The Skinny on the Wild Card Race (thru games of Friday, March 31st)

Friday's results:  NYR 2 at BUF 3 (OT),   Winnipeg beat Detroit 6-2

The Wild Card Race

1. Isles 87 points (33 regulation wins) in 76 games (Saturday at Tampa Bay, Sunday at Carolina)

2. Pittsburgh 84 points (28 RWs) in 75 games (Saturday vs Boston, Sunday vs. Philadelphia)

3. Florida 83 points (32 RWs) in 76 games (Saturday at Columbus, Tuesday vs. Buffalo)

4. Buffalo 79 points (27 RWs) in 74 games (Saturday at Philadelphia, Tuesday at Florida)

5. Ottawa 79 points (29 RWs) in 75 games (Saturday vs Toronto, Sunday at Columbus, Tuesday at Carolina)

6. Washington 77 points (26 RWs) in 76 games (Sunday vs Rangers)

Isn't it Magic?

Pittsburgh can reach 98 points if they win their last seven games while Florida can reach 95 if they win their final six games and Buffalo can do so if they win their final eight.  That makes the Isles' Magic number 9 over Florida and Buffalo and 12 over Pittsburgh.  

Islander clinching numbers vs. other East Conference teams:  PHL (1), DET (2), WAS (2), OTT (7), BUF (9).

The Isles have clinched at least 14th place in the East, as CBJ and MTL cannot catch the Isles.  With one more win, they will clinch at least 11th in the East.  They will clinch a playoff spot by guaranteeing a finish above eight other Eastern Conference teams, and they will clinch the top wild card if they guarantee themselves a finish above nine other teams.

 Saturday's Scenarios

The Isles can clinch at least 11th place with a victory.  They can lower their magic number for clinching a playoff spot to as low as 5, with a victory in Tampa Bay and regulation losses by both Buffalo and Pittsburgh.

The Skinny: Isles 2, Washington 1 (SO)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 76

Isles 2, Washington 1 (SO)

The Islanders won a shootout! Bo Horvat and Kyle Palmieri both scored in the skills competition as the Islanders earned a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals before a sellout crowd of 18,573 at Capital One Arena.  It was the first Islander win in six shootouts this season.

Pierre Engvall and Conor Sheary scored 2:30 apart in the second period for the game's only tallies. Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves for his 28th victory of the season.

The Isles improve to 39-28-9 and are now a season-high 11 games over .500, heading into a back-to-back in Tampa Bay on Saturday and Carolina on Sunday.  The Isles remain in the first Wild Card; they are five points ahead of Pittsburgh and six points ahead of Florida.  Pittsburgh has eight games to play, Florida has seven games left and the Isles have six.  Their magic number to clinch a playoff spot is now 9 (over both Buffalo and Florida). 

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

Pierre Engvall (17) Brock Nelson (37), Alexander Romanov (20) 03:52 NYI 1,WSH 0

Conor Sheary (15) 06:22 NYI 1,WSH 1

3rd Period

No Goals

OT

No Goals

The Shootout

Evgeny Kuznetsov (G)/ Bo Horvat (G)

T.J. Oshie (NG)/ Kyle Palmieri (G/GDG)

Nicklas Backstrom (NG)

The Isles improve to 1-5 in shootouts while Washington is 2-4… Kyle Palmieri was credited with his fifth game-deciding goal; Palmieri also had the winning goal in the last Islander shootout win (April 12, 2022 in Pittsburgh)…The Isles had scored just one goal in a shootout this season prior to tonight…Ilya Sorokin is 1-4 this season and 5-9 in his career in shootouts…It is the 89th shootout win in Islander history, which extends their NHL record (Pittsburgh and the Rangers have won 87) and ends a seven-game losing streak in shootouts with Washington (dating back to an Islander win on February 20, 2008 with Rick DiPietro in goal) and is only the third Islander win in their last 15 shootouts overall.

The Skinny    

The Isles are 16-6-4 in their last 26 games and 6-2-4 in their last twelve road games; the Isles are 17-15-6 on the road…. The Isles have outscored the opposition 30-9 over the last 19 third periods … The Isles' third period differential improves to +20; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games, -17 over the next 34 games but are +21 the last nineteen games … Pierre Engvall has five goals in the last nine games; he now has 47 career goals, the most of any active NHL player without a multi-goal game… The Isles earned their 87th point, three more than they had all last season… Ilya Sorokin earned his 67th win in his 130th game, breaking ties with Glenn Healy for 8th place in wins and with Mark Fitzpatrick for 11th in games played…Brock Nelson played in his 752nd career game, matching Mike Bossy for 8th place in game played; he now has ten more points this season than in any previous year…The Isles improve to 114 games over NHL-.500 for the first time since March 30, 1996 (27 years ago tomorrow)…The Isles went 8-3-1 in March, including 8-1-1 with Ilya Sorokin in goal.  Only Edmonton's Stuart Skinner (9-1-1) has more wins in March than Sorokin.

Fit to Be Tied

This game was tied for 62:30.  Ilya Sorokin has now played an NHL-leading 1381:35 in tied games (the equivalent of 23 complete games).  Sorokin remains 3rd in the NHL in goals against and 4th in save percentage, with Linus Ullmark the leader in both categories.  The Boston netminder has spent 932:11 in tied games, almost exactly two-thirds of Sorokin.

The Wild Card Race

1. Isles 87 points (33 regulation wins) in 76 games (Saturday at Tampa Bay)

2. Pittsburgh 82 points (27 RWs) in 74 games (Thursday vs. Nashville)

3. Florida 81 points (31 RWs) in 75 games (Thursday at Montreal)

4. Buffalo 77 points (27 RWs) in 73 games (Friday vs. NY Rangers)

5. Ottawa 77 points (29 RWs) in 74 games (Thursday vs. Philadelphia)

6. Washington 77 points (26 RWs) in 75 games (Thursday at Tampa Bay)

Isn't it Magic?

Pittsburgh can reach 98 points if they win their last eight games while Florida can reach 95 if they win their final seven games and Buffalo can do so if they win their final nine.  That makes the Isles' Magic number 9 over Florida and Buffalo and 12 over Pittsburgh.  

Islander clinching numbers vs. other East Conference teams:  PHL (2), DET (5), WAS (4), OTT (7), BUF (9).

The Isles have clinched at least 14th place in the East, as CBJ and MTL cannot catch the Isles  They will clinch a playoff spot by guaranteeing a finish above eight other Eastern Conference teams, and they will clinch the top wild card if they guarantee themselves a finish above nine other teams.

 

One at a Time (courtesy NHL)

Forwards with the most career regular-season goals and no multi-goal games, NHL history:

54 – Mike Sullivan

53 – Chris Thorburn

48 – Peter Marsh

47 – Pierre Engvall

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,731

2. Matt Martin 3,685

Martin had three hits in this game, giving him 277 for the season.  He needs 23 to record his sixth 300 hit season (5th for the Isles). Martin (7) and Clutterbuck (3) have combined for the 10-biggest hits seasons in Isles history in the Real-Time era, which began in 2005-06. 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  39-28-9 for 87 points in 76 games

• 2021-22  35-31-10 for 80 points in 76 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-1-1

• Season: 37-119-156

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 37 goals, which is the most that they have scored since tallying 39 goals in 2017-18.  The 160 points that they recorded last season was their most since 2017-18 (171).

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 124 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.1% of his starts, which is the second-highest in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ilya Sorokin 12.1%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has scored 429 career goals, good for ninth among actives. He has tied Bill Guerin for 81st place; Jeff Carter, Joe Thornton and Alex Kovalev are next with 430 goals. 

Active NHLers:  8th-11th in goals

8. Jeff Carter 430

9. Zach Parise 429

10. Patrice Bergeron 427

11. John Tavares 423

Home and Road

The Isles are 39-28-9 overall; they are 22-13-3 at home and 17-15-6 on the road.

Washington is 34-32-9 overall; they are 17-14-6 at home and 17-18-3 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 23-15-6 against the East (15-6-2 vs. Metropolitan and 8-9-4 vs. Atlantic) and 16-13-3 against the West (6-7-3 vs. Central and 10-6-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 79 games at UBS Arena and recorded 57 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,528

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,402

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 24-10-5 when scoring first and are 15-18-3 when allowing the opening goal; they are 0-0-1 when a shootout produces the game's only goal.  

The club record for wins after allowing the first goal is 18, set in 2014-15. The 2014-15 season is one of only three times in club history that the Isles have had at least a .500 record when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles         3-8-15-3=29

Washington 7-10-5-4=26

The Isles are 22-10-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 17-18-5 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Ilys Sorokin made 25 saves; he is 28-19-7 on the season and 2-2-1 vs. Washington. 

Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves; he is 21-23-6 on the season and 4-4-2 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-1 on the power play (0:29); Washington did not have a power play.

The Isles are 16-10-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 23-18-5 when they do not. The Isles are 15-12-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 24-15-6 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 32-6-4 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 7-22-5 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 15-6-9 in games decided by a single goal including 9-6 in regulation. They are 5-4 in games decided in overtime and are 1-5 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-8 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     

The final set of back-to-backs will be on April 1st in Tampa Bay and April 2nd in Carolina. The Isles are 7-6-1 in the front end and 8-4-2 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (26:00);  Washington: John Carlson (24:20)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 19:23 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-12-2), Adam Pelech (11-3-0), Ryan Pulock (7-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-1-4), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Bo Horvat (4-2-1), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 31, Washington 26 (54%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 13 of 17 for the Isles; Nicklaus Backstrom won 10 of 15 for Washington.

Hit Count

Isles 24 (Scott Mayfield and Jean-Gabriel Pageau -4)

Washington 27 (Alex Ovechkin and Martin Fehervary -5)

Fights 

None. Season total: 17 (Martin-7, Johnston-3, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Cizikas, Romanov, Mayfield)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 15 (Four with 2)

Washington 27 (Three with 4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 64, Washington 51 (including 26-9 in the 3rd period)

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 58, Washington 42

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Adam Pelech +13

Washington: Two with +4

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 9, Washington 7

5-on-5: Isles 7, Washington 5

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Mathew Barzal-INJ), Parker Wotherspoon, Ross Johnston, Josh Bailey, (Sebastian Aho-INJ)

Games Lost: 194

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 158th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 159 games, making it the 15th-longest active streak in the NHL.  Anders Lee extended his streak to 106 games.   (Scott Mayfield, Ryan Pulock and Brock Nelson are the other Islanders to appear in every game this season.)

Challenges

Isles: 2 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3, CBJ goalie interference 3/24

Opponents: 2 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27, VAN goalie interference 2/9

League reviews: 7 (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; Isles goal – Fasching vs BUF 3/7 -awarded; NJD no goal 3/27-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 four times this season and have allowed the opposition to do so once.

For (4): 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

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) at PIT 3/9

Vs (1):  Led 4-2, Lost 6-5 vs VAN 2/9

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored four goals and have allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(4): 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)

Anders Lee @ PIT 3/9 (18:45; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (5): 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)

Brock Nelson @ PIT 3/9 (2:13)

Vs. (4): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Mike Matheson @ MTL 2/11 (4:38)

Boone Jenner @ CBJ 3/24 (0:40

Shootout Winners

For (1): Kyle Palmieri @ WAS 3/29

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 1,055…

6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Matt Martin 760 *** 8. Mike Bossy and Brock Nelson 752 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 739…

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. Anders Lee 672 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Cal Clutterbuck 630

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Anders Lee 239 *** 9. Bob Bourne 238 *** 10. Brock Nelson 237 *** 11. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris and Josh Bailey 184…

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 396…

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 219…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Anders Lee 176

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 580  …

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 456 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 415 *** 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. Adam Pelech +79 ***  17. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Ryan Pulock +55 *** 24. 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 42 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 30

Defense Assists

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

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 128…

15. Bryan Berard 100 *** 16. Vladimir Malakhov and Adam Pelech 98…  

21. Ken Morrow 88 *** 22. Bert Marshall 87 *** 23. Radek Martinek and Noah Dobson 85 *** 25. Scott Mayfield 83

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 170…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Adam Pelech 122 *** 19. Thomas Hickey 117*** 20. Noah Dobson 115 *** 21. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 22. Radek Martinek 109 *** 23. Scott Mayfield 108

Goalie Games

1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 …

9. Roland Melanson 136 *** 10 Semyon Varlamov 134 *** 11. Ilya Sorokin 130

Wins

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

7. Roland Melanson 77 *** 8. Ilya Sorokin 67 *** 9. Glenn Healy 66 *** 10. Tommy Salo 62 *** 11. 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 dropped a 4-1 decision in Hartford on Wednesday to fall to 30-26-7-1 on the season; they are now one point behind the Wolf Pack for the final playoff spot.  Bridgeport has eight games to play while Hartford has 7.

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is 2nd in the AHL) with 31 goals, while Chris Terry continues to lead in assists (43) and points (62); his 62 points are tied-7th in the AHL with his 43 assists are 6th. William Dufour has 20 goals, which is tied-10th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is tied-2nd among AHL rookies with 32 assists and is tied-2nd among all rookies with 49 points.

Bridgeport visits Providence on Saturday night and hosts Lehigh Valley on Sunday afternoon. 

Season Series Stats

Washington leads the season series, 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 3).

This was only the Isles' third win in their last ten games with Washington (3-4-3) and just their second in DC in their last seven trips (2-4-1).

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, APRIL 1st -  ISLANDERS AT TAMPA BAY 7:00pm

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

The Isles have just six games remaining and two of them will be against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The teams have met just once this season, with the Lightning earning a 5-3 win on October 22nd in the Isles' first road game of the season.

The Isles have lost five straight regular season games to the Lightning since defeating the Bolts 5-1 at Amalie Arena on December 9, 2019, and have been out-scored 22-10 in that span.

Tampa Bay will make their only appearance at UBS Arena on Thursday.

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

The Skinny on the Wild Card Race (thru games of March 28, 2023)

Tuesday's results:  Pittsburgh 4 at Detroit 7

                                Montreal 2 at Philadelphia 3

The Wild Card Race

1. Isles 85 points (33 regulation wins) in 75 games (Wednesday at Washington, Saturday at Tampa Bay)

2. Pittsburgh 82 points (27 RWs) in 74 games (Thursday vs. Nashville)

3. Florida 79 points (31 RWs) in 74 games (Wednesday at Toronto)

4. Buffalo 77 points (27 RWs) in 73 games (Friday vs. NY Rangers)

5. Ottawa 77 points (29 RWs) in 74 games (Thursday vs. Philadelphia)

6. Washington 76 points (26 RWs) in 74 games (Wednesday vs Isles, Thursday at Tampa Bay)

Isn't it Magic?

Pittsburgh can reach 98 points if they win their last eight games while Florida can reach 95 if they win their final eight games and Buffalo can do so if they win their final nine.  That makes the Isles' Magic number 11 over Florida and Buffalo and 14 over Pittsburgh. (The Isles can reach 99 so Pittsburgh’s Magic number to finish in the first Wild Card is 18, meaning the Isles once again control their own destiny for the top wild card.)

Islander clinching numbers vs. other East Conference teams:  PHL (4), DET (7), WAS (8), OTT (9), BUF (11).

The Isles have clinched at least 14th place in the East, as CBJ and MTL cannot catch the Isles  They will clinch a playoff spot by guaranteeing a finish above eight other Eastern Conference teams, and they will clinch the top wild card if they guarantee themselves a finish above nine other teams.

Wednesday's Impact

The Isles visit Washington on Wednesday night; if the Isles will in Regulation or in Overtime, they will be assured of the tie-breaker with Washington.  It would lower their magic number vs. Washington to 3 (regulation win) or 4 (overtime win).

An Islander win would lower their magic number for clinching a playoff spot to 9; an overtime or shootout loss would lower the number to 10.  Florida is the only other team in the playoff race in action on Wednesday, but if Florida does not beat Toronto, their magic number would be lower than idle Buffalo's, so it can't go lower than nine on Wednesday.

The Skinny: Isles 5, New Jersey 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 75

Isles 5, New Jersey 1

Kyle Palmier scored twice and added an assist and Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves as the Islanders defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-1 before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.

Bo Horvat and Zach Parise (the latter shorthanded) each hit the empty net in the final 1:02 to hand the Devils their first loss by at least four goals all season. 

The Isles improve to 38-28-9 as they begin a stretch of three road games in Washington on Wednesday. The Isles remain in the first Wild Card; they are three points ahead of Pittsburgh and six points ahead of Florida.  Pittsburgh has nine games to play, Florida has eight games left and the Isles have seven.  Their magic number to clinch a playoff spot is now 11 (over both Buffalo and Florida). 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Pierre Engvall (16) Kyle Palmieri (16), Scott Mayfield (16) 07:37 NJD 0,NYI 1 

2nd Period 

Erik Haula (9) 06:15 NJD 1,NYI 1 SHG

Kyle Palmieri (14) Brock Nelson (36) 14:21 NJD 1,NYI 2

3rd Period

Kyle Palmieri (15) 15:25 NJD 1,NYI 3

Bo Horvat (37)EN Casey Cizikas (15), Anders Lee (22) 18:58 NJD 1,NYI 4

Zach Parise (21)EN Jean-Gabriel Pageau (24) 19:59 NJD 1,NYI 5 SHG

The Skinny    

The Isles are 15-6-4 in their last 25 games and 10-4-0 in their last fourteen home games…. The Isles have outscored the opposition 30-9 over the last 18 third periods … The Isles' third period differential improves to +20; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games, -17 over the next 34 games but are +21 the last eighteen games … Pierre Engvall's goal ended an Isles scoreless streak at 80:17… The Isles earned their 85th point, one more than they had all last season…The Isles denied the Devils of their NHL-leading 27th comeback win and also stopped them from tying Boston for the most road wins in the NHL (27)…Ilya Sorokin earned his 66th win in his 129th game; he is now tied with Glenn Healy for 8th place in wins and tied with Mark Fitzpatrick for 11th in games played…Brock Nelson played in his 751st career game; he will tie Mike Bossy for 8th place in game played with his next appearance…Kyle Palmieri has matched last season's goal total (15); he played 69 games last season and has played 48 this season. Palmieri now has ten points in the last six games (5-5-10)…Zach Parise's late empty-netter handed the Devils their first loss of the season by at least four games…Parise now has two shorthanded goals in consecutive seasons for the first time in his NHL career…Anders Lee is now one point shy of his fourth 50-point season, and one assist shy of his career high…Bo Horvat scored for the first time in 12 games… The Isles scored and allowed a shorthanded goal for the first time since November 5, 2019, vs. Ottawa (fondly remembered as the Cole Bardreau game)….The Isles ended Nico Hischier's point streak at five games and Jesper Bratt's at four games.

First Time in a Ridiculously Long Time

• The Isles are +21 over the last eighteen third periods; it is the first time that has happened in a single season since the end of the 1983-84 season – the most recent 18 regular season games that the Isles have played as Stanley Cup champions.

 

First Time in a Long Time

• The Isles scored two empty-net goals in a game for the second time this season (Brock Nelson and Zach Parise in Vegas on December 17th), but they had not done so in a home game since March 24, 2013 at the Coliseum (John Tavares and Casey Cizikas).

The Wild Card Race

1. Isles 85 points in 75 games (Wednesday at Washington)

2. Pittsburgh 82 points in 73 games (Tuesday at Detroit)

3. Florida 79 points in 74 games (Wednesday at Toronto)

4. Buffalo 77 points in 73 games (Friday vs. NY Rangers)

5. Ottawa 77 points in 74 games (Thursday vs. Philadelphia)

6. Washington 76 points in 74 games (Wednesday vs Isles)

Isn't it Magic?

Pittsburgh can reach 100 points if they win their last nine games while Florida can reach 95 if they win their final eight games and Buffalo can do so if they win their final nine.  That makes the Isles' Magic number 11 over Florida and Buffalo and 16 over Pittsburgh. (The Isles can reach 99 so Pittsburgh's Magic number to finish in the first Wild Card is 18.)

Islander clinching numbers vs. other East Conference teams:  PHL (4), DET (7), WAS (8), OTT (9), BUF (11).

The Isles have clinched at least 14th place in the East, as CBJ and MTL cannot catch the Isles  They will clinch a playoff spot by guaranteeing a finish above eight other Eastern Conference teams, and they will clinch the top wild card if they guarantee themselves a finish above nine other teams.

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,728

2. Matt Martin 3,682

Martin had three hits in this game, giving him 274 for the season.  He needs 6 to record his sixth 300 hit season (5th for the Isles). Martin (7) and Clutterbuck (3) have combined for the 10-biggest hits seasons in Isles history in the Real-Time era, which began in 2005-06. 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  38-28-9 for 85 points in 75 games

• 2021-22  35-31-9 for 79 points in 75 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-1-1

• Season: 37-118-155

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 37 goals, which is the most that they have scored since tallying 39 goals in 2017-18.  The 160 points that they recorded last season was their most since 2017-18 (171).

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 123 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.19% of his starts, which is tied for the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.2%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has scored 429 career goals, good for tied-8th among actives. He has tied Jeff Carter and Bill Guerin for 80th place; Joe Thornton and Alex Kovalev are next with 430 goals. 

Active NHLers:  8th-11th in goals

8. Jeff Carter 429

9. Zach Parise 429

10. Patrice Bergeron 427

11. John Tavares 423

Home and Road

The Isles are 38-27-9 overall; they are 22-13-3 at home and 16-15-6 on the road.

New Jersey is 46-20-8 overall; they are 20-13-4 at home and 26-7-4 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 22-15-6 against the East (14-6-2 vs. Metropolitan and 8-9-4 vs. Atlantic) and 16-13-3 against the West (6-7-3 vs. Central and 10-6-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 79 games at UBS Arena and recorded 57 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,527

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,401

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 23-10-5 when scoring first and are 15-18-3 when allowing the opening goal; they are 0-0-1 when a shootout produces the game's only goal.  

The club record for wins after allowing the first goal is 18, set in 2014-15. The 2014-15 season is one of only three times in club history that the Isles have had at least a .500 record when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles        10-17-9=36

New Jersey    9-8-14=31

The Isles are 21-10-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 17-18-5 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Ilys Sorokin made 30 saves; he is 27-19-7-8-2 on the season and 6-3-0 vs. New Jersey. 

Vitek Vanecek made 31 saves; he is 29-10-4 on the season and 5-3-0 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-1 on the power play (2:00); New Jersey was 0-2 on the power play (2:57). Each team scored shorthanded, with the Isles scoring into an empty net.

The Isles are 16-10-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 22-18-5 when they do not. The Isles are 15-12-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 23-15-6 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 32-6-4 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 6-22-5 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 14-6-9 in games decided by a single goal including 9-6 in regulation. They are 5-4 in games decided in overtime and are 0-5 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-8 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     

The final set of back-to-backs will be on April 1st in Tampa Bay and April 2nd in Carolina. The Isles are 7-6-1 in the front end and 8-4-2 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (25:02);  New Jersey: Jack Hughes (22:01)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 17:36 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-12-2), Adam Pelech (10-3-0), Ryan Pulock (7-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-1-4), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Bo Horvat (4-2-1), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 31, New Jersey 22 (58%)

Bo Horvat won 13 of 19 for the Isles; Erik Haula won 7 of 13 for New Jersey.

Hit Count

Isles 24 (Alexander Romanov -6)

New Jersey 13 (Four with 2)

Fights 

None. Season total: 17 (Martin-7, Johnston-3, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Cizikas, Romanov, Mayfield)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 19 (Adam Pelech -4)

New Jersey 15 (Jack Hughes -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 65, New Jersey 66

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 58, New Jersey 55

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Kyle Palmieri +15

New Jersey: Damon Severson +15

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 18, New Jersey 18

5-on-5: Isles 16, New Jersey 16

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Mathew Barzal-INJ), Parker Wotherspoon, Ross Johnston, Josh Bailey, (Sebastian Aho-INJ)

Games Lost: 192

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 157th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 158 games, making it the 15th-longest active streak in the NHL.  Anders Lee extended his streak to 105 games.   (Scott Mayfield, Ryan Pulock and Brock Nelson are the other Islanders to appear in every game this season.)

Challenges

Isles: 2 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3, CBJ goalie interference 3/24

Opponents: 2 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27, VAN goalie interference 2/9

League reviews: 7 (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; Isles goal – Fasching vs BUF 3/7 -awarded; NJD no goal 3/27-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 four times this season and have allowed the opposition to do so once.

For (4): 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

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) at PIT 3/9

Vs (1):  Led 4-2, Lost 6-5 vs VAN 2/9

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored four goals and have allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(4): 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)

Anders Lee @ PIT 3/9 (18:45; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (5): 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)

Brock Nelson @ PIT 3/9 (2:13)

Vs. (4): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Mike Matheson @ MTL 2/11 (4:38)

Boone Jenner @ CBJ 3/24 (0:40

Shootout Winners

For (0): 

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 1,055…

6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Matt Martin 759 *** 8. Mike Bossy 752 *** 9. Brock Nelson 751 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 738…

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. Anders Lee 671 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Cal Clutterbuck 629

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Anders Lee 239 *** 9. Bob Bourne 238 *** 10. Brock Nelson 237 *** 11. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris and Josh Bailey 184…

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 396…

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 218…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Anders Lee 176

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 580  …

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 455 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 415 *** 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. Adam Pelech +80 ***  17. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Ryan Pulock +55 *** 24. 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 42 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 30

Defense Assists

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

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 128…

15. Bryan Berard 100 *** 16. Vladimir Malakhov and Adam Pelech 98…  

21. Ken Morrow 88 *** 22. Bert Marshall 87 *** 23. Radek Martinek and Noah Dobson 85 *** 25. Scott Mayfield 83

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 170…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Adam Pelech 122 *** 19. Thomas Hickey 117*** 20. Noah Dobson 115 *** 21. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 22. Radek Martinek 109 *** 23. Scott Mayfield 108

Goalie Games

1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 …

9. Roland Melanson 136 *** 10 Semyon Varlamov 134 *** 11. Mark Fitzpatrick and Ilya Sorokin 129

Wins

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

7. Roland Melanson 77 *** 8. Glenn Healy and Ilya Sorokin 66 *** 10. Tommy Salo 62 *** 11. 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 30-25-7-1 on the season; they currently hold the last playoff spot in their division by one point over Hartford. Bridgeport is also just four points behind Lehigh Valley.  Bridgeport has nine games to play while the other teams have just eight.

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is 2nd in the AHL) with 31 goals, while Chris Terry continues to lead in assists (43) and points (62); his 62 points are tied-6th in the AHL with his 43 assists are 6th. William Dufour has 20 goals, which is tied-10th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is tied-2nd among AHL rookies with 32 assists and is tied-2nd among all rookies with 49 points.

Bridgeport closes out March on Wednesday in Hartford.

Season Series Stats

The Isles win the season series, 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 2).

The Isles are 16-5-0 in their last 21 games against the Devils, including 8-3-0 at home.

UP NEXT

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29th-  ISLANDERS  AT WASHINGTON 7:30pm

[TNT (NHL on TNT Face Off at 7:00pm), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Isles have just four road games remaining and two of them will be against the Washington Capitals in our nation's capital. 

The Caps won both meetings at UBS Arena this season, winning 4-3 in overtime in January and 5-1 earlier this month.  The Isles are 2-4-3 in their last nine games with Washington and have won just once in DC in their last six trips (1-4-1).

Brendan Burke and Darren Pang will have the call on TNT.

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

The Skinny: Buffalo 2, Isles 0

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 74

Buffalo 2, Isles 0

For the second time this month, Kyle Okposo scored a big third period goal at UBS Arena.  This time it broke a scoreless tie with 6:29 to play and turned out to be the winner as the Buffalo Sabres blanked the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 17,255.

Jeff Skinner hit the empty net for the final margin as Eric Comrie earned his first shutout of the season and second of his career.

The Isles fell to 37-28-9 as they prepare to host New Jersey on Monday.  The Isles remain in the first Wild Card; they are just one point ahead of Pittsburgh and four points ahead of Florida.  Both of those teams have nine games to play; the Isles have eight. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

No Goals

3rd Period

Kyle Okposo (10) Ilya Lyubushkin (12) 13:31 BUF 1,NYI 0

Jeff Skinner (31)EN Dylan Cozens (33), Casey Mittelstadt (33) 19:28 BUF 2,NYI 0

The Skinny    

The Isles are 14-6-4 in their last 24 games and 9-4-0 in their last thirteen home games…. The Isles have outscored the opposition 27-9 over the last 17 third periods … The Isles' third period differential falls to +17; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games, -17 over the next 34 games but are +18 the last seventeen games … The shutout ended four game point streaks for Zach Parise, Noah Dobson and Hudson Fasching…Lee played in his 670th game, passing John Tavares for 13th place in club history while Nelson played in his 750th  game, becoming the 9th player in club history to do so…The Isles were shut-out for the fifth time this season and the first time since December 19th in Colorado (1-0 SO); it was the third time that they have been shut down….The Sabres earned their 35th win for the first time in seven seasons…Kyle Okposo now is 6-4-10 in 22 games against the Isles, who selected him 7th overall in 2006. It was his first game-winning goal in a game involving the Isles since March 3, 2016, when his overtime goal gave Jack Capuano his 200th win as an Islander coach.

First Time in a Ridiculously Long Time

Eric Comrie became the first goaltender since Toronto's Don Simmons in 1964 (Jan. 19, 1964) to record a shutout after allowing 10-plus goals in his last game (single season). Simmons did it on consecutive nights, losing 11-0 at home to Boston on January 18th before winning the following night in Chicago.

First Times in a Long Time

• The Sabres beat the Isles in Metro-NY for the first time since an overtime win on April 10, 2016, ending an Islander 11 game home winning streak against Buffalo.  

• It was the first time the Sabres blanked the Isles since November 4, 2009, in Buffalo (Ryan Miller).

• It was the first time the Sabres won a game without scoring three goals since March 18, 2022, in Calgary.

The Wild Card Race

1. Isles 83 points in 74 games (Monday vs. New Jersey, Wednesday at Washington)

2. Pittsburgh 82 points in 73 games (Tuesday at Detroit)

3. Florida 79 points in 73 games (Monday at Ottawa, Wednesday at Toronto)

4. Buffalo 76 points in 72 games (Monday vs. Montreal)

5. Washington 76 points in 74 games (Wednesday vs Isles)

6. Ottawa 75 points in 73 games (Monday vs. Florida)

Isn't it Magic?

Pittsburgh can reach 100 points if they win their last nine games while Florida can reach 97 if they win their final nine.  That makes the Isles' Magic number 15 over Florida and 18 over Pittsburgh. (The Isles can reach 99 so Pittsburgh's Magic number to finish in the first Wild Card is also 18.)

Islander clinching numbers vs. other East Conference teams:  PHL (6), DET (9), WAS (10), OTT (11), BUF (14).

The Isles have clinched at least 14th place in the East, as CBJ and MTL cannot catch the Isles  They will clinch a playoff spot by guaranteeing a finish above eight other Eastern Conference teams, and they will clinch the top wild card if they guarantee themselves a finish above nine other teams.

History for Brock Nelson

Brock Nelson has scored a tying goal on a 3rd period power play four times this season. Nelson now shares the NHL record for this somewhat esoteric feat.  He is only the ninth player in NHL history to score four tying goals on 3rd period power plays.  While Nelson is the only one to do so as an Islander, five of the other eight played for the Islanders at some point in their career: Reed Larson, Doug Weight, Todd Bertuzzi, Olli Jokinen. and Bo Horvat.

Like Father, Like Son

Zach Parise and his dad JP are only the fourth father-son pair to each score 20 goals for one franchise.  The others: Ken Hodge and Ken Hodge Jr. (w/ BOS), Peter Stastny and Paul Stastny (w/ QUE/COL) and Greg Malone and Ryan Malone (w/ PIT) .

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,726

2. Matt Martin 3,679

Martin had one hit in this game, giving him 271 for the season.  He needs 29 to record his sixth 300 hit season (5th for the Isles). Martin (7) and Clutterbuck (3) have combined for the 10-biggest hits seasons in Isles history in the Real-Time era, which began in 2005-06. 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  37-28-9 for 83 points in 74 games

• 2021-22  35-30-9 for 79 points in 74 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-0-0

• Season: 37-117-154

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 37 goals, which is the most that they have scored since tallying 39 goals in 2017-18.  The 160 points that they recorded last season was their most since 2017-18 (171).

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 122 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.3% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.3%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has scored 428 career goals, good for 9th among actives. He has tied Yvan Cournoyer for 82nd with 428 while Jeff Carter and Bill Guerin have 429. 

Active NHLers:  8th-11th in goals

1. Jeff Carter 429

2. Zach Parise 428

3. Patrice Bergeron 427

4. John Tavares 421

Home and Road

The Isles are 37-27-9 overall; they are 21-13-3 at home and 16-15-6 on the road.

Buffalo is 34-31-6 overall; they are 14-20-3 at home and 21-11-3 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 21-15-6 against the East (13-5-2 vs. Metropolitan and 8-9-4 vs. Atlantic) and 16-13-3 against the West (6-7-3 vs. Central and 10-6-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 78 games at UBS Arena and recorded 56 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,527

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,400

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 22-10-5 when scoring first and are 15-18-3 when allowing the opening goal; they are 0-0-1 when a shootout produces the game's only goal.  

The club record for wins after allowing the first goal is 18, set in 2014-15. The 2014-15 season is one of only three times in club history that the Isles have had at least a .500 record when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles         7-11-8=26

Buffalo    13-9-13=35

The Isles are 20-10-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 17-18-5 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 33 saves; he is 12-8-2 on the season and 13-4-1 vs. Buffalo. 

Eric Comrie made 26 saves; he is 9-9-0 on the season and 1-1-0 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play (4:00); Buffalo was 0-3 on the power play (6:00). 

The Isles are 16-10-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 21-18-5 when they do not. The Isles are 15-12-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 22-15-6 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 31-6-4 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 6-22-5 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 14-6-9 in games decided by a single goal including 9-6 in regulation. They are 5-4 in games decided in overtime and are 0-5 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-8 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     

The final set of back-to-backs will be on April 1st in Tampa Bay and April 2nd in Carolina. Including tonight, the Isles are 7-6-1 in the front end and 8-4-2 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (22:19);  Buffalo: Rasmus Dahlin (27:03)

Kyle Palmieri led Isles forwards with 20:15 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-12-2), Adam Pelech (9-3-0), Ryan Pulock (7-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-1-4), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Bo Horvat (4-2-1), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 35, Buffalo 14 (71%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 10 of 11 for the Isles; Kyle Okposo won 5 of 7 for Buffalo.

Hit Count

Isles 26 (Cal Clutterbuck -5)

Buffalo 10 (Rasmus Dahlin -3)

Fights 

None. Season total: 17 (Martin-7, Johnston-3, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Cizikas, Romanov, Mayfield)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 17 (Adam Pelech -4)

Buffalo 14 (Jack Quinn -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 48, Buffalo 62

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 40, Buffalo 45

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Hudson Fasching +8

Buffalo: Two with +8

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 12, Buffalo 11

5-on-5: Isles 10, Buffalo 8

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Mathew Barzal-INJ), Parker Wotherspoon, Ross Johnston, Simon Holmstorm, (Sebastian Aho-INJ)

Games Lost: 189

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 156th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 157 games, making it the 15th-longest active streak in the NHL.  Anders Lee extended his streak to 104 games.   (Scott Mayfield, Ryan Pulock and Brock Nelson are the other Islanders to appear in every game this season.)

Challenges

Isles: 2 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3, CBJ goalie interference 3/24

Opponents: 2 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27, VAN goalie interference 2/9

League reviews: 6 (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; Isles goal – Fasching vs BUF 3/7 -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 four times this season and have allowed the opposition to do so once.

For (4): 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

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) at PIT 3/9

Vs (1):  Led 4-2, Lost 6-5 vs VAN 2/9

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored four goals and have allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(4): 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)

Anders Lee @ PIT 3/9 (18:45; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (5): 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)

Brock Nelson @ PIT 3/9 (2:13)

Vs. (4): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Mike Matheson @ MTL 2/11 (4:38)

Boone Jenner @ CBJ 3/24 (0:40

Shootout Winners

For (0): 

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 1,055…

6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Matt Martin 758 *** 8. Mike Bossy 752 *** 9. Brock Nelson 750 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 737…

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. Anders Lee 670 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Cal Clutterbuck 628

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Anders Lee 239 *** 9. Bob Bourne 238 *** 10. Brock Nelson 237 *** 11. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris and Josh Bailey 184…

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 396…

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 217…

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

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 580  …

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 454 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 414 *** 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. Adam Pelech +77 ***  17. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Ryan Pulock +55 *** 24. 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 42 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 30

Defense Assists

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

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 128…

15. Bryan Berard 100 *** 16. Vladimir Malakhov and Adam Pelech 98…  

23. Radek Martinek and Noah Dobson 85 *** 25. Scott Mayfield 82 

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 170…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Adam Pelech 122 *** 19. Thomas Hickey 117*** 20. Noah Dobson 115 *** 21. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 22. Radek Martinek 109 *** 23. Dave Langevin and Scott Mayfield 107

Goalie Games

1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 …

9. Roland Melanson 136 *** 10 Semyon Varlamov 134 *** 11. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 128

Wins

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

7. Roland Melanson 77 *** 8. Glenn Healy 66 *** 9. Ilya Sorokin 65 *** 10. Tommy Salo 62 *** 11. 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 30-25-7-1 on the season; they currently hold the last playoff spot in their division by three points over Hartford. Bridgeport is also just two points behind Lehigh Valley.  All three teams have nine games to play. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and the AHL) with 31 goals, while Chris Terry continues to lead in assists (43) and points (62); his 62 points are tied-6th in the AHL with his 43 assists are 6th. William Dufour has 20 goals, which is tied-9th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is tied-2nd among AHL rookies with 32 assists and leads all rookies with 49 points.

Bridgeport has only one game remaining in March, and it will be in Hartford on Wednesday.

Season Series Stats

Buffalo wins the season series, 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 3).

It's the Sabres' first win in metro-NY against the Isles since April 10, 2016.

UP NEXT

MONDAY, MARCH 27th- NEW JERSEY AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

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

The Devils clinched a playoff spot on Saturday night and will play their first game since as the Isles look to get back in the win column on Monday night at UBS Arena.

Each team owns a road win this season, with the Devils winning 4-1 at UBS Arena in October and the Isles winning 6-4 in December in their only visit to Prudential Center this year. 

This is the final meeting of the season between the teams as the Isles visited New Jersey only once this season.

The Isles are 15-5-0 in their last 20 games against the Devils, including 7-3-0 at home.

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

The Skinny: Columbus 5, Isles 4 (OT)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 73

Columbus 5, Isles 4 (OT)

Boone Jenner scored the first overtime goal of his NHL career just forty seconds into overtime as the Columbus Blue Jackets earned a 5-4 win over the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 18,940 at Nationwide Arena. 

Zach Parise scored his 20th goal of the season in the first period and Brock Nelson scored the first of his two goals to give the Isles a 2-1 lead 5:30 into the middle session, but the Jackets scored three goals to take a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes.  Kyle Palmieri and Nelson scored in the first eight minutes of the third period to force overtime but a late penalty by Anders Lee gave the Jackets an OT power play that became the winning goal.

The Isles are 37-27-9 as they head home to face Buffalo at 5:00 on Saturday and New Jersey on Monday.  The Isles remain in the first Wild Card; they are three points ahead of Pittsburgh and four points ahead of Florida.  Both of those teams have ten games to play; the Isles have nine. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Zach Parise (20) Hudson Fasching (8) 13:37 NYI 1,CBJ 0

2nd Period

Johnny Gaudreau (18) Jack Roslovic (30), Boone Jenner (18) 04:58 NYI 1,CBJ 1 PPG

Brock Nelson (31) Kyle Palmieri (15) 05:30 NYI 2,CBJ 1

Liam Foudy (6) Jack Roslovic (31) 08:59 NYI 2,CBJ 2

Kent Johnson (15) 17:06 NYI 2,CBJ 3

Eric Robinson (10) Emil Bemstrom (14), Hunter McKown (1) 17:46 NYI 2,CBJ 4

3rd Period

Kyle Palmieri (13) Adam Pelech (14), Scott Mayfield (15) 03:34 NYI 3,CBJ 4

Brock Nelson (32) Bo Horvat (28), Noah Dobson (30) 08:00 NYI 4,CBJ 4 PPG

OT

Boone Jenner (25) Adam Boqvist (17), Johnny Gaudreau (49) 00:40 NYI 4,CBJ 5 PPG

The Skinny    

The Isles are 14-5-4 in their last 23 games and 5-2-4 in their last eleven road games; they remain a season-high ten games over NHL-.500 …. The Isles have outscored the opposition 27-7 over the last 16 third periods … The Isles' third period differential improves to +17; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games, -17 over the next 34 games but are +1 20 the last sixteen games …  Zach Parise has a four-game goal streak for the first time since 2020 and he records his 11th career 20-goal season… Hudson Fasching is now 4-4-8 in nine games in March and holds a career-best four-game point streak… Brendan Gallagher (198) was the only player in the NHL with more career goals and no overtime goals than Boone Jenner, prior to today…Brock Nelson's two goals moved him past Bobby Nystrom for 10th place on the club's goal list; he is one goal behind Bob Bourne (and two behind Anders Lee)…Lee played in his 669th game, tying John Tavares for 13th place in club history while Nelson played in his 749th game – he will be the 9th player in club history to play in 750.…Hunter McKown earned an assist in his NHL debut…Ilya Sorokin blanked the Jackets in the first period.  It was his league-leading 28th scoreless first period…Kent Johnson, who played his college hockey at Michigan, performed the Michigan lacrosse move (named after Mike Legg, who did so in the 1996 national playoffs) for a goal in the middle session…The point assures that the Isles will finish over NHL-.500 for the sixth straight season.

History for Brock Nelson

Brock Nelson needed just eight seconds of power play time to tie the game in the third period. It was the fourth time this season that Nelson has scored a tying goal on a 3rd period power play. No other player in the NHL has done that more than twice this season.

In fact, Nelson now shares the NHL record for this somewhat esoteric feat.  He is only the ninth player in NHL history to score four tying goals on 3rd period power plays.  While Nelson is the only one to do so as an Islander, five of the other eight played for the Islanders at some point in their career: Reed Larson, Doug Weight, Todd Bertuzzi, Olli Jokinen. and Bo Horvat.

Like Father, Like Son

Zach Parise scored his 20th goal of the season; his dad JP had back-to-back 20-goal seasons for the Isles in the 1970's.   They are only the fourth father-son pair to each score 20 goals for one franchise.  The others: Ken Hodge and Ken Hodge Jr. (w/ BOS), Peter Stastny and Paul Stastny (w/ QUE/COL) and Greg Malone and Ryan Malone (w/ PIT) .

The Injuries

The Jackets lost Mathieu Olivier early in the game after he blocked a Ryan Pulock shot; Eric Gudbranson missed the third period after a collision with Anders Lee late in the second session.

The Wild Card Race

1. Isles 83 points in 73 games (Saturday Vs. Buffalo)

2. Pittsburgh 80 points in 72 games (Saturday vs. Washington)

3. Florida 79 points in 72 games (Saturday vs NY Rangers)

4. Washington 76 points in 73 games (Saturday @ Pittsburgh)

5. Ottawa 75 points in 72 games (Saturday @ New Jersey)

6. Buffalo 74 points in 71 games (Saturday @ Isles)

7. Detroit 71 points in 71 games (Saturday at Philadelphia)

Isn't it Magic?

Pittsburgh can reach 100 points if they win their last ten games while Florida can reach 99 if they win their final 10.  That makes the Isles' Magic number 17 over Florida and 18 over Pittsburgh. 

Islander clinching numbers vs. other East Conference teams:  PHL (6), DET (11), BUF (14), OTT (13), WAS (12).  

The Isles have clinched at least 14th place in the East, as CBJ and MTL cannot catch the Isles  They will clinch a playoff spot by guaranteeing a finish above eight other Eastern Conference teams, and they will clinch the top wild card if they guarantee themselves a finish above nine other teams.

First Times in a Long Time

The Isles last scored at least 21 goals in a four-game period on October 28-November 5, 2017.  To find a streak where the Isles earned a point in four straight games, scoring at least 21 goals, you would have to go back to February 10-15, 2011 (4-0-0) – a streak that included the famous Brawl game against Pittsburgh.

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,721

2. Matt Martin 3,678

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  37-27-9 for 83 points in 73 games

• 2021-22  34-30-9 for 77 points in 73 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-3-3

• Season: 37-117-154

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 37 goals, which is the most that they have scored since tallying 39 goals in 2017-18.

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 122 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.3% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.3%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise scored his 428th career goal, good for 9th among actives. He has tied Yvan Cournoyer for 82nd with 428 while Jeff Carter and Bill Guerin have 429. 

Active NHLers:  8th-11th in goals

1. Jeff Carter 429

2. Zach Parise 428

3. Patrice Bergeron 426

4. John Tavares 421

Home and Road

The Isles are 37-27-9 overall; they are 21-12-3 at home and 16-15-6 on the road.

Columbus is 23-41-7 overall; they are 14-20-2 at home and 9=21=5 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 21-14-6 against the East (13-5-2 vs. Metropolitan and 8-8-4 vs. Atlantic) and 16-13-3 against the West (6-7-3 vs. Central and 10-6-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 77 games at UBS Arena and recorded 55 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,526

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,400

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 22-10-5 when scoring first and are 15-17-3 when allowing the opening goal; they are 0-0-1 when a shootout produces the game's only goal.  

The club record for wins after allowing the first goal is 18, set in 2014-15. The 2014-15 season is one of only three times in club history that the Isles have had at least a .500 record when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles        7-17-14-0=38

Columbus    8-8-10-1=27

The Isles are 20-10-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 17-17-5 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 22 saves; he is 26-19-8 on the season and 4-0-2 vs. Columbus. 

Michael Hutchinson made 34 saves; he is 1-2-1 on the season and 2-0-1 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-1 on the power play (0:08); Columbus was 2-4 on the power play (6:25). 

The Isles are 16-10-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 21-17-5 when they do not. The Isles are 15-12-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 22-14-6 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 31-6-4 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 6-21-5 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 14-6-9 in games decided by a single goal including 9-6 in regulation. They are 5-4 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   

This back-to-back concludes against Buffalo at 5pm on Saturday. The final set of back-to-backs will be on April 1st in Tampa Bay and April 2nd in Carolina. The Isles are 7-6-1 in the front end and 8-4-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Scott Mayfield (25:03);  Columbus: Adam Boqvist (27:36)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 18:36 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-12-2), Adam Pelech (9-2-0), Ryan Pulock (7-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-1-4), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Bo Horvat (4-2-1), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 28, Columbus 24 (54%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 7 of 11 for the Isles; Hunter McKown won 7 of 9 for Columbus in his NHL debut.

Hit Count

Isles 27 (Three with 4)

Columbus 22 (Lane Pederson -5)

Fights 

None. Season total: 17 (Martin-7, Johnston-3, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Cizikas, Romanov, Mayfield)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 14 (Adam Pelech-3)

Columbus 18 (Andrew Peeke-7)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 77, Columbus 58

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 75, Columbus 47

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Kyle Palmieri +22

Columbus: Jack Roslovic +4

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 16, Columbus 11

5-on-5: Isles 16, Columbus 9

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Mathew Barzal-INJ), Parker Wotherspoon, Ross Johnston, Josh Bailey, (Sebastian Aho-INJ)

Games Lost: 186

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 155th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 156 games, making it the 15th-longest active streak in the NHL.  Anders Lee extended his streak to 103 games.   (Scott Mayfield, Ryan Pulock and Brock Nelson are the other Islanders to appear in every game this season.)

Challenges

Isles: 2 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3, CBJ goalie interference 3/24

Opponents: 2 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27, VAN goalie interference 2/9

League reviews: 6 (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; Isles goal – Fasching vs BUF 3/7 -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 four times this season and have allowed the opposition to do so once.

For (4): 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

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) at PIT 3/9

Vs (1):  Led 4-2, Lost 6-5 vs VAN 2/9

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored four goals and have allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(4): 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)

Anders Lee @ PIT 3/9 (18:45; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (5): 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)

Brock Nelson @ PIT 3/9 (2:13)

Vs. (4): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Mike Matheson @ MTL 2/11 (4:38)

Boone Jenner @ CBJ 3/24 (0:40

Shootout Winners

For (0): 

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 1,054…

6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Matt Martin 757 *** 8. Mike Bossy 752 *** 9. Brock Nelson 749 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 736…

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. John Tavares and Anders Lee 669 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Cal Clutterbuck 627

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Anders Lee 239 *** 9. Bob Bourne 238 *** 10. Brock Nelson 237 *** 11. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris and Josh Bailey 184…

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 396…

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 217…

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

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 580  …

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 454 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 414 *** 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. Adam Pelech +77 ***  17. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Ryan Pulock +56 *** 24. 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 42 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 30

Defense Assists

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

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 128…

15. Bryan Berard 100 *** 16. Vladimir Malakhov and Adam Pelech 98…  

23. Radek Martinek and Noah Dobson 85 *** 25. Scott Mayfield 82 

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 170…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Adam Pelech 122 *** 19. Thomas Hickey 117*** 20. Noah Dobson 115 *** 21. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 22. Radek Martinek 109 *** 23. Dave Langevin and Scott Mayfield 107

Goalie Games

1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 …

9. Roland Melanson 136 *** 10 Semyon Varlamov 133 *** 11. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 128

Wins

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

7. Roland Melanson 77 *** 8. Glenn Healy 66 *** 9. Ilya Sorokin 65 *** 10. Tommy Salo 62 *** 11. 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 won games in Laval on Wednesday (5-3) and Belleville on Friday (5-2) to improve to 30-25-7-1 on the season; they currently hold the last playoff spot in their division by three points over Hartford. Bridgeport is tied with Lehigh Valley but the Phantoms have played one fewer game.

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and the AHL) with 31 goals, while Chris Terry continues to lead in assists (43) and points (62); his 62 points are tied-6th in the AHL with his 43 assists are tied-5th. William Dufour has 20 goals, which is tied-8th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is tied-2nd among AHL rookies with 32 assists and leads all rookies with 49 points.

Bridgeport has only one game remaining in March, and it will be in Hartford on Wednesday.

Season Series Stats

The Isles win the season series, 3 games to 1 (and 7 points to 2).

The OT loss ended an Islander six-game winning streak against Columbus; the Isles went 3-0-1 against the Jackets for the second straight season.

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, MARCH 25th- BUFFALO AT ISLANDERS 5:00pm

[ESPN+/Hulu, WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Isles will look to extend their point streak to five games and win the season series with the Sabres as they host Buffalo at UBS Arena.

Each team holds a 3-2 home-ice win this season, with the Sabres winning in overtime on January 19 on a Dylan Cozens goal and the Isles rallying for a 3-2 victory 18 days ago.

The Isles have won 11 straight home games against Buffalo – it is the second-longest streak against one opponent (Pittsburgh has won 13 straight home games against Columbus.)

The game will be streamed nationally on ESPN+ and Hulu; Bob Wischusen and Brian Boucher will have the call.

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