny Jonsson 597 *** 17. Garry Howatt 596 *** 18. John Tonelli 594 ***19. Brock Nelson 592 *** 20. Casey Cizikas 578 … 

27. Kyle Okposo 529 *** 28. Anders Lee 520 *** 29. Cal Clutterbuck 519 *** 30. Dave Lewis 514 *** 31. Richard Pilon and Mick Vukota 509 *** 33. Nick Leddy 506

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 165 *** 16. Patrick Flatley and Josh Bailey 160

Assists

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

4. Clark Gillies 359 *** 5. John Tavares 349 *** 6.  Josh Bailey 341 …

19. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 20. Nick Leddy 192

Points

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

9. Bob Bourne 542 *** 10. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 11. Josh Bailey 501…

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

Games Coached 

1. Al Arbour 1,500 *** 2. Jack Capuano 483 *** 3. Barry Trotz 194

 

Coaching Wins

1. Al Arbour 740 *** 2. Jack Capuano 227 *** 3. Barry Trotz 110

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 3-13-1-0 on the season (2-6-0-0 vs. Hartford and 1-7-1-0 vs. Providence) following losses to Hartford on Tuesday and Thursday.  

Bridgeport, 0-6-1-0 in their last seven games,  returns to action on Saturday when they visit Hartford.

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series 5 games to 2 (and 10 points to 5). 

The Isles are 5-2-0 while Boston is 2-4-1.

The final matchup of the season with Boston will be the Isles' season finale on May 10th, two days after the season was originally supposed to end.

UP NEXT

SUNDAY, APRIL 18th  – ISLANDERS AT PHILADELPHIA 6:30pm

[NBCSN [NHL Live pre-game at 6:30], WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN 98.7FM]

The Isles head to Philadelphia to complete the road trip, and the season series with the Flyers.

Six of the first seven games have been decided by one goal, with the Isles winning four games (three in OT/SO) and the Flyers winning three (twice in OT).

The Flyers will be playing the back-end of a back-to-back, as they host the Caps on Saturday afternoon.

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