The Skinny: Isles 4, Rangers 3

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 14

Isles 4, Rangers 3 

The Never Say Dielanders strike again. Brock Nelson and Anders Lee scored 1:44 apart in the third period as the Islanders rallied for the second straight night from a 3-1 third period deficit as they earned a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers before a sellout crowd of 18,006 at Madison Square Garden. 

Chris Kreider and Vincent Trocheck scored second period power play goals for the Rangers to give them a 3-1 lead heading to the third but when Adam Pelech scored :14 into the third period it put the Isles in position for their second big comeback of the week.

Semyon Varlamov made a season-high 37 saves to continue his success over the Rangers, particularly in the Garden.

The Isles return home to face Arizona on Thursday and Columbus on Saturday. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Kyle Palmieri (5) Zach Parise (2), Ryan Pulock (5) 06:04 NYI 1,NYR 0 PPG

Filip Chytil (3) K'Andre Miller (4), Adam Fox (9) 11:36 NYI 1,NYR 1

2nd Period

Chris Kreider (5) Artemi Panarin (13), Vincent Trocheck (6) 00:22 NYI 1,NYR 2 PPG

Vincent Trocheck (5) Artemi Panarin (14), Mika Zibanejad (9) 13:47 NYI 1,NYR 3 PPG

3rd Period

Adam Pelech (1) Kyle Palmieri (3), Zach Parise (3)  0:14 NYI 2,NYR 3

Brock Nelson (6) Noah Dobson (6), Mathew Barzal (15) 12:46 NYI 3,NYR 3 PPG

Anders Lee (8) Alexander Romanov (4) 14:30 NYI 4,NYR 3

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 nine games (0-11-11) … The Isles have outscored their opponents 25-11 in the third period with five of those 22 goals being empty netters …Adam Pelech scored for the first time since February 24, 2022, vs. San Jose; it was his 20th career goal… Kyle Palmieri scored his fifth goal of the season last season on February 22nd …The Isles now lead the NHL with 25 third period goals; they have scored 24 goals in the 1st period, 2nd period and overtime combined … Semyon Varlamov saw his Madison Square Garden shutout streak end at 251:36 on Filip Chytil's goal; he did record his fifth straight win at MSG. The shutout streak is the longest by an Islander goalie on the road by a wide margin (Smith 178:28 vs. Chicago 1977-78)…Vincent Trocheck won 19 of 22 draws for the Rangers…Artemi Panarin earned two assists in his 200th game as a Ranger….There have been 19 times this season a team has rallied from two goals down in the third period to win; the Islanders and Anaheim Ducks are the only teams to do so three times…Kyle Palmieri now has scored five goals against Igor Shesterkin; Sam Reinhart has scored six times vs. Igor and Palmieri is all alone in second place on that list…Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider each extended their point streaks to six games.

Never Say Die

The Isles have trailed in five of their nine wins this season. They now lead the NHL in comeback wins. The Isles won only twice last season when trailing after two periods, and neither were from multiple-goal deficits.

Let's Make Some More History

Monday was the second straight home game the Isles trailed by two goals going to the third period and won the game.  It is the first time in club history that has happened.

Tuesday was the second straight game the Isles trailed by two goals going to the third period and won the game.  It is the first time in club history that has happened.

The Isles are the 4th team in NHL history to record third period multi-goal comebacks on consecutive days.  Carolina did it twice (October 2005 and December 2010) while Detroit did it in November 2018.

Earliest Goals in a Period by Isles at MSG

• :08 – Ruslan Fedotenko 11/19/2007 (2nd period)

• :14 -  Adam Pelech 11/9/2022 (3rd period)

And in the playoffs:

• :11 – JP Parise 4/11/1975 (Overtime)

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2021-22  9-5-0 for 18 points in 14 games

• 2020-21  5-7-2 for 12 points in 14 games

It's only the second time in the last 15 years that the Isles have won at least 9 of their first 14 games (9-3-0 in 2019).

2 x 2 x 3

Both teams scored twice on the power play. It is only the third time in the last five seasons that the Isles have scored and allowed multiple power play goals, and all three are against the Rangers: 11/15/2018 at Barclays Center and 1/21/2020 at MSG are the others.

Barzy's World

Mathew Barzal leads the Isles in assists (15).  Barzal, who had one assist tonight, is now tied 3rd in assists, behind Leon Draisaitl (17) and Nathan MacKinnon (16).  Draisaitl is the only player in the NHL with more assists at home (12) than Barzal (9) while MacKinnon is the only player with more at even-strength (13 to Barzal's 10).

No Islander has had more than fifteen assists in the season's first fourteen games since the 1984-85 season when both Brent Sutter and Mike Bossy did so. 

A Season

• Brent Sutter 21 1984-85

• Mike Bossy 17 1984-85

• Denis Potvin 16 1975-76

• Denis Potvin 16 1982-83

• Denis Potvin 16 1974-75

• MATHEW BARZAL 15   2022-23

• Josh Bailey 15 2017-18

• John Tonelli 15 1984-85

• Bryan Trottier 15 1981-82

Offense from Defense

• Today:  1-3-4

• Season: 12-20-32

The Islander defense have scored twelve goals (matching San Jose's 12 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 3-2-0 this season, allowing just nine goals in the five games (1.80 GAA, .950 save percentage)

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 9-5-0 overall; they are 5-2-0 at home and 4-3-0 on the road.

The Rangers are 6-5-3 overall; they are 3-3-3 at home and 3-2-0 on the road.

East and West

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

Beating the Best

The Isles opened the season by playing nine of their first fourteen games against the eight teams that won a playoff series last spring.  The Isles have gone 6-3-0 in those games.  

The Isles have only twelve games remaining against the eight teams that made the Elite 8 last season.

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 48 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 4-5-0 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles      12-6-8=26

Rangers 14-17-9=40

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

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 37 saves; he is 3-2-0 on the season and 13-8-2 vs the Rangers.

Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves; he is 6-2-2 on the season and 1-7-1 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 2-3 on the power play (4:54); the Rangers were 2-4 on the power play (6:24). 

The Isles are 4-2-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 5-3-0 when they do not. The Isles are 4-1-0 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 0-4-0 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 2-1 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 in Columbus on November 25th and against Philadelphia on November 26th. Including tonight, the Isles are 2-1-0 in the front end and 2-1-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Alexander Romanov (23:54);  Rangers: Adam Fox (24:23)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau led Isles forwards with 19:46 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-0), Noah Dobson (1-2-0), 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 24, Rangers 32 (43%)

Casey Cizikas won 6 of 10 for the Isles; Vincent Trocheck won 19 of 22 for the Rangers. 

Hit Count

Isles 18 (Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Ryan Pulock -3)

Rangers 31 (Sammy Blais -6)

Fights 

None.  Season total: 1 (Lee)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 17 (Adam Pelech -4)

Rangers 17 (Adam Fox -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 52, Rangers 67  

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 39, Rangers 44

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Mathew Barzal +8

Rangers: Jimmy Vesey +11

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 11, Rangers 17

5-on-5: Isles 8, Rangers 12

Scratches

Robin Salo, Ross Johnston, (Cal Clutterbuck-INJ)

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 Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from three goals behind to win twice 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 1,006…

8. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 9. Matt Martin 698 *** 10. Brent Sutter 694 *** 11. Brock Nelson 690 *** 12. Casey Cizikas 676… 

15. Billy Harris 623 *** 16. Stefan Persson 622 *** 17. Anders Lee 609 *** 18. Frans Nielsen 605 *** 19. Cal Clutterbuck 599

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…

7. Pat LaFontaine 566 *** 8. Josh Bailey 560 *** 9. John Tonelli 544 *** 10. Bob Bourne 542 …

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 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

The Isles lead the season series, 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 0).  The teams have only one remaining meeting this season, at the Garden on December 22nd. 

The Isles have won five straight games at the Garden and are 18-5-0 in their last 23 trips to the Island of Manhattan.  With only game to play, the Isles have clinched the season series against their closest rival.

UP NEXT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10th  — ARIZONA AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

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

The Isles look to extend their winning streak to three games as they welcome the Coyotes to Long Island for the only time this season.

Arizona is in the early stages of a 14-game road trip; they have picked up wins in Washington and Buffalo to begin the trip. 

The Isles swept the series last season, blanking the Coyotes in both games.  Ilya Sorokin needed only 43 saves to earn the two shutouts. 

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