The Skinny: New Jersey 4, Isles 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 4

New Jersey 4, Isles 1

Jack Hughes broke a scoreless tie early in the second period and Ondrej Palat added a pair of goals as the New Jersey Devils held the Isles to 17 shots in a 4-1 victory before a crowd of 16,046 at UBS Arena. 

Palat only scored twice in 23 regular season games with the Lightning against the Isles but matched that total in his first games with the Devils. Anders Lee broke up Mackenzie Blackwood's shutout with 3:15 to play and Ilya Sorokin on the bench for an extra attacker.

The Isles finish their season-opening homestand with a 2-2-0 record. Their next five opponents all won at least one playoff series last season.

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

Jack Hughes (1) Damon Severson (1) 01:35 NJD 1,NYI 0

Ondrej Palat (2) Jesper Bratt (6), Nico Hischier (2) 08:09 NJD 2,NYI 0

3rd Period

Ondrej Palat (3) Jesper Bratt (7), Nico Hischier (3) 15:28 NJD 3,NYI 0

Anders Lee (2) Kyle Palmieri (1), Mathew Barzal (4) 16:44 NJD 3,NYI 1

Nico Hischier (2)EN 19:25 NJD 4,NYI 1

The Skinny            

Noah Dobson and Brock Nelson each saw three-game point streaks to open the season come to an end…The Devils had the first 13 shots of the game and then had nine of the first ten shots in the third period…Anders Lee scored for the second straight game; Lee was playing in his 600th Islander game…The Devils finished with 43 shots; it was the most shots the Devils had had since Jaroslav Halak stopped 42 of 46 in a shootout win on January 7, 2018….The Isles killed all three New Jersey power plays and have killed 15 of 15 this season…Erik Haula had a career-high eight shots on goal.

Offense from Defense

The Islander defense have scored six goals; they didn't score their sixth goal last season until December 30th.  The Isles have three defensemen with two goals on the season; last season that did not happen until game 38 (February 1st vs. Ottawa).

Home is Where The Sorokin Is

Ilya Sorokin went 13-5-4 at UBS Arena last season and is 1-2-0 this season, allowing just six goals in the three games. 

Zach Attack

Zach Parise now has 409 career goals, good for 95th place all-time. Ray Bourque has 410 goals and sits 94th.

Hey, Josh Bailey

Josh Bailey played in his 997th 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 368 skaters and three goaltenders in league history have played in 1,000 games; the most recent is Minnesota's Alex Goligoski, who played his 1,000th game tonight.

Most Career Goals by an Islander Wearing #27

• Anders Lee 214 

• 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 (19)

Home and Road

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

New Jersey is 2-2-0 overall; they are 1-1-0 at home and 1-1-0 on the road.

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 45 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 1,365

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 1-0-0 when scoring first and are 1-2-0 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles        3-9-5=17

New Jersey   13-10-20=43

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

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 39 saves; he is 1-2-0 on the season and 5-3-0 vs  New Jersey.

Mackenzie Blackwood made 16 saves; he is 2-1-0 on the season and 4-4-1 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play (3:19);  New Jersey was 0-3 on the power play (5:19).

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

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 2-0-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-2-0 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: Noah Dobson (24:14);  New Jersey: Jesper Bratt (20:03)

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

Isles record by ice-time leaders :Alexander Romanov (1-1-0), Noah Dobson (1-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 20, New Jersey 31 (39%)

No Islander who took multiple face-offs won more than he lost: Erik Haula won 9 of 12 for New Jersey. 

Hit Count

Isles 39 (Casey Cizikas -6)

New Jersey 21 (Nathan Bastian -4)

Fights 

There were no fights. Season total: 0 

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 19 (Three with 3)

New Jersey 21 (Two with 4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 48, New Jersey 75

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 35, New Jersey 57

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Josh Bailey +3

New Jersey: Three with +12

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 5, New Jersey 18

5-on-5: Isles 4, New Jersey 14

Scratches

Ross Johnston, (Sebastian Aho-IR), Kieffer Bellows, Nikita Soshnikov

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 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 997…

9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. Matt Martin 689 *** 11. Brock Nelson 680 *** 12. John Tavares 669 *** 13. Casey Cizikas 667… 

17. Frans Nielsen 606 *** 18. Anders Lee 600 *** 19. Kenny Jonsson 597 *** 20. Garry Howatt 596 *** 21. John Tonelli 594 *** 22. Cal Clutterbuck 590

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 214 *** 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 224 *** 20. Nick Leddy 198 *** 21. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 22. Brock Nelson 186

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 391 ***  16. Anders Lee 372…

22. Ziggy Palffy 331 *** 23. Mathew Barzal 315

+/-

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

19. JP Parise +67 *** 20. Adam Pelech +63 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54   

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 1-1-0 to open their season heading into a three in three weekend that begins Friday in Springfield.

The Baby Isles' home opener is on Saturday vs. Laval; they will host Hartford on Sunday

Season Series Stats

New Jersey leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0).  The teams will meet again on December 9th  in New Jersey; it is the only Islander appearance in Newark this season.

The loss was only the 5th for the Isles in their last 19 games with the Devils overall, and just their third in the last ten home games against the Devils. 

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22nd — ISLANDERS AT TAMPA BAY 7:00pm

[MSGSN (pre-game at 6:30pm); WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Islanders begin their road schedule as they face the reigning Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Lightning won the Stanley Cup in both 2020 and 2021 but lost to Colorado in the 2022 Cup Final.

The Bolts swept the season series last year, outscoring the Isles 14-6 in the third period.

And Finally…

Happy Birthday Lou Lamoriello (Friday).

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