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