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