The Skinny: Tampa Bay 2, Isles 1

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick

Semi-Finals Game 3

Tampa Bay 2, Isles 1

Tampa Bay leads best-of-7 series, 2-1

Brayden Point scored the winning goal late in the second period as the Tampa Bay Lightning regained home-ice advantage with a 2-1 victory over the Isles in Game 3 of their semi-final series before a crowd of 12,978 at the Nassau Coliseum. 

Point's goal came just after the expiration of a penalty to Adam Pelech and less than three minutes after the Isles tied the game on a goal by Cal Clutterbuck.

Nikita Kucherov assisted on the winning goal, giving him 18 in this year's playoffs.  Kucherov, who had a franchise-record 27 helpers in The Bubble, has more assists other NHL player has points.

Game Four will be on Saturday at the Nassau Coliseum. 

The Scoring: 

1st Period

Yanni Gourde (3) Blake Coleman (5), Erik Cernak (7) 10:05 TBL 1,NYI 0

2nd Period

Cal Clutterbuck (4) Matt Martin (1), Casey Cizikas (3) 17:01 TBL 1,NYI 1

Brayden Point (11) Victor Hedman (13), Nikita Kucherov (18) 19:40 TBL 2,NYI 1

3rd Period

No Goals

The Series (Tampa Bay leads, 2-1)

Game 1: Isles 2, Tampa Bay 1 

Game 2: Tampa Bay 4, Isles 2

Game 3: Tampa Bay 2, Isles 1 

Game 4: Saturday at Isles 

Game 5: Monday at Tampa Bay

Game 6: Wednesday at Isles  (if needed)

Game 7: 6/25 at Tampa Bay (if needed)

All remaining games in this series are 8:00 starts.

The Skinny 

The Isles are 4-5 in game 3's under Barry Trotz …The Isles have played 45 playoff games under Barry Trotz; only Boston (48) has played more in that span… The teams traded goals in the middle session; the Isles have outscored opponents 20-10 in the second period…The Isles lead the playoffs with 48 goals and are 3rd in goals per game (3.20 to 3.80); the other three teams remaining in the playoffs all have a lower goals against per game average that the Isles' 2.67… The Isles have yet to have a lead after the first period in any game in this year's playoffs…Cal Clutterbuck became the 7th player on the current roster with 10 playoff goals for the Isles…Matt Martin earned his first assist in this year's playoffs…The Isles have outscored their opponents 34-28 in 5-on-5 play… Brayden Point extended his goal streak to six games (breaking Ondrej Palat's club record) with his league-leading 11th goal; Nikita Kucherov extended his assist streak to six games…Point now has three point streaks of at least six games over the last two playoffs…The Lightning are 10-1 when they score first; the team that has scored first has not trailed in any game in this season.

First Time in a Long Time

• Brayden Point is the first player to score in six consecutive playoff games since Martin Havlat did so for Ottawa in 2006. 

First Time for Everything 

• Nikita Kucherov has a 6-game playoff point streak (and playoff assist streak) for the first time.

Most Wins After Allowing the First Goal (Isles)

• 8 1980 

• 6 1977

• 6 1993

• 5 2021

• 5 1981 

• 5 1983 

• 5 1984

Brock Best

Brock Nelson has 23 playoff goals for the Islanders, more than any Isles in the 2000s:

• Brock Nelson 23

• Josh Bailey 15

• Anthony Beauvillier 14

• Mathew Barzal 12

• Jordan Eberle 12

• J-G Pageau 11

• John Tavares 11

• Cal Clutterbuck 10

Nelson's 23 goals are 9th in Islander history, one ahead of Duane Sutter and one behind Brent Sutter.  The nine players ahead of Nelson won a combined 34 Stanley Cup rings for the Isles.  Nelson has scored more playoffs goals for the Isles than any other US-born player.

Hey, Josh Bailey!

Josh Bailey has 34 playoff assists for the Islanders, more than any Isles in the 2000s:

• Josh Bailey 34

• Mathew Barzal 23

• Jordan Eberle 21

• Nick Leddy 18

• Brock Nelson 17

• Ryan Pulock 13

• Anthony Beauvillier 13

• JG Pageau 13

Bailey's 34 assists are good for 11th in Islander history and are one assist shy of Brent Sutter's 10th place total (35).  The ten players ahead of Bailey won a combined 38 Stanley Cup rings for the Isles. 

Bailey also has 49 playoff points for the Islanders, more than any Isles in the 2000s:

• Josh Bailey 49

• Brock Nelson 40

• Mathew Barzal 35

• Jordan Eberle 33

• Anthony Beauvillier 27

• J-G Pageau 24

• Nick Leddy 23

• John Tavares 22

Bailey 49 points are 12th in Islander history and are three points shy of Duane Sutter's 11th place total (52).  The eleven players ahead of Bailey won a combined 42 Stanley Cup rings for the Isles.   

Hometown Hero

Kyle Palmieri has seven goals in 15 games this spring. 

Only five players have scored more goals for the Isles in their first playoff run with the team:

• Ray Ferraro 13 (1993)

• Steve Thomas 9 (1993)

• Patrick Flatley 9 (1984)

• JG Pageau 8 (2020)

• JP Parise 8 (1975)

Young Mr. Dobson

Noah Dobson is the second defenseman in Isles history to record at least seven playoff assists before his 22nd birthday.  You may remember the other: Denis Potvin had nine assists in 17 games in 1975. 

With seven assists, Dobson is one behind Ryan Pulock and Devon Toews' total of eight assists last summer for the most by an Islander defenseman in a single post-season in the Post-Cup Era.

• Ryan Pulock 8 (2020) 

• Devon Toews 8 (2020)

• Noah Dobson 7 (2021)

• Roman Hamrlik 6 (2002)

• Dennis Vaske 6 (1993)

• Vladimir Malakhov 6 (1993)

Pageau, Pageau, Pageau

JG Pageau has ten assists this spring; it is the fourth-highest total  by an Islander in a single post-season in the Post-Cup Era.

• Josh Bailey 18 (2020) 

• Mathew Barzal 12 (2020) 

• Derek King 11 (1993)

• JG Pageau 10 (2021)

Familiar Foes

This is the fourth all-time playoff meeting between the teams:

• 2004- Conference Quarter-Finals. Tampa Bay won series 4 games to 1.

• 2016- 2nd Round. Tampa Bay won series 4 games to 1.

• 2020- Conference Finals. Tampa Bay won series 4 games to 2.

Heavy Hitters

Cal Clutterbuck leads all players in this year's playoffs with 75 hits, while Matt Martin is second with 74, Ryan Pulock is fourth with 63 hits and Leo Komarov is fifth with 58 hits.  The Isles lead all teams with 620.

Barry and Al

Barry Trotz is only the 2nd coach to lead the Isles to multiple series wins, joining Al Arbour.  Terry Simpson and Jack Capuano are the only other coaches to lead the Isles to a playoff series victory.  Trotz has won a playoff series in seven consecutive years (four with Washington and three with the Isles).  Arbour did that from 1979-1985 (all with Isles) – no one had done it since, until Trotz came along.

Lou and Bill

Lou Lamoriello's win vs. Boston was his 31st playoff series win as a General Manager, which is second all-time to Glen Sather (41).  Bill Torrey is third with 28 playoff series wins. 

Led/Tied/Trailed

Game 1: Led: 27:28, Tied: 32:32, Trailed: 0:00

Game 2: Led: 0:00, Tied 28:43, Trailed 31:17

Game 3: Led: 0:00, Tied 12:44, Trailed 47:16

Series: Led: 27:28, Tied: 73:59, Trailed: 78:33

Vs Boston:   Led:  105:51, Tied: 197:54, Trailed: 74:39

Vs. Pittsburgh Led: 66:48, Tied: 158:11, Trailed: 177:22

Total: Led: 199:07, Tied: 430:04, Trailed: 330:34

Playoffs All-Time

The Isles fall to 170-139 in 309 all-time playoff games.  They are 94-53 at home (86-44 at the Coliseum, 2-5 at Barclays, 5-2 in Toronto and 1-2 in Edmonton) and 76-86 on the road. In this year's playoffs, the Isles are 4-3 at home and 5-3 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 877-635-60-158 in 1,730 games. 

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville  962

3. Barry Trotz    877

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,761

3. Barry Trotz        1,730

Coach Trotz (Playoffs)

Barry Trotz has now coached 158 playoff games (81-77).  His 158 games is 10th all-time (Mike Babcock is 9th with 164) while his 81 wins are one behind Toe Blake for 11th.  Trotz won the Stanley Cup with Washington in 2018; Joel Quenneville (3) and Mike Sullivan (2) are the only active coaches with multiple Stanley Cups.

Most Playoff Coaching Wins (active coaches)

1. Joel Quenneville 121

2. Darryl Sutter 89

3. Barry Trotz  81

4. Alain Vigneault 78

Most Playoff Games Coached (active coaches)

1. Joel Quenneville 225

2. Darryl Sutter 170

3. Barry Trotz  158

4. Alain Vigneault 155

Most playoff wins by Islander coaches:

• Al Arbour 119

• Barry Trotz 26

• Jack Capuano 10

• Terry Simpson 9

• Peter Laviolette 4

• Ted Nolan 1

• Steve Stirling 1

Most playoff games coached (Islanders):

• Al Arbour 198

• Barry Trotz 45

• Jack Capuano 24

• Terry Simpson 20

• Peter Laviolette 12

• Steve Stirling 5

• Ted Nolan 5

Most overtime wins/overtime record:

• Al Arbour 26 (26-9)

• Barry Trotz 6 (6-6)

• Jack Capuano 4 (4-5)

• Terry Simpson 3 (3-0)

• Peter Laviolette 0 (0-1)

• Steve Stirling 0 (0-1)

Most game 7 wins/game seven record)

• Al Arbour 4 (2-2)

• Terry Simpson 2 (1-1)

• Barry Trotz 1 (1-0)

• Jack Capuano 0 (0-1)

• Peter Laviolette 0 (0-1)

Most playoff series wins:

• Al Arbour 29

• Barry Trotz 6

• Jack Capuano 1

• Terry Simpson 1

First Things First

The Isles are 4-1 when scoring first and are 5-5 when allowing the first goal in the playoffs.

The Shots

Isles      7-13-8=28   

Tampa Bay  11-9-5=25

Shots by Game

• Game 1: Isles 31, Tampa Bay 31

• Game 2: Isles 26, Tampa Bay 33

• Game 3: Isles 28, Tampa Bay 25

• Series: Isles 85, Tampa Bay 89

• Vs. Boston: Isles 172, Boston 221

• Vs: Pittsburgh: Isles 188, Pittsburgh 231

• Total Isles 445, Opponents 541

The Isles are 2-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0 when the shots are even and 6-4 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves but falls to 5-5 in the 2021 playoffs and 29-25 in his playoff career.  

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves and improves to 10-4 in this year's playoffs and 43-26 in his career. 

 

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-1 on the power play in 2:00 of PP time; Tampa Bay was also 0-1 on the power play in 2:00 of PP time.  

Power Plays by Game

• Game 1: Isles 0-3 (6:00, 5 shots), Tampa Bay 1-2 (2:44, 4 shots)

• Game 2: Isles 1-4 (6:20, 7 shots), Tampa Bay 1-5 (9:08, 8 shots)

• Game 3: Isles 0-1 (2:00, 1 shot), Tampa Bay 0-1 (2:00, 1 shot)

• Series: Isles 1-8 (14:20, 13 shots), Tampa Bay 2-8 (13:52, 13 shots)

• Vs. Boston: Isles 6-16 (27:39, 23 shots), Boston 7-14 (19:44, 28 shots)

• Vs. Pittsburgh: Isles 3-16 (27:00, 15 shots), Pittsburgh 3-12 (18:54, 19 shots)

• Total: Isles 10-40 (68:59, 51 shots), Opponents 12-34 (52:30, 60 shots)

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 8-1 in the playoffs (5-1 in regulation and 3-0 in overtime) when they score at least three goals and 1-5 when they do not. 

Shutting the Door

The Isles are 5-3 when allowing two or fewer goals in this year's playoffs.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 5-4 in the playoffs in one-goal games (2-3 in regulation and 3-1 in overtime). The Isles are 1-0 in playoff games where an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (24:40);  Tampa Bay: Victor Hedman (26:38)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 19:21 of ice-time 

Isles record by ice-time leader: Adam Pelech (3-0), Nick Leddy (2-4), Ryan Pulock (2-2), Scott Mayfield (2-0)

Face-offs

Isles 23, Tampa Bay 26 (47%)  

Casey Cizikas won 7 of 10 for the Isles; Yanni Gourde won 8 of 11 for Tampa Bay. 

Face-offs by Game

• Game 1: Isles 28, Tampa Bay 18 (61%)

• Game 2: Isles 27, Tampa Bay 24 (53%)

• Game 3: Isles 23, Tampa Bay 26 (47%)

• Series: Isles 78, Tampa Bay 68 (53%)

• Vs. Boston: Isles 165, Boston 168 (49%)

• Vs. Pittsburgh: Isles 181, Pittsburgh 164 (52%)

• Total: Isles 424, Opponents 400 (51%)

Hit Count

Isles 39 (Adam Pelech -6)

Tampa Bay 26 (Mikhail Sergachev -5)

Hits Game by Game:

• Game 1: Isles 40, Tampa Bay 41 

• Game 2: Isles 37, Tampa Bay 32

• Game 3: Isles 39, Tampa Bay 26

• Series: Isles 116, Tampa Bay 99

• Vs. Boston Isles 231, Boston 221

• Vs: Pittsburgh: Isles 273, Pittsburgh 224

• Total: Isles 620, Opponents 544

Blocked Shots

Isles 15 (Ryan Pulock and Scott Mayfield -3)

Tampa Bay 21 (Victor Hedman -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 62, Tampa Bay 52 

Corsi: 5-on-5 Isles 56, Tampa Bay 47

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Kyle Palmieri +14

Tampa Bay: Anthony Cirelli +13

High Danger Chances:

All situations: Isles 15, Tampa Bay 5

5-on-5: Isles 14, Tampa Bay 5

Corsi Game by Game:

• Game 1: (All) Isles 45, Tampa Bay 55; (5-on-5) Isles 35, Tampa Bay 38

• Game 2: (All) Isles 44, Tampa Bay 57; (5-on-5) Isles 29, Tampa Bay 38

• Game 3: (All) Isles 62, Tampa Bay 42; (5-on-5) Isles 56, Tampa Bay 47

• Series: (All) Isles 151, Tampa Bay 154; (5-on-5) Isles 120, Tampa Bay 123

• Vs. Boston: (All) Isles 312, Boston 414;  (5-on-5) Isles 264, Boston 355

• Vs. Pittsburgh: (All)  Isles 303, Pittsburgh 411;  (5-on-5) Isles 257, Pittsburgh 367

• Total(All) Isles 766, Opponents 979;  (5-on-5) Isles 641, Opponents 845

High-Danger Game by Game:

• Game 1: (All) Isles 10, Tampa Bay 14; (5-on-5) Isles 9, Tampa Bay 8

• Game 2: (All) Isles 12, Tampa Bay 15; (5-on-5) Isles 8, Tampa Bay 7

• Game 3: (All) Isles 15, Tampa Bay 5; (5-on-5) Isles 14, Tampa Bay 5

• Series: (All) Isles 37, Tampa Bay 34;  (5-on-5) Isles 31, Tampa Bay 20

• Vs. Boston: (All) Isles 55, Boston 72;  (5-on-5) Isles 42, Boston 54

• Vs. Pittsburgh:(All)  Isles 66, Pittsburgh 72; (5-on-5) Isles 52, Pittsburgh 55

• Total (All) Isles 158, Opponents 178;  (5-on-5) Isles 125, Opponents 129

Scratches

(Anders Lee), (Oliver Wahlstrom), Cory Schneider, Sebastian Aho, Braydon Coburn, Kieffer Bellows, Ross Johnston, Michael Dal Colle, Thomas Hickey, Austin Czarnik

Playoff games lost: 25

Post-Season Late Heroes (Final Two Minutes of Regulation, or Overtime)

• Kyle Palmieri (16:30 of OT on 5/16 vs. Pittsburgh – Game 1)

• Josh Bailey (20:51 of OT on 5/24 vs. Pittsburgh – Game 5)

• Casey Cizikas (14:48 of OT on 5/31 vs. Boston – Game 2)

Post-Season Late Goals Allowed

• Brad Marchand (3:36 of OT on 6/3 vs. Boston – Game 3)

Playoff Challenges

• Isles: Lost a goalie interference challenge (6/5 vs Boston; Bruins did not score on subsequent PP)

• Opponents: None

Most Overtime Wins in a Series

• 3 vs. Washington (1993)

• 3 vs. Florida (2016)

• 2 vs. Toronto (1978)

• 2 vs. Rangers (1979)

• 2 vs. Boston (1980)

• 2 vs. Philadelphia (1980)

• 2 vs. New Jersey (1988)

• 2 vs. Pittsburgh (2021)

Overtime is Our Time

The Isles are 39-22 (.639) all-time in overtime, including 19-13 at home. The Isles are 3-1 in overtime this season; they have gone 10-9 in nineteen overtime games since 2015. 

Overtime vs. Tampa Bay

The Isles are 1-4 all-time in playoff overtime games vs. Tampa Bay; the goals vs. Martin St. Louis and Anthony Cirelli clinched series and the Lightning went on to win the Stanley Cup.   

 

04/16/04 @ Martin St. Louis L TB 00:04:07 Tampa

05/03/16 Vs Brian Boyle L TB 00:02:48 Brooklyn

05/06/16 Vs Jason Garrison L TB 00:01:34 Brooklyn

09/15/20 @ Jordan Eberle W TB 00:32:30 Edmonton

09/17/20 Vs Anthony Cirelli L TB 00:13:18 Edmonton

Active Islander Playoff Leaders: (As NYI)

Games:

Matt Martin 69

Josh Bailey 67

Casey Cizikas 65

Nick Leddy 63

Brock Nelson 63

Consecutive Games

Matt Martin 69

Nick Leddy 63

Brock Nelson 58

Goals:

Brock Nelson 23

Josh Bailey 15

Anthony Beauvillier 14

Jordan Eberle 12

Mathew Barzal 12

J-G Pageau 11

Cal Clutterbuck 10

Anders Lee 8

Kyle Palmieri 7

Ryan Pulock 7

Assists:

Josh Bailey 34

Mathew Barzal 23

Jordan Eberle 21

Nick Leddy 18

Brock Nelson 17

Ryan Pulock 13

Anthony Beauvillier 13

J-G Pageau 13

Points:

Josh Bailey 49

Brock Nelson 40

Mathew Barzal 35

Jordan Eberle 33

Anthony Beauvillier 27

J-G Pageau 24

Nick Leddy 23

Ryan Pulock 20

Penalty Minutes:

Matt Martin 90

Cal Clutterbuck 64

Casey Cizikas 44

PP Goals

Anthony Beauvillier 4

Mathew Barzal 4

Jordan Eberle 4

Ryan Pulock 3

Josh Bailey 3

Anders Lee 3

Brock Nelson 3 

Nick Leddy 1

Oliver Wahlstrom 1

Nick Leddy 1

Kyle Palmieri 1

SH Goals

Josh Bailey 1

 

GW Goals

Brock Nelson 7

Ryan Pulock 3

Anthony Beauvillier 3

Jordan Eberle 3

Josh Bailey 3

Mathew Barzal 2

Thomas Hickey 1

Leo Komarov 1

Andy Greene 1

Scott Mayfield 1

Kyle Palmieri 1

Casey Cizikas 1

OT Goals 

Josh Bailey 2

Mathew Barzal 1

Thomas Hickey 1

Jordan Eberle 1

Kyle Palmieri 1

Casey Cizikas 1

Goaltending

Semyon Varlamov 16-12  2.29 GAA, .922 save percentage

Ilya Sorokin 4-1 2.28 GAA, .936 save percentage

(Varlamov's 16 wins place him third in club history, behind Billy Smith (88) and Chico Resch (17).  Among goalies who have played at least ten post-season games, Varly has the best goals against average and the best save percentage in club history.)

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, JUNE 19th  – TAMPA BAY AT ISLANDERS– 8:00pm 

[USA Network, WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN 98.7FM; Pre-Game and Post-Game coverage on MSG+]

The Isles will look to even the series in game 4 on Saturday night.  The Isles won games 4, 5, and 6 in the previous series this spring to get to this point.

The Bolts are 5-0 in "true" playoff road games against the Isles, winning both games in 2004 (Coliseum), both games  in 2016 (Barclays) and game 3 in this series.  The Isles earned the victory in game 3 in The Bubble. 

The Isles are 6-13 in 19 previous series that trail 2-1 (2-0 this season), while Tampa Bay 13-3 in 16 previous series with a 2-1 lead.

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