The Skinny: Isles 2, Vegas 1 (OT)

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 52

Isles 2, Vegas 1

Mathew Barzal beat Logan Thompson with 31.5 seconds left in overtime to send the Islanders into the Bye Week and All-Star Game with a 2-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Anders Lee and William Carrier traded second period goals. Semyon Varlamov made 44 saves to earn his first victory since he was injured on December 17th in Vegas.

The Isles improve to 25-22-5 and find themselves two points out of the 2nd Wild Card spot. Following the Bye Week and the All-Star Game, the Isles will return to action on Monday, February 6th, when they begin a back-to-back set In Philadelphia.

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period 

Anders Lee (19) Kyle Palmieri (8), Brock Nelson (27) 03:52 VGK 0,NYI 1

William Carrier (12) Chandler Stephenson (33), Phil Kessel (12) 16:08 VGK 1,NYI 1

3rd Period

No Goals

OT

Mathew Barzal (12) Anthony Beauvillier (11), Adam Pelech (9)  04:28 VGK 1,NYI 2

The Skinny   

Anders Lee opened the scoring for the 7th time this season and the 50th time in his career as he tied Brock Nelson for the club goal lead; it was Lee's fourth goal in the last four games… Nelson extended his point streak to five games with an assist on the Lee goal; it was his 27th assist of the season, just one shy of his career high…The Isles went 0-1 on the power play; they are 0-25 in the last ten games and 3-64 in the last 23 games …The Isles killed both Golden Knight power plays; they have killed 29 of their last 32 and their NHL-leading home penalty-killers are now 62/68 (91.2%)...The Isles scored the first goal for the eighth time in the last ten games … The Isles have scored nineteen goals in the last eleven games (3-5-3); 11 of the 19 have been scored in the first period…The Isles have been outscored 12-1 in their last thirteen third periods… The Isles' third period differential is now +2; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -14 over the last 27 games…Noah Dobson (who did not play for the third straight game) and Scott Mayfield remained at 99 points. They are looking to become the 25th and 26th defenseman in club history to reach 100 points…Mathew Barzal scored his first goal in 11 games…Kyle Palmieri had an assist, giving him five assists in four games since returning from his injury; it was Palmieri's 200th career assist and the first time in his career he has recorded an assist in four consecutive games… Matt Martin had six hits, increasing his team-leading total to 198; he is closing in on his eleventh 200 hit season…The Isles have won consecutive games for the first time since December 27th-29th and sweep a back-to-back set for the fourth time this season… The win snapped a five-game losing streak in games decided in overtime/shootouts…The Isles finish January with a 4-8-3 record as they earn the 1,750th regular season win in their history.

The Penalty Shot

For the second time this week, the Isles faced a penalty shot.  Seymon Varlamov stopped William Carrier :26 into overtime.  Varlamov has now stopped seven of eight penalty shots in his career; his .875 save percentage leads all active NHL goalies who have faced at least seven penalty shots.

First Time in a Really Long Time

The Isles swept a back-to-back set in which they scored two goals or fewer in each game for the first time since December 30-31, 2002, vs. Florida and in Buffalo. Roman Hamrlik and Jason Blake had overtime goals as Chris Osgood earned a pair of 2-1 wins.

Passing Potvin

Anders Lee's goal was his 50th opening goal, passing Denis Potvin for 3rd place in club history:

• Bryan Trottier 81

• Mike Bossy 64

• Anders Lee 50

• Denis Potvin 49

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  25-22-5 for 55 points in 52 games

• 2021-22  21-23-8 for 50 points in 52 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-0-0

• Season: 27-71-98

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 27 goals; they didn't score their 27th goal last season until April 19th.  

Sorokin's House

Ilya Sorokin is 23-13-6 all-time at UBS Arena. His goals against average of 2.03 trails only Frederik Andersen (2.02) among goalies who have made more than two home starts over the last two seasons and his save percentage of .932 is the best in the NHL over that span.  Sorokin went 9-1-0 at the Coliseum; he is 31-14-6 in his career at home and his .930 career save percentage is the best on home ice in NHL history (minimum 50 home games).

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 14 shutouts in 109 career starts.  He has recorded a shutout in 12.8% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.8%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 421 career goals, good for 9th among actives, and tied with Stephane Richer, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Thomas for 86th place all-time.  Owen Nolan is 85th with 422 goals and Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 25-22-5 overall; they are 15-9-2 at home and 10-13-3 on the road.

Vegas is 29-18-4 overall; they are 14-13-0 at home and 15-5-4 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 14-12-3 against the East (9-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 5-7-2 vs. Atlantic) and 11-10-2 against the West (4-7-2 vs. Central and 7-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 67 games at UBS Arena and recorded 46 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,515

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,388

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 17-7-2 when scoring first and are 8-15-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    15-15-6-1=37

Vegas 8-16-17-4=45

The Isles are 13-9-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 11-13-4 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made a season-high 44 saves; he is 9-6-1 on the season and 5-3-0 vs Vegas. 

Logan Thompson made 35 saves; he is 19-13-3 on the season and 0-1-1 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-1 on the power play (2:00); Vegas was 0-2 on the power play (4:00).

The Isles are 11-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 14-14-4 when they do not. The Isles are 11-10-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 14-12-4 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-5-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 4-17-3 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 9-4-5 in games decided by a single goal including 5-4 in regulation. They are 4-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-7 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 on February 6th in Philadelphia and on February 7th vs Seattle. Including tonight, the Isles are 5-5-0 in the front end and 6-3-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (season-high 26:41);  Vegas: Shea Theodore (25:55)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 19:59 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-10-2), Adam Pelech (4-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-5-0), Scott Mayfield (6-1-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 33, Vegas 26 (55%)

Brock Nelson won 10 of16 for the Isles; Brett Howden won 6 of 8 for Vegas.

Hit Count

Isles 23 (Matt Martin -6)

Vegas 23 (Brayden McNabb -5)

Fights 

None. Season total: 14 (Martin-6, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 18 (Scott Mayfield and Alexander Romanov -3)

Vegas 22 (Two with 5)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 68, Vegas 71

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 58, Vegas 54

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Ryan Pulock +12

Vegas:  Three with Even

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 8, Vegas 16

5-on-5: Isles 7, Vegas 10

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Hudson Fasching- IR), (Cal Clutterbuck – IR), (Noah Dobson -INJ), Ross Johnston, Parker Wotherspoon

Games Lost: 113

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 134th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-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: 4 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – 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 (4): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

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

Mathew Barzal vs VEG 1/28 (4:28)

Vs. (2): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,041…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 736 *** 9. Brock Nelson 728 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 715… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 648 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 231 *** 11. Brock Nelson 224 *** 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 392…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 251 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 209…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 170

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 574  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 433 ***  16. Anders Lee 401 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 354

+/-

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 +72 *** 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 121…

18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Adam Pelech 93

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 161…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 115...

23. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 25. Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield 99

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 57 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 55

Shutouts

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

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

On the Farm

Bridgeport fell to 18-17-6-1 with 3-1 loss in Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Saturday. Cole Bardreau had the goal for Bridgeport; Jakub Skarek made 18 saves.

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-5th in the AHL) with 20 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (27) and points (39).   William Dufour has 14 goals and is tied-4th among AHL rookies; Dufour has points in 10 of his last 13 games.

The Baby Islanders travel to Hershey on Sunday.

Season Series Stats

The Isles sweep the season series, 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 1).  

The Isles are 3-0-1 in their last four games vs. the Golden Knights and are 6-3-1 in nine overall meetings with Vegas.

UP NEXT

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6th  –ISLANDERS AT PHILADELPHIA 7:00pm

[MSGSN2 (Pre-game at 6:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

Following the bye and all-star break, the Isles resume play next Monday in Philadelphia against the Flyers. The teams split a home-and-home series back in November, with each team winning on home ice: the Isles won 5-2 at UBS Arena but then fell 3-1 at Wells Fargo Center.

Overall, the Isles are 9-2-0 in their last 11 meetings with Philadelphia. 

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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 2, Detroit 0

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 51

Isles 2, Detroit 0

Anders Lee broke a scoreless tie 4:44 into the second period and Ilya Sorokin made 23 saves for his 14th career shutout as the Islanders snapped their six-game losing streak (0-4-2) with a 2-0 victory over the Detroit Red Wings before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Brock Nelson extended his point streak to five games with an assist on the Lee goal and then raised his team-leading point total to 45 with a third period tally; it ended an Islander 11-game streak of being held scoreless in the third period.

The Isles improve to 24-22-5 and jump ahead of Florida in the wild card race; they are 3-8-3 since the calendar turned to 2023 and find themselves four points behind Pittsburgh for the 2nd Wild Card spot.  The Isles will host Vegas on Saturday to get them to their Bye Week and the All-Star Game. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

Anders Lee (18) Kyle Palmieri (6), Brock Nelson (26) 04:44 DET 0,NYI 1

3rd Period

Brock Nelson (19) Kyle Palmieri (7) 04:31 DET 0, NYI 2

The Skinny   

Anders Lee hit 400 career points with his sixth opening goal of the season; he is the 16th player in club history with 400 points… The Isles went 0-4 on the power play; they are 0-24 in the last nine games and 3-63 in the last 22 games …The Isles killed all four Red Wing power plays; they have killed 27 of their last 30 and their NHL-leading home penalty-killers are now 60/66 (90.9%)...The Isles scored the first goal for the seventh time in the last nine games … The Isles have scored seventeen goals in the last ten games (2-5-3); 11 of the 17 have been scored in the first period…The Isles had been outscored 12-0 in their last eleven third periods… The Isles' third period differential is now +2; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -14 over the last 27 games…Noah Dobson (who did not play for the third straight game) and Scott Mayfield remained at 99 points. They are looking to become the 25th and 26th defenseman in club history to reach 100 points…Mathew Barzal has only one point in the last ten games… Kyle Palmieri had two assists, four shots, eight attempts and two hits; he has four assists in three games since returning from his injury… Matt Martin had five hits, increasing his team-leading total to 192; he is closing in on his eleventh 200 hit season…The Isles blanked the Red Wings for the first time since December 23, 2013, when Evgeni Nabokov turned the trick at Joe Louis Arena…The 23 saves are the 4th-fewest Ilya Sorokin has made in a shutout…With their win tonight the Isles are assured of not tying the club record for fewest January wins (2), which was set in January 1973 and equaled in 1994 and 1999.

Game-Opening Goals

Anders Lee's goal was his 49th opening goal, tying Denis Potvin for 3rd place in club history:

• Bryan Trottier 81

• Mike Bossy 64

• Denis Potvin 49

• Anders Lee 49

Lee also recorded his 36th game-winning goal, matching Brock Nelson for 9th place on the club's all-time list.

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin recorded his 14th shutout in 109 career starts.  He has recorded a shutout in 12.8% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.8%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  24-22-5 for 53 points in 51 games

• 2021-22  20-23-8 for 48 points in 51 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-0-0

• Season: 27-70-97

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 27 goals (Carolina leads with 31); they didn't score their 27th goal last season until April 19th.  

Sorokin's House

Ilya Sorokin is 23-13-6 all-time at UBS Arena.  His goals against average of 2.03 trails only Frederik Andersen (2.02) among goalies who have made more than two home starts over the last two seasons and his save percentage of .932 is the best in the NHL over that span.  Sorokin went 9-1-0 at the Coliseum; he is 31-14-6 in his career at home and his .930 career save percentage is the best on home ice in NHL history (minimum 50 home games).

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 421 career goals, good for 9th among actives, and tied with Stephane Richer, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Thomas for 86th place all-time.  Owen Nolan is 85th with 422 goals and Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 24-22-5 overall; they are 14-9-2 at home and 10-13-3 on the road.

Detroit  is 21-24-2 overall; they are 13-11-1 at home and 8-13-2 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 14-12-3 against the East (9-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 5-7-2 vs. Atlantic) and 10-10-2 against the West (4-7-2 vs. Central and 6-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 66 games at UBS Arena and recorded 45 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,515

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,387

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 16-7-2 when scoring first and are 8-15-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    9-10-9=28

Detroit 5-13-5=23

The Isles are 13-9-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-13-4 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 23 saves for his 14th career shutout; he is 16-16-4 on the season and 2-1-1 vs Detroit. 

Magnus Hellberg made 21 saves; he is 3-4-1 on the season and 0-1-0 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-4 on the power play (7:42); Detroit was 0-4 on the power play (7:42).

The Isles are 11-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-14-4 when they do not. The Isles are 11-10-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 13-12-4 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-5-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-17-3 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 8-4-5 in games decided by a single goal including 5-4 in regulation. They are 3-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-7 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 set concludes on Saturday vs. Vegas. The next set of back-to-backs will be on February 6th in Philadelphia and on February 7th vs Seattle. Including tonight, the Isles are 5-5-0 in the front end and 5-3-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (22:59);  Detroit: Moritz Seider (25:18)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 18:58 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-10-2), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-5-0), Scott Mayfield (6-1-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 24, Detroit 26 (48%)

Casey Cizikas won 6 of 8 for the Isles; Andrew Copp won 14 of 20 for Detroit.

Hit Count

Isles 27 (Matt Martin -5)

Detroit 21 (Moritz Seider -6)

Fights 

None. Season total: 14 (Martin-6, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 9 (Zach Parise -3)

Detroit 12 (Two with 3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 56, Detroit 44

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 44, Detroit 24

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Ryan Pulock +12

Detroit:  Three with Even

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 20, Detroit 8

5-on-5: Isles 17, Detroit 4

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Hudson Fasching- IR), (Cal Clutterbuck – IR), (Noah Dobson -INJ), Ross Johnston, Parker Wotherspoon

Games Lost: 109

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 133rd consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-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: 4 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – 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)

Vs. (2): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,040…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 735 *** 9. Brock Nelson 727*** 10. Casey Cizikas 714… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 647 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 230 *** 11. Brock Nelson 224 *** 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 392…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 251 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 208…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 170

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 574  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 432 ***  16. Anders Lee 400 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 353

+/-

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 +72 *** 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 121…

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 161…

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

23. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 25. Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield 99

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 55

Shutouts

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

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

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 18-16-6-1 heading into a pair of games this weekend in Pennsylvania, facing Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Saturday and Hershey on Sunday.

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-5th in the AHL) with 20 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (27) and points (39).   William Dufour has 14 goals and is tied-4th among AHL rookies; Dufour has points in 10 of his last 13 games.

Season Series Stats

The season series is tied, 1 game to 1 (and 2 points to 2). The teams will meet again at UBS Arena on March 4th to close out the season series.

The Isles have now won six straight home games (in three buildings) against the Wings. 

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, JANUARY 28th  – VEGAS AT ISLANDERS  7:30pm

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

The Isles look the sweep the season series from the Golden Knights as they welcome Vegas to UBS Arena to conclude their only set of home back-to-back games this season.  The Isles beat the Knights 5-2 in December. 

The Isles are 2-0-1 in their last three games vs. Vegas and are 5-3-1 in nine overall meetings with Vegas.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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: Ottawa 2, Isles 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 50

Ottawa 2, Isles 1

Claude Giroux had a power play goal and added an assist as the Ottawa Senators built a 2-0 lead and defeated the Isles 2-1 before a crowd of 13,980 at Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, Ontario. 

Brock Nelson scored the only Islander goal, extending his point streak to four games, and giving him the team point lead with 43.

The Isles fall to 23-22-5; they are 0-4-2 in their last six games and 2-8-3 since the calendar turned to 2023.  The Isles will host Detroit on Friday and Vegas Saturday to get them to their Bye Week and the All-Star Game. 

1st Period

Shane Pinto (12) Claude Giroux (26), Jake Sanderson (15) 15:48 NYI 0,OTT 1

2nd Period

Claude Giroux (16) Ridly Greig (1), Jake Sanderson (16) 03:28 NYI 0,OTT 2 PPG

Brock Nelson (18) Kyle Palmieri (5), Sebastian Aho (8) 16:07 NYI 1,OTT 2

3rd Period

No Goals

The Skinny   

The Isles went 0-3 on the power play; they are 0-20 in the last eight games and 3-59 in the last 22 games …The Isles killed 2 of 3 Senator power plays; they have killed 23 of their last 26...The Isles allowed the first goal for only the second time in the last eight games … The Isles have scored fifteen goals in the last nine games (1-5-3); all but four have been scored in the first period…The Isles have not scored a third period goal in a franchise-record eleven straight games (since scoring three in Vancouver) and have been outscored 12-0 in that stretch… The Isles' third period differential is now just +1; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -15 over the last 26 games…Noah Dobson (who did not play for the second straight game) and Scott Mayfield remained at 99 points. They are looking to become the 25th and 26th defenseman in club history to reach 100 points…Mathew Barzal has only one point in the last nine games; he did win a season-high six faceoffs tonight … Kyle Palmieri had an assist, three shots, eight attempts and three hits…The Isles are one gams over NHL-.500 for the first time since they were 5-4-0 in late October….Anders Lee remains ats 399 career points; he is looking to be the 16th player in club history with 400 points…Matt Martin had five hits, increasing his team-leading total to 187; he is closing in on his eleventh 200 hit season…Ridly Greig made his NHL assist for Ottawa; he assisted on the winning goal and contributed five shots on goal… Casey Cizikas played his 713th game for the Isles, breaking a tie with Patrick Flatley for 10th place on the club's all-time list…The 36 Islander shots were their most in any road game this season...Claude Giroux scored his 25th career goal against the Islanders; Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are the only other active players with at least 25 goals against New York…Cam Talbot played only 28:05 – the fewest of any goalie to start and win an NHL game since Tristan Jarry played only 20 minutes on March 29, 2021 – also against the Islanders.

The Injury

Cam Talbot removed himself from the game eight minutes into the second period with a lower body injury; he did not return.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  23-22-5 for 51 points in 50 games

• 2021-22  20-22-8 for 48 points in 50 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-1-1

• Season: 27-70-97

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 27 goals (Carolina and Florida lead with 30); they didn't score their 27th goal last season until April 19th.  

Sorokin's House

Ilya Sorokin is 22-13-6 all-time at UBS Arena.  His goals against average of 2.08 trails only Frederik Andersen (2.02) among goalies who have made multiple home starts over the last two seasons and his save percentage of .931 is the best in the NHL over that span.  Sorokin went 9-1-0 at the Coliseum; he is 31-14-6 in his career at home and his .929 career save percentage is the best on home ice in NHL history (minimum 40 home games).

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 421 career goals, good for 9th among actives, and tied with Stephane Richer, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Thomas for 86th place all-time.  Owen Nolan is 85th with 422 goals and Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 23-22-5 overall; they are 13-9-2 at home and 10-13-3 on the road.

Ottawa is 21-23-2 overall; they are 13-11-1 at home and 8-12-2 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 13-12-3 against the East (9-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 4-7-2 vs. Atlantic) and 10-10-2 against the West (4-7-2 vs. Central and 6-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 65 games at UBS Arena and recorded 44 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,514

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,386

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 15-7-2 when scoring first and are 8-15-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles     10-12-14=36

Ottawa 14-17-7=38

The Isles are 12-9-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-13-4 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 36 saves; he is 8-6-1 on the season and 6-5-2 vs Ottawa. 

Cam Talbot made 14 saves before leaving the game with the Sens leading 2-0; he is credited with the win and is now 12-13-1 on the season and 8-3-0 vs. the Isles.  Anton Forsberg made 21 saves in relief.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (6:00); Ottawa was 1-3 on the power play (4:30).

The Isles are 11-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-14-4 when they do not. The Isles are 11-10-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 12-12-4 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-5-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-17-3 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 8-4-5 in games decided by a single goal including 5-4 in regulation. They are 3-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-7 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 on January 27th vs Detroit and on January 28th vs. Vegas – that will be the only time this season that the Isles will play home games on consecutive days. The Isles are 4-5-0 in the front end and 5-3-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (21:27);  Ottawa: Thomas Chabot (23:28)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:41 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-10-2), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-5-0), Scott Mayfield (6-1-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 31, Ottawa 25 (55%)

Mathew Barzal won 6 of 9 for the Isles; Dylan Gambrell won 4 of 6 for Ottawa.

Hit Count

Isles 24 (Matt Martin -5)

Ottawa 17 (Brady Tkachuk-3)

Fights 

Matt Martin fought Austin Watson in the 2nd period. Season total: 14 (Martin-6, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 19 (Scott Mayfield -5)

Ottawa 11 (Three with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 63, Ottawa 82

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 52, Ottawa 69

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Anders Lee +27

Ottawa:  Rasmus Sandin +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 7, Ottawa 21 (including 8-0 in Ottawa's favor in the first period)

5-on-5: Isles 7, Ottawa 18

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Hudson Fasching- IR), (Cal Clutterbuck – IR), (Noah Dobson -INJ), Ross Johnston, Parker Wotherspoon

Games Lost: 105

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 132nd consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-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: 4 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – 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)

Vs. (2): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,039…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 734 *** 9. Brock Nelson 726*** 10. Casey Cizikas 713… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 646 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 229 *** 11. Brock Nelson 223 *** 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 392…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 251 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 207…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 170

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 574  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 430 ***  16. Anders Lee 399 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 353

+/-

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 +70 *** 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 121…

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 161…

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

23. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 25. Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield 99

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 54

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 improved to 18-16-6-1 with a 6-2 win in Hartford on Wednesday.  Chris Terry scored twice and added an assist while Andy Andreoff scored his 20th goal. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-4th in the AHL) with those 20 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (27) and points (39).   William Dufour has 14 goals and is tied-4th among AHL rookies; Dufour has points in 10 of his last 13 games.

Bridgeport will spend the weekend in Pennsylvania, facing Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Friday and Hershey on Saturday.

Season Series Stats

The season series is tied, 1 game to 1 (and 2 points to 2). The teams will meet at UBS Arena on Valentines Day to close out the season series.

The loss broke a four-game Islander win streak against the Sens; they are still 10-2-0 in their last twelve meetings with Ottawa. 

UP NEXT

FRIDAY, JANUARY 27th  – DETROIT AT ISLANDERS  7:00pm

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

The Isles open their only set of home back-to-back games this season as they entertain the Detroit Red Wings on Friday. It is the second meeting of the season between the teams; Ville Husso blanked the  Isles3-0 in Detroit on November 5th.

Perhaps the Red Wings will be the tonic for the recent Islander scoring troubles.  The Isles have won five straight home games (in three buildings) against the Wings and have scored at least four goals in each of them. 

The game will be nationally telecast on ESPN with John Buccigross, AJ Mleczko and Emily Kaplan on the call. 

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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: Toronto 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 49

Toronto 5, Isles 2

William Nylander had a four point period as the Toronto Maple Leafs scored four times in the second period and defeated the Isles 5-2 before a crowd of 18,514 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. 

Anders Lee score twice to give the Isles leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but the Maple Leafs erased those goals and more in the middle session, which also included Ilya Sorokin stopping Michael Bunting on a penalty shot.

The Isles fall to 23-21-5 and remain tied with Florida, three points behind Pittsburgh for the second wild card spot. The Isles are 0-3-2 in their last five games and 2-7-3 since the calendar turned to 2023 as they head to Ottawa to face the Senators on Wednesday.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Anders Lee (16) Brock Nelson (25), Sebastian Aho (7) 19:37 NYI 1,TOR 0

2nd Period

William Nylander (25) John Tavares (26), Mark Giordano (14) 05:07 NYI 1,TOR 1

Anders Lee (17) Kyle Palmieri (4), Mathew Barzal (31) 06:18 NYI 2,TOR 1

John Tavares (21) William Nylander (29), Ilya Samsonov (1) 07:53 NYI 2,TOR 2 PPG

Calle Jarnkrok (11) William Nylander (30), Justin Holl (6) 09:33 NYI 2,TOR 3

William Nylander (26) 16:32 NYI 2,TOR 4

3rd Period

Auston Matthews (25) Justin Holl (7) 07:44 NYI 2,TOR 5

The Skinny   

The Isles went 0-2 on the power play; they are 3-31 in the last thirteen games and 3-56 in the last 21 games …The Isles killed 1 of 2 Leaf power plays; they have killed 21 of their last 23  ...The Isles scored the first goal for the sixth time in seven games … The Isles have scored fourteen goals in the last eight games (1-4-3); all but three have been scored in the first period…The Isles have not scored a third period goal in a franchise-record ten straight games (since scoring three in Vancouver) and have been outscored 12-0 in that stretch… The Isles' third period differential is now just +1; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -15 over the last 26 games…Noah Dobson (who did not play, ending his 114-game streak) and Scott Mayfield remained at 99 points. They are looking to become the 25th and 26th defenseman in club history to reach 100 points…Mathew Barzal had his first point in eight games… Kyle Palmieri returned to the line-up with nine attempts and a career-high seven hits…Adam Pelech also returned to the lineup…The Isles allowed four goals in a period for the second time this season (December 6th vs. St Louis)…John Tavares had eight shots on goal in the second period, tying a record both for the Leafs and against the Isles; Tavares is scheduled to play his 1000th NHL game on Sunday….The Isles are two games over NHL-.500 for the first time since they were 7-5-0 in early November….Anders Lee now has 399 career points; he is looking to be the 16th player in club history with 400 points…Ilya Samsonov recorded his second career assist as he improved to 13-0-1 at home this season…Samuel Bolduc played 14:28 in his NHL debut; he had one shot, three attempts, three hits, and was not on-ice for a goal.

The Penalty Shot

Ilya Sorokin stopped Michael Bunting on a Penalty Shot in the second period.   It was the fifth penalty shot of the season for Toronto and they have failed on all of them. This was the first penalty shot against the Islanders in nearly five years (March 8, 2018 in Edmonton, when Christopher Gibson stopped Conor McDavid in overtime) and the first in any Islander game since November 5, 2019, when Cole Bardreau scored his first NHL goal in a game against Ottawa.

 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  23-21-5 for 51 points in 49 games

• 2021-22  20-21-8 for 48 points in 49 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-1-1

• Season: 27-69-96

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 27 goals (Carolina leads with 30); they didn't score their 27th goal last season until April 19th.  

Sorokin's House

Ilya Sorokin is 22-13-6 all-time at UBS Arena.  His goals against average of 2.08 trails only Frederik Andersen (2.02) among goalies who have made multiple home starts over the last two seasons and his save percentage of .931 is the best in the NHL over that span.  Sorokin went 9-1-0 at the Coliseum; he is 31-14-6 in his career at home and his .929 career save percentage is the best on home ice in NHL history (minimum 40 home games).

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 421 career goals, good for 9th among actives, and tied with Stephane Richer, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Thomas for 86th place all-time.  Owen Nolan is 85th with 422 goals and Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 23-21-5 overall; they are 13-9-2 at home and 10-12-3 on the road.

Toronto is 29-11-8 overall; they are 18-3-4 at home and 11-8-4 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 13-11-3 against the East (9-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 4-6-2 vs. Atlantic) and 10-10-2 against the West (4-7-2 vs. Central and 6-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 65 games at UBS Arena and recorded 44 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,513

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,386

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 15-7-2 when scoring first and are 8-14-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles      13-10-10=33

Toronto 6-22-10=38

The Isles are 12-9-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-12-4 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves; he is 15-16-4 on the season and 1-3-0 vs Toronto. 

Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves; he is 15-4-2 on the season and 6-3-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play (2:37); Toronto was 1-2 on the power play (3:12).

The Isles are 11-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-13-4 when they do not. The Isles are 11-9-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 12-12-4 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-5-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-16-3 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 8-3-5 in games decided by a single goal including 5-3 in regulation. They are 3-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-7 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 on January 27th vs Detroit and on January 28th vs. Vegas – that will be the only time this season that the Isles will play home games on consecutive days. The Isles are 4-5-0 in the front end and 5-3-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Scott Mayfield (24:15);  Toronto: Mark Giordano (22:16)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 19:55 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-10-2), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-4-0), Scott Mayfield (6-1-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 29, Toronto 24 (55%)

Brock Nelson won 9 of 15 for the Isles; no Leaf who took multiple draws won more than he lost.

Hit Count

Isles 49 (Matt Martin -10)

Toronto 30 (Justin Holl -5)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 13 (Scott Mayfield -4)

Toronto 25 (Auston Matthews -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 76, Toronto 66

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 68, Toronto 50

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Anders Lee +27

Toronto:  Rasmus Sandin +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 27, Toronto 26

5-on-5: Isles 25, Toronto 20

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Hudson Fasching- upper body), (Cal Clutterbuck – upper body), (Noah Dobson -INJ), Ross Johnston, Parker Wotherspoon

Games Lost: 101

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 131st consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-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: 4 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – 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)

Vs. (2): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,038…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 733 *** 9. Brock Nelson 725*** 10. Patrick Flatley and Casey Cizikas 712… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 645 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 229 *** 11. Brock Nelson 222 *** 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 392…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 251 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 207…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 170

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 574  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 429 ***  16. Anders Lee 399 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 353

+/-

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 +71 *** 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 121…

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 161…

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

23. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 25. Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield 99

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 54

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 is 17-16-1 on the season heading into Wednesday's game in Hartford. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-6th in the AHL) with 19 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (26) and points (37).   William Dufour now has 14 goals, and is tied-4th among AHL rookies; Dufour has points in 10 of his last 12 games.

Season Series Stats

The season series is tied, 1 game to 1 (Toronto has earned 3 points to the Isles' 2). The teams will meet at UBS Arena on March 21st for Butch Goring Bobblehead Night.

The Isles are 2-3-0 in regular season play in Toronto since John Tavares joined the Leafs.  

UP NEXT

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25th  – ISLANDERS AT OTTAWA 7:00pm

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

The Isles will look to snap their five-game losing streak  (0-3-2) and complete the road trip as they head to Ottawa to face the Sens on Wednesday.  It is the second meeting of the season between the teams; the Isles beat Ottawa 4-2 back on November 22nd.

The Isles have won four straight against the Sens and are 10-1-0 in their last eleven meetings with Ottawa.  The Isles are also 6-1-0 in their last seven trips to Kanata, Ontario. 

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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: Carolina 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 48

Carolina 5, Isles 2 

Sebastian Aho completed a natural hat trick into an empty net as the Carolina Hurricanes scored the game's final three goals to earn a 5-2 victory over the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 17,255 on Alumni Weekend at UBS Arena. 

Carolina had grabbed a 2-0 lead before the game was even four minutes old, but Simon Holmstrom and Brock Nelson scored 100 seconds apart later in the session to end the first period tied, but Aho took over from there to earn his 6th career hat trick to give the Canes the victory. 

The Isles fall to 23-20-5 and are now tied with Florida, two points behind Pittsburgh for the second wild card spot. The Isles are 2-6-3 since the calendar turned to 2023 and head to Ontario to face the Leafs on Monday and the Senators on Wednesday.

The Scoring: 

1st Period

Jordan Staal (12) Jalen Chatfield (3), Brent Burns (24) 00:44 CAR 1,NYI 0

Jesper Fast (6) Jordan Staal (9) 03:52 CAR 2,NYI 0

Simon Holmstrom (2) Anders Lee (16) 14:02 CAR 2,NYI 1

Brock Nelson (17) 15:42 CAR 2,NYI 2 

2nd Period

Sebastian Aho (15) Teuvo Teravainen (16) 16:40 CAR 3,NYI 2

3rd Period

Sebastian Aho (16) 07:09 CAR 4,NYI 2

Sebastian Aho (17) Teuvo Teravainen (17) 19:38 CAR 5,NYI 2

The Skinny   

The Isles went 0-2 on the power play; they are 3-29 in the last twelve games and 3-54 in the last twenty games …The Isles did kill all three Hurricane power plays; they have killed 20 of their last 21 overall and their NHL-leading home penalty-killers are now 56/62 (90.3%)...The Isles allowed the first goal for the first time in six games … The Isles have scored twelve goals in the last seven games (1-3-3); all but two have been scored in the first period…The Isles have not scored a third period goal in a franchise-record nine straight games (since scoring three in Vancouver) and have been outscored 11-0 in that stretch… The Isles' third period differential is now just +2; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -14 over the last 25 games…Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield remained at 99 points. They are looking to become the 25th and 26th defenseman in club history to reach 100 points…Brock Nelson scored for the second straight game, after being held without a goal in fourteen games; he leads the team with 17 goals…It was the first time in 14 games this season that Nelson scored and the Isles lost in regulation (12-1-1)...Mathew Barzal was held without a point for the seventh straight game; he did have six shots on goal after being held to a combined total of two in the prior three games…It was only the 8th time this season that Carolina was out-shot…January 21st had historically been a very good day for the Isles; they had won ten consecutive games on this date since an overtime loss to Carolina in 2008…Brock Nelson and Anthony Beauvillier were on-ice for all five Carolina goals and went -4; Josh Bailey was on for all but the empty-netter and went -3…Simon Holmstrom's goal, his first ever at UBS, was his first goal since December 17th in Las Vegas…Sebastian Aho is the first Cane with a hat trick against the Isles since Jaccob Slavin (3/13/2017)

That First Period

Jordan Staal's goal at :48 was the earliest ever allowed by Ilya Sorokin.  When Jesper Fast scored at 3:52, the Isles had allowed two goals in the first four minutes for the first time since March 10, 2020 when Vancouver scored twice in the first 2:41 of the final game played before the COVID shutdown.   The Isles then rallied for a pair of goals on their own, marking the first time since January 25, 2022 (vs. Philadelphia) that the Isles both scored and allowed multiple goals in a first period.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  23-20-5 for 51 points in 48 games

• 2021-22  19-21-8 for 46 points in 48 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-0-0

• Season: 27-68-95

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 27 goals (Carolina leads with 30); they didn't score their 27th goal last season until April 19th.  

Sorokin's House

Ilya Sorokin is 22-13-6 all-time at UBS Arena.  His goals against average of 2.08 trails only Frederik Andersen (2.02) among goalies who have made multiple home starts over the last two seasons and his save percentage of .931 is the best in the NHL over that span.  Sorokin went 9-1-0 at the Coliseum; he is 31-14-6 in his career at home and his .929 career save percentage is the best on home ice in NHL history (minimum 40 home games).

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 421 career goals, good for 9th among actives, and tied with Stephane Richer, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Thomas for 86th place all-time.  Owen Nolan is 85th with 422 goals and Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 23-20-5 overall; they are 13-9-2 at home and 10-11-3 on the road.

Carolina is 29-9-8 overall; they are 14-5-2 at home and 15-4-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 13-10-3 against the East (9-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 4-5-2 vs. Atlantic) and 10-10-2 against the West (4-7-2 vs. Central and 6-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 65 games at UBS Arena and recorded 44 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,513

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,386

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 15-6-2 when scoring first and are 8-14-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles      8-7-12=27

Carolina 7-10-9=26

The Isles are 12-9-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-11-4 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 21 saves; he is 15-15-4 on the season and 2-2-1 vs Carolina. 

Frederik Andersen made 25 saves; he is 9-3-0 on the season and 9-4-1 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play (4:00); Carolina was 0-3 on the power play (6:00).

The Isles are 11-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-12-4 when they do not. The Isles are 11-8-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 12-12-4 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-5-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-15-3 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 8-3-5 in games decided by a single goal including 5-3 in regulation. They are 3-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-7 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 on January 27th vs Detroit and on January 28th vs. Vegas – that will be the only time this season that the Isles will play home games on consecutive days. The Isles are 4-5-0 in the front end and 5-3-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (season-high 25:02);  Carolina: Brent Burns (24:06)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:39 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-10-2), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-4-0), Scott Mayfield (6-0-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 31, Carolina 29 (52%)

Aatu Raty won 3 of 5 for the Isles; Paul Stastny won 8 of 12 for Carolina. 

Hit Count

Isles 24 (Matt Martin -6)

Carolina 16 (Jordan Staal -4)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 20 (Sebastian Aho and Ryan Dobson -4)

Carolina 15 (Jesper Fast -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 52, Carolina 67

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 42, Carolina 55

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Scott Mayfield +12

Carolina:  Dylan Coghlan +15

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 11, Carolina 13

5-on-5: Isles 9, Carolina 12

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), (Kyle Palmieri- upper body-IR), (Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Hudson Fasching- upper body), (Cal Clutterbuck – upper body), Dennis Cholowski

Games Lost: 97

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 130th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-longest active streak in the NHL.  

Noah Dobson played in his 113th 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: 4 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – 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)

Vs. (2): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,037…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 732 *** 9. Brock Nelson 724*** 10. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 710… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 644 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 227 *** 11. Brock Nelson 222 *** 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 392…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 250 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 206…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 170

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 574  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 428 ***  16. Anders Lee 397 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 352

+/-

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. Ryan Pulock +55 *** 24. 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 121…

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 161…

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

23. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 25. Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield 99

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 54

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 is 17-16-1 on the season after splitting a pair of games this weekend. On Friday, Cory Schneider made 40 saves for a 1-0 OT win over Rochester; William Dufour had the winner.  On Saturday, Samuel Bolduc scored twice but the Islanders fell 3-2 to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-6th in the AHL) with 19 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (26) and points (37).   William Dufour now has 14 goals, and is tied-4th among AHL rookies; Dufour has points in 10 of his last 12 games.

Bridgeport gets back into action Wednesday when they visit Hartford.

Season Series Stats

Carolina leads the season series, 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 2). The Isles will travel to Raleigh on April 3rd to conclude the season series.

Carolina has won five straight on Long Island, including one in overtime; the Isles are 2-6-2 in their last nine home games against the Canes.

UP NEXT

MONDAY, JANUARY 23rd – ISLANDERS AT TORONTO 7:00pm

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

The Isles head to Toronto to face the Leafs on Monday.  It is the second meeting of the season between the teams; the Isles beat Toronto 3-2 in overtime on November 21st; Anthony Beauvillier scored the winning goal.

The Isles are 2-2-0 in regular season play in Toronto since John Tavares joined the Leafs.  The Isles also won three playoff series in the Toronto Bubble.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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: Buffalo 3, Isles 2 (OT)

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 47

Buffalo 3, Isles 2 (OT)

Dylan Cozens scored twelve seconds into overtime as the Buffalo Sabres rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits for a 3-2 victory over the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 19,070 on Ryan Miller Night at KeyBank Center. 

Brock Nelson and Matt Martin had given the Isles leads heading into each intermission but it did not hold up as the Sabres earned the extra point.

The Isles are 23-19-5 and are tied with Pittsburgh for the second wild card spot; however, the Isles have played three more games. The Isles are 2-5-3 since the calendar turned to 2023 and return home to face Carolina on Alumni Weekend on Saturday night. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Brock Nelson (16) Anthony Beauvillier (10), Josh Bailey (13) 07:19 NYI 1,BUF 0

2nd Period

Alex Tuch (22) Rasmus Dahlin (36), Jeff Skinner (26) 08:26 NYI 1,BUF 1

Matt Martin (5) Casey Cizikas (9) 18:30 NYI 2,BUF 1

3rd Period

Victor Olofsson (19) Casey Mittelstadt (20), Tyson Jost (10) 09:32 NYI 2,BUF 2

OT

Dylan Cozens (15) Rasmus Dahlin (37), Tage Thompson (28) 00:12 NYI 2,BUF 3

The Skinny   

The Isles did not reach 23 wins last season until March 11th (23-24-8)... The Isles went 0-1 on the power play; they are 3-27 in the last eleven games and 3-52 in the last nineteen games …The Isles did kill all three Sabre power plays; they have killed 17 of their last 18...The Isles scored first for the fifth straight game, but they are 1-2-2 in those games … The Isles have scored ten goals in the last six games (1-2-3); all but two have been scored in the first period…Buffalo's third period goal reduced the Isles' differential in that period to +4; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -12 over the last 24 games. Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield remained at 99 points. They are looking to become the 25th and 26th defenseman in club history to reach 100 points…Dylan Cozens scored the 2nd-earliest overtime goal by a Sabre (Jason Dawe- 10 seconds)…Ilya Sorokin is 7-2-3 in 12 career games that he has faced over 40 shots…Matt Martin was credited with 10 hits for the second time in three games; he out-hit the entire Sabre team, 10-9, as he played a season-high 14:02…Martin now has 13 points on the season; in his entire career he has had more than 14 points in a season only once (19 in 2015-16)…Tage Thompson assisted on the overtime winner; it was his 60th point of the season, making him the fastest Sabre in 30 years to reach that mark… The Sabres improve to 5-3 in games decided by an overtime goal; the Isles are 3-2...Brock Nelson's goal was his first in 15 games; he regained the team lead with 16 goals...Mathew Barzal was held without a point for the sixth straight game.  The Isles were held under 30 shots for the 13th time in the last 15 road games; they have had 35 or fewer in every road game this season.

The Injury

Cal Clutterbuck left the game with an upper-body injury late in the second period; he did not return.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  23-19-5 for 51 points in 47 games

• 2021-22  19-20-8 for 46 points in 47 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-0-0

• Season: 27-68-95

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 27 goals (Florida leads with 28); they didn't score their 27th goal last season until April 19th.  

Sorokin's House

Ilya Sorokin is 22-13-5 all-time at UBS Arena.  His goals against average of 2.03 trails only Frederik Anderson (2.02) among goalies who have made multiple home starts over the last two seasons and his save percentage of .933 is the best in the NHL over that span.  Sorokin went 9-1-0 at the Coliseum; he is 31-14-5 in his career at home and his .930 career save percentage is the best on home ice in NHL history (minimum 40 home games).

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 421 career goals, good for 9th among actives, and tied with Stephane Richer, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Thomas for 86th place all-time.  Owen Nolan is 85th with 422 goals and Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 23-19-5 overall; they are 13-8-2 at home and 10-11-3 on the road.

Buffalo is 22-19-3 overall; they are 10-12-2 at home and 12-7-1 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 13-9-3 against the East (9-4-1 vs. Metropolitan and 4-5-2 vs. Atlantic) and 10-10-2 against the West (4-7-2 vs. Central and 6-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 64 games at UBS Arena and recorded 43 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,512

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,386

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 15-6-2 when scoring first and are 8-13-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles     5-11-10-0=26

Buffalo 19-12-13-1=45

The Isles are 12-8-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-11-4 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 42 saves; he is 15-14-4 on the season and 3-2-2 vs Buffalo. 

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 24 saves; he is 11-5-1 on the season and 1-0-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

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

The Isles are 11-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-11-4 when they do not. The Isles are 11-8-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 12-11-4 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-5-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-14-3 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 8-3-5 in games decided by a single goal including 5-3 in regulation. They are 3-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-7 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 on January 27th vs Detroit and on January 28th vs. Vegas – that will be the only time this season that the Isles will play home games on consecutive days. Including tonight, the Isles are 4-5-0 in the front end and 5-3-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Scott Mayfield (23:25);  Buffalo: Rasmus Dahlin (25:12)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 18:13 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-10-2), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-3-0), Scott Mayfield (6-0-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 33, Buffalo 26 (56%)

Brock Nelson and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each won 10 of 18 for the Isles; Tage Thompson  won 7 of 12 for Buffalo. 

Hit Count

Isles 24 (Matt Martin -10)

Buffalo 9 (Ilya Lyubishin-2)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 28 (Sebastian Aho -5)

Buffalo 10 (Henri Jokiharju-2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 49, Buffalo 89

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 44, Buffalo 78

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Mathew Barzal +3

Buffalo:  Tage Thompson +19

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 13, Buffalo 21

5-on-5: Isles 13, Buffalo 18

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), (Kyle Palmieri- upper body-IR), (Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Hudson Fasching- upper body), Parker Wotherspoon

Games Lost: 92

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 129th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-longest active streak in the NHL.  

Noah Dobson played in his 112th 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: 4 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – 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)

Vs. (2): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,036…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 731 *** 9. Brock Nelson 723*** 10. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 709… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 643 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 227 *** 11. Brock Nelson 221 *** 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 392…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 250 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 206…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 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 574  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 427 ***  16. Anders Lee 396 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 352

+/-

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. Ryan Pulock +55 *** 24. 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 121…

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 161…

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

23. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 25. Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield 99

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 54

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 is 16-15-6-1 on the season, heading into Friday's game in Rochester. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-4th in the AHL) with 19 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (26) and points (37).   William Dufour, who made his NHL debut against Boston, now has 13 goals, and is tied-4th among AHL rookies; Dufour has points in 9 of his last 10 games.

Season Series Stats

Buffalo leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 1).  

The home team has dominated this series in recent years, winning the last ten games; overall the Isles are 1-4-1 in their last six games against Buffalo.

The Sabres will visit Long Island on both March 7th and March 25 to complete the season series. The Isles have won ten straight at home from Buffalo (three in Brooklyn, six at the Coliseum and one at UBS Arena).

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, JANUARY 21st –CAROLINA AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

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

The Isles return home to face the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night.   It is the third meeting of the season between the teams, with the road team winning each of the first two games. 

January 21st has historically been a very good day for the Isles; they have earned 37 points on this day, and have won ten consecutive games on this date.

Carolina has won four straight on Long Island, including one in overtime; the Isles are 2-5-2 in their last nine home games against the Canes.

The Isles will travel to Raleigh on April 3rd to conclude the season series.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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