The Skinny: Boston 4, Isles 3 (SO)

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 30

Boston 4, Isles 3 (SO)

The Islanders battled back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, but David Pastrnak scored the deciding goal in the shootout as Boston improved to 15-0-1 on home ice with a 4-3 win over the Islander before the customary sellout crowd of 17,850 at TD Garden.

After Jake DeBrusk scored a pair of goals 19 seconds apart, the Isles tied the game on goals by Noah Dobson and Josh Bailey; a Casey Cizikas third period goal forced overtime to earn the Isles a point. 

The Isles are 17-12-1 and will continue their season-long five-game road trip in Arizona on Friday. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Jake DeBrusk (10) David Pastrnak (20), Charlie McAvoy (13) 06:48 NYI 0,BOS 1 PPG

Jake DeBrusk (11) Taylor Hall (11), Pavel Zacha (15) 07:07 NYI 0,BOS 2

Josh Bailey (5) Noah Dobson (11), Brock Nelson (15) 11:00 NYI 1,BOS 2

2nd Period

Noah Dobson (9) Josh Bailey (6), Brock Nelson (16) 11:43 NYI 2,BOS 2

Derek Forbort (2) Pavel Zacha (16), Jake DeBrusk (12) 18:28 NYI 2,BOS 3 SHG

3rd Period

Casey Cizikas (2) Sebastian Aho (4) 04:40 NYI 3,BOS 3

OT

No Goals

The Shootout

Charlie Coyle (NG)/ Mathew Barzal (G)

Jake DeBrusk (G) / Brock Nelson (NG)

David Pastrnak (G/GDG)/ Josh Bailey (NG)

This was the first shootout of the season; the Isles went 2-5 in shootouts last season…Boston is 2-1 in shootouts this season…It was the third game-deciding goal for David Pastrnak, who is now 3 of 4 in career attempts against Semyon Varlamov…Linus Ullmark improved to 10-3 in shootouts, stopping 42 of 48 attempts.

The Skinny  

Since opening the season 2-4-0, the Isles are 15-8-1 in the last 24 games… The Isles did not reach 17 wins last season until February 9th (17-17-6)... Josh Bailey's goal ended a stretch in which the Isles were outscored 7-0 over the prior 90:00 …The Isles played the 2,900th regular season game in club history…Josh Bailey had his first multi-point game of the season, and in the process tie Pat Lafontaine for 7th in franchise history with 566 points…Brock Nelson now has 198 assists as he looks to become the 20th player in club history to reach 200 helpers…Mathew Barzal lost 10 of 11 draws, becoming the first Islander in over five years to win less than 10% of his face-offs…Sebastian Aho set a career-high in ice-time (25:15); Alexander Romanov set a season high with 25:15…With his goal tonight, Noah Dobson is now tied-2nd in Islander history for defenseman goals before the age of 23 with Bryan Berard; Dobson has 11 games left before his 23rd birthday…It was only the 19th time in Bruin history a player has scored two goals in 19 seconds or fewer; it was the fastest pair of goals the Isles allowed a player since Taylor Hall (then with Edmonton) scored twice in eight seconds on October 17, 2013… Boston scored 1st, and led after both periods; they remain perfect in all three situations so far this season....David Pastrnak extended his point streak to 6 games... It was the 7th time this season that the opening goal of the game was scored on the opponent's power play…Derek Forbort's goal was his first career shorthanded goal….The Isles outscored Boston 3-1 in 5-on-5 play; the Bruins came into the game +28 at 5-on-5. 

Mister Consistency

Brock Nelson had an assist; he has not gone pointless in consecutive games this season.  Mathew Barzal went pointless in the game (although he did score in the shootout); it is the first time this season he has been pointless in consecutive games.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2021-22  17-12-1 for 35 points in 30 games

• 2020-21  11-13-6 for 28 points in 30 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  1-2-3

• Season: 21-46-67

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored an NHL-leading 21 goals; they didn't score their 21st goal last season until March 22nd.  

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 417 career goals, good for 9th among actives, and is tied with Jason Arnott is 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) 

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Noah Dobson (26-65-91)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is now tied for 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 17-12-1 overall; they are 9-6-0 at home and 8-6-1 on the road.

Boston is 23-4-1 overall; they are 15-0-1 at home and 8-4-0 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 8-5-0 against the West (4-5-0 vs. Central and 4-0-0 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 1,503

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,380

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 11-2-0 when scoring first and are 6-10-1 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles   9-8-8-1=26

Boston 8-10-9-6=33

The Isles are 7-5-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-7-1 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves; he is 7-3-1 on the season and 12-7-4 vs Boston.

Linus Ullmark made 23 saves; he is 17-1-0 on the season and 5-5-1 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play and allowed a shorthanded goal (4:00, including a :10 5-on-3); Boston was 1-2 on the power play (0:24).

The Isles are 9-7-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 8-5-0 when they do not. The Isles are 9-4-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 8-8-0 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 17-3-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-9-0 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 6-2-1 in games decided by a single goal including 3-2 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-1 in shootouts. The Isles are 3-5 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 in Arizona on December 16th and in Vegas on December 17th.  The Isles are 4-1-0 in the front end and 3-2-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Alexander Romanov (season-high 25:15);  Boston: Charlie McAvoy (24:12)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 21:34 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (2-6-0), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (4-2-0), Scott Mayfield (3-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0)

Face-offs

Isles 26, Boston 37 (41%)

Brock Nelson won 8 of 14 for the Isles; Charlie Coyle won 15 of 20 for Boston. 

Hit Count

Isles 31 (Alexander Romanov and Matt Martin-5)

Boston 31 (Two with 4)

Fights 

Matt Martin fought AJ Greer in the second period.   Season total: 12 (Martin-4, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 14 (Alexander Romanov -5)

Boston 22 (Nick Foligno - 4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 60, Boston 58 

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 56, Boston 44

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Noah Dobson +14

Boston: David Pastrnak +9  

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 14, Boston 14

5-on-5: Isles 12, Boston 9

Scratches

(Kyle Palmieri-upper body-LTIR), (Adam Pelech – upper body), (Anthony Beauvillier – injured), Ross Johnston. 

Games Lost: 24

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 112th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021.

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 (1):  David Pastrnak (BOS) 12/13

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,019…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 714 *** 9. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 10. Brock Nelson 706 *** 11. Brent Sutter 694 *** 12. Casey Cizikas 692… 

14. Derek King 638 *** 15. Anders Lee 625 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 611

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 221 *** 11. Brock Nelson 219 *** 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 385…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 247 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Nick Leddy and Brock Nelson 198…

25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Jean Potvin 167 *** 28. Jeff Norton and Anders Lee 166

Points

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

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

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 417 ***  16. Anders Lee 387…

19. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 341

+/-

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

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

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 126

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 55 *** 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. Semyon Varlamov, Ilya Sorokin, and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

William Dufour broke a 2-2 tie in the first period and Andy Andreoff added a pair of goals as the Isles improved to 14-6-4-0 with a 5-2 win on Sunday in Providence. Aatu Raty and Otto Koivula also scored for Bridgeport. The Islanders conclude the home-and-home in Providence on Sunday. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied for 5th in the AHL) in goals (13) while Chis Terry now leads in both assists (17) and points (23). Cory Schneider is 10-2-1 on the season for Bridgeport; only two AHL goalies have more wins.

Bridgeport hosts Springfield on Wednesday before three consecutive road games take them to the Christmas break. 

Season Series Stats

Boston leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 1). The teams will meet again at UBS Arena on January 18th before they complete the season series in Boston on February 18th.

The Isles are 0-3-2 in their last five regular season road games in Boston; they still hold a six-game home winning streak in regular season play against the Bs.

UP NEXT

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16th – ISLANDERS AT ARIZONA 9:30pm

[MSGSN (pre-game at 9:00), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Isles head west for three games in four days beginning at Mullett Arena in Tempe against the Arizona Coyotes. 

The Isles will be looking to earn a split of the season series after being blanked by Karel Vejmelka on November 10th at UBS Arena.  

These teams tend to play low-scoring games; the Isles have allowed only 20 goals (plus one shootout winner) in the last 15 games between the teams, going 10-3-2 in that span.

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