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