The Skinny: Isles 7, Toronto 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 72

Isles 7, Toronto 2

Cal Clutterbuck scored twice and added a late assist for his first career three-point game and Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves, including a save of the year candidate as the Isles scored three times in the second period and four times in the third for a 7-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Sorokin set a career-high by appearing in his 53rd game and matched his career high with 26 victories.

The Isles improve to 37-27-8 as they head to Columbus for the front-end of a back-to-back on Friday before hosting Buffalo on Saturday. The Isles remain in the first Wild Card; they are three points ahead of Florida and four points ahead of Pittsburgh.  The Panthers have one game-in-hand while Pittsburgh has played two fewer games. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Sam Lafferty (11) Timothy Liljegren (12), Bobby McMann (1) 11:01 TOR 1,NYI 0

2nd Period

Zach Parise (19) Scott Mayfield (14), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (22) 00:28 TOR 1,NYI 1

Hudson Fasching (7) 13:50 TOR 1,NYI 2

Cal Clutterbuck (5) Ryan Pulock (20) 17:26 TOR 1,NYI 3

3rd Period

Mitchell Marner (27) Auston Matthews (39), Justin Holl (13) 03:29 TOR 2,NYI 3

Cal Clutterbuck (6) 04:13 TOR 2,NYI 4

Simon Holmstrom (5) Anders Lee (21) 10:00 TOR 2,NYI 5

Noah Dobson (13)EN Jean-Gabriel Pageau (23) 13:56 TOR 2,NYI 6

Anders Lee (27) Noah Dobson (29), Cal Clutterbuck (5) 16:46 TOR 2,NYI 7

The Skinny    

The Isles are 14-5-3 in their last 22 games and 8-3-1 in their last twelve home games; they are now a season-high ten games over NHL-.500 …. The Isles have outscored the opposition 25-7 over the last 15 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 +18 over the last eighteen games … It was the Isles' 19th comeback win of the season; only New Jersey, Toronto and Boston have more comeback wins than the Isles …Lou Lamoriello earned his 1,400th win as an NHL General Manager (2nd all-time to David Poile -1,526)…The Isles matched last season's win total (37), with ten games to play… Anders Lee now has 27 goals and 21 assists on the season; it's only the 4th time in his career he has reached 48 points.  He is two assists shy of his career-high (23) in assists…The Isles are 113 games over all-time NHL-.500 for the first time since a loss to the Rangers on March 31, 1996…Zach Parise has a three-game goal streak for the 2nd time this season; he needs one more goal for his 11th career 20-goal season…Mitch Marner scored for the 3rd straight game and extended his point streak to seven games (5-8-13)… Bobby McMann recorded his first career point…Samuel Bolduc, recalled to replace Sebastian Aho, appeared in his first NHL game since February 9th.  Bolduc played a career-high 15:59 in his seventh NHL game… Hudson Fasching is now 4-3-7 in eight games in March…The Isles scored seven goals for the first time since October 15th vs Anaheim; it is only the 2nd time in 173 games that they have scored at least seven goals in a game…John Tavares was -3; he is 4-3-7 in 11 career games against the Isles.

The Injury

Brock Nelson left the game after being hit by Noel Acciari late in the first period.  He did not return.

The Wild Card Race

1. Isles 82 points in 72 games (Friday at Columbus)

2. Florida 79 points in 71 games (Thursday vs. Toronto)

3. Pittsburgh 78 points in 70 games (Wednesday @ Colorado, Thursday @ Dallas)

4. Washington 74 points in 72 games (Thursday vs. Chicago)

5. Ottawa 73 points in 72 games (Thursday vs. Tampa Bay)

6. Buffalo 72 points in 70 games (Friday vs. New Jersey)

7. Detroit 71 points in 70 games (Thursday vs. St. Louis)

Isn't it Magic?

Pittsburgh can reach 102 points if they win their last twelve games while Florida can reach 101 if they win their final 11.  That makes the Isles' Magic number 20 over Florida and 21 over Pittsburgh.  While the Isles can reach 102 themselves only by winning out, they would almost certainly win the regulation win tie-breaker as they have 32 and Pittsburgh has only 25.

Clinching numbers vs. other East Conference teams:  CBJ (Eliminated), MTL (2), PHL (7), DET (14), BUF (15), OTT (14), WAS (13), FLA (20)

The Isles will clinch a playoff spot by guaranteeing a finish above eight other Eastern Conference teams, and will clinch the top wild card if they guarantee themselves a finish above nine other teams.

First Times in a Long Time

• The Isles scored seven goals against the Leafs for the first time since January 24, 2013, in Toronto.  The Isles last scored at least goals in a home game against Toronto on January 28, 1986 – the day that the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded!

• The Isles last scored at least 17 goals in a three-game period on January 16-19, 2015.  The Isles beat Pittsburgh 6-3 at the Coliseum, lost 6-4 in Montreal, and then beat Philadelphia 7-4.  To find a streak where the Isles won three straight games, scoring at least 17 goals, you would have to go back to February 11-15, 2011 – a streak that began with the famous Brawl game against Pittsburgh.

What a Night for Clutterbuck

Cal Clutterbuck scored twice, matching his total in 24 previous games vs. Toronto. It was his 8th career multi-goal game.  Clutterbuck added an assists for his first career three-point game and went +4 for the first time in his 972-game NHL career.  He was also credited with the game-winner for the first time this season.

That Early Empty Net Goal

Noah Dobson hit the empty net with 6:04 to play. It was the 2nd-earliest empty net goal in club history, behind only the goal awarded to Billy Smith on a delayed penalty in a game in Denver in 1979.  The previous earliest "pure" empty net goal was scored by Mathew Barzal with 5:34 to play at MSG on April 29, 2021.

It was the 13th goal of the season for Dobson, matching last season's total. He is only the 3rd defenseman in club history with multiple seasons of at least 13 goals (Denis Potvin -12, Tomas Jonsson -3)

Most Goals by an Islander Defenseman in Last 25 Years

1. Mark Streit 16 in 2008-09

Roman Hamrlik 16 in 2000-01

3. Adrian Aucoin 13 in 2003-04

        Noah Dobson 13 in 2021-22

        Noah Dobson 13 in 2022-23 (CURRENT)

Sorokin and the Isles' Record Book

Ilya Sorokin appeared in his career-best 53rd game and earned his 26th victory, matching a career high.  He is only the 3rd goalie in club history to win 25 games in consecutive seasons.

NHL Leaders: Shorthanded Goals Since 2014-15

1. Brad Marchand 20

2. Jean-Gabriel Pageau 19

3. Cam Atkinson 18

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,717

2. Matt Martin 3,674

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  37-27-8 for 82 points in 72 games

• 2021-22  34-29-9 for 77 points in 72 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  1-3-4

• Season: 37-114-151

• 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 121 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.4% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.4%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise scored his 427th career goal, breaking a tie with Brian Propp for 83rd all-time. Zach is now tied with Pittsburgh's Jeff Carter for 8th among actives and 82nd all-time.

Home and Road

The Isles are 37-27-8 overall; they are 21-12-3 at home and 16-15-5 on the road.

Toronto is 42-19-9 overall; they are 25-7-5 at home and 17-12-4 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 21-14-5 against the East (13-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 8-8-5 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 22-10-4 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 Shots

Isles     10-9-10=29

Toronto    8-9-10=27

The Isles are 20-10-3 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 25 saves; he is 26-19-6 on the season and 2-3-0 vs. Toronto. 

Ilya Samsonov made 22 saves; he is 24-9-3 on the season and 6-4-0 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play (2:17); Toronto was 0-1 on the power play (0:17). 

The Isles are 16-10-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 21-17-5 when they do not. The Isles are 15-12-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 22-14-6 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 31-6-3 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 15-6-8 in games decided by a single goal including 10-6 in regulation. They are 5-3 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   

The next set of back-to-backs will be on March 24th in Columbus and on March 25th vs. Buffalo. The Isles are 7-6-0 in the front end and 8-4-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Bo Horvat (22:05);  Toronto: Morgan Reilly (21:26)

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

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-12-2), Adam Pelech (9-2-0), Ryan Pulock (7-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-1-3), 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 34, Toronto 23 (60%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 11 of 16 for the Isles; No Maple Leaf who took multiple draws won more than he lost.

Hit Count

Isles 36 (Jean-Gabriel Pageau -6)

Toronto 15 (Noel Acciari -3)

Fights 

Matt Martin fought Noel Acciari in the 3rd period. Season total: 17 (Martin-7, Johnston-3, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Cizikas, Romanov, Mayfield)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 19 (Adam Pelech and Anders Lee -4)

Toronto 9 (Mark Giordano -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 44, Toronto 60

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 41, Toronto 59

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Noah Dobson +8

Toronto: William Nylander +23

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 16, Toronto 11

5-on-5: Isles 15, Toronto 10

Scratches

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

Games Lost: 183

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 154th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 155 games, making it the 15th-longest active streak in the NHL.  Anders Lee extended his streak to 102 games.   (Scott Mayfield, Ryan Pulock and Brock Nelson are the other Islanders to appear in every game this season.)

Challenges

Isles: 1 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3

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

League reviews: 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 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. (3): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

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

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

Shootout Winners

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 756 *** 8. Mike Bossy 752 *** 9. Brock Nelson 748 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 735…

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 668 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Cal Clutterbuck 626

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. Bobby Nystrom and Brock Nelson 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 452 *** 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 98 *** 17. Adam Pelech 97…  

23. Radek Martinek 85 *** 24. Noah Dobson 84 *** 25. Scott Mayfield 81 

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 121 *** 19. Thomas Hickey 117*** 20. Noah Dobson 114 *** 21. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 22. Radek Martinek 109 *** 23. Dave Langevin 107 *** 24 Scott Mayfield 106

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. Garth Snow  and Ilya Sorokin 127

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 28-25-7-1 on the season; they currently hold the last playoff spot in their division by one point over Hartford.

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied for the AHL lead) with 29 goals, while Chris Terry continues to lead in assists (41) and points (60); his 60 points are 8th in the AHL with his 41 assists are tied-6th. William Dufour has 20 goals, which is tied-8th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is 4th among AHL rookies with 31 assists and tied for the rookie lead with 47 points.

Bridgeport visits Laval on Wednesday and Belleville on Friday.

Season Series Stats

The Isles win the season series, 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 3).

It's the Isles' first win over Toronto at UBS Arena (1-2-0 all-time) and only their second in the last seven games against the Leafs (2-5-0).

UP NEXT

FRIDAY, MARCH 24th   –ISLANDERS AT COLUMBUS 7:00pm

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

The Isles will look to extend their winning streak to four games and sweep the season series with the Blue Jackets as they travel to Columbus.

The Isles have won six straight against Columbus (all since last March 10th), including a trio of one-goal victories this season.

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