The Skinny: Isles 5, Colorado 4

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 9

Isles 5, Colorado 4

In one of the most incredible comebacks in franchise history, Scott Mayfield and Anthony Beauvillier scored 17 seconds apart in the third period as the Isles rallied for five straight goals to erase a 3-0 Avalanche lead and defeat the Stanley Cup Champions 5-4 before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.

Colorado had taken a 3-0 lead midway through the second period before Noah Dobson got the Isles on the board.  Zach Parise and Brock Nelson, the latter credited with the game-winner into an empty net, also scored for the Isles, who recorded their third straight win.

The Isles have dominated in the third period of the three wins, outscoring three teams who combined for seven playoff series wins a season ago by a 9-1 margin.

The Isles begin November with a three-game road trip, starting Tuesday in Chicago. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

Evan Rodrigues (3) Mikko Rantanen (7), Artturi Lehkonen (4) 00:46 COL 1,NYI 0 PPG

Mikko Rantanen (4) Josh Manson (1) 07:28 COL 2,NYI 0

Evan Rodrigues (4) Nathan MacKinnon (8), Devon Toews (4) 08:33 COL 3,NYI 0 

Noah Dobson (3) Alexander Romanov (2), Oliver Wahlstrom (2) 09:53 COL 3,NYI 1

3rd Period

Zach Parise (3) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (5), Ryan Pulock (4) 03:35 COL 3,NYI 2

Scott Mayfield (3) Mathew Barzal (10), Casey Cizikas (2) 10:39 COL 3,NYI 3

Anthony Beauvillier (3) Anders Lee (5) 10:56 COL 3,NYI 4 

Brock Nelson (3)EN 18:39 COL 3,NYI 5

Alex Newhook (1) Cale Makar (8), Nathan MacKinnon (9) 19:30 COL 4,NYI 5

The Skinny             

The Isles now lead the NHL in goals from defensemen with nine and their 23 points is second only to the Avs' 24... 

Mathew Barzal now has ten assists in the first nine games; Barzal is the first Islander since Vladimir Malakhov (1993-94; 11 assists) with at least ten helpers thru the Isles' first nine games... Barzal is now 0-6-6 in the last four games…The Isles scored at least five goals for the fourth time this season, they did so only ten times all last season… Matt Martin played his 694th game as an Islander, tying Brett Sutter for 9th place among Islander skaters… Cal Clutterbuck played his 595th game as an Islander, passing John Tonelli for 21st place among Islander skaters…Zach Parise scored for the second straight game…The Isles have outscored their opponents 17-8 in the third period; the seventeen goals lead the NHL…Semyon Varlamov became the 12th goalie in club history to record 50 wins… The Isles played 51:16 short this season before allowing a goal; Evan Rodrigues' power play tally ended their 28-28 start, covering an NHL record eight games to start the season…Rodrigues' goal was Colorado's first in a 104:49 span… Noah Dobson is the fifth defenseman in Islander history to score his 20th career goal before his 23rd birthday…The Avs won the final eleven face-offs, and 32 of 56 overall… Lane Lambert called time-out following the third Avalanche goal; the Isles out-shot Colorado 28-17 the rest of the way, and outscored them 5-1….The Isles had lost 20 straight games, and gone 0-33-1 in the last 34 games, that they trailed by at least two goals entering the third period…The Isles had lost 16 straight games when allowing at least three goals in a period…Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist on his 26th birthday…The Isles last scored at least four goals in the third period on February 25, 2021, when they scored five vs. Boston…The Isles recorded the 24th comeback win from at least two goals in the NHL this season, and join Edmonton (vs. Vancouver 10/12) in coming back from three goals down to win.

First Times in a Long Time – 3 Goal Comebacks

• First since 11/18/19 in Philadelphia (4-3 SOW)

• First at home since 2/8/18 vs. Detroit (6-5 in OT in Brooklyn)

• First to win in regulation since 3/10/14 in Vancouver (7-4)

…and the granddaddy of them all:  first to win in regulation at home since 10/23/1984 vs. Vancouver (6-5).

More First Times in a Long Time

The Isles have scored nine goals in their last three third periods.  The last time that they did this was in March 2014, when they scored ten goals in a three-game span (including seven in Vancouver – see above).

The Isles scored an Empty Net Goal for the second straight game.  The last time the Isles scored ENG's on both ends of a back-to-back was April 11-12, 2002 (Roman Hamrlik and Michael Peca).

Empty Net Game-Winners

Brock Nelson is the fifth player in club history to score an empty-net goal that eventually became a game-winner as well:

• 2019-11-13 Vs TOR Casey Cizikas

• 2017-01-31 Vs WSH Johnny Boychuk

• 2015-02-27 Vs CGY Cal Clutterbuck

• 2008-02-14 @TOR Freddy Meyer

Teach Those Children Well

(via Twitter) 

@MichaelB_NY2PHL writes: Fascinating that all five goal scorers scored their third goal of the season and credit to my 83-year-old father for pointing that out.

The Isles now have seven players with at least three goals (Boston is the only other team to do so).  It is the first time since the 1989-90 season that they have had at least seven players with three or more goals in the first nine games of the season.

Hey, Josh Bailey

Josh Bailey played in his 1,001st NHL game after being honored by the team in a pre-game ceremony.

Offense from Defense

The Islander defense have scored nine goals; they didn't score their ninth goal last season until January 18th.  The Isles have two defensemen with three goals on the season; last season that did not happen until game 47 (February 24th in San Jose).

The nine defense goals lead the NHL; the Isles also had two assists from defensemen, raising the season total to 23 points for the defense.

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise scored his 411th career goal, good for 8th among actives and breaking a tie with Ray Bourque for 94th all-time.  Next-up are Garry Unger and Islander Assistant Coach John MacLean, who are tied for 92nd place with 413 goals.

Home is Where The Sorokin Is

Ilya Sorokin went 13-5-4 at UBS Arena last season and is 2-2-0 this season, allowing just six goals in the four games. 

Most Goals by an Islander Defenseman before 23rd Birthday

• Denis Potvin (72) 

• Bryan Berard (26)

• Tomas Jonsson (22)

• Noah Dobson (20)

• Paul Boutilier (20) 

Home and Road

The Isles are 5-4-0 overall; they are 4-2-0 at home and 1-2-0 on the road.

Colorado is 4-4-1 overall; they are 1-1-1 at home and 3-3-0 on the road.

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 47 games at UBS Arena and recorded 33 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 1,494

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,368

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 3-0-0 when scoring first and are 2-4-0 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles     10-13-21=44

Colorado  11-12-13=36

The Isles are 3-2-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 2-2-0 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 32 saves; he is 2-1-0 on the season and 2-2-0 vs  Colorado.

Alexandar Georgiev made 39 saves; he is 4-1-1 on the season and 8-4-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (6:00); Colorado was 1-2 on the power play (3:31).

The Isles are 0-2-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 5-2-0 when they do not. The Isles are 1-0-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 4-4-0 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 5-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-3-0 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

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

Back-to-Backs

The next set of back-to-backs will be against Calgary on November 7th and at Madison Square Garden on November 8th. The Isles are 1-1-0 in the front end and 1-1-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Scott Mayfield (21:49);  Colorado: Cale Makar (28:02)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:00 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders :Alexander Romanov (1-1-0), Noah Dobson (1-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-1-0), Ryan Pulock (2-0-0), Scott Mayfield (1-0-0)

Face-offs

Isles 24, Colorado 32 (43%)

No Islander who took more than three draws won more than he lost; Nathan MacKinnon won 14 of 22 for Colorado. 

Hit Count

Isles 26 (Casey Cizikas and Jean-Gabriel Pageau -5)

Colorado 21 (Erik Johnson -5)

Fights 

There were no fights. Season total: 0 

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 15 (Four with 2)

Colorado 10 (Cale Makar  -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 64, Colorado 61

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 59, Colorado 48

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Three with +8

Colorado: Devon Toews +10

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 22, Colorado 15

5-on-5: Isles 22, Colorado 12

Scratches

Robin Salo, Nikita Soshnikov, Ross Johnston

Games Lost: 4

Challenges

Isles: 0 successful, 0 failures

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

League reviews:  1 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood)

Last Minute Heroes:

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

For: Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,001…

8. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 9. Brent Sutter and Matt Martin 694 *** 11. Brock Nelson 685 *** 12. Casey Cizikas 671… 

15. Billy Harris 623 *** 16. Stefan Persson 622 *** 17. Frans Nielsen 606 *** 18. Anders Lee 605 *** 19. Kenny Jonsson 597 *** 20. Garry Howatt 596 *** 21. Cal Clutterbuck 595

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 216 *** 11. Derek King 211 *** 12. Brock Nelson 208 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 177

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 230 *** 20. Nick Leddy 198 *** 21. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 22. Brock Nelson 188

Points

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

7. Pat LaFontaine 566 *** 8. Josh Bailey 557 *** 9. John Tonelli 544 *** 10. Bob Bourne 542 …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 396 ***  16. Anders Lee 376…

22. Ziggy Palffy 331 *** 23. Mathew Barzal 321

+/-

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

16. Tomas Jonsson 76 *** 17. Garry Howatt 75 *** 18. Pat Price 70 *** 19. JP Parise and Adam Pelech +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54   

Wins

1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Mark Fitzpatrick 51 *** 12. Semyon Varlamov 50 *** 13. Chris Osgood 49 *** 14. Garth Snow 44 *** 15. Ilya Sorokin 42

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 16 …

4. Tommy Salo 14 *** 5. Jaroslav Halak 12 *** 6. Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov 11

On the Farm

Bridgeport extended their point streak to six games (5-0-1-0) with a 6-3 win over Lehigh Valley on Saturday.

For the second straight night, the Baby Isles got goals from six different players, including a power play marker for the first professional goal from Aatu Raty   Ruslan Iskhakov, Andy Andreoff and Samuel Bolduc each had three points.  Ishakov now leads all AHL rookies in both assists (7) and points (11).

Bridgeport returns home to begin a three game homestand with a School Day Matinee, at 10:30 on Tuesday against Charlotte.

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0).  The teams will complete their season series on December 19th at Ball Arena.

The Isles are 7-1-0 in their last eight home games against the Avs.

UP NEXT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1st  —ISLANDERS AT CHICAGO 8:30pm

[MSGSN (pre-game at 8pm), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Islanders begin a three-game road trip and a fifteen-game November on Tuesday in Chicago.

The teams split a pair of games last season, with the Isles earning a 4-1 win at the United Center on October 19th and then dropping a 3-2 shootout decision at UBS Arena on December 4th; Noah Dobson earned the Isles a point by scoring the tying goal at 19:56.

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 January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick