The Skinny: Montreal 4, Isles 3 (OT)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 56

Montreal 4, Isles 3 (OT)

Mike Matheson scored on a breakaway with 22 seconds left in overtime as the Montreal Canadiens rallied from 2-1 and 3-2 deficits to defeat the Islanders 4-3 before a sellout crowd of 21,105 at Bell Centre. 

Brock Nelson and Bo Horvat had rallied the Isles from a 1-0 deficit for a 2-1 lead going to the 3rd period, but the Isles could not hold it for as Justin Barron and Kirby Dach sandwiched a goal by Matt Martin to erase two Islander leads in the third period.  The Isles had an overtime power play but couldn't beat Sam Montembault, setting the stage for Matheson's 2nd career overtime goal.  The goal was confirmed by the officials following a lengthy offside review.

The Isles are 27-23-6 and return home to host Ottawa for Valentine's Day game on Tuesday. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Nick Suzuki (17) Rafael Harvey-Pinard (2), Josh Anderson (6) 12:57 NYI 0,MTL 1

Brock Nelson (21) Noah Dobson (20), Sebastian Aho (10) 15:01 NYI 1,MTL 1

2nd Period

Bo Horvat (34) Noah Dobson (21), Brock Nelson (30) 19:55 NYI 2,MTL 1 PPG

3rd Period

Justin Barron (1) Evgenii Dadonov (10), Mike Hoffman (10) 04:02 NYI 2,MTL 2

Matt Martin (6) Alexander Romanov (15), Scott Mayfield (9) 10:54 NYI 3,MTL 2

Kirby Dach (12) Mike Matheson (8), Mike Hoffman (11) 16:44 NYI 3,MTL 3 

OT

Mike Matheson (2) Mike Hoffman (12) 04:38 NYI 3,MTL 4 

The Skinny    

Brock Nelson extended his point streak to a career-high ten games; it is the longest point streak by an Islander since Josh Bailey had an 11-game streak in December 2017…Nelson is the first Islander with 20 goals and 30 assists in the same season since Mathew Barzal, Jordan Eberle and John Tavares all did so in 2017-18…The Isles went 1-2 on the power play and are 4-9 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 time in the last fourteen games … The Isles have scored 33 goals in the last fifteen games (5-6-4); 17 of those goals have been scored in the first period…The Isles have been outscored 17-3 in their last seventeen third periods… The Isles' third period differential is now -1; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -17 over the last 33 games… The Isles fall to 19-3-3 when leading after two periods; their nine points lost when leading after two periods are the highest total in the NHL this season and their most since losing 10 (25-3-4) in 2014-15; they are 4-2-3 in their last nine games when leading after two periods…The Isles have scored twelve goals in the last three games after scoring only eleven goals in the prior six games… Five of the six Islander assists came from defensemen; it was the most assists for the Isles "D" since they had six (on six goals) in a win vs. Columbus last March 10th …Mike Hoffman matched his career high by assisting on the last three Canadiens goals…Bo Horvat is the first Islander to have a 3-game goal scoring streak in his first four Islander games after being acquired in a trade; three draft picks (Billy Harris, Pat LaFontaine and Scott Howson) have also done it…Montreal's defense had combined for three goals in their first 26 home games before scoring twice in this game…Matt Martin's goal was his 14th point of the season, matching the second-highest total of his career (five other times); his career high of 19 was set in 2015-16…. Noah Dobson has consecutive multi-point games after not having one since December13th in Boston…Bo Horvat's goal was the latest goal the Isles have scored in any period this season.

An American in Montreal

Brock Nelson now has 8 goals in games played in Montreal, tying John Tavares and Bryan Trottier for 2nd place behind Mike Bossy.  Bossy scored 13 times in Montreal.

 

Chasing 50

Bo Horvat has 34 goals in 53 games this season. No Islander has had at least 34 goals through the team's 56th game since Pierre Turgeon had 35 in 1992-93.  (If Horvat plays every game the rest of the season he would appear in 79 games.)

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  27-23-6 for 60 points in 56 games

• 2021-22  24-24-8 for 56 points in 56 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-5-5

• Season: 29-84-113

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 29 goals; they didn't score their 29th goal last season until  game 79 April 24th.   

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 111 career starts.  He has recorded a shutout in 13.6% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 13.5%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 422 career goals, good for 9th among actives, and tied with Owen Nolan for 85th place; Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 27-23-6 overall; they are 16-10-2 at home and 11-13-4 on the road.

Montreal is 21-27-4 overall; they are 11-14-1 at home and 10-13-3 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 15-12-4 against the East (10-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 5-7-4 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 69 games at UBS Arena and recorded 48 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 1,391

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 19-8-2 when scoring first and are 8-15-4 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles       7-10-8-5=30

Montreal  14-5-9-3=31

The Isles are 14-9-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 13-14-5 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves; he is 10-6-2 on the season and 6-1-2 vs Montreal. 

Sam Montembault made 27 saves; he is 11-10-2 on the season and 1-1-2 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-2 on the power play (2:42); Montreal was 0-2 on the power play (4:00).

The Isles are 12-9-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 15-14-4 when they do not. The Isles are 11-11-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 16-12-5 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 22-6-3 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 10-5-6 in games decided by a single goal including 6-5 in regulation. They are 4-3 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   

The next set of back-to-backs will be on February 17th vs Pittsburgh and on February 18th in Boston. The Isles are 6-5-0 in the front end and 7-3-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (24:27);  Montreal: Mike Matheson (25:37)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 22:32 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), 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), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 27, Montreal 22 (55%)

JG Pageau won 5 of 8 for the Isles; Christian Dvorak won 9 of 14 for Montreal. 

Hit Count

Isles 15 (Alexander Romanov -3)

Montreal 21 (Five with 3)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 13 (Scott Mayfield -5)

Montreal 22 (Rafael Harvey-Pinard -5)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 62, Montreal 55

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 48, Montreal 46

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Mathew Barzal +10

Montreal:  Two with +13

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 7, Montreal 15

5-on-5: Isles 7, Montreal 12

Scratches

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

Games Lost: 122

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 138th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall his streak is 139 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)

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 (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 1,045…

6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 740 *** 9. Brock Nelson 732 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 719… 

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 652 *** 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 231 *** 11. Brock Nelson 226 *** 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 254 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 212…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Alexei Yashin, Duane Sutter and Anders Lee 171

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. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 438 ***  16. Anders Lee 402 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 359

+/-

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. Noah Dobson 28

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 123…

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 79 *** 26. Scott Mayfield 77 *** 27. Noah Dobson 76

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 162…

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

23. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 25. Noah Dobson 104 *** 26. Scott Mayfield 101

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 56

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

Bridgeport spent the AHL-Star Break with a 19-18-7-1 record. They play in Lehigh Valley on Saturday night.

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.

Following their Saturday night game, the Baby Islanders next play on Friday, February 17th when they visit Hartford.

Season Series Stats

The season series is even, 1 game to 1 (the Isles have earned 3 points to Montreal's 2).   

Les Habitants' comeback deprived the Isles of a third straight win in Montreal for the first time in their history.

The teams will meet on April 12th at UBS to conclude the 82-game schedule.

UP NEXT

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14th  – OTTAWA AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

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

The Islanders head home to entertain Ottawa in the rubber match of the season series. 

The first two meetings were both in Ottawa, with the Isles winning 4-2 in November and then dropping a 2-1 decision on January 25th in what became the final game of the team's six-game winless streak.

The Isles have won five straight home games against the Sens and are 10-2-0 in their last twelve match-ups with Ottawa.

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