The Skinny: Carolina 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 79

Carolina 5, Isles 2

Max Domi scored the tie-breaking goal 5:40 into the third period and Carolina then cemented the victory with a pair of empty nets as the Hurricanes spoiled Alumni Weekend with a 5-2 victory over the Isles before a crowd of 15,945 at UBS Arena.

Carolina had taken a 2-0 lead in the first period, but the Isles got goals from Ross Johnston late in the first and Ryan Pulock on the power play in the second to even the score, but it was not enough as the Isles fell to 1-5-1 in their last seven games. It's the first time since the 0-8-3 stretch in November/December that the Isles (0-4-1 in their last five) have gone at least four games without a win.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Derek Stepan (9) 02:25 CAR 1,NYI 0

Seth Jarvis (17) Andrei Svechnikov (39), Sebastian Aho (43) 08:09 CAR 2,NYI 0 PPG

Ross Johnston (2) Matt Martin (4), Casey Cizikas (6) 18:25 CAR 2,NYI 1

2nd Period

Ryan Pulock (4) Josh Bailey (28), Kieffer Bellows (12) 15:27 CAR 2,NYI 2 PPG

3rd Period

Max Domi (11) Teuvo Teravainen (43), Jordan Martinook (9) 05:40 CAR 3,NYI 2

Jesper Fast (14)EN Jordan Staal (19) 17:53 CAR 4,NYI 2

Brendan Smith (4)EN 18:50 CAR 5,NYI 2

The Skinny            

The Isles are 14-10-2 in their last 26 games …Kieffer Bellows had four points in this last six games (1-3-4) after going pointless in his ten prior appearances…Both of Ross Johnston's goals have been at home (January 30th vs Minnesota… The Isles have allowed 17 empty net goals this season, including two today…Noah Dobson was on for both empty-netters, leaving him at -4 for the day…Josh Bailey reached for 40-point mark for the sixth time in his career…Carolina's Sebastian Aho had an assist for his 399th point…Both Casey Cizikas and Jesper Fast recorded their 200th point…Cizikas is the 44th to record 200 points in an Islander uniform…Max Domi scored the winning goal in his 499th NHL game…The Canes tied club record for wins (52) and points (112).

The Injury

Antti Raanta left the game in the second period with a lower body injury. He did not return.

Playing the Big Boys

The Isles have hosted opponents with at least 100 points in three straight games for the first time in club history.  The streak will grow to five if Washington earns a single point over their next two games.  It would be only the second time in NHL history that has happened – Montreal did this in 1971-72)… 

Isles Team Leaders

Goals:  Nelson 36, Lee 26, Pageau 16

Assists: Barzal 40, Dobson 35, Bailey 28

Points:  Nelson 58, Barzal 54, Dobson 47

• Nelson will lead the Isles in goals for the third straight season, after Lee did so in the prior three seasons.

• Barzal is looking to lead the team in assists for the fourth time in five seasons (Nick Leddy did so last year)

• Nelson is looking to end Barzal's 4-year run as the club point leader; Mike Bossy is the only Islander to lead the team in scoring in at least five straight seasons.

• Dobson has 47 points; no Islander defenseman has had 50 points since 2008-09 when Mark Streit had 56. Dobson, who is the first Islander defenseman in 13 years to score at least 12 goals, needs two points to become the youngest Islander defenseman since Denis Potvin to have at least 49 points in a season.

Home is Where The Sorokin Is

Ilya Sorokin is 13-4-4 at UBS Arena, with a 2.01 GAA and a .933 save percentage. 

Since February 1st, he has been even better, going 7-1-2 in ten home starts (1.93 GAA, .942 save percentage) .

PK is More Than Okay

The Isles allowed a goal in their only time short; they have killed 40 of 46 (87.0%) over their last fifteen games and 79 of 91 in the last 29 games (86.8%).  At home they are even better, having killed 41 of 47 (87.2%) since the beginning of February.

And How About That Home PP?

Since the beginning of February, the Isles home PP has converted at a 34.1% rate (15-44).  Only Florida (38.5%) and Tampa Bay (35.9%) has had a better home power play in that stretch.

Zach Attack

Zach Parise has 408 career goals, tying him for 95th place all-time with Patrik Elias and Ray Ferraro and, passing Marian Gaborik.  Ray Bourque has 410 goals and sits 94th.

All-Star Break Splits

The Islander offense has improved significantly since the All-Star break. The Isles scored 92 goals in 39 games before the break (2.4/gm) and have scored 124 in 40 games since the break (3.1gm).  

Forwards:

Before: 80-106-186 in 39 games (4.8/gm)

After:    107-132-238 in 40 games (6.0/gm)

Defense:

Before: 12-47-59 in 39 games (1.5/gm)

After:    17-76-93 in 40 games (2.3/gm)

Most Career Goals by an Islander Wearing #27

1. Derek King 211

2. Anders Lee 210 

3. John Tonelli 206

Most Shutouts In a Season

• 7 Ilya Sorokin 2021-22

• 7 Semyon Varlamov 2020-21 (56-game season)

• 7 Chico Resch 1975-76

• 6 Robin Lehner 2018-19

• 6 Jaroslav Halak 2014-15

Home and Road

The Isles are 35-34-10 overall; they are 19-15-5 at home and 16-19-5 on the road.

Carolina is 52-20-8 overall; they are 28-8-4 at home and 24-12-4 on the road.

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 39 home games and recorded 29 sellouts. The sellout crowds of 17,255 are the largest indoor crowds to ever see the Islanders play at home. 

Leader of the Pack

Barry Trotz has coached more games and recorded more victories than any other active coach. Trotz' NHL record is 912-670-60-167 in 1,809 games.

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville  970

3. Barry Trotz  912

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman  2,141

2. Barry Trotz        1,809

3. Joel Quenneville 1,768

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,490  (pending game Sunday night)

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,362

3. Glen Sather 1,319

It All Starts at the Top

Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz have 2,273 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 28-9-6 when scoring first and are 7-25-4 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    12-9-5=26

Carolina 10-9-15=34

The Isles are 12-8-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-2-1 when the shots are even and 22-24-5 when they are outshot. Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 88-60-18 when outshot.

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves; he is 9-17-2 on the season and 5-4-4 vs  Carolina.

Antti Raanta made 17 saves before leaving with a lower body injury in the second period.  Pyotr Kochetkov made seven saves in relief to earn his 2nd NHL win in as many decisions. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-3 on the power play (5:44);  Carolina was 1-1 on the power play (0:53).

The Isles are 18-11-6 when they score at least one power play goal and 17-23-4 when they do not. The Isles are 7-16-5 when they allow at least one power play goal and 28-18-5 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 30-11-4 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 5-23-6 when they do not. Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 117-20-15 when scoring three or more.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 11-9-10 in games decided by a single goal including 8-9 in regulation. They are 1-4 in games decided in overtime and are 2-6 in shootouts. The Isles are 1-8 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game (including one game the Isles scored after allowing an empty-netter).

Back-to-Backs

Including today, the Isles are 9-7-1 in the front end and 6-10-1 in the back end. The Isles will end the season with a back-to-back on April 28th vs. Washington and April 29th vs. Tampa Bay.

 

Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 27-14-5 in back-ends. 

Matinee Isles

The Isles went 4-6-3 in matinees this season. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (23:25);  Carolina: Jaccob Slavin (23:53)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 22:35 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Adam Pelech (12-5-4), Noah Dobson (9-12-3), Ryan Pulock (7-6-2), Anthony Beauvillier (0-1-0), Mathew Barzal (0-1-1), Zdeno Chara (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Robin Salo (0-2-0), Scott Mayfield (0-3-0), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (0-2-0).

Face-offs

Isles 20, Carolina 27 (43%)

Mathew Barzal won 5 of 9 for the Isles; Derek Stepan won 8 of 9 for Carolina.

Hit Count

Isles 23 (Casey Cizikas -5)

Carolina 11 (Three with 2)

Fights 

There were no fights. Season total: 22 (Martin 6, Chara 5, Johnston 4, Pageau 2, Mayfield 2, Wahlstrom 2, Bellows 1, Nelson 1, Palmieri 1)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 10 (Adam Pelech-2)

Carolina 10 (Steven Lorentz -2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 47, Carolina 58

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 38, Carolina 52

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Ryan Pulock +7

Carolina: Two with +16

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 8, Carolina 10

5-on-5: Isles 7, Carolina 9

Scratches

(Cal Clutterbuck-INJ), (Scott Mayfield-INJ), (Anthony Beauvillier-INJ), (Jean-Gabriel Pageau-COVID Protocol)

Games Lost: 182 (130 to injuries and 52 to COVID protocol)

Zach Parise is the only Islander to have played in every game this season.

Challenges

Isles: 3 successful, 2 failures

Isles are 2-0-1 in games that they are successful (offside 1/18 @PHI, no goalie interference 2/22 @SEA, offside 3/15 @ WSH) and 0-2-0 in games that they are unsuccessful (no goalie interference 10/14 @CAR, no goalie interference 4/5 @DAL)

Opponents: 5 successful, 1 failure

The Isles are 2-2-1 in games where opponents' challenges go their way (goalie interference 10/16 @FLA and 10/23 @ARI; offside 12/19 vs VGK, goalie interference 3/5 vs STL, goalie interference 3/27 vs TB) and 0-0-1 in games where challenges go the Isles' way (goalie interference 3/15 vs WSH)

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored five goals and allowed two goals in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime:

For: 5  (Noah Dobson 19:56 – 12/5/21 vs CHI; Isles lost in SO) (Brock Nelson 17:03 – 2/20/22 vs OTT; Isles lost in SO), (Anders Lee 18:01 – 3/15/22 @ WSH; Isles lost in SO), (Kyle Palmieri 17:16 – 3/17/22 vs. NYR -GWG), (Kyle Palmieri 19:45 – 4/8/22 @ CAR – GWG)

Vs:  2 (Eeli Tolvanen 19:48 – 12/9/21 vs NSH-GWG), (Shea Theodore 19:12 – 12/19/21 vs VGK; Isles lost in SO)

The Isles allowed a tying goal to CAR on 4/8/22 but scored the winner in the final seconds.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 990…

9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. Matt Martin 682 *** 11. Brock Nelson 674 *** 12. John Tavares 669 *** 13. Casey Cizikas 660 … 

18. Kenny Jonsson 597 *** 19. Garry Howatt 596 *** 20. John Tonelli 594 *** 21. Anders Lee 593 *** 22. Cal Clutterbuck 587

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Derek King 211 *** 11. Anders Lee 210 *** 12. John Tonelli 206 *** 13. Brock Nelson 204 *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 174

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 377…

17. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 19. Mathew Barzal 216 *** 20. Nick Leddy 198 *** 21. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 22. Brock Nelson 182

Points

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

7. Pat LaFontaine 566 *** 8. Josh Bailey 551 *** 9. John Tonelli 544 *** 10. Bob Bourne 542 …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 386 ***  16. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369 *** 18.  Anders Lee 363…

22. Ziggy Palffy 331 *** 23. Mathew Barzal 306

+/-

1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…

19. JP Parise +67 *** 20. Adam Pelech +60 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54 *** 24. Gord Lane +48  

Games Coached 

1. Al Arbour 1,500 *** 2. Jack Capuano 483 *** 3. Barry Trotz 285

 

Coaching Wins

1. Al Arbour 740 *** 2. Jack Capuano 227 *** 3. Barry Trotz 150

On the Farm

Despite dropping the regular season finale to Hartford on Saturday by a 3-2 score, Bridgeport is headed to the Calder Cup Playoffs!  The Isles went 10-5-2-0 in their last seventeen games and finished the regular season with a record of 31-30-7-4 . 

Chris Terry led the team with 30 goals and 61 points while Otto Koivula has a team-leading 35 helpers. Jakub Skurek went 16-15-4 in goal on the season while Cory Schneider is 14-11-4.

Bridgeport is off for a week before beginning the playoffs. They will be the 6th seed in their division and face either Providence or Springfield in a best-of-3 first round series.

Season Series Stats

Carolina wins the season series, 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 2).

The Isles have won just one of their last seven games against Carolina. 

UP NEXT

TUESDAY, APRIL 26th  –ISLANDERS AT WASHINGTON 7:00 PM 

[MSG+ (Pre-game at 6:30pm), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Isles and Capitals still have one-half of their season series to play. and they will do so with a home-and-home set that begins in DC on Tuesday in the road finale.

The Caps blanked the Isles 2-0 at UBS Arena in mid-January and then got a shootout winner from Anthony Mantha to beat the Isles on March 15th. 

The Isles are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games against the Caps.

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