The Skinny: Isles 2, Vegas 0

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 6

Isles 2, Vegas 0

Ilya Sorokin did it again. Sorokin made 42 saves for his 2nd consecutive shutout as the Isles blanked the Vegas Golden Knights 2-0 before 17,699 at T-Mobile Arena.

Josh Bailey and Mathew Barzal scored for the Isles as the Isles led for the final 57:44.  However, the story was Sorokin, who became the first goaltender in Islander history to record shutouts on consecutive days.

The Isles went 3-0-1 this week and end the first segment of their franchise-record 13-game road trip with a 3-2-1 record. It is the best record through six games in the Trotz era.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Josh Bailey (1) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (2) 02:16 NYI 1,VGK 0

2nd Period

No Goals

3rd Period

Mathew Barzal (3) Josh Bailey (3) 07:33 NYI 2,VGK 0

The Skinny         

Josh Bailey passed Bob Nystrom for 10th place with his 514th point; he also tied Alexei Yashin for the 3rd-highest October goal total (26) by an Islander in the 2000s…The Isles have scored first in four straight games and in five of their first six games; last season the Isles scored first in 27 of their 56 games… The Isles are 3-2-1 in their first six games, marking their best record through six games under Barry Trotz (3-3-0 each of his first three seasons)…The only other time that the Isles had shutouts on consecutive games was in February 2018, when Jaroslav Halak stopped 50 shots in Brooklyn against the Rangers and Thomas Greiss stopped 45 shots in Carolina.

The Sorokin Story

• Current Shutout Streak 120:00

• First Goalie in Team History with Shutouts on Consecutive Days

• 3-0-1 in last four games, allowing only four goals on 140 shots (97.1%) 

• Has allowed only two five-on-five goals in that stretch

• 42 saves tonight; most in a shutout since Thomas Greiss (45 vs. Carolina on 2/16/2018)

• First goalie since Winnipeg's Ondrej Pavelic (April 6-7, 2015) with two road shutouts in two days

• Now has two of the four shutouts in the NHL this season

• 17th Goalie in NHL history (and seventh since expansion) with at least five shutouts in his first 28 games

Most Islander Goals in October (2000's)

1. John Tavares 45

2. Brock Nelson 29

3. Alexei Yashin 26

Josh Bailey 26 

Only 15 players in club history (led by Mike Bossy's 80) have scored at least 25 October goals.

The Long Road (to the New) Home

The Isles are 3-2-1 on their franchise-record 13-game road trip:

• Thu Oct 14 at Carolina L 3-6

• Sat Oct 16 at Florida         L 1-5

• Tue Oct 19 at Chicago         W 4-1

• Thu Oct 21 at Columbus L 3-2 (ot)

• Sat Oct 23 at Arizona         W 3-0

• Sun Oct 24 at Vegas         W 2-0

• Sat Oct 30 at Nashville 1:30 PM

• Thu Nov 04 at Montréal 7:00 PM

• Sat Nov 06 at Winnipeg 7:00 PM

• Sun Nov 07 at Minnesota 8:00 PM

• Thu Nov 11 at New Jersey 7:00 PM

• Mon Nov 15 at Tampa Bay 7:00 PM

• Tue Nov 16 at Florida         7:00 PM

Histor-Z

Zdeno Chara played in his 1,614th game, leaving him one game behind Larry Murphy for 11th all-time,  Chara is now 4th among defensemen in games played:

• Chris Chelios 1,651

• Scott Stevens 1,635

• Larry Murphy 1,615

• Zdeno Chara 1,614

• Ray Bourque 1,612

Home and Road

The Isles are 3-2-1 overall; they are 0-0-0 at home and 3-2-1 on the road.

Vegas is 1-4-0 overall; they are 1-3-0 at home and 0-1-0 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 880-637-60-159 in 1,736 games. 

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville  967

3. Barry Trotz    880

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Joel Quenneville 1,766

3. Barry Trotz        1,736

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,450

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,329

3. Glen Sather 1,319

It All Starts at the Top

Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz have 2,209 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 3-1-1 when scoring first and are 0-1-0 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    11-4-11=26

Vegas    12-14-16=42

The Isles are 0-1-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 3-1-0 when they are out-shot. Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 67-37-13 when outshot.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 42 saves for his 2nd consecutive shutout; he is 3-2-1 on the season and 1-0-0 vs. Vegas. 

Robin Lehner made 24 saves but falls to 1-4-0 on the season and 5-4-3 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

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

The Isles are 1-1-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-1-1 when they do not.  The Isles are 0-1-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 3-1-0 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 2-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-1-1 when they do not. Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 91-10-11 when scoring three or more.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 0-0-1 in games decided by a single goal including 0-0 in regulation. They are 0-1 in games decided in overtime and are 0-0 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 1-0-0 in the front end and 1-0-0 in the back end. The next back-to-back will be November 6th in Winnipeg and November 7th in Minnesota. 

 

Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 22-4-4 (.800) 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).

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (23:27); Vegas: Alex Pietrangelo (27:41)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 17:40 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-1-0), Anthony Beauvillier (0-1-0), Mathew Barzal (0-0-1), Adam Pelech (1-0-0)

Face-offs

Isles 25, Vegas 31 (45%)

Brock Nelson won 11 of 20 for the Isles; Nicolas Roy won 9 of 10 for Vegas. 

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

Hit Count

Isles 44 (Cal Clutterbuck -9)

Vegas 19 (Keegan Kolosar-5)

Fights 

There were no fights Season total: 2 (Martin)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 21 (Three with 3)

Vegas 9 (Alex Pietrangelo -2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 49, Vegas 79

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 41, Vegas 62

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Oliver Wahlstrom +4

Vegas: Nicolas Hague +21

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 17, Vegas 17 (including 8-0 in Vegas' favor in the 2nd period)

5-on-5: Isles 13, Vegas 12

Scratches

(Semyon Varlomov), Sebastian Aho, Ross Johnston, Kieffer Bellows

Games Lost: 10

Iron Man Club

Brock Nelson has played in 307 consecutive games and Ryan Pulock in 257; both have appeared in every game since Barry Trotz became the Isles' coach.  

Iron Man

Brock Nelson has passed Bobby Nystrom for the 2nd-longest streak while Ryan Pulock is 8th:

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

2. Brock Nelson 3/16/2017 – CURRENT 307

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

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 257

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: 0 successful, 1 failure

The Isles are 0-0-0 in games that they are successful and 0-1-0 in games that they are unsuccessful.(no goalie interference 10/14 @CAR)

Opponents: 2 successful, 0 failures  

The Isles are 1-1-0 in games where opponents' challenges go their way and 0-0-0 in games where challenges go the Isles' way. (goalie interference 10/16 @FLA and 10/23 @ARI)

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored no goals and allowed no goals in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime:

For: 0  

Vs:  0  

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 925…

13. Stefan Persson 622 *** 14. Matt Martin 618 *** 15. Brock Nelson 610 *** 16. Frans Nielsen 606 *** 17. Kenny Jonsson 597 *** 18. Garry Howatt and Casey Cizikas 596 … 

23. Lorne Henning 543 *** 24. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 25. Cal Clutterbuck 534 *** 26. Kenny Jonsson 532 *** 27. Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 28. Kyle Okposo 529 *** 29. Anders Lee 525

Goals

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

11. John Tonelli 206 *** 12. Anders Lee 185 *** 13. Billy Harris 184 *** 14. Brock Nelson 170 *** 15. Ziggy Palffy 168 *** 16. Josh Bailey 163

Assists

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

4. Clark Gillies 359 *** 5. Josh Bailey 352…

20. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 21. Ed Westfall 181 *** 22. Mathew Barzal 176…

26. Jean Potvin 167 *** 27. Jeff Norton 166 *** 28. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 29. Brock Nelson 161

Points

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

9. Bob Bourne 542 *** 10. Josh Bailey 515 …

18. Pierre Turgeon 340 *** 19 Tomas Jonsson 333 *** 20. Ziggy Palffy and Brock Nelson 331 ***  22. Anders Lee 321…

26. Ed Westfall 286 *** 27. Jason Blake and Steve Thomas 258 ** 29. Mathew Barzal 255

Games Coached 

1. Al Arbour 1,500 *** 2. Jack Capuano 483 *** 3. Barry Trotz 212

 

Coaching Wins

1. Al Arbour 740 *** 2. Jack Capuano 227 *** 3. Barry Trotz 118

On the Farm

Jakub Skarek made 37 saves for his second professional shutout and Anatolii Golyshev scored twice as Bridgeport blanked Laval 3-0 on Sunday afternoon at Webster Bank Arena for their second straight win. Bridgeport is now 2-2-0-2 on the season, heading into Friday's game in Springfield. The Islanders will host Providence on Saturday.

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0).  The teams will conclude their season series on December 19th in the first matinee in UBS Arena history.

The Isles are 4-3-0 all-time against Vegas, including 2-2-0 at T-Mobile Arena.

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30th –ISLANDERS AT NASHVILLE 1:30pm

[MSG+ (Pre-game at 1:00, WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN 98.7FM]

Following a five-day break, game 7 of this 13-game road trip will be on Saturday as the Isles visit the Predators in Nashville.

Few teams have given the Isles more trouble in the Trotz era than the first team he coached: the Predators. Nashville swept the season series in both 2018-19 and 2019-20, outscoring the Isles 22-8.

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