The Skinny: Isles 4, Pittsburgh 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 60

Isles 4, Pittsburgh 2

Bo Horvat and Anders Lee scored 1:41 apart in the third period as the Isles rallied to beat the Penguins 4-2.  Brock Nelson scored twice, the latter into an empty-net, as the Islanders overcame 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to earn the victory before 18,094 at PPG Paints Arena.  

Jake Guentzel and Jason Zucker had given Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead through 40 minutes; it is the first time Isles have ever trailed consecutive games to the Penguins after 2 periods and won them both.

The Isles improve to 29-24-7 and return home to face Winnipeg on Wednesday at 7pm. With the win, the Isles move into the 1st Wild Card spot; they are one point ahead of Florida; two ahead of Pittsburgh and three ahead of Washington.  

The Scoring:

1st Period

Jake Guentzel (24) Sidney Crosby (43), Rickard Rakell (19) 06:12 NYI 0,PIT 1

2nd Period

Brock Nelson (25) Zach Parise (8) 05:19 NYI 1,PIT 1

Jason Zucker (15) Jeff Petry (16), Kasperi Kapanen (13) 12:26 NYI 1,PIT 2 PPG

3rd Period

Bo Horvat (35) Hudson Fasching (3) 08:34 NYI 2,PIT 2

Anders Lee (22) Matt Martin (10), Bo Horvat (25) 10:15 NYI 3,PIT 2

Brock Nelson (26)EN Zach Parise (9) 19:35 NYI 4,PIT 2

The Skinny    

Brock Nelson now has seven goals in his last six games, and points in 13 of his last 14 games; Nelson's two points gave him 444, passing Billy Harris (443) for 14th all-time… Ilya Sorokin made 44 saves for his 58th career win, tying his net-mate, Semyon Varlamov for 10th in club history; he has beaten the Penguins three times this season, stopping 104 of 111 shots...Sorokin is now 5-0-1 when making at least 43 saves, losing only in a shootout to Colorado following a 0-0 score…The Isles went 0-3 on the power play and are 6-22 on the power play since the All-Star Break, after hitting the break having gone 3-prior 64… The Isles allowed the first goal for the third straight game… The Isles have scored 46 goals in the last nineteen games (7-7-5); 18 of those goals have been scored in the first period…The Isles outscored Pittsburgh and Boston 3-0 this weekend in the third period… The Isles' third period differential improves to +5; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -11 over the last 37 games …Pittsburgh is 0-6-3 in their last nine games against the Metropolitan Division (longest streak in Crosby era) and fall to 18-4-4 when leading after two periods; the eight losses when leading after 40 minutes lead the NHL... Sidney Crosby's assist was his 131st point against the Isles, matching Mario Lemieux for 2nd place all-time behind Jaromir Jagr's 155…Brock Nelson reached the 25-goal mark for the fifth time; he is the 8th player in club history to do so…Zach Parise is 23-25-48 in 60 career games with Pittsburgh… Noah Dobson saw his career-best five-game assist streak (1-6-7) come to an end...The Isles are 12-5-1 in divisional play; of the other Metro teams only Carolina (15-4-1 in division) has a better record in divisional games.  Eight of the Isles' remaining 22 games are against division foes (three vs. Washington and one against the other Metro teams except the Rangers).

First Times in a Long Time

• Arnaud Durandeau is the 6th Islander to make his NHL debut this season.  It's the first time since 2013-14 (9) that at least six players made their NHL debut.   The last time it happened before the trade deadline was in 2008-09, when eight players did so.

• Anders Lee has five goals against the Penguins this season; he is the first Islander to do so since Viktor Kozlov, who had five in 2006-07 (8 GP).  Excluding the 2020-21 56-game season, Lee is the first player since Tomas Hertl (five goals in two games) in 2018-19 to score five goals against Pittsburgh in one season.

Comeback Kids

This was the Isles' 7th third period comeback this season. Only Vegas (9), Tampa Bay (8) and Vancouver (8) have more.

Brock-Even

Brock Nelson now has four seasons with at least 20-plus even-strength goals in the last five years.  Five other familiar names are the only other players to do so: Connor McDavid (5x), Auston Matthews/Brad Marchand/Alex Ovechkin/David Pastrnak (4x each).

Heavy Hitters

Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are now 1-2 all-time in hits:

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,692

2. Matt Martin 3,637

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  29-24-7 for 65 points in 60 games

• 2021-22  26-25-9 for 61 points in 59 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-0-0

• Season: 30-92-122

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 30 goals; they didn't score their 30th  goal last season until game 80 on April 26th.   

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 113 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 13.3% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 13.3%

• 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 29-24-7 overall; they are 17-10-3 at home and 12-14-4 on the road.

Pittsburgh is 27-20-9 overall; they are 15-8-4 at home and 12-12-5 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 12-11-2 against the West (4-7-2 vs. Central and 8-4-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 71 games at UBS Arena and recorded 49 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,518

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,392

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 19-8-3 when scoring first and are 10-16-4 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles         7-17-8=32

Pittsburgh 19-18-9=46

The Isles are 14-10-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 15-14-5 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 44 saves; he is 19-17-5 on the season and 5-3-0 vs Pittsburgh. 

Tristan Jarry made 28 saves; he is 16-6-5 on the season and 10-3-0 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (6:00); Pittsburgh was 1-4 on the power play (7:48).

The Isles are 13-9-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 16-15-4 when they do not. The Isles are 12-12-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 17-12-5 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 24-6-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 5-18-4 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 12-5-7 in games decided by a single goal including 8-5 in regulation. They are 4-3 in games decided in overtime and are 0-4 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: Bo Horvat (22:05);  Pittsburgh: Jeff Petry (24:17)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 22:05 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-11-2), Adam Pelech (5-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-1-2), 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 35, Pittsburgh 21 (62%)

Casey Cizikas won 12 of 17 for the Isles; no Penguin won more than he lost. 

Hit Count

Isles 29 (Alexander Romanov -4)

Pittsburgh 30 (Josh Archibald -5)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 15 (Sebastian Aho and Zach Parise -3)

Pittsburgh 23 (Brian Dumoulin -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 66, Pittsburgh 77

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 51, Pittsburgh 59

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Scott Mayfield +7

Pittsburgh:  Bryan Rust +8

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 16, Pittsburgh 19

5-on-5: Isles 12, Pittsburgh 12

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Cal Clutterbuck – IR), (Jean-Gabriel Pageau-IR), (Josh Bailey- INJ), (Mathew Barzal-INJ), Parker Wotherspoon

Games Lost: 137

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 142nd  consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 143 games, making it the 19th-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 (4):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

Tim Stutzle Vs OTT 2/14

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,047…

6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 744 *** 9. Brock Nelson 736 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 723… 

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 656 *** 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 231 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182…

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 213…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Anders Lee 173

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 576  …

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 444 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 407 *** 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 +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. Ryan Pulock 41 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 28

Defense Assists

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

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 124…

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 Lachance and Noah Dobson 79 *** 27. Scott Mayfield 78

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 165…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey and Adam Pelech 117...20. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 21. Radek Martinek 109 *** 22. Dave Langevin 109 ***23. Noah Dobson 107 *** 24. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 26. Scott Mayfield 102

Wins

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

8. Glenn Healy 66 *** 9. Tommy Salo 62 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov and Ilya Sorokin 58

Shutouts

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 15 *** 5. Tommy Salo 14 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Chris Terry and Ruslan Iskhakov scored first period goals and Jakub Skarek made 30 saves as Bridgeport defeated Lehigh Valley 2-1 to improve to 22-19-7-1 on the season and solidify their hold on the final playoff spot in the Northeast Division.

Andy Andreoff (on recall to the Isles) leads the team with 20 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (33) and points (49). William Dufour has 16 goals and is tied-7th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is 2nd among AHL rookies with 27 assists and is 6th among rookies with 38 points.

Bridgeport begins a six-game homestand on Thursday against Belleville.

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 3 games to 0 (and 6 points to 0). The Isles return to Pittsburgh on March 9th as they look to sweep the season series vs. the Penguins for the first time.

The win snapped an 0-5-0 streak in Pittsburgh, despite the Isles being held scoreless in the first period in Pittsburgh for the 7th straight game.

UP NEXT

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd  –WINNIPEG AT ISLANDERS 7:00pm

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

The Isles return home to face the Winnipeg Jets for the first time this season.  

Last season the Isles swept both games vs. the Jets as Anders Lee had the winning goal in both games.  Lee has 14 goals in 16 career games against the Jets.  Overall, the Isles have won five straight games against Winnipeg.

The teams will meet again in Manitoba on Sunday afternoon to close out their 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