The Skinny: Arizona 2, Isles 0

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 15

Arizona 2, Isles 0 

Travis Boyd broke a scoreless tie with a power play goal 60 seconds into the third period and Karel Vejmelka made 24 saves for his second career shutout as the Arizona Coyotes blanked the Isles 2-0 before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Boyd's goal, the first by a Coyote in 161:00 of career play against Ilya Sorokin, was the only one that beat the Islander netminder; Jack McBain added a last-minute empty netter to cement the Islanders' first loss to a Western Conference opponent after six straight victories in inter-conference games.

The Isles conclude the brief home stand as they host Columbus on Saturday. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

No Goals

3rd Period

Travis Boyd (2) Clayton Keller (10), J.J. Moser (6) 01:00 ARI 1,NYI 0 PPG

Jack McBain (2)EN Clayton Keller (11), Barrett Hayton (3)  19:29 ARI 2,NYI 0

The Skinny             

The Isles did not earn their ninth win of the season last season until December 30th (9-12-6)...Mathew Barzal has eleven assists in the last ten games (0-11-11) … Despite being outscored 2-0 tonight, the Isles have outscored their opponents 25-13 in the third period with five of those 22 goals being empty netters … The Isles still lead the NHL with 25 third period goals; they have scored 24 goals in the 1st period, 2nd period, and overtime combined…Arizona has won four straight road games and three straight overall…This was the third game of the Coyotes' 14-game road trip, matching the NHL record set by Vancouver in 2010... The Isles have allowed seven power play goals in the last seven games after being perfect on the penalty kill in the first eight games this season…Cal Clutterbuck became the 19th Islander skater to appear in 600 games for the squad; Matt Martin played in his 699th game for the Isles. Clutterbuck is the first player to appear in 600 Islander games after debuting for another NHL team…Clayton Keller assisted on both goals, giving him consecutive multi-point games.…Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 18 of 23 draws just two games after winning 20 of 25 vs. Calgary; his recent success has raised his face-off percentage over 60% for the season and into the top ten in the NHL.

First Times in a Really Long Time

The Coyotes blanked the Isles in New York for the first time since moving to the desert.  The original Jets had one shutout against the Isles, but they did not win the game.  Chico Resch and Markus Mattsson were in nets for a scoreless tie on February 12, 1980.

The Isles won at least 40 draws and at least 70% of the face-offs in the same game (40/57 70.2%) for the first time since winning 50 of 70 (71.4%) on December 21, 2001, at Madison Square Garden.  That is the only other time in the real time era this has happened.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2021-22  9-6-0 for 18 points in 15 games

• 2020-21  5-8-2 for 12 points in 15 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-0-0

• Season: 12-20-32

The Islander defense have scored twelve goals (remaining tied with San Jose for the NHL lead); they didn't score their 12th goal last season until February 1st.  The Isles have two defensemen with at least three goals on the season; last season that did not happen until game 47 (February 24th in San Jose).

Home is Where The Sorokin Is

Ilya Sorokin went 13-5-4 at UBS Arena last season and is 3-3-0 this season,  despite allowing just nine goals in the six games (1.67 GAA, .952 save percentage). The Isles have scored only two goals in his three home losses this year and only ten goals in his eight career regulation losses at UBS.

Among goalies who have played at least twelve home games over the last two seasons, Sorokin is tied for the best save percentage on home-ice (.935) with Ilya Shesterkin and trails only Shesterkin in goals against average (1.98 to 2.05)

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 412 career goals, good for 9th among actives.  Next-up are Garry Unger and Islander Assistant Coach John MacLean, who are tied for 92nd place with 413 goals.

Most Goals and Points by an Islander Defenseman before 23rd Birthday

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Noah Dobson (21-61-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is now 4th in goals and tied-3rd in points. The Isles will play 41 games this season before Dobson turns 23 on January 7, 2023.

Home and Road

The Isles are 9-6-0 overall; they are 5-3-0 at home and 4-3-0 on the road.

Arizona is 6-5-3 overall; they are 1-2-1 at home and 5-4-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 3-5-0 against the East and 6-1-0 against the West.

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 49 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 1,496

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,372

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 5-0-0 when scoring first and are 4-6-0 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles      10-3-11=24

Arizona 8-9-11=28

The Isles are 4-2-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 5-3-0 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 26 saves; he is 6-4-0 on the season and 2-1-0 vs Arizona.

Karel Vejmelka made 24 saves; he is 5-3-1 on the season and 1-1-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (6:00); Arizona was 1-3 on the power play (5:08). 

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

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 9-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-5-0 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 3-1-0 in games decided by a single goal including 2-1 in regulation. They are 1-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-0 in shootouts. The Isles are 2-2 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 in Columbus on November 25th and against Philadelphia on November 26th.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in the front end and 2-1-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (22:13);  Arizona: JJ Moser (24:25)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:32 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-0), Noah Dobson (1-3-0), Adam Pelech (1-1-0), Ryan Pulock (2-1-0), Scott Mayfield (1-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (1-0-0)

Face-offs

Isles 40, Arizona 17 (70%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 18 of 23 for the Isles; no Coyote won more than he lost. 

Hit Count

Isles 36 (Kyle Palmieri -6)

Arizona 27 (Christian Fischer -4)

Fights 

Matt Martin fought Josh Brown in the first period.  Season total: 2 (Lee, Martin)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 18 (Noah Dobson -5)

Arizona 17 (Josh Brown -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 64, Arizona 56  

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 44, Arizona 47

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Kyle Palmieri +7

Arizona: Lawson Crouse +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 5, Arizona 16

5-on-5: Isles 5, Arizona 13

Scratches

Robin Salo, Ross Johnston, Nikita Soshnikov

Games Lost: 7

Challenges

Isles: 1 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

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

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win three times this season and have not allowed the opposition to do so.

For: Trailed 3-1, Won 5-3 vs. COL 10/29; 

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) vs CGY 11/7; 

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 at NYR 11/8

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored two goals 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), Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02 OT)

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,007…

8. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 9. Matt Martin 699 *** 10. Brent Sutter 694 *** 11. Brock Nelson 691 *** 12. Casey Cizikas 677… 

15. Billy Harris 623 *** 16. Stefan Persson 622 *** 17. Anders Lee 610 *** 18. Frans Nielsen 605 *** 19. Cal Clutterbuck 600

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 220 *** 11. Derek King and Brock Nelson 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 178

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 381…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 235 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Nick Leddy 198 *** 21. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 22. Brock Nelson 191

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Pat LaFontaine 566 *** 8. Josh Bailey 560  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 402 ***  16. Anders Lee 381…

22. Ziggy Palffy 331 *** 23. Mathew Barzal 326

+/-

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. Adam Pelech +70 *** 20. JP Parise +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 and Semyon Varlamov 51 *** 13. Chris Osgood 49 *** 14. Ilya Sorokin 45

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 is 7-2-1-0 on the season, heading into this weekend's games in Hershey on Friday and Saturday.  

Rookie Ruslan Ishakov leads the team in points (14) and is tied for the club assist lead with Samuel Bolduc. Andy Andreoff leads the team in goals (6).   Cory Schneider is 5-1-0 on the season for the Baby Isles.

Season Series Stats

Arizona leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0).  The teams will meet in Tempe on December 16th to complete the season series. 

The loss snapped an eight-game Islander home winning streak over the Coyotes, dating back to a December 18, 2010, shootout loss at the Coliseum.  It is the first regulation home loss to the Coyotes since the then "Phoenix" Coyotes and goaltender Brian Boucher beat the Isles 3-2 on October 29, 2002 (ending a 10-0-1 stretch)

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12th  — COLUMBUS AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

[MSGSN2 (pre-game at 7:00pm), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Isles look to get back in the win column as they welcome the Blue Jackets to Long Island for the first meeting of the teams this season.

The Isles went 3-0-1 in the series last season, winning the last three meetings.  The Isles outscored Columbus 17-8, including 11-2 in the two games at UBS Arena.   Since the start of 2018, the Isles are 9-3-1 in thirteen games with Columbus.

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