The Skinny: Florida 3, Isles 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 1

Florida 3, Isles 1

Patric Hornqvist scored on a wrap-around just 30 seconds after Noah Dobson tied the game and that proved to be the winning goal as the Florida Panthers spoiled Lane Lambert's head coaching debut with a 3-1 victory over the Isles before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.  

Euto Luostainen had given the Cats a 1-0 lead in the second period, but the Isles power play connected on their second attempt of the season to knot the first game of the Isles' 50th Anniversary season. 

The Isles are 0-5-3 in their last eight season openers played at home and are 13-26-11 all-time on Opening Night.

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

Eetu Luostarinen (1) Radko Gudas (1), Colin White (1) 12:45 FLA 1,NYI 0

3rd Period 

Noah Dobson (1) Brock Nelson (1), Mathew Barzal (1) 03:13 FLA 1,NYI 1 PPG

Patric Hornqvist (1) Ryan Lomberg (1) 03:43 FLA 2,NYI 1

Matthew Tkachuk (1)EN 18:45 FLA 3,NYI 1

The Skinny            

The first period featured 32 face-offs, just shy of the club record for face-offs in a period (35) which was set on February 9, 2016, in Columbus…Alexander Romanov blocked nine shots in his Isles debut; Sean Hill (12 on December 3, 2006, at the Rangers) is the only player in club history (real-time era) with more blocks in a game…Robin Salo celebrated his 24th birthday by taking two minor penalties in the second period.  He had only two penalties in 19 NHL games last season…Matthew Tkachuk had 16 shot attempts in his Florida debut, scoring on the last one into an empty net…. The Isles are 8-11-2 in coaching debuts, including 3-7-2 when the game is a season opener…Patric Hornqvist now has 14 goals in 28 games vs. the Isles…The Isles had 16 shots in the first period; they had 16 or more in only two first periods last season and have not had 16 shots in the first period of the season in at least 25 years.

For Openers

The Isles are 2-5-0 on Opening Night over the last seven years and they are only 5-12-3 in their last 20 Openers. Overall, the Isles are 13-26-11 on Opening Night (11-20-8 on the road and 2-6-3 at home), The Isles are now 29-15-6 in their first home game of season. 

The Isles 13-26-11 (.370) Opening Night record is third worst among current teams who have played more than two openers (Seattle is 0-1-1 in their first two openers). Anaheim has the worst record on opening night of any other team: 10-19-0 (.345), although they did defeat Seattle to open this season.

Home is Where The Sorokin Is

Ilya Sorokin went 13-5-4 at UBS Arena last season but falls to 0-1-0 this season. He has lost his first start in each of his first three seasons.

Zach Attack

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

Hey, Josh Bailey

Josh Bailey played in his 994th NHL game as he looks to join Bryan Trottier (1,123) and Denis Potvin (1,060) as the only Islanders to reach that total. Bailey is beginning his 15th season with the Isles, which ties Potvin and Trottier for the most by an Islander skater. Billy Smith played 17 seasons for the team.  Only 367 skaters and three goaltenders in league history have played in 1,000 games; Minnesota's Alex Goligoski (997 tonight) could reach 1,000 prior to Bailey.

Brock-tober

Brock Nelson has been a fast starter during his NHL career, including on Opening Night. Nelson has five Opening Night goals, which is tied with Billy Harris (5) and Bryan Trottier (5) for second place in club history, behind Mike Bossy (7).

Isles Opening Night Leaders:

Goals:   Bossy 7, Trottier/Harris/Nelson 5

Assists: Trottier 9, Gillies 7, Bourne/Persson/Bailey/Nelson 5

Points: Trottier 14, Bossy 11, Nelson 10

Most Career Goals by an Islander Wearing #27

• Anders Lee 212

• Derek King 211

• John Tonelli 206

Most Goals by an Islander Defenseman before 23rd Birthday

• Denis Potvin (72) 

• Bryan Berard (26)

• Tomas Jonsson (22)

• Paul Boutilier (20) 

• Noah Dobson (18)

• Bryan McCabe (18) 

• Scott Lachance (18)

Home and Road

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

Florida is 1-0-0 overall; they are 0-0-0 at home and 1-0-0 on the road.

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 42 games at UBS Arena and recorded 31 sellouts. The sellout crowds of 17,255 are the largest indoor crowds to ever see the Islanders play at home. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,493

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,363

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 0-0-0 when scoring first and are 0-1-0 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles     16-5-12=33

Florida       10-14-5=29

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

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 26 saves; he is 0-1-0 on the season and 0-3-1 vs  Florida.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves; he is 1-0-0 on the season and 20-10-0 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-3 on the power play (4:53);  Florida was 0-5 on the power play (10:00).

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

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 0-0-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-1-0 when they do not.

.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 0-0-0 in games decided by a single goal including 0-0 in regulation. They are 0-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-0 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 first set of back-to-backs will be in Tampa Bay on October 22nd and Florida on October 23rd. The Isles are 0-0-0 in the front end and 0-0-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Aexander Romanov (22:24);  Florida: Brandon Montour (24:56)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 19:00 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders :Alexander Romanov (0-1-0.

Face-offs

Isles 41, Florida 29 (59%)

Brock Nelson won 15 of 23 for the Isles; no Panther who took multiple draws won more than he lost.

Hit Count

Isles 37 (Matt Martin -7)

Florida 15 (Radko Gudas -5)

Fights 

There were no fights. Season total: 0 

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 28 (Alexander Romanov-9)

Florida 13 (Anton Lundell -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 41, Florida 44

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 61, Florida 70

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Mathew Barzal +10

Florida: Radko Gudas +7

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 22, Florida 22

5-on-5: Isles 13, Florida 11

Scratches

(Cal Clutterbuck-INJ), Ross Johnston, Sebastian Aho, Oliver Wahlstrom

Games Lost: 1

Challenges

Isles: 0 successful, 0 failures

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

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. 

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 994…

9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. Matt Martin 686 *** 11. Brock Nelson 677 *** 12. John Tavares 669 *** 13. Casey Cizikas 665 … 

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

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 212 *** 11. Derek King 211 *** 12. John Tonelli 206 *** 13. Brock Nelson 205 *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 176

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 379…

17. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 19. Mathew Barzal 221 *** 20. Nick Leddy 198 *** 21. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 22. Brock Nelson 183

Points

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

7. Pat LaFontaine 566 *** 8. Josh Bailey 555 *** 9. John Tonelli 544 *** 10. Bob Bourne 542 …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 388 ***  16. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369 *** 18.  Anders Lee 366…

22. Ziggy Palffy 331 *** 23. Mathew Barzal 312

+/-

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

19. JP Parise +67 *** 20. Adam Pelech +62 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54 *** 24. Gord Lane +48  

On the Farm

Bridgeport opens their season in Providence on Friday.  The Baby Isles eliminated the Bruins in the first round of last year's AHL playoffs,

Season Series Stats

Florida leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0).  The teams will meet again next Sunday (10/23) in Sunrise.

The Isles are 0-3-1 in their last four games with Florida, including 0-1-1 at home.

 

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15th— ANAHEIM AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

[MSGSN (pre-game at 7:00], WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN 98.7FM]

The Islanders continued their season opening homestand as they welcome the Anaheim Ducks to UBS Arena for the second time.  The Isles swept the season series last year, winning a pair of games two weeks apart, including a 4-3 win at UBS.

The Ducks have not won in New York since the Isles left the Coliseum the first time.  The Isles are 4-0-2 in their last six home games against Anaheim.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 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 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick