The Skinny : Los Angeles 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 69

Los Angeles 5, Isles 2

The Los Angeles Kings got goals from four different players in a span of just over 10 minutes of the second period as they defeated the Islanders 5-2 before a crowd of 15,989 at crypto.com Arena.  Pierre Engvall was credited with the game's first goal for the second straight game.

Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves in defeat.

The Isles fall to 34-27-8 as they head to Anaheim on Wednesday and San Jose on Saturday; they will have 11 games left after this trip – all against Eastern Conference foes. The Isles remain the second Wild Card; they remain two points behind Pittsburgh, but the Penguins have played two fewer games.  The Isles are three points ahead of Florida, who has two games in hand on the Isles. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Pierre Engvall (14) Ryan Pulock (18) 11:45 NYI 1,LAK 0

2nd Period

Blake Lizotte (10) Sean Walker (8), Gabriel Vilardi (17) 01:54 NYI 1,LAK 1

Drew Doughty (4) Anze Kopitar (37), Adrian Kempe (20) 06:06 NYI 1,LAK 2 PPG

Alex Iafallo (10) Viktor Arvidsson (27), Arthur Kaliyev (12) 07:06 NYI 1,LAK 3 PPG

Trevor Moore (8) Phillip Danault (29), Vladislav Gavrikov (9) 12:14 NYI 1,LAK 4

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (11) Sebastian Aho (15), Ryan Pulock (19) 17:02 NYI 2,LAK 4

3rd Period 

Quinton Byfield (3)EN Matt Roy (15), Vladislav Gavrikov (10) 19:07 NYI 2,LAK 5

The Skinny    

The Isles are 11-5-3 in their last 19 games and 4-2-2 in their last eight road games…. The Isles had outscored the opposition 17-1 over ten third periods but have been outscored 4-0 in the last two games… The Isles' third period differential falls to +10; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games, -17 over the next 34 games but are +12 over the last twelve games … Matt Martin played in his 753rd game for the Islanders, passing Mike Bossy for 7th place… The Isles allowed 2 power play goals for the first time since February 9th…They have faced eight 5-on-3's this season, allowing four goals…It was the 8th career goal for Quinton Byfield, and three of them have been against the Isles.

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,702

2. Matt Martin 3,669

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  34-27-8 for 76 points in 69 games

• 2021-22  32-28-9 for 73 points in 69 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-3-3

• Season: 35-104-139

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 35 goals, three more than they did last season and the most that they have scored since tallying 39 goals in 2017-18.

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 118 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.7% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.7%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 424 career goals, good for 9th among actives and tying Steve Shutt for 84th all-time. Brian Propp is next with 425.

Home and Road

The Isles are 34-27-8 overall; they are 20-12-3 at home and 14-15-5 on the road.

Los Angeles is 39-20-9 overall; they are 21-9-3 at home and 18-11-6 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 20-14-5 against the East (13-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 7-8-5 vs. Atlantic) and 14-13-3 against the West (6-7-3 vs. Central and 8-6-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 76 games at UBS Arena and recorded 54 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,525

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,397

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 22-10-4 when scoring first and are 12-17-4 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles            12-6-10=28

Los Angeles    14-12-11=37

The Isles are 17-10-3 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 32 saves; he is 23-19-6 on the season and 0-0-2 vs. Los Angeles. 

Joonas Korpisalo made 26 saves; he is 14-11-3 on the season and 4-4-3 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (6:00); Los Angeles was 2-2 on the power play, scoring on both ends of a 5-on-3 (2:26).

The Isles are 15-10-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 19-17-5 when they do not. The Isles are 15-12-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 20-14-6 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 28-6-3 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   

This back-to-back concludes on Wednesday in Anaheim. The next set of back-to-backs will be on March 24th in Columbus and on March 25th vs. Buffalo. Including tonight, the Isles are 7-6-0 in the front end and 7-4-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Bo Horvat (22:16);  Los Angeles: Drew Doughty  (26:05)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 22:16 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-12-2), Adam Pelech (7-2-0), 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 (3-2-1), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 24, Los Angeles 30 (44%)

Bo Horvat won 9 of 17 for the Isles; Rasmus Kupari won 6 of 9 for Los Angeles. 

Hit Count

Isles 30 (Cal Clutterbuck -6)

Los Angeles 14 (Three with 2)

Fights 

There were no fights. Season total: 16 (Martin-6, Johnston-3, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Cizikas, Romanov, Martin)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 13 (Scott Mayfield -4)

Los Angeles 19 (Sean Walker-4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 56, Los Angeles 69

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 50, Los Angeles 60

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Cal Clutterbuck +3

Los Angeles: Vladislav Gavrikov +16

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 15, Los Angeles 22

5-on-5: Isles 15, Los Angeles 20

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Otto Koivula -INJ) , (Mathew Barzal-INJ), Parker Wotherspoon, Ross Johnston, Simon Holmstrom

Games Lost: 174

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 151st consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 152 games, making it the 15th-longest active streak in the NHL. 

Challenges

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

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

League reviews: 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 753 *** 8. Mike Bossy 752 *** 9. Brock Nelson 745 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 732…

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 665 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris and Cal Clutterbuck 623

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Bob Bourne and Anders Lee 238 *** 10. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 11. Brock Nelson 233 *** 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 175 *** 25. Anders Lee 174

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 450 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 412 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 362

+/-

1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +72 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Ryan Pulock 41 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 29

Defense Assists

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

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 127…

15. Bryan Berard 100 *** 16. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 17. Johnny Boychuk 96 *** 18. Adam Pelech,  Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95…

23. Radek Martinek 85 *** 24. Noah Dobson 81*** 25. Adrian Aucoin and Scott Mayfield 80 

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 168…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Adam Pelech 119 *** 19. Thomas Hickey 117...20. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 21. Noah Dobson 110 *** 22. Radek Martinek 109 *** 23. Dave Langevin 107 *** 24. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 26. Scott Mayfield 104

Wins

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

8. Glenn Healy 66 *** 9. Tommy Salo and Ilya Sorokin 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 now 27-23-7-1 on the season and currently hold the last playoff spot in their division. They are three points ahead of Hartford and are four points behind Lehigh Valley.

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-6th in the AHL) with 25 goals, while Chris Terry continues to lead in assists (38) and points (56); his 56 points are 8th in the AHL with his 37 assists are tied-6th. William Dufour has 19 goals, which is tied-6th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is 2nd among AHL rookies with 31 assists and leads all rookies with 45 points.

Bridgeport heads to Hartford on Wednesday and then hosts Syracuse on Friday and Hartford on Saturday.

Season Series Stats

Los Angeles sweeps the season series, 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 0).

Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) has been a difficult stop for the Isles for two decades.   The Isles are 1-6-0 in their last seven visits and are 2-10-0 in their last 12 games in Los Angeles.

UP NEXT

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15th –ISLANDERS AT ANAHEIM 10:00pm

[MSGSN (Pre-game at 9:30pm), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

Keep the coffee out.  It's a mid-week back-to-back on the west coast as the Isles head to Orange County to face the Ducks. 

It's been a long-time since the Isles got to .500 on the season with a 7-1 win over Anaheim at UBS Arena in their second game back on October 15th.   The Isles will be looking to sweep Anaheim for the second straight year; Ilya Sorokin has been in the nets for all three victories.

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