The Skinny: Isles 2, Philadelphia 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 53

Isles 2, Philadelphia 1

Kyle Palmieri and Mathew Barzal beat Carter Hart and that was all the Isles needed for a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers before a crowd of 18,695 at Wells Fargo Center. 

Semyon Varlamov, starting consecutive Islander games for the first time since March 31-April 1, made 25 saves to earn his second straight victory. Varlamov has stopped 106 of 110 shots in his last three games (1.31, .964).

The Isles have won three straight games for the first time since late December to improve to 26-22-5 and tie Pittsburgh for the 2nd Wild Card spot; the Penguins have played four fewer games. The Islanders head home to face the Kraken on Tuesday and Canucks on Thursday as they begin a stretch where they play 4-of-5 at home. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Kyle Palmieri (7) Josh Bailey (14), Sebastian Aho (9) 17:07 NYI 1,PHI 0 PPG

2nd Period

Mathew Barzal (13) Noah Dobson (18), Brock Nelson (28) 08:18 NYI 2,PHI 0

Nicolas Deslauriers (3) Tony DeAngelo (22), Nick Seeler (7) 10:39 NYI 2,PHI 1

3rd Period

No Goals

 

The Skinny   

Mathew Barzal scored the winning goal for the second straight game; it was his career-high 5th game-winning goal of the season…Kyle Palmieri extended his point streak to five games, which is one game shy of his personal best… Brock Nelson extended his point streak to seven games, matching a career high; it was his 28th assist of the season, also matching his career high…The Isles went 1-3 on the power play; it was their first power play goal in eleven games (1-28); they are 4-67 in the last 24 games …The Isles killed both Flyer power plays; they have killed 31 of their last 34...The Isles scored the first goal for the ninth time in the last eleven games … The Isles have scored 21 goals in the last twelve games (4-5-3); 12 of the 21 have been scored in the first period…The Isles have been outscored 12-1 in their last fourteen third periods… The Isles' third period differential remains +2; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -14 over the last 30 games…Noah Dobson set-up the winning goal; he became the 25th defenseman in club history to reach 100 points… Matt Martin had four hits, increasing his team-leading total to 202; it is his eleventh 200 hit season…The Isles have won three consecutive games for the first time since December 23rd -29th; they have scored only two goals in each game, marking the second time in club history (April 3rd -8th, 2021) that they have won three straight, scoring twice or less in each. In that 2021 stretch the Isles won two games by a 3-2 score in a shootout…It was the first Islander road win since January 3rd vs Vancouver, ending an 0-4-1 stretch…Both Scott Mayfield and Ryan Pulock played in their 399th game; they will be the 51st and 52nd Islanders to play in 400 games…Zach Parise played in his 1,195th NHL game, passing Islander assistant John MacLean on the all-time list…The Isles had 15 shots in the first period; it was their most shots in a road first period since February 11, 2022 in Edmonton.

 

Bo's Debut

Bo Horvat made his Islander debut, playing 18:44.  He had four shots, six attempts, and won 7 of 13 faceoffs.

Good Company

Noah Dobson reached 100 points in 209 games; he is the fastest Islander defenseman since Bryan Berard in 1998-99 (170 games) to do so.  Dobson joins Rasmus Dahlin and Quinn Hughes as 2018-drafted defensemen with at least 100 points.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  26-22-5 for 57 points in 53 games

• 2021-22  22-23-8 for 52 points in 53 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-2-2

• Season: 27-73-100

• 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.  The last goal by a defenseman was on January 16th (Sebastian Aho vs. Washington).

Sorokin's House

Ilya Sorokin is 23-13-6 all-time at UBS Arena. His goals against average of 2.03 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 26-22-5 overall; they are 15-9-2 at home and 11-13-3 on the road.

Philadelphia is 21-22-9 overall; they are 10-13-2 at home and 11-9-7 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 15-12-3 against the East (10-5-1 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 1,389

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 18-7-2 when scoring first and are 8-15-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    15-8-7=30

Philadelphia 7-11-8=26

The Isles are 14-9-1 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 25 saves; he is 10-6-1 on the season and 10-3-2 vs Philadelphia. 

Carter Hart made 28 saves; he is 15-15-8 on the season and 4-4-3 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-3 on the power play (5:39); Philadelphia was 0-2 on the power play (4:00).

The Isles are 12-8-1 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 15-12-4 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 5-17-3 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 10-4-5 in games decided by a single goal including 6-4 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   

This back-to-back set concludes on Tuesday vs. Seattle. The next set of back-to-backs will be on February 17th Vs Pittsburgh and on February 18th in Boston. Including tonight, the Isles are 6-5-0 in the front end and 6-3-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (22:49);  Philadelphia: Ivan Provorov (22:00)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:27 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-10-2), Adam Pelech (5-2-0), 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 23, Philadelphia 19 (55%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 8 of 12 for the Isles; Noah Cates won 8 of 14 for Philadelphia.

Hit Count

Isles 27 (Anders Lee -5)

Philadelphia 32 (Patrick Brown -5)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 19 (Adam Pelech -4)

Philadelphia 17 (Nick Seeler -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 58, Philadelphia 57

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 52, Philadelphia 48

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Hudson Fasching +12

Philadelphia:  James van Riemsdyk +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 14, Philadelphia 9

5-on-5: Isles 13, Philadelphia 8

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Cal Clutterbuck – IR), Ross Johnston, Parker Wotherspoon, Samuel Bolduc

Games Lost: 115

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 135th 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 1,042…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 737 *** 9. Brock Nelson 729 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 716… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 649 *** 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 393…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 251 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 210…

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 575  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 434 ***  16. Anders Lee 401 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 355

+/-

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 100 *** 26. Scott Mayfield 99

Wins

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

8. Glenn Healy 66 *** 9. Tommy Salo 62 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 58 *** 11. Evgeni Nabokov 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 hit the AHL-Star Break with a 19-18-7-1 record.  They are one point behind Hartford for the final playoff spot and are even in games with the Wolf Pack.

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-8th in the AHL) with 20 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (30) and points (44). William Dufour has 15 goals and is tied-4th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Ishakov is tied-2nd among AHL rookies with 22 assists.

The Baby Islanders have only seven games remaining in February; they visit Lehigh Valley Saturday in their only game until February 17th.

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 2).  The teams will meet at UBS Arena on April 8th to complete the season series.

Overall, the Isles are 10-2-0 in their last 12 meetings with Philadelphia. 

UP NEXT

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7th  –SEATTLE AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

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

Bo Horvat will make his UBS Arena debut as the Isles look for their first four-game winning streak since Thanksgiving week as they face the Pacific Division- leading Seattle Kraken.

The second year Kraken are one of the best road teams in the NHL (16-5-2) and defeated the Isles 4-1 on New Year's Day in Seattle.

Overall, the Isles are 1-2-0 in three all-time meetings with the Kraken. 

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