The Skinny: Isles 2, Columbus 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 37

Isles 2, Columbus 1

Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Mathew Barzal scored second period goals and Ilya Sorokin came within 22 seconds of his fourth shutout of the season as the Islanders completed a sweep of their three-game homestand with a 5-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.

Pageau also earned an assist on the Barzal goal as the Isles earned their first win this season when scoring two goals or fewer.  Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves for his third straight win.

The Isles improve to 21-14-2 and are now tied with both the Rangers and Penguins for the two wild card spots. The Penguins, having played fewer games hold the first wild card but the Isles have reclaimed the second wild card spot based on more regulation wins than the Rangers. The Isles head West to begin 2023, as their four-game trip beginning on Sunday in Seattle, will get them to the midway point of the season. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (8) Hudson Fasching (2) 07:12 CBJ 0,NYI 1

Mathew Barzal (8) Brock Nelson (22), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (13) 16:39 CBJ 0,NYI 2 PPG

3rd Period

Emil Bemstrom (3) Marcus Bjork (7), Johnny Gaudreau (25) 19:38 CBJ 1,NYI 2

The Skinny   

The Isles did not reach 21 wins last season until March 5th (21-23-8)... The Isles have outscored the opposition 48-37 in the third period… Brock Nelson retained the team scoring lead as he and Mathew Barzal combined for a goal, giving Nelson 37 and Barzal 36…Barzal now has 99 career goals…The Isles scored a power play goal for the first time in nine games; it was only their 8th power play goal at home this season; their NHL-best home penalty killers are now 41-46 (89.1%)…Barzal continues to lead the Isles with 15 power play points (3-12-15)…Brock Nelson played in his 713th game - passing Patrick Flatley for 9th in club history;  Casey Cizikas played his 700th, becoming the 11th player in club history to do so…Hudson Fasching has assists in consecutive games after not having one in 29 previous games dating back to March 21, 2017…It is the first time since November 23-26th that the Isles have won three consecutive games; the Isles match a season-high by going seven games over NHL-.500 (also at 15-8-0)…The Blue Jackets have lost seven straight on the road and seven straight overall…Alexander Romanov set a new season high with four shots on goal… Brock Nelson has four assists in the last three games and is now just six assists shy of his career high of 28…The Isles outshot the opposition in all nine periods of the homestand, and outscored them 12-3…Ilya Sorokin came within 22 seconds of his 4th shutout of the season and 14th of his career; it is the third time in his career that he has lost a shutout in the final minute of the game…For the second time in three months the Isles won the last three games of the month to finish with a winning record.  The Isles went 5-4-0 in October and 6-5-2 in December; their best month so far this season was November, as they went 10-5-0.

 

A Lot of Hockey

The Isles set an NHL record by playing their 92nd regular season game of the calendar year.   Prior to 2022, the Isles had never played more than 89 games in a calendar year. The NHL record will last until Saturday, when the Bruins will play Buffalo in their 92nd game of 2022.

2022 Leaders:

• Games Played: 92  Zach Parise/Noah Dobson

• Goals 42 Brock Nelson

• Assists 58 Mathew Barzal

• Points 83 Brock Nelson

• +/-  27 Adam Pelech

• Face-offs 55.4% Jean-Gabriel Pageau

• Ice Time 21:30 Noah Dobson

• Goalie: Sorokin 32-22-4 2.31 .926  7 SO

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  21-14-2 for 44 points in 37 games

• 2021-22  15-16-6 for 36 points in 37 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-0-0

• Season: 25-56-81

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored an NHL-leading 25 goals; they didn't score their 25th goal last season until April 14th.  

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 419 career goals, good for 9th among actives and 90th all-time. Bill Barber is 89th with 420 career goals, while Stephane Richer, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Thomas are tied-86th with 421.

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

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Noah Dobson (27-68-95)

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is now 2nd in goals and is 3rd in points. Dobson turns 23 on January 7, 2023.

Home and Road

The Isles are 21-14-2 overall; they are 12-6-0 at home and 9-8-2 on the road.

Columbus is 10-22-2 overall; they are 8-11-1 at home and 2-11-1 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 12-8-1 against the East (9-4-0 vs. Metropolitan and 3-4-1 vs. Atlantic) and 9-6-1 against the West (4-6-1 vs. Central and 5-0-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 59 games at UBS Arena and recorded 40 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 1,505

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,384

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 14-4-0 when scoring first and are 7-10-2 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles      13-13-10=36

Columbus 7-7-7=21

The Isles are 10-6-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-8-2 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves; he is 13-11-1 on the season and 4-0-1 vs Columbus. 

Joonas Korpisalo made 35 saves; he is 4-6-1 on the season and 3-4-3 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-3 on the power play (4:32); Columbus was 0-2 on the power play (3:24).

The Isles are 10-8-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 11-6-2 when they do not. The Isles are 10-5-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 11-9-1 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 20-5-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-9-1 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 7-3-2 in games decided by a single goal including 4-3 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-6 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 at Edmonton on January 5th and Calgary on January 6th.  The Isles are 4-3-0 in the front end and 5-2-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (22:01);  Columbus: Emil Bemstrom (20:24)

Anders Lee led Isles forwards with 18:15 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-7-1), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-2-0), Scott Mayfield (4-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 39, Columbus 23 (63%)

Casey Cizikas won 12 of 15 for the Isles;  no Blue Jacket won more than he lost. 

Hit Count

Isles 13 (Three with 2)

Columbus 16 (Two with 3)

Fights 

None.  Season total: 13 (Martin-5, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 16 (Scott Mayfield -3)

Columbus 13 (Eric Robinson -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 63, Columbus 50 

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 56, Columbus 37

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Scott Mayfield +14

Columbus:  Liam Foudy +5

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 20, Columbus 8

5-on-5: Isles 18, Columbus 7

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), (Kyle Palmieri- upper body-IR), (Cal Clutterbuck- upper body-IR), (Semyon Varlamov-IR), (Simon Holmstrom-INJ), (Oliver Wahlstrom-INJ), Robin Salo

Games Lost: 54

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 119th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021.  It is the 24th-longest active streak in the NHL.

Noah Dobson played in his 102nd consecutive Islander game.

Challenges

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

Opponents: 1 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27

League reviews: 3 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute six times this season (five times at home and once on road):

• 0:17 10/29 vs. COL (Mayfield and Beauvillier)

• 0:59 11/7 vs. CGY (Lee and Palmieri)

• 0:22 11/26 vs PHI (Nelson and Beauvillier)

• 0:43 12/4 vs CHI (Parise and Nelson)

• 0:21 12/6 vs STL (Fasching and Pageau)

• 0:34 12/9 @ NJD (Cizikas and Wahlstrom)

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 goal and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(2): Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)

Josh Bailey @ TOR 11/21 (17:02; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (3): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

Anthony Beauvillier @ TOR 11/21 (1:56)

Shootout Winners

Vs (2):  David Pastrnak vs BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @COL 12/19

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,026…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 721 *** 9. Brock Nelson 713 *** 10. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 700… 

14. Derek King 638 *** 15. Anders Lee 633 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 613

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 225 *** 11. Brock Nelson 220 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 388…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 248 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 204…

25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 169

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 570  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 424 ***  16. Anders Lee 394…

19. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 347

+/-

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

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +74 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54   

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Mark Streit and  Ryan Pulock 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Vladimir Malakhov and Noah Dobson 27

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Roman Hamrlik 120 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 119…

18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Adam Pelech 92

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 159…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 114

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 52

Shutouts

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

4. Tommy Salo 14 ***5. Ilya Sorokin 13 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport dropped a 6-5 decision to Lehigh Valley in a shootout on Wednesday.  The Islanders are 14-10-5-1 on the season but have gone 1-6-1-1 in the last nine games.

Andy Andreoff scored for the fourth straight game (his team-leading 17th goal) while Chis Terry added a goal and an assist; Terry leads the team in assists (21) while both Andreoff and Terry have 29 points.

Bridgeport visits Springfield on Friday to wrap up the calendar year. 

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 3 games to 0 (and 6 points to 1).   The teams will meet again on March 24th in Columbus to complete the season series. 

The Isles have won six straight overall vs. Columbus and are a perfect 4-0-0 at UBS Arena.

UP NEXT

SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2023 –ISLANDERS AT SEATTLE 8:00pm

[ESPN, WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Islanders open 2023 by facing the Seattle Kraken in the first game of a four-game road trip.

The teams split a pair of games last season: the Kraken blanked the Isles 3-0 at UBS Arena on February 2nd; the Isles beat the Kraken 5-2 twenty days later in their first visit to Climate Pledge Arena. 

 

Mathew Barzal will be looking for his 100th NHL goal as he plays his 400th NHL game.

The game will be nationally-televised on ESPN; Leah Hextall and Ray Ferraro will have the call.

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

The Skinny: Isles 5, Pittsburgh 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 36

Isles 5, Pittsburgh 1

Anders Lee and Mathew Barzal each scored twice as the Islanders scored in the first three minutes of each period enroute to a 5-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.

Josh Bailey also scored a goal and added an assist in the second period; his efforts also led to a Barzal goal that was eventually credited as unassisted.  Ilya Sorokin, playing in his 100th NHL game, made 20 saves for his second straight win.

The Isles improve to 20-14-2 and are now one point behind both the Rangers and Penguins, who hold the two wild card spots. The Isles will look to sweep the homestand as they play their final game of 2022 on Thursday against Columbus. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Anders Lee (12) Brock Nelson (20) 01:03 PIT 0,NYI 1

Pierre-Olivier Joseph (2) 15:13 PIT 1,NYI 1

2nd Period

Mathew Barzal (6) Hudson Fasching (1), Josh Bailey (9) 00:50 PIT 1,NYI 2

Josh Bailey (6) Noah Dobson (14), Alexander Romanov (11) 11:32 PIT 1,NYI 3

Mathew Barzal (7) 16:42 PIT 1,NYI 4

3rd Period

Anders Lee (13) Brock Nelson (21), Ryan Pulock (12) 03:33 PIT 1,NYI 5

The Skinny   

The Isles did not reach 20 wins last season until February 27th (20-21-8)... The Isles have outscored the opposition 48-36 in the third period… , Brock Nelson retained the team scoring lead as both he and Mathew Barzal both had points, giving Nelson 36 and Barzal 35…Barzal now has 98 career goals…It was the 32nd multi-goal game and Anders Lee and the tenth for Barzal…All six goals were scored in 5-on-5 play; the Isles are +20 (81-61) at 5-on-5 this season…There were four power plays (three for the Isles) with no goals—the Isles are 0-25 in their last eight games on the power play (42:17 of PP time) and are only 7-50 at home (14.0%) on the season; however, their NHL-best home penalty killers are now 39-44 (88.6%)…Brock Nelson played in his 712th game - tying Patrick Flatley for 9th in club history;  Casey Cizikas played his 699th, leaving him in position to be the 11th player to reach 700 games as an Islander…Hudson Fasching recorded his first assist since March 21, 2017 (30 NHL games), also vs. Pittsburgh…It is the first time since November 25-26th that the Isles have won consecutive games…The Penguins fall to 8-2-2 in their last twelve games…Six Islanders had at least four shots...Alexander Romanov set a new career high with his 11th assist; Brock Nelson is now just seven assists shy of his career high of 28…Casey Cizikas had a first period goal awarded after video review and then wiped away moments later on an offside challenge... The Isles held Sidney Crosby off the board for the 19th time; he is 40-88-128 in the other 60 games he has played against the Isles.…The Isles out-attempted Pittsburgh 80-44; the difference of +36 matches their highest since January 17, 2016 (+43 in shootout loss to Vancouver); the Isles have had consecutive games of +35 or better for the first time since the statistic was recorded in 2005.

The Injuries

Oliver Wahlstrom left the game early in the first period following a hit by Pierre-Oliver Joseph; he did not return.

Chad Rudwedel left the game early in the second period; he did not return.

First Times in a Long Time

• The Islanders have won consecutive games by at least four goals for the first time since February 19-21, 1994; they were consecutive 4-0 shutouts over Ottawa and Washington. 

• The Islanders beat the Penguins by at least four goals for the first time since February 11, 2011 – the famed Fight Night game ended in a 9-3 Islander victory.

100 for Ilya

This was Ilya Sorokin's 100th NHL game (97th start).  He is now 51-35-12 in his career, with a 2.33 Goals Against Average, a .924 save percentage, and thirteen shutouts.

In the expansion era - thru 100 games, Ilya is:

• Tied-3rd with 13 shutouts

• Tied-7th with a .924 save percentage

An analytic to measure goaltenders called Quality Starts dates only to 2008-09. Sorokin recorded his 68th tonight, breaking a tie with Igor Shesterkin for 1st place in that category. 

Ilya is one of five Islander goalies to earn at least 51 wins in his first 100 games with the team, joining Jaroslav Halak (58), Roland Melanson (58), Thomas Greiss (53) and Glenn Resch (53).  Of that group, only Melanson and Resch played their first 100 NHL games as an Islander.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  20-14-2 for 42 points in 36 games

• 2021-22  15-15-6 for 36 points in 36 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-3-3

• Season: 25-56-81

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored an NHL-leading 25 goals; they didn't score their 25th goal last season until April 14th.  

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 419 career goals, good for 9th among actives and 90th all-time. Bill Barber is 89th with 420 career goals, while Stephane Richer, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Thomas are tied-86th with 421.

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

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Noah Dobson (27-68-95)

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is now 2nd in goals and is 3rd in points. Dobson turns 23 on January 7, 2023.

Home and Road

The Isles are 20-14-2 overall; they are 11-6-0 at home and 9-8-2 on the road.

Pittsburgh is 19-10-5 overall; they are 10-3-3 at home and 9-7-2 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 11-8-1 against the East (8-4-0 vs. Metropolitan and 3-4-1 vs. Atlantic) and 9-6-1 against the West (4-6-1 vs. Central and 5-0-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 58 games at UBS Arena and recorded 39 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 1,505

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,382

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 13-4-0 when scoring first and are 7-10-2 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles    14-20-8=42

Pittsburgh 12-4-5=21

The Isles are 9-6-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-8-2 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves; he is 12-11-1 on the season and 3-3-0 vs Pittsburgh. 

Tristan Jarry made 37 saves; he is 15-4-4 on the season and 10-2-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

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

The Isles are 9-8-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 11-6-2 when they do not. The Isles are 10-5-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 10-9-1 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 20-5-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-9-1 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 6-3-2 in games decided by a single goal including 3-3 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-6 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 at Edmonton on January 5th and Calgary on January 6th.  The Isles are 4-3-0 in the front end and 5-2-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (21:49);  Pittsburgh: Kris Letang (25:48)

Anders Lee led Isles forwards with 21:08 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-7-1), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (4-2-0), Scott Mayfield (4-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 29, Pittsburgh 25 (54%)

Casey Cizikas won 7 of 10 for the Isles;  Evgeni Malkin won 6 of 9 for Pittsburgh. 

Hit Count

Isles 20 (Casey Cizikas -4)

Pittsburgh 17 (Brian Dumoulin -3)

Fights 

None.  Season total: 13 (Martin-5, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 13 (Scott Mayfield -3)

Pittsburgh 18 (Two with 3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 80, Pittsburgh 44 

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 68, Pittsburgh 40

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Zach Parise +19

Pittsburgh:  Jason Zucker EVEN

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 19, Pittsburgh 6

5-on-5: Isles 16, Pittsburgh 6

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), (Kyle Palmieri- upper body-IR), (Cal Clutterbuck- upper body-IR), (Semyon Varlamov-IR), (Simon Holmstrom-INJ), Ross Johnston, Robin Salo

Games Lost: 48

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 118th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021.  It is the 24th-longest active streak in the NHL.

Challenges

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

Opponents: 1 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27

League reviews: 3 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute six times this season (five times at home and once on road):

• 0:17 10/29 vs. COL (Mayfield and Beauvillier)

• 0:59 11/7 vs. CGY (Lee and Palmieri)

• 0:22 11/26 vs PHI (Nelson and Beauvillier)

• 0:43 12/4 vs CHI (Parise and Nelson)

• 0:21 12/6 vs STL (Fasching and Pageau)

• 0:34 12/9 @ NJD (Cizikas and Wahlstrom)

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 goal and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(2): Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)

Josh Bailey @ TOR 11/21 (17:02; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (3): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

Anthony Beauvillier @ TOR 11/21 (1:56)

Shootout Winners

Vs (2):  David Pastrnak vs BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @COL 12/19

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,025…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 720 *** 9. Patrick Flatley and Brock Nelson 712 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 699… 

14. Derek King 638 *** 15. Anders Lee 632 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 613

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 225 *** 11. Brock Nelson 220 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 388…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 248 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 203…

25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 169

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 570  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 423 ***  16. Anders Lee 394…

19. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 346

+/-

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

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +74 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54   

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Mark Streit and  Ryan Pulock 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Vladimir Malakhov and Noah Dobson 27

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Roman Hamrlik 120 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 119…

18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Adam Pelech 92

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 159…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 114

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Mark Fitzpatrick and Ilya Sorokin 51

Shutouts

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

4. Tommy Salo 14 ***5. Ilya Sorokin 13 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport dropped a 7-3 decision Tuesday in Hartford.  The Islanders are 14-10-5-0 on the season but have gone 1-6-1-0 in the last eight games.

Andy Andreoff scored for the third straight game (his team-leading 16th goal) while Chis Terry padded his lead in points with his seventh goal of the season; he leads the team in both assists (20) and points (27).

Bridgeport visits Lehigh Valley on Wednesday and Springfield on Friday to wrap up the calendar year. 

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0).   The teams will meet again at UBS Arena on February 17th before playing the final two games of the season series in Pittsburgh.

The Isles are 11-5-3 in their last 19 home games with Pittsburgh, while the Penguins have gone 8-9-2 in those same 19 games. 

UP NEXT

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29th – COLUMBUS AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

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

The Islanders close out 2022 as they meet the Columbus Blue Jackets for the third time this season.

 

The Isles have beaten Columbus twice already, winning 4-3 in overtime at home and 3-2 in Columbus. Going back to last season the Isles are 5-0-0 against the Blue Jackets in their last five games, including 3-0-0 at UBS Arena.

The Jackets, who saw their scheduled game with Buffalo on Tuesday postponed, will bring a six-game losing streak with them to UBS. 

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

The Skinny: Isles 5, Florida 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 35

Isles 5, Florida 1

Anthony Beauvillier scored twice and Aatu Raty scored in his NHL debut as the Isles rallied from an early deficit for a 5-1 victory over the Florida Panthers before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.

Matthew Tkachuk scored on a 4-on-4 in the first period to give Florida a 1-0 lead before Beauvillier, scoring his 100th NHL goal, and Ryan Pulock turned the tables with second period goals.  Aatu Raty and Zach Parise are separated by over 18 years in age, but they scored within 71 seconds of each other in the third before Beauvillier hit the empty net following an early goalie pull to cement the win. 

The Isles improve to 19-14-2 and remain two points behind Washington for the second wild card.   The NHL will now shut down for three days before the Isles play their final two games of 2022 on Tuesday against Pittsburgh and Thursday against Columbus. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Matthew Tkachuk (15) Brandon Montour (21) 08:09 FLA 1,NYI 0

2nd Period

Anthony Beauvillier (7) Noah Dobson (13), Brock Nelson (19) 05:20 FLA 1,NYI 1

Ryan Pulock (2) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (12) 19:15 FLA 1,NYI 2

3rd Period

Aatu Raty (1) Anders Lee (14), Anthony Beauvillier (8) 07:10 FLA 1,NYI 3

Zach Parise (11) Alexander Romanov (10) 08:21 FLA 1,NYI 4

Anthony Beauvillier (8)EN Anders Lee (15) 15:50 FLA 1,NYI 5

The Skinny  

Aatu Raty is the 391st player in club history (including Billy Smith) to score a goal for the Isles; he is the second to score his first Islander goal in as many nights, and the fourth to do this month…Raty is the first Islander since Alan Quine (4-9-16 vs Buffalo) to score in his NHL debut…The Isles did not reach 19 wins last season until February 22nd (19-20-7)... After allowing all three goals in the third period last night, the Isles scored all three goals in the third period in this game…The Isles have outscored the opposition 47-36 in the third period… Before leaving with an injury, Brock Nelson took over the team scoring lead with his 34th point, one more than Mathew Barzal…The Isles held Florida is a season-low 24 shots; midway through the third period the Cats had only 17 shots on goal – Florida has had at least 20 shots in every game they have played since December 15, 2017, vs. Vegas…Ilya Sorokin won for the first time in eight starts; his last win was on Black Friday in Columbus…It was Sorokin's 50th career win – he is the 13th goalie in club history to record 50 wins…Anthony Beauvillier is the 32nd player in club history to score 100 goals; his empty-netter tied Anders Kallur for 31st place with 101 goals…Beauvillier also assisted on Raty's goal for his first three-point game of the season…Anders Lee is third on the team with his 15 assists; he had a career-high 23 assists in 2018-2019 and then evened that total in the COVID-shortened 2019-2020 season…The Isles out-attempted Florida 80-45; the difference of +35 is their highest since JG Pageau's Islander debut on February 25, 2020 (+36 in OT loss to the Rangers)…The Isles out-scored Florida 4-0 at 5-on-5; they are +16 (76-60) at 5-on-5 this season…There were nine power plays (six for the Isles) with no goals—the Isles are 0-22 in their last seven games on the power play and are only 7-47 at home (14.9%) on the season; however their NHL-best home penalty killers are now 38-43 (88.4%).

The Injuries

• Aaron Ekblad left the game in the first period after a post-whistle incident with Oliver Wahlstrom.

• Brock Nelson left the game in the second period when he was hit on or near the ear.

• Simon Holmstrom left the game with two seconds left in the second period following a knee-on-knee collision with Sam Bennett. 

None of the players returned to the game.

The New Guys

Both Aatu Raty and Parker Wotherspoon made their NHL debut. 

Raty is the 10th-youngest player to appear in an NHL game this season; he is the first Islander born in 2002 (Simon Holmstrom is the only player born in 2001).  While Raty was a slightly older 20-year-old than Noah Dobson was when Noah scored his first NHL goal, he is the youngest Islander forward to do so since Anthony Beauvillier scored as a 19-year-old on October 18, 2016.

Wotherspoon, who was selected in the fourth round of the same 2015 draft that netted the Islanders Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier, had played 293 AHL games (and taken one NHL warmup- last March 5th vs. St. Louis) prior to his NHL debut. Parker's older brother Tyler has played 30 NHL game and is currently with the Utica Comets.

Grant Hutton and Robin Salo debuted together on November 21, 2021, in the first game in UBS history.  Prior to that, the Isles had not had a double debut since Cole Jarrett and Masi Marjamaki played their first (and only) NHL game on April 18, 2006.

Making a Good First Impression

Aatu Raty is the 21st player to score for the Islanders in his NHL debut.  Alan Quine was the most recent, and Anders Lee is the only other current Islander to have done so as an Islander.  The list is full of famous names (such as Billy Harris, Mike Bossy, Duane Sutter, Patrick Flatley and John Tavares) and some much less so (Greg Parks, Rod Dallman, Neil Coulter and current AHL President Scott Howson).  Howson and Duane Sutter are the only players to score twice for the Isles in their NHL debut; Sutter scored 119 more times for Isles while Howson finished his Islander/NHL career with five goals.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  19-14-2 for 40 points in 35 games

• 2021-22  15-14-6 for 36 points in 35 games

• 2021-22 at Christmas Break:  8-12-6 for 22 points in 26 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  1-2-3

• Season: 25-52-77

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored an NHL-leading 25 goals; they didn't score their 25th goal last season until April 14th.  

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise now has 419 career goals, good for 9th among actives and 90th all-time. Bill Barber is 89th with 420 career goals.

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

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Noah Dobson (27-67-94)

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is now 2nd in goals and is 3rd in points. Dobson turns 23 on January 7, 2023.

Home and Road

The Isles are 19-14-2 overall; they are 10-6-0 at home and 9-8-2 on the road.

Florida is 15-16-4 overall; they are 8-5-3 at home and 7-11-1 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 10-8-1 against the East (7-4-0 vs. Metropolitan and 3-4-1 vs. Atlantic) and 9-6-1 against the West (4-6-1 vs. Central and 5-0-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 57 games at UBS Arena and recorded 38 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 1,505

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,381

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 12-4-0 when scoring first and are 7-10-2 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles   12-16-15=43

Florida  8-6-10=24

The Isles are 8-6-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-8-2 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 23 saves; he is 11-11-1 on the season and 3-2-0 vs the Florida. 

Sergei Bobrovsky made 38 saves; he is 7-11-1 on the season and 20-11-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-6 on the power play (9:35); Florida was 0-3 on the power play (4:28).

The Isles are 9-8-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 10-6-2 when they do not. The Isles are 10-5-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 9-9-1 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 19-5-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-9-1 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 6-3-2 in games decided by a single goal including 3-3 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-6 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 at Edmonton on January 5th and Calgary on January 6th.  Including tonight, the Isles are 4-3-0 in the front end and 5-2-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (21:38);  Florida: Brandon Montour (29:41)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 21:32 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (3-7-1), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (4-2-0), Scott Mayfield (4-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 22, Florida 25 (47%)

Mathew Barzal won 2 of 3 for the Isles;  Zac Dalpe won 6 of 8 for Florida. 

Hit Count

Isles 16 (Matt Martin -5)

Florida 15 (Givani Smith -4)

Fights 

Matt Martin fought Givani Smith in the first period.  Season total: 13 (Martin-5, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 14 (Scott Mayfield -4)

Florida 19 (Marc Staal -5)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 80, Florida 45 

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 59, Florida 25

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Parker Wotherspoon +21

Florida: none were positive

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 22, Florida 10

5-on-5: Isles 17, Florida 5

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), (Kyle Palmieri- upper body-IR), (Cal Clutterbuck- upper body-IR), (Semyon Varlamov-IR), (Casey Cizikas-INJ), Ross Johnston, Robin Salo

Games Lost: 43

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 117th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021.  It is the 24th-longest active streak in the NHL.

Challenges

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

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

League reviews: 3 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute six times this season (five times at home and once on road):

• 0:17 10/29 vs. COL (Mayfield and Beauvillier)

• 0:59 11/7 vs. CGY (Lee and Palmieri)

• 0:22 11/26 vs PHI (Nelson and Beauvillier)

• 0:43 12/4 vs CHI (Parise and Nelson)

• 0:21 12/6 vs STL (Fasching and Pageau)

• 0:34 12/9 @ NJD (Cizikas and Wahlstrom)

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 goal and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(2): Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)

Josh Bailey @ TOR 11/21 (17:02; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (3): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

Anthony Beauvillier @ TOR 11/21 (1:56)

Shootout Winners

Vs (2):  David Pastrnak vs BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @COL 12/19

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,0243…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 719 *** 9. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 10. Brock Nelson 711 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 698… 

14. Derek King 638 *** 15. Anders Lee 631 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 613

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 223 *** 11. Brock Nelson 220 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 181

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 387…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 248 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 201…

25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 169

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 568  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 421 ***  16. Anders Lee 392…

19. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 344

+/-

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

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +74 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54   

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Mark Streit and  Ryan Pulock 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Vladimir Malakhov and Noah Dobson 27

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Roman Hamrlik 120 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 119…

18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Adam Pelech 92

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 159…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 114

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Mark Fitzpatrick 51 *** 13. Ilya Sorokin 50

Shutouts

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

4. Tommy Salo 14 ***5. Ilya Sorokin 13 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport dropped a 4-3 decision Friday in Hartford in their final game before Christmas.  The Islanders are 14-9-5-0 on the season despite going 1-5-1-0 in the last seven.

Andy Andreoff scored his team-leading 15th goal  while Chis Terry padded his left in both assists (20) and points (26) with a pair of helpers.

Bridgeport hosts Hartford on Tuesday in their final home game of 2022; road games on Wednesday in Lehigh Valley and Springfield on Friday wrap up the calendar year. 

Season Series Stats

Florida wins the season series, 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 2).   

This was the Isles' first win in their last six games with Florida (1-4-1).

UP NEXT

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27th  – PITTSBURGH AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

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

After finishing their season series with Colorado, the Rangers and Florida in the last three games, the Isles and Penguins will meet for the first time this season on Tuesday.   The Penguins are one of two division rivals (Washington is the other) that the Isles have not played this season.

Last season the teams split a pair of one-goal games on Long Island, with the Penguins blanking the COVID-laden Isles 1-0 on Black Friday and the Isles earning a 5-4 shootout win in April.  The Isles are 10-5-3 in their last 18 home games with Pittsburgh, while the Penguins have gone 8-8-2 in those same 18 games. 

The Isles hit the Christmas break three points behind the Penguins, although Pittsburgh has two games-in-hand.

And Finally…

As the NHL hits the holiday break, Happy Holidays to all the loyal readers of The Skinny all season long.  Rest up – the next 47 are shaping up to be very interesting!

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

The Skinny: Rangers 5, Isles 3

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 34

Rangers 5, Isles 3

Kaapo Kakko scored six seconds after the sixth Ranger power play of the night expired and that proved to be the winner as the Rangers salvaged the final game of the season series for a 5-3 win over the Isles before a sellout crowd of 18,006 at Madison Square Garden.

The Isles had three separate one-goal leads but could not hold them as they lost a game that they led after two periods for the first time this season.

The Isles, now 18-14-2, finished their longest road trip of the season with a 1-2-2 record.  They will host Florida on Friday to begin a three game homestand that will wrap up 2022. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Anders Lee (11) Alexander Romanov (9), Noah Dobson (12) 12:48 NYI 1,NYR 0

Artemi Panarin (9) Mika Zibanejad (23), Adam Fox (28) 17:14 NYI 1,NYR 1 PPG

2nd Period

Mathew Barzal (5) Josh Bailey (8) 02:39 NYI 2,NYR 1

Julien Gauthier (5) Barclay Goodrow (9) 05:30 NYI 2,NYR 2

Alexander Romanov (1) Mathew Barzal (28) 08:45 NYI 3,NYR 2

3rd Period

Barclay Goodrow (8) Julien Gauthier (3), Ben Harpur (1) 03:00 NYI 3,NYR 3

Kaapo Kakko (9) K'Andre Miller (14), Alexis Lafrenière (12) 17:13 NYI 3,NYR 4

Vincent Trocheck (12)EN Barclay Goodrow (10), Ryan Lindgren (11) 18:28 NYI 3,NYR 5

The Skinny  

The Isles did not reach 18 wins last season until February 17th (18-20-6)... Both the Isles and the Rangers had outscored opponents 44-33 in the third period entering the game, but the Rangers scored all three goals tonight for their eighth win in nine games… Artemi Panarin ended the Isles' shutout streak at 98:45 while their scoreless streak ended at 78:00 with Anders Lee's goal; Lee's goal was the first to beat an opposing goalie in just over 100 minutes.…Jean-Gabriel Pageau played in his 600th NHL game…Alexander Romanov scored his first goal as an Islander and his first for anyone since March 12th, when he scored for Montreal against Seattle…Romanov is the 390th player in club history (including Billy Smith) to score a goal for the Isles…Robin Salo played only 7:37 and did not play after being on-ice for Barclay Goodrow's tying goal…The loss, coupled with Washington's overtime win, dropped the Isles out of a playoff spot…Mathew Barzal scored for the second time in four games and recorded his first assist in six games.

The Injury

Casey Cizikas left the game in the second period and did not return.

Mister Consistency

Brock Nelson went pointless for the second straight game; it is the first time this season he has been held without a point in consecutive games this season.  

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2021-22  18-14-2 for 38 points in 34 games

• 2020-21  14-14-6 for 34 points in 34 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  1-2-3

• Season: 24-51-75

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored an NHL-leading 24 goals; they didn't score their 24th goal last season until April 9th.  

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise now has 418 career goals, good for 9th among actives and 90th all-time. Bill Barber is 89th with 420 career goals.

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

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Noah Dobson (27-66-93)

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is now 2nd in goals and is 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 18-14-2 overall; they are 9-6-0 at home and 9-8-2 on the road.

The Rangers are 19-11-5 overall; they are 8-6-4 at home and 11-5-1 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 9-8-1 against the East (7-4-0 vs. Metropolitan and 2-4-1 vs. Atlantic) and 9-6-1 against the West (4-6-1 vs. Central and 5-0-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 56 games at UBS Arena and recorded 37 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 1,505

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,380

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 12-4-0 when scoring first and are 6-10-2 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles        5-8-5=18

Rangers  9-13-12=34

The Isles are 7-6-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-8-2 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves; he is 10-11-1 on the season and 3-2-0 vs the Rangers. 

Igor Shesterkin made 15 saves; he is 17-5-4 on the season and 2-7-1 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play (4:00); Rangers was 1-6 on the power play (10:58, including a :44 5-on-3).

The Isles are 9-8-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 9-6-2 when they do not. The Isles are 10-5-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 8-9-1 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 18-5-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-9-1 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 6-3-2 in games decided by a single goal including 3-3 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-6 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs  

This back-to-back concludes on Friday vs. Florida. The next set of back-to-backs will be at Edmonton on January 5th and Calgary on January 6th.  Including tonight, the Isles are 4-3-0 in the front end and 4-2-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Sebastian Aho (22:29);  Rangers: Adam Fox (26:02)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau led Isles forwards with 18:56 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (2-7-1), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (4-2-0), Scott Mayfield (4-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 23, Rangers 29 (44%)

Josh Bailey won 4 of 4 for the Isles;  Vincent Trocheck won 12 of 20 for the Rangers. 

Hit Count

Isles 26 (Scott Mayfield -6)

Rangers 17 (Alexis Lafrenière -4)

Fights 

None.   Season total: 12 (Martin-4, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 14 (Three with 2)

Rangers 13 (Vincent Trocheck -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 40, Rangers 66 

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 29, Rangers 43

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Noah Dobson +3

Rangers: Jacob Trouba +12

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 7, Rangers 14

5-on-5: Isles 4, Rangers 9

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), (Kyle Palmieri-INJ), (Cal Clutterbuck-INJ), (Semyon Varlamov-INJ(, Ross Johnston. 

Games Lost: 38

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 116th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021.  It is the 24th-longest active streak in the NHL.

Challenges

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

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

League reviews: 3 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute six times this season (five times at home and once on road):

• 0:17 10/29 vs. COL (Mayfield and Beauvillier)

• 0:59 11/7 vs. CGY (Lee and Palmieri)

• 0:22 11/26 vs PHI (Nelson and Beauvillier)

• 0:43 12/4 vs CHI (Parise and Nelson)

• 0:21 12/6 vs STL (Fasching and Pageau)

• 0:34 12/9 @ NJD (Cizikas and Wahlstrom)

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 goal and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(2): Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)

Josh Bailey @ TOR 11/21 (17:02; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (3): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

Anthony Beauvillier @ TOR 11/21 (1:56)

Shootout Winners

Vs (2):  David Pastrnak vs BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @COL 12/19

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,023…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 718 *** 9. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 10. Brock Nelson 710 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 698… 

14. Derek King 638 *** 15. Anders Lee 630 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 613

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 223 *** 11. Brock Nelson 220 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 181

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 387…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 248 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 200…

25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Jean Potvin and Anders Lee 167

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 568  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 420 ***  16. Anders Lee 390…

19. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 344

+/-

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

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +74 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54   

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Mark Streit 40 *** 9.  Ryan Pulock 39 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Vladimir Malakhov and Noah Dobson 27

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Roman Hamrlik 120 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 119…

18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Adam Pelech 92

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 158…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 114

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Mark Fitzpatrick 51 *** 13. Chris Osgood and Ilya Sorokin 49

Shutouts

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

4. Tommy Salo 14 ***5. Ilya Sorokin 13 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport plays Friday in Hartford in their final game before Christmas.  The Islanders are 14-8-5-0 on the season despite going 1-4-1-0 in the last six.

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied for 5th in the AHL) in goals (14) while Chis Terry leads in both assists (18) and points (24). Cory Schneider, currently on recall to the Islanders, is 10-3-2 on the season for Bridgeport; only two AHL goalies have more wins. 

Season Series Stats

The Isles win the season series, 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 2).  Barring a playoff matchup, the teams will not face each other until next year's preseason.

The loss ended a five-game Islander winning streak at the Garden; the Isles are still 18-6-0 in their last 24 games in Manhattan.

UP NEXT

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23rd  – FLORIDA ISLANDERS 7:30pm

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

The Islanders will try to do to Florida what the Rangers just did to them as they face the Panthers for the final time this season.  Florida beat the Isles twice in October and this will be the last chance for the Isles to win a game against Florida this season. 

Like the Islanders, Florida is coming in off a loss in a game in which they led to the 3rd period, losing at home on Wednesday to New Jersey. 

The Isles are 0-4-1 in their last five games with the Cats, have scored only seven goals in those five games. After winning the President's Trophy last season, Florida sits 12th in the East, and are six points behind Washington for the final playoff spot.

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

The Skinny: Colorado 1, Isles 0 (SO)

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 33

Colorado 1, Isles 0 (SO)

Ilya Sorokin stopped 46 shots in the game without allowing a goal, but the Isles 

could not dent Alexandar Georgiev at the other end; Evan Rodrigues was the only 

one to score in the shootout as the Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche

 blanked the Isles 1-0 before a sellout crowd of 18,110 at Ball Arena.

It was Sorokin's 13th career shutout; he has made at least 44 saves in a game 

three times and all three have ended in shutouts.

The Isles are 18-13-2 and will conclude their season-long five-game road trip 

at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

None

2nd Period

None

3rd Period

None

OT

None

The Shootout

Simon Holmstrom (NG)/Evan Rodrigues (G/GDG)

Mathew Barzal (NG)/ Mikko Rantanen (NG)

Anthony Beauvillier (NG)

This was the second shootout of the season; the Isles are 0-2 in the shootout and

 have scored just one goal on six attempts…Colorado is 3-1 in shootouts this season

…It was the second game-deciding goal for Evan Rodrigues, who has converted both

 of his tries this season into game-deciding goals… Alexandar Georgiev improves to

 9-4 in shootouts; Ilya Sorokin is 4-6.

The Skinny  

The Isles are 1-1-2 on the road trip with one game to play…The Isles did not reach 

18 wins last season until February 17th (18-20-6)... Brock Nelson was held 

pointless for the first time in the last nine road games; no Islander has had a 

longer such streak since Alexei Yashin (10 games) in 2002… The Isles have 

outscored their opponents 44-33 in the third period (there have been 17 

empty-netters, 8 for the Isles and 9 allowed)…The Isles' shutout streak is 81:31 

while their scoreless streak is 65:12…Alexandar Georgiev, playing his 150th NHL 

game, recorded his 10th shutout, including three against the Isles…

Mikko Rantanen had a career-high ten shots.

The Injury

Colorado's Andrew Cogliano, who once played 830 consecutive games, 

left the game in the third period after he crashed into the boards.

First Times in a Long Time

• Noah Dobson played a career-high 26:35.  It is the most ice-time for any 

Islander since Ryan Pulock played 29:00 in a shootout loss to Montreal on 

November 5, 2018.

• The Isles allowed 92 shot attempts, most in a game since Calgary had 

94 on March 11, 2018.  Since 2005, the Isles have allowed at least 92 attempts 

twelve times, and they are 8-1-3 in those twelve games. 

Whole Lot of 0-0

The Isles are now 6-6-6 in games that are scoreless through 60 minutes.  This was

 the 11th game in Islander history where both goalies earned shutouts; the other 

seven were decided by an overtime goal.

The Isles are now 2-3 all-time in scoreless games that were decided by a shootout:

7-Feb-12 @ Philadelphia Wso

24-Nov-14 Vs Philadelphia Wso

1-Feb-19 Vs Tampa Bay Lso

22-Apr-21 Vs Washington Lso

19-Dec-22 @ Colorado     Lso

Most Shutouts, Last 2 Seasons

• 10 Ilya Sorokin 

• 9 Jacob Markstrom

• 7 Connor Hellebuyck

• 7 Igor Shesterkin

• 7 Darcy Kuemper

Most Shutouts in Islander History

• Glenn Resch 25 

• Billy Smith 22 

• Rick DiPietro 16

• Tommy Salo 14 

• Ilya Sorokin 13

Most Seasons with at Least 3 Shutouts (Isles)

• Glenn Resch 6

• Rick DiPietro 3

• Tommy Salo 3 

• Ilya Sorokin 3

Most Shutouts against Isles (Active Goalies)

• 5 Marc-Andre Fleury

• 3 Sergei Bobrovsky and Alexandar Georgiev

Mister Consistency

Brock Nelson has not gone pointless in consecutive games this season. He will

 need a point on Thursday to extend that streak.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2021-22  18-13-2 for 38 points in 33 games

• 2020-21  14-13-6 for 34 points in 33 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-0-0

• Season: 23-49-72

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored an NHL-leading 23 goals; they didn't score their

 23rd goal last season until March 31st.  

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise now has 418 career goals, good for 9th among actives; tonight's goal 

passed Jason Arnott for 90th all-time. Bill Barber is 89th with 420 career goals.

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

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Noah Dobson (27-65-92)

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is now 2nd in goals and is 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 18-13-2 overall; they are 9-6-0 at home and 9-7-2 on the road.

Colorado is 17-11-2 overall; they are 8-5-2 at home and 9-6-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 9-7-1 against the East (7-3-0 vs. Metropolitan and 2-4-1 vs. Atlantic) 

and 9-6-1 against the West (4-6-1 vs. Central and 5-0-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 56 games at UBS Arena and recorded 37 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 1,505

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,380

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 12-3-0 when scoring first and are 6-10-2 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles       11-7-8-0=26

Colorado  10-15-19-2=46

The Isles are 7-6-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even

 and 10-7-2 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 46 saves; he is 10-10-1 on the season and 0-1-1 vs Colorado. 

Alexandar Georgiev made 26 saves; he is 13-6-2 on the season and 9-4-0 vs. the 

Isles.

Special Teams

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

(4:00).

The Isles are 9-7-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 9-6-2 when 

they do not. The Isles are 10-4-1 when they allow at least one power play goal 

and 8-9-1 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 18-4-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout 

winners) and are 0-9-1 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 6-3-2 in games decided by a single goal including 3-3 in regulation. 

They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 

4-5 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 at the Rangers on December 22nd and home 

against Florida on December 23rd.  The Isles are 4-2-0 in the front end and 4-2-0 

in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (career-high 26:35);  Colorado: Cale Makar (31:48)

Anthony Beauvillier led Isles forwards with 19:32 of ice-time.  

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (2-7-1),

 Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (4-2-0), Scott Mayfield (4-0-0), 

Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0)

Face-offs

Isles 35, Colorado 29 (55%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 16 of 22 for the Isles; JT Compher won 17 of 31 for Colorado. 

Hit Count

Isles 24 (Oliver Wahlstrom -5)

Colorado 25 (Cale Makar -5)

Fights 

None.   Season total: 12 (Martin-4, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, 

Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 26 (Four with 3)

Colorado 14 (Cale Makar -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 51, Colorado 92 

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 46, Colorado 76

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: None were positive

Colorado: Cale Makar and Devon Toews +30

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 10, Colorado 26

5-on-5: Isles 10, Colorado 18

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), (Kyle Palmieri-INJ), (Cal Clutterbuck-INJ), 

(Semyon Varlamov-INJ, Ross Johnston. 

Games Lost: 34

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 115th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every 

game since joining the team in October 2021.  It is the 24th-longest active streak

 in the NHL.

Challenges

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

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

League reviews: 3 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 

12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute six times this season (five times 

at home and once on road):

• 0:17 10/29 vs. COL (Mayfield and Beauvillier)

• 0:59 11/7 vs. CGY (Lee and Palmieri)

• 0:22 11/26 vs PHI (Nelson and Beauvillier)

• 0:43 12/4 vs CHI (Parise and Nelson)

• 0:21 12/6 vs STL (Fasching and Pageau)

• 0:34 12/9 @ NJD (Cizikas and Wahlstrom)

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 goal and allowed no goals in the final three minutes 

of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(2): Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)

Josh Bailey @ TOR 11/21 (17:02; Isles won in OT)

Overtime Winners

For (3): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

Anthony Beauvillier @ TOR 11/21 (1:56)

Shootout Winners

Vs (2):  David Pastrnak vs BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @COL 12/19

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,022…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 717 *** 9. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 10. Brock Nelson 709 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 697… 

14. Derek King 638 *** 15. Anders Lee 629 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 613

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 222 *** 11. Brock Nelson 220 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 181

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 386…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 247 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 200…

25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Jean Potvin and Anders Lee 167

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 567  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 420 ***  16. Anders Lee 389…

19. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 342

+/-

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

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +74 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54   

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Mark Streit 40 *** 9.  Ryan Pulock 39 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Vladimir Malakhov and Noah Dobson 27

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Roman Hamrlik 120 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 119…

18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Adam Pelech 92

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 158…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 114

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Mark Fitzpatrick 51 *** 13. Chris Osgood and Ilya Sorokin 49

Shutouts

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

4. Tommy Salo 14 ***5. Ilya Sorokin 13 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport, now 14-8-5-0 on the season despite going 1-4-1-0 in the last six, 

plays Friday in Hartford in their final game before Christmas. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied for 5th in the AHL) in goals (14) while 

Chis Terry leads in both assists (18) and points (24). Cory Schneider, currently on 

recall to the Islanders, is 10-3-2 on the season for Bridgeport; only two AHL 

goalies have more wins.

Season Series Stats

The team split the season series, 1 game to 1 (the Isles earned 3 points to 

Colorado's 2).  

The Isles are 1-5-2 in their last eight trips to Denver, winning only on December 

17, 2018 (4-1 score), but are 8-5-2 in their last 15 matchups with the Avs overall.

UP NEXT

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21st  – ISLANDERS AT RANGERS 7:00pm

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

The Islanders complete the five-game road trip as they face the Rangers at 

Madison Square Garden. 

The Isles will be looking to sweep the Rangers, having blanked the Rangers 3-0 at 

UBS Arena, and erasing a two goal Ranger lead in the third period for a 4-3 win at 

MSG.

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.

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