The Skinny: Seattle 4, Isles 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 38

Seattle 4, Isles 1

Eeli Tolvanen, making his Kraken debut, broke a 1-1 tie with a power play goal at 3:58 of the second period as the Seattle Kraken defeated the Isles 4-1 and snap New York's three-game winning streak before a before a sellout crowd of 17,151 at Climate Pledge Arena.

Mathew Barzal, playing his 400th NHL goal scored his 100th career goal for the only Islander tally. Barzal now has four goals in his 3-game goal streak; he has also scored five times in the last five games and six times in the last eight games. Ilya Sorokin, playing in his sixth straight game, made 31 saves.

The Isles fall to 21-15-2 and are now with the Penguins for the second wild card spot. The Penguins hold the spot because they have played two fewer games. The Isles head to Vancouver to continue this four-game Western swing on Tuesday. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Adam Larsson (4) Ryan Donato (5), Daniel Sprong (10) 09:53 NYI 0,SEA 1

Mathew Barzal (9) Casey Cizikas (6), Josh Bailey (10) 17:30 NYI 1,SEA 1

2nd Period

Eeli Tolvanen (3) Vince Dunn (16), Jared McCann (7) 03:58 NYI 1,SEA 2 PPG

Oliver Bjorkstrand (5) Jamie Oleksiak (4), Yanni Gourde (16) 13:04 NYI 1,SEA 3

3rd Period

Brandon Tanev (7) Vince Dunn (17), Yanni Gourde (17) 19:25 NYI 1,SEA 4 ENG

The Skinny   

The Isles did not reach 21 wins last season until March 5th (21-23-8)... The Isles have outscored the opposition 48-38 in the third period…Mathew Barzal tied Brock Nelson for the team scoring lead with 37 points…The Isles went 0-2 on the power play; they are 1-30 over the past ten games…The loss ended the Isles' three-game win streak; it was the first time since November 21-26th (4 games) that the Isles had won at least three consecutive games.  The Isles missed an opportunity to go eight games over NHL-.500 for the first time this season …After outshooting the opposition in all nine periods of the homestand, the Isles were out-shot in each period, and 35-19 for the game…Adam Larsson extended his point streak to six games with his first period goal…Yanni Gourde had a pair of assists, giving him 12 points (6-6-12) in 12 regular season games against the Isles; Gourde also scored the only goal of Tampa Bay's Game 7 win over the Isles in June 2021…It was the first time since November 11th (20 games) that Seattle allowed one goal or fewer.

 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  21-15-2 for 44 points in 38 games

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

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-0-0

• Season: 25-56-81

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

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

Zach Attack 

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

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

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Noah Dobson (27-68-95)

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

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

Home and Road

The Isles are 21-15-2 overall; they are 12-6-0 at home and 9-9-2 on the road.

Seattle is 19-12-4 overall; they are 10-8-2 at home and 9-4-2 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 9-7-1 against the West (4-6-1 vs. Central and 5-1-0 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 1,506

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,384

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 14-4-0 when scoring first and are 7-11-2 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles        6-6-7=19

Seattle     12-15-8=35

The Isles are 10-6-0 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 31 saves; he is 13-12-1 on the season and 1-1-0 vs Seattle. 

Martin Jones made 35 saves; he is 15-5-3 on the season and 4-4-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles 0-2 on the power play (4:00); Seattle was 1-2 on the power play (3:14).

The Isles are 10-8-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 11-7-2 when they do not. The Isles are 10-6-1 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 20-5-1 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: Noah Dobson (24:11);  Seattle: Adam Larsson (21:34)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 21:41 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 (4-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 36, Seattle 19 (65%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 19 of 23 for the Isles;  no Kraken who took multiple draws won more than he lost. 

Hit Count

Isles 27 (Casey Cizikas -4)

Seattle 24 (Three with 4)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 15 (Noah Dobson and Sebastian Aho -3)

Seattle 12 (Three with 3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 45, Seattle 55 

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 36, Seattle 45

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Parker Wotherspoon +6

Seattle:  Adam Larsson +15

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 10, Seattle 9

5-on-5: Isles 8, Seattle 4

Scratches

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

Games Lost: 60

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 120th 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. He has now played exactly one-half of the regular season games that his dad did for the Isles; all 240 of JP Parise's games were also played consecutively.

Noah Dobson played in his 103rd 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 1,027…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 722 *** 9. Brock Nelson 714 *** 10. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 701… 

14. Derek King 638 *** 15. Anders Lee 634 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 613

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 225 *** 11. Brock Nelson 220 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182

Assists

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

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 248 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 204…

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 424 ***  16. Anders Lee 394 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 348

+/-

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

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +74 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54   

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Mark Streit and  Ryan Pulock 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Vladimir Malakhov and Noah Dobson 27

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Roman Hamrlik 120 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 119…

18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Adam Pelech 92

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 159…

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

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 52

Shutouts

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

4. Tommy Salo 14 ***5. Ilya Sorokin 13 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport ended 2022 with a 6-3 loss to Springfield on Friday night. 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-4th in the AHL with a team-leading 17 goals, while Chis Terry leads the team in assists (22) and points (30).

Bridgeport opens 2023 by hosting Providence on both Wednesday and Saturday, with a trip to Springfield Friday sandwiched in between.

Season Series Stats

Seattle leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0).   The teams will meet again on February 7th at UBS Arena to complete the season series. 

The Isles are now 1-1-0 in their two trips to Seattle and are 1-2-0 in three all-time meetings with Seattle.

 

UP NEXT

TUESDAY, JANUARY 3rd –ISLANDERS AT VANCOUVER 10:00pm

[MSGSN (pre-game at 9:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Islanders will head about 140 miles north, and into Canada, as they visit Vancouver in the second game of a four-game road trip.

This will be the first meeting of the season between the teams; the Isles have had a lot of success at Rogers Arena in recent years, going 4-0-2 in their last six visits. Overall, the Isles have points in 11 of their last 12 meetings with Vancouver (7-1-4).

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