The Skinny: Isles 5, New Jersey 1

"The Skinny"     

By Eric Hornick

Game 55

Isles 5, New Jersey 1

Brock Nelson scored a pair of goals in a 3:40 span to break a 1-1 tie and the Isles then scored on their first two shots of the third period to defeat the Devils 5-1 before a socially-distanced crowd of 1,400 in the final regular season game at the Nassau Coliseum.

Kyle Palmieri (his second goal as an Islander) and Mathew Barzal combined for a pair of goals 37 seconds apart in the third period for the final margin.

The Isles remain in 4th place in the East Division and will need a regulation win in Boston on Monday for a chance to finish 3rd.  If the Isles do win in regulation on Monday, the Bruins would need to beat Caps on Tuesday to regain third.  Pittsburgh has clinched first place and Washington has clinched second place. 

 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Jordan Eberle (16) Mathew Barzal (27), Leo Komarov (6) 18:01 NJD 0,NYI 1

2nd Period

Andreas Johnsson (5) Matt Tennyson (2), Michael McLeod (6) 04:58 NJD 1,NYI 1

Brock Nelson (17) Oliver Wahlstrom (8), Nick Leddy (28) 09:00 NJD 1,NYI 2 PPG 

Brock Nelson (18) Josh Bailey (27), Anthony Beauvillier (12) 12:40 NJD 1,NYI 3

3rd Period

Kyle Palmieri (10) Oliver Wahlstrom (9), Adam Pelech (10) 03:32 NJD 1,NYI 4

Mathew Barzal (16) Leo Komarov (7) 04:09 NJD 1,NYI 5

The Skinny        

The Isles are 13-11-2 since the end of their 9-game win streak (and 12-game point streak) … The Isles have killed 36 of the last 38 opponent power plays; they killed 48 of 52 at home this season (92.3%, 2nd all-time to Boston's 92.4% in 1998-99)…The team that has scored first has won 17 of the last 18 Islander games... The Isles have six regulation wins in the last 23 games (and this was their first against anyone other than the Rangers since April 6th)… Anthony Beauvillier extended his point streak to six games (5-2-7); Josh Bailey's assist tied him with John Tavares for 5th place on the all-time club list (349)…The Isles are 2-2-1 in their last five home games after going 19-2-2 to open the season…Brock Nelson played in his 300th consecutive game; he will tie Bobby Nystrom for 2nd place on the club's all-time list if he plays in the season final Monday…Nelson scored twice in 3:40 after scoring only once in 14 games; he now has 168 goals as an Islander to tie Ziggy Palffy for 14th place…Ryan Pulock played his 250th consecutive game; Pulock and Pelech both went +3, creating a 4-way tie (with Beauvillier and Mathew Barzal) for the team lead at +15…Barzal has scored three times in his last five games…Matt Martin celebrated his 32nd birthday…. The Isles went 46-19-8 at the Coliseum after returning home in December 2018….Oliver Wahlstrom matched career highs with five hits and five shots; he also had the second 2-assist game of his career...The Isles went 877-629-232 all-time in 1,738 games on Coliseum ice in regular season play; they will look to build on their 82-41 all-time playoff record when they return home for game 3 of the First Round.

The Playoff (Positioning) Chase  (all have clinched berth)

X-Pittsburgh 77 points/ 29 regulation wins (0 to play)

X -Washington 75 points/ 28 regulation wins (1 to play)

X -Boston         71 points/ 25 regulation wins (2 to play)

X-ISLES         70 points/ 24 regulation wins (1 to play)

Remaining Schedule:

• Sunday – Happy Mother's Day (no games)

• Monday – Isles @ BOS, NJ @ PHI

• Tuesday – BOS @ WAS

Race for the Jennings (includes shootout losers)

1. Vegas  122 goals allowed in 54 games  2.26

2. Isles  125 goals allowed in 55 games  2.27

3. Carolina 131 goals allowed in 55 games 2.38

4. Boston  132 goals allowed in 54 games  2.44

5. Colorado 131 goals allowed in 53 games 2.47

Most Shutouts in a Season

• 11 2018-19 (82-game schedule)

• 10 2020-21 (56-game schedule)

• 10 1975-76 (80-game schedule)

The Isles will earn a shutout in at least 17.9% of their games this season, breaking the previous record (13.4% in 2018-19).

Longest Shutout Streaks in Isles History (Goalie)

1. Semyon Varlamov 2020-21 248:00

2. Glenn Resch 1975-76 178:29

3. Robin Lehner 2018-19 177:43

Longest Shutout Streaks in Isles History (Team)

1. 2020-21 212:35

2. 1997-78 199:14

3. 2014-15 193:48

Varly Solid

Semyon Varlamov is 12-7-2 in his last 21 decisions, allowing just 42 goals in that span.  Varly has won 19 games this season (Tied-8th in NHL) with a goals against average of 2.02 and save percentage of .930. Both his GAA and save percentage are 2nd to Carolina's Alex Nedeljkovic (1.90, .932) among goalies who have played at least 15 games.  Varlamov has 251 NHL wins (61st all-time) and 34 shutouts (tied-57th all-time), including an NHL-leading seven this season.

Most Shutouts by an Islander Goalie (one season):

1. Semyon Varlamov 7 (2020-21)

        Chico Resch 7 (1975-76)

Lowest Goals Against by an Islander Goalie (one season) (minimum 1000 minutes):

1. Semyon Varlamov 2.02 (2020-21)

2. Chico Resch 2.08 (1975-76)

3. Robin Lehner 2.13 (2018-19)

4. Ilya Sorokin 2.16 (2020-21)

Highest Save Percentage by an Islander Goalie (one season) (minimum 1000 minutes):

1. Robin Lehner .9297 (2018-19)

2. Semyon Varlamov .9295 (2020-21)

3. Chico Resch .928 (1975-76)

4. Thomas Greiss .927 (2018-191)

Sorokin's Shining

Ilya Sorokin is 13-4-1 in his last eighteen starts. He has allowed two goals or fewer in seven of his last nine appearances.

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. Ilya Sorokin 13 (2020-21)

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

1. Chico Resch 7 (1975-76)

2. Ilya Sorokin 3 (2020-21)

        Chico Resch 3 (1974-75)

(Resch appeared in 25 games in 1974-75 and thus was considered a rookie the following year; Sorokin turns 26 this summer so he will not have rookie status next season) 

Home Sweet Home

The Isles earned points in 24 of their 28 home games (21-4-3); it is their best home record through 28 games in the Post-Cup Era:

Most Points at Home Through 28 Games

• 48 1980-81 (23-3-2)

• 47 1977-78 (21-2-5)

• 47 1978-79 (21-2-5)

• 45 2020-21 (21-4-3)

Historical D

The Isles have allowed only 125 goals (including 3 shootout winners) in 55 games; it is the fewest goals that they have allowed through 55 games in their history by a wide margin:

• 125 (2020-21)

• 133 (2018-19)

• 136 (1975-76)

• 136 (2003-04)

• 137 (1977-78)

• 138 (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-L-Lot Remaining games: 0

• New Jersey W-L-W-W-W-Wso-L-W Remaining games: 0

• Rangers         W-L-W-L-Wot-W-W-W Remaining games: 0

• Philadelphia Lot-Lot-L-W-Wot-Wso-Wso-Wot Remaining games: 0

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

• Washington L-L-L-W-W-Lso-L-L Remaining games: 0

Home and Road

The Isles are 32-17-6 overall; they are 21-4-3 at home and 11-13-3 on the road.

New Jersey is 19-29-7 overall; they are 7-18-3 at home and 12-11-4 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 877-635-60-157 in 1,729 games. 

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville    961

3. Barry Trotz    877

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville  1,760

3. Barry Trotz         1,729

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,445

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,326

3. Glen Sather 1,319

It All Starts at the Top

Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz have 2,203 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 23-2-2 when scoring first and are 9-15-4 when allowing the opening goal. 

• At home, Isles are 15-0-2 scoring first and 6-4-1 trailing first

• On road, Isles are 8-2-0 scoring first and 3-11-3 trailing first

The Isles have won 85.2% of the games that they have scored first, which is the 3rd-highest percentage in the NHL (just behind Edmonton - .885 and Vegas - .882). 

At 15-0-2 at home, they are one of three teams without a loss at home when scoring first (Boston 12-0-2 and Edmonton 11-0-0).

The Shots

Isles    12-11-4=27

New Jersey    4-7-13=24

The Isles are 20-6-3 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 11-10-3 when they are outshot.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 64-35-13 when outshot.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 23 saves to improve to 13-6-2 on the season and 3-1-0 in his career against New Jersey. 

Mackenzie Blackwood made 22 saves but falls to 14-17-4 on the season and 2-4-1 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-3 on the power play (2:21); New Jersey was 0-2 on the power play (2:00). 

The Isles are 14-5-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 18-12-3 when they do not.  The Isles are 6-10-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 26-7-4 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 24-4-4 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 8-13-2 when they do not.  Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 89-9-11 when scoring three or more.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 14-6-6 in games decided by a single goal including 6-6 in regulation. They are 4-3 in games decided in overtime and are 4-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 0-1 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs

The Isles played eight back-to-backs this season, going 4-2-2 in the front-half and 4-2-2 in the back-half. 

 

Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 21-4-4 (.793) 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: 20-9-3 (.672).

Series

The Isles are playing the same opponent in consecutive games sixteen times this season (including three-game stretches vs. the Sabres, Devils, Flyers, and Capitals).

  

In two-game series, the Isles are 4-7-2 in the first game and 5-6-2 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), NYR (W/W), BUF (L/Lot), NJ (L/W)

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

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

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (22:33); New Jersey: Damon Severson (25:14)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 16:46 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Nick Leddy (9-6-1), Ryan Pulock (17-8-3), Scott Mayfield (1-1-0), Mathew Barzal (1-1-1), Adam Pelech (4-1-1).

Face-offs

Isles 30, New Jersey 25 (55%)

Brock Nelson won 11 of 15 for the Isles; Nico Hischier won 12 of 21 for New Jersey.

The Isles are 20-10-3 when they win more face-offs than the opposition, 0-4-1 when they are tied, and 12-5-2 when they win fewer.

Hit Count

Isles 25 (Matt Martin and Oliver Wahlstrom -5)

New Jersey 23 (Kevin Bahl -7)

Fights 

There were no fights.  Season total: 5 (Martin -2, Cizikas -1, Wahlstrom -1, Johnston-1)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 13 (Ryan Pulock -5)

New Jersey 22 (Will Butcher -6)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 55, New Jersey 47

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 51, New Jersey 44

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Jordan Eberle and Mathew Barzal +11

New Jersey: Damon Severson +7

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 12, New Jersey 7

5-on-5: Isles 10, New Jersey 7

Scratches

(Anders Lee-LTIR), Cory Schneider, Sebastian Aho, Braydon Coburn,  Brian Bellows, Cal Clutterbuck, Ross Johnston, Michael Dal Colle

Games Lost: 61

COVID Games Lost -6

Iron Man Club

Brock Nelson has played in 300 consecutive games and Ryan Pulock in 250; both have appeared in every game since Barry Trotz became the Isles' coach.  

Iron Man

Brock Nelson has the longest active streak (and the 3rd -longest in club history) while Ryan Pulock is 8th:

1. Billy Harris 10/7/1972 -11/30/1979 576 (*)

2. Bobby Nystrom 1/7/1975 - 11/25/1978 301

3. Brock Nelson 3/16/2017 – CURRENT 300

4. Anders Lee 1/26/2017 – 3/13/2021 295

5. Mathew Barzal 10/6/2017- 5/3/2021 284

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

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

8. Ryan Pulock 12/29/2017 – CURRENT 250

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

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

 (*) 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: 2 successful, 1 failure (goalie interference 1/14 @ NYR, no goalie interference 3/11 vs NJ, goalie interference 5/3 @ BUF)

The Isles are 1-0-0 in games where opponents' challenges go their way and 1-1-0 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 918…

13. Stefan Persson 622 *** 14. Matt Martin 614 *** 15. Frans Nielsen 606 *** 16. Brock Nelson 603 *** 17. Kenny Jonsson 597 *** 18. Garry Howatt 596 *** 19. John Tonelli 594 *** 20. Casey Cizikas 589 … 

27. Kyle Okposo 529 *** 28. Cal Clutterbuck 527 *** 29.  Anders Lee 520 *** 30. Nick Leddy 517

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 and Brock Nelson 168 *** 16. Josh Bailey 162

Assists

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

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

17.  Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen 230 *** 19.Nick Leddy 197

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 511…

20. Ziggy Palffy 331 *** 21. Brock Nelson 327 ***  22. Anders Lee 320

Games Coached 

1. Al Arbour 1,500 *** 2. Jack Capuano 483 *** 3. Barry Trotz 205

 

Coaching Wins

1. Al Arbour 740 *** 2. Jack Capuano 227 *** 3. Barry Trotz 115

On the Farm

Bridgeport went 5-1-1-0 in their last seven games to finish their season with a record of 8-14-2-0 (4-7-1-0 vs. Hartford and 4-7-1-0 vs. Providence). 

Season Series Stats

The Isles win the season series 6 games to 2 (and 12 points to 4). 

The Isles were 6-2-0 while New Jersey was 2-5-1.

The Isles were 3-1-0 at the Coliseum vs. the Devils and 3-1-0 on the road.  

UP NEXT

MONDAY, MAY 10th  –ISLANDERS AT BOSTON 7:00pm

[MSG+ [pre-game at 6:30], WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, WNYM 970]

The Isles conclude the regular season game as they face the Bruins in Boston.

After winning the first five games of the season series (including all four at home), the Isles dropped a back-to-back in Boston on April 15th-16th. 

And Finally…

Happy Mother's Day!

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