The Skinny: Isles 6, Vancouver 2

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 39

Isles 6, Vancouver 2

You can go home again.  Mathew Barzal scored a goal and added two assists while Parker Wotherspoon recorded his first NHL point as the Islanders overcame a 1-0 deficit for a 6-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks before a sellout crowd of 18,912 at Rogers Arena.

Barzal now has five goals in his career-best 4-game goal streak; he has also scored six times in the last six games and seven times in the last nine games. He also became the first player born in British Columbia to record points in his first eight games against the Canucks (2-10-12); Wotherspoon is also a BC native.

Ilya Sorokin, playing in his seventh straight game, made 24 saves to earn the win.  

The Isles improve to 22-15-2 and pass the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card spot. The Isles head to Edmonton and Calgary for back-to-back games to conclude this road trip and the first-half of the 82-game schedule.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Bo Horvat (27) Oliver Ekman-Larsson (15), Brock Boeser (15) 18:23 NYI 0,VAN 1

2nd Period

Aatu Raty (2) Ross Johnston (2), Matt Martin (7) 02:26 NYI 1,VAN 1

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (9) Ryan Pulock (13), Mathew Barzal (29)  12:56 NYI 2,VAN 1 PPG

Mathew Barzal (10) 16:28 NYI 3,VAN 1

Bo Horvat (28) J.T. Miller (18), Quinn Hughes (30) 18:54 NYI 3,VAN 2 PPG

3rd Period

Anders Lee (14) Brock Nelson (23) 01:46 NYI 4,VAN 2

Casey Cizikas (3) Mathew Barzal (30), Parker Wotherspoon (1) 09:44 NYI 5,VAN 2

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (10)EN Casey Cizikas (7) 17:51 NYI 6,VAN 2 SHG

The Skinny   

The Isles did not reach 22 wins last season until March 10th (22-24-8)... The Isles have outscored the opposition 51-38 in the third period…Mathew Barzal took over the team scoring lead with a three-point game; it is the first time Barzal has reached 40 points before game 40…Barzal also became the 16th player in club history to record 250 assists; he is only the second Islander in the last 28 years to have 30 assists before the 40-game mark (Josh Bailey did it in 31 games in 2017-18)…Barzal now has a team-leading 10 goals over the last 21 games... The Isles went 1-2 on the power play; they are 2-7 over the last three games but only 2-32 over the past 11 games…The Isles are 4-1-0 in their last five games, and are seven games over NHL-.500 for the third time…Parker Wotherspoon, who grew up attending Canuck games, recorded his first NHL point in his fifth NHL game…Jean-Gabriel Pageau matched a career-high with eight hits.  Pageau also scored goals on both the power play and shorthanded in the same game for the second time this season (November 23 vs. Edmonton)…Pageau now leads the team in both power play goals (5) and shorthanded goals (2)…Brock Nelson is now just five assists away from matching his career high (28)…Luke Schenn played in his 900th NHL game…Casey Cizikas scored for the third time in eleven games…The Isles have scored at least six goals four times this season after doing so only three times all last season… It was the 10th comeback win of the season for the Isles…Bo Horvat recorded his 28th multi-goal game (he has only one hat trick).

First Times in a Long Time

• Jean-Gabriel Pageau is only the second Islander to be credited with a power play goal and a shorthanded goal in the same game twice in one season.  Brent Sutter did it on January 13 and March 31, 1990.  Sutter is the only Islander to do so three times in his career; Pageau joins Patrick Flatley, Pat LaFontaine and Ziggy Palffy in the group that have done it twice.  

• Vancouver was credited with only three blocked shots; it is the first time since March 23, 201,4 that an opponent (Columbus) was credited with three or fewer.  It had not happened in an Islander road game since 2009 in New Jersey.

 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  22-15-2 for 46 points in 39 games

• 2021-22  16-17-6 for 38 points in 39 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-2-2

• Season: 25-58-83

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

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

Zach Attack 

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

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

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Noah Dobson (27-68-95)

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is now 2nd in goals and is 3rd in points. Dobson turns 23 this Saturday, January 7th.

Home and Road

The Isles are 22-15-2 overall; they are 12-6-0 at home and 10-9-2 on the road.

Vancouver is 16-18-3 overall; they are 7-10-1 at home and 9-8-2 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 12-8-1 against the East (9-4-0 vs. Metropolitan and 3-4-1 vs. Atlantic) and 10-7-1 against the West (4-6-1 vs. Central and 6-1-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 59 games at UBS Arena and recorded 40 sellouts. The sellout crowds of 17,255 are the largest indoor crowds to ever see the Islanders play at home. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,507

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,385

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 14-4-0 when scoring first and are 8-11-2 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    10-14-5=29

Vancouver 12-8-6=26

The Isles are 11-6-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-9-2 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves; he is 14-12-1 on the season and  2-0-0 vs Vancouver. 

Spencer Martin made 23 saves; he is 11-7-1 on the season and 0-1-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles 1-2 on the power play (3:42); Vancouver was 1-3 on the power play (4:25).

The Isles are 11-8-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 11-7-2 when they do not. The Isles are 11-6-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 11-9-1 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-5-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-10-1 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 7-3-2 in games decided by a single goal including 4-3 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-6 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs  

The next set of back-to-backs will be at Edmonton on January 5th and Calgary on January 6th. The Isles are 4-3-0 in the front end and 5-2-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Scott Mayfield (21:22);  Vancouver: Quinn Hughes (22:43)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 20:14 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-8-1), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-2-0), Scott Mayfield (5-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 20, Vancouver 29 (41%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 7 of 11 for the Isles;  JT Miller won 10 of 13 for Vancouver. 

Hit Count

Isles 30 (Jean-Gabriel Pageau -8)

Vancouver 22 (William Lockwood -4)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 18 (Ryan Pulock -7)

Vancouver 3 (Tyler Myers -2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 41, Vancouver 60

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 33, Vancouver 48

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Hudson Fasching +7

Vancouver:  Ethan Bear +19

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 15, Vancouver 9

5-on-5: Isles 12, Vancouver 7

Scratches

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

Games Lost: 65

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 121st consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 24th-longest active streak in the NHL.  

Noah Dobson played in his 104th consecutive Islander game.

Challenges

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

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

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

Quickies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win three times this season and have not allowed the opposition to do so.

For: Trailed 3-1, Won 5-3 vs. COL 10/29

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) vs CGY 11/7

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 at NYR 11/8

Last Minute Heroes:

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

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

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

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

Overtime Winners

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

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

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

Shootout Winners

Vs (2):  David Pastrnak vs BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @COL 12/19

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,028…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 723 *** 9. Brock Nelson 715 *** 10. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 702… 

14. Derek King 638 *** 15. Anders Lee 635 *** 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 226 *** 11. Brock Nelson 220 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 389…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 250 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 205…

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 571  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 425 ***  16. Anders Lee 395 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 351

+/-

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 and Ryan Pulock +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

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 53

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 opens 2023 by hosting Providence on both Wednesday and Saturday, with a trip to Springfield Friday sandwiched in between.  The Islanders are 14-11-5-1 on the season after having gone 1-8-1-1 in the last eleven games.

Andy Andreoff is tied-5th in the AHL with a team-leading 17 goals, while Chis Terry leads the team in assists (22) and points (30).   Cory Schneider will look to pick up where he was prior to his recall; he is 10-3-2 on the season in Bridgeport.

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0).   The teams will meet again on February 9th at UBS Arena to complete the season series. 

The Isles are now 5-0-2 in their last seven visits to Vancouver and have points in 12 of their last 13 meetings with the Canucks (8-1-4).

UP NEXT

THURSDAY, JANUARY 5th –ISLANDERS AT EDMONTON 9:00pm

[MSGSN2 (pre-game at 8:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Islanders will look to sweep a multi-game season series from the Oilers as they visit Edmonton on Thursday.  The last time the Isles beat Edmonton twice in one season was in 2002-03, when the won 4-2 at the Coliseum in November and 5-2 in Edmonton in March.

The Isles are 1-6-3 in their ten trips to Edmonton since that win in March 2003; however, they are 1-1-2 in their last four visits.  The Isles defeated Edmonton 3-0 at UBS on November 23rd; they have lost only once in regulation at home to the Oilers this century (12-1-2)

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