"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 64
Minnesota 2, Isles 1
Josh Bailey and Ryan Reaves scored 3:45 apart in the first period but that was the only scoring until Frederick Gaudreau scored the only goal of the shootout as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Isles 2-1 before a crowd of 18,431 at Xcel Energy Center.
Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves for the Isles while Filip Gustavsson stopped 39 of 40 for Minnesota.
The Isles are 31-25-8 and head home for games against Detroit on Saturday afternoon and Buffalo on Tuesday. The Isles still hold the 1st Wild Card spot; they are one point ahead of Pittsburgh and four points ahead of Buffalo and Florida.
The Scoring:
1st Period
Josh Bailey (7) Scott Mayfield (12), Otto Koivula (1) 14:15 NYI 1,MIN 0
Ryan Reaves (1) Jordan Greenway (5) 18:00 NYI 1,MIN 1
2nd Period
No Goals
3rd Period
No Goals
OT
No Goals
The Shootout:
Mats Zuccarello (NG)/Simon Holmstrom (NG)
Kirill Kaprizov (NG)/Bo Horvat (NG)
Frederick Gaudreau (G/GDG)/ Kyle Palmieri (NG)
Minnesota is 7-3 in shootouts while the Isles are 0-5...Frederik Gaudreau now leads the NHL with six shootout goals this season (6-10); he is 7-12 in his career…It was Gaudreau's second career game-deciding goal…The Isles have lost 12 of their last 14 shootouts…The was only the third-ever shootout between these teams; Zach Parise had the deciding goal in Minnesota's other victory (Frans Nielsen has the only one for the Isles.). The Isles have scored only once in the shootout this season and their shooters are 5-47 over the last two seasons.
The Skinny
The Isles are 8-3-3 in their last 14 games and 3-1-2 in their last six road games…Brock Nelson was held pointless for only the second time in the last 18 games. … The Isles have outscored the opposition 9-0 in their last seven third periods… The Isles' third period differential remains +8; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games, -17 over the next 34 games but are +9 over the last seven games … The Isles did not have a power play attempt for the first time since March 3, 2022, vs. Vancouver…Josh Bailey scored for the first time in 24 games (December 27 vs. Pittsburgh) while Ryan Reaves' goal was his first in 53 games…Zach Parise matched a season high with eight shots on goal…The Isles reached 40 shots on goal for the 10th time this season, but the first time on the road.
Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are now 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,692
2. Matt Martin 3,648
Last Year vs. This Year
· 2022-23 31-25-8 for 70 points in 64 games
· 2021-22 28-27-9 for 65 points in 64 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.
Offense from Defense
· Today: 0-1-1
· Season: 35-95-130
· Last Season (Final) 32-128-160
The Islander defense have scored 35 goals, three more than they did last season and the most that they have scored since tallying 39 goals in 2017-18. The Isles are fourth in the NHL in defense goals, and are second in the NHL in percent of goals scored by their defense (19.0%).
Best of the Best
Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 115 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.9% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:
· Ilya Sorokin 12.9%
· Roman Cechmanek 12.2%
· Ken Dryden 11.8%
· Dominik Hasek 11.3%
Zach Attack
Zach Parise has 423 career goals, good for 9th among actives and 85th all-time. Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.
Home and Road
The Isles are 31-25-8 overall; they are 18-11-3 at home and 12-14-5 on the road.
Minnesota is 33-21-7 overall; they are 21-10-2 at home and 13-11-4 on the road.
East and West
The Isles are 17-13-5 against the East (12-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 5-8-5 vs. Atlantic) and 14-12-3 against the West (6-7-3 vs. Central and 8-5-0 vs. Pacific).
Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 73 games at UBS Arena and recorded 51 sellouts of 17,255.
Sweet Lou
Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:
1. David Poile 1,520
2. Lou Lamoriello 1,394
3. Glen Sather 1,319
First Things First
The Isles are 21-8-4 when scoring first and are 10-17-4 when allowing the opening goal.
The Shots
Isles 15-6-14-5=40
Minnesota 15-8-6-2=31
The Isles are 15-10-3 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 16-15-5 when they are outshot.
In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves; he is 20-18-6 on the season and 0-2-1 vs. Minnesota. He is 4-9 all-time in shootouts.
Filip Gustavsson made 39 saves; he is 16-8-3 on the season and 2-1-0 vs. the Isles. He is 6-3 all-time in shootouts.
Special Teams
The Isles did not have a power play; Minnesota was 0-1 on the power play (2:00).
The Isles are 13-10-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 18-15-5 when they do not. The Isles are 13-12-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 18-13-6 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 25-6-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 6-19-5 when they do not.
One-Goal Games
The Isles are 13-6-8 in games decided by a single goal including 9-6 in regulation. They are 4-3 in games decided in overtime and are 0-5 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 March 14th in Los Angeles and on March 15th in Anaheim. The Isles are 7-5-0 in the front end and 7-4-1 in the back end.
Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Scott Mayfield (25:02); Minnesota: Kirill Kaprizov (24:21)
Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 23:51 of ice-time.
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-12-2), Adam Pelech (6-2-0), Ryan Pulock (6-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-1-3), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Bo Horvat (2-0-1), Tied (0-1-0).
Face-offs
Isles 25, Minnesota 17 (60%)
Bo Horvat won 14 of 17 for the Isles; Connor Dewar won 3 of 4 for Minnesota.
Hit Count
Isles 27 (Casey Cizikas -4)
Minnesota 26 (Two with 3)
Fights
Ross Johnston fought Ryan Reaves in the 2nd period. Season total: 16 (Martin-6, Johnston-3, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Cizikas, Romanov, Martin)
Blocked Shots
Isles 16 (Scott Mayfield -3)
Minnesota 13 (Alex Goligoski -3)
For the Analytics Crowd
Corsi: All situations: Isles 63, Minnesota 56
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 55, Minnesota 46
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Simon Holmstrom +15
Minnesota: Jake Middleton +7
High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 16, Minnesota 11
5-on-5: Isles 13, Minnesota 9
Scratches
Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Cal Clutterbuck – IR), (Jean-Gabriel Pageau-IR), (Mathew Barzal-INJ), Parker Wotherspoon, Arnaud Durandeau
Games Lost: 156
The Ironman
Zach Parise played in his 146th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 147 games, making it the 16th-longest active streak in the NHL.
Challenges
Isles: 1 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3
Opponents: 2 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27, VAN goalie interference 2/9
League reviews: 5 (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), MTL goal (Matheson) 2/11-stood.
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 allowed the opposition to do so once.
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
Vs Led 4-2, Lost 6-5 vs VAN 2/9
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)
Zach Parise Vs PIT 2/17 (17:17; GW)
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. (3): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)
Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)
Mike Matheson @ MTL 2/11 (4:38)
Shootout Winners
Vs (5): David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13
Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19
Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10
Tim Stutzle Vs OTT 2/14
Frederick Gaudreau @MIN 2/28
All-time Islander Leader Boards:
Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,049…
6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 748 *** 9. Brock Nelson 740 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 727…
12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 660 *** 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 …
8. Bob Bourne 238 *** 9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 234 *** 11. Brock Nelson 232 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206 *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 183…
28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29 Mathew Barzal, Benoit Hogue, and Ed Westfall 105
Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 394…
13. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 14. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 15. Billy Harris 259 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 257 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 215…
23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Anders Lee 174
Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
6. Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 577 …
13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 447 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 *** 16. Anders Lee 408 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 362
+/-
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. Ryan Pulock 41 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 29
Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…
8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 125…
15. Bryan Berard 100 *** 16. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 17. Johnny Boychuk 96 *** 18. Adam Pelech, Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95…
24. Adrian Aucoin 80 *** 25. Scott Mayfield 80 *** 26. Scott Lachance and Noah Dobson 79
Defense Points
1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…
8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 166…
17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Adam Pelech 119 *** 19. Thomas Hickey 117...20. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 21. Radek Martinek 109 *** 22. Dave Langevin 109 ***23. Noah Dobson 108 *** 24. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 26. Scott Mayfield 104
Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
8. Glenn Healy 66 *** 9. Tommy Salo 62 *** 10. Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov 59
Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 16 …
4. Ilya Sorokin 15 *** 5. Tommy Salo 14 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov 13
On the Farm
Bridgeport is 23-21-7-1 on the season and 1-2-0-0 on their season-long six game home stand.
Andreoff leads the team with 21 goals, while Terry continues to lead in assists (33) and points (50). William Dufour has 19 goals, which is tied-3rd among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is 3rd among AHL rookies with 27 assists and is tied-4th among rookies with 40 points.
Bridgeport plays at home on Thursday vs. Providence, Saturday vs. Hartford, and Sunday vs. Springfield.
Season Series Stats
Minnesota wins the season series, 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 1). It's the second straight season the Wild have beaten the Isles twice.
This has been a streaky series since the Wild entered the NHL:
· Minnesota won the first three,
· Isles won the next three,
· Minnesota won the next five,
· Isles won the next four,
· Minnesota won the next three,
· Isles won the next three,
· Minnesota won the next three,
· Isles won the next three,
· Minnesota won the last four.
UP NEXT
SATURDAY, MARCH 4th –DETROIT AT ISLANDERS 12:30pm
[MSGSN (Pre-game at 12:00), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]
The Isles begin a stretch of four games against teams chasing them as they host Detroit in the only home matinee of the 2022-23 season.
It is the rubber meeting of the season between the teams, with Ville Husso and Ilya Sorokin trading shutout on home ice.
The Isles have won six straight home games against the Red Wings, outscoring Detroit 19-5 over the last four wins.
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