The Skinny: Isles 5, St. Louis 2

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 11

Isles 5, St. Louis 2

The Islanders exploded for four goals in a 10:04 span of the second period to erase a 1-0 St. Louis lead and Ilya Sorokin made it stand up as the Isles extended their winning streak to five straight games with a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues before a crowd of 18,096 at Enterprise Center.

Kyle Palmieri scored fourteen seconds into the middle session to jumpstart the Islander rally as they improve to 7-4-0 on the season.

Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves, giving him 127 on 132 shots in his last four games. 

The road trip concludes on Saturday afternoon in Detroit.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Vladimir Tarasenko (4) Torey Krug (3), Justin Faulk (7) 08:17 NYI 0,STL 1

2nd Period

Kyle Palmieri (3) Noah Dobson (4) 00:14 NYI 1,STL 1

Brock Nelson (5) Anders Lee (6), Noah Dobson (5) 05:06 NYI 2,STL 1 PPG

Josh Bailey (3) Mathew Barzal (11), Oliver Wahlstrom (3) 07:05 NYI 3,STL 1

Anders Lee (6) Brock Nelson (8), Anthony Beauvillier (4) 10:18 NYI 4,STL 1

3rd Period

Robert Thomas (2) Ivan Barbashev (2), Vladimir Tarasenko (5) 08:40 NYI 4,STL 2 PPG

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (1) Alexander Romanov (3) EN 18:28 NYI 5,STL 2

The Skinny             

The Isles did not earn their seventh win of the season last season until December 11th (7-11-5)...Two Islanders earned milestones on Anders Lee's second period goal as Brock Nelson earned his 400th point and Anthony Beauvillier recorded his 100th assist…Mathew Barzal has seven assists in the last six game (0-7-7) … Brock Nelson scored for the fourth straight game (matching a career high) and earned his 400th point on Anders Lee's goal; Anthony Beauvillier earned his 100th assist on Lee's goal…The Isles have outscored their opponents 20-10 in the third period; the twenty goals are tied with Buffalo for the NHL lead…Five of those twenty goals have been empty-netters…Anders Lee now leads the Isles with six goals...The Isles have won five straight games for the first time since a nine-game stretch in March 2021.… The Blues have dropped six straight for the first time under Craig Berube and have been outscored 30-10 in that span… The Isles recorded their second four-goal period in the last three games (3rd pd vs Colorado); they scored four goals in a period only twice all last season.

First Times…Ever

• The Isles scored an Empty Net Goal for the fourth straight game.   

• The Isles have won their first five games against the Western Conference for the first time since the East/West Conferences were created in 1993.

First Time in a Long Time

The Isles have scored four goals in a period in two different games in a three-game stretch for the first time since March 20-25, 2003.

Howe About That

Anders Lee recorded his second career Gordie Howe hat trick.  Lee now has the last two Islander Gordie's, scoring into an empty net on December 12, 2019, in Florida 

Scott Mayfield (November 7, 2017, vs. Colorado) was the last Islander defensemen with a Gordie Howe hat trick.

No Islander forward other than Lee has had a Gordie since Mike Comrie did so, on December 29, 2008, at Madison Square Garden.

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 have also gotten seventeen assists from defensemen (including two tonight from Noah Dobson and one from Alexander Romanov), making the season total 26 points.

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 412 career goals, good for 8th among actives.  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 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 (20-60-80)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is currently tied-4th in goals and is 5th in points. The Isles will play 41 games this season before Dobson turns 23 on January 7, 2023.

Home and Road

The Isles are 7-4-0 overall; they are 4-2-0 at home and 3-2-0 on the road.

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

East and West

The Isles are 2-4-0 against the East and 5-0-0 against the West.

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 (pending late game)

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,370

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

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

The Shots

Isles    13-14-3=30

St. Louis  10-12-12=34

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

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves; he is 5-3-0 on the season and 2-0-0 vs  St. Louis.

Jordan Binnington made 25 saves; he is 3-4-0 on the season and 2-2-2 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-3 on the power play (2:08), scoring just seconds after a 5-on-3 expired; St. Louis was 1-3 on the power play (5:31).

The Isles are 2-2-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 5-2-0 when they do not. The Isles are 3-0-0 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 7-1-0 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 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 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: Adam Pelech (24:30);  St. Louis: Justin Faulk (25:04)

Kyle Palmieri led Isles forwards with 17:43 of ice-time. 

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

Face-offs

Isles 22, St. Louis 29 (43%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 8 of 15 for the Isles; Ryan O'Reilly won 10 of 18 for St. Louis. 

Hit Count

Isles 20 (Matt Martin-5)

St. Louis 25 (Two with 5)

Fights 

Anders Lee completed his Gordie Howe hat trick by fighting Niko Mikkola in the 2nd period. Season total: 1 (Lee)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 9 (Alexander Romanov-2)

St. Louis 8 (Two with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 50, St. Louis 62

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 43, St. Louis 53

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Mathew Barzal +8

St. Louis: Torey Krug +12

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 13, St. Louis 10

5-on-5: Isles 10, St. Louis 10

Scratches

Robin Salo, Nikita Soshnikov, Ross Johnston

Games Lost: 4

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)

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 1,003…

8. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 9. Matt Martin 695 *** 10. Brent Sutter 694 *** 11. Brock Nelson 687 *** 12. Casey Cizikas 673… 

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

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 218 *** 11. Derek King 211 *** 12. Brock Nelson 210 *** 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 380…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 231 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Nick Leddy 198 *** 21. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 22. Brock Nelson 190

Points

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

7. Pat LaFontaine 566 *** 8. Josh Bailey 559 *** 9. John Tonelli 544 *** 10. Bob Bourne 542 …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 400 ***  16. Anders Lee 379…

22. Ziggy Palffy 331 *** 23. Mathew Barzal 322

+/-

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 51 *** 12. Semyon Varlamov 50 *** 13. Chris Osgood 49 *** 14. Garth Snow and Ilya Sorokin 44

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 has points in seven straight games (6-0-1-0) heading into Saturday night's home game with Hartford. In the club's shootout win on Tuesday,  Brent Thompson recorded his 300th AHL win, all with Bridgeport. 

Bridgeport also hosts Providence on Sunday afternoon.  The Islanders have 13 points, tying Wilkes Barre-Scranton for the most points in the Division.

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 6th at UBS Arena.

Overall, the Isles are 9-2-2 in their last thirteen games against the Blues. 

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5th  —ISLANDERS AT DETROIT 1:00pm

[MSGSN (pre-game at 12:30pm), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Isles look to sweep the road trip as they face the Red Wings for the first time this season.

The Isles went 1-1-1 vs. Detroit last season, dropping two games in the Motor City in December (one in overtime), before defeating the Wings 5-2 at UBS Arena in March.  Since their big comeback win vs. Detroit in 2018, the Isles are 8-2-1 vs. the Wings.

Lou Lamoriello will serve as an NHL General Manager for the 3,000th game (including playoffs).

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