The Skinny: Carolina 2, Isles 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 78

Carolina 2, Isles 1

Jordan Martinook scored 2:31 into the third period to break a 1-1 tie as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Islanders 2-1  before a crowd of 18,725 at PNC Arena.  

Jean Gabriel Pageau's first period goal was all the Isles could manage against Frederik Andersen as the Isles dropped both halves of their final back-to-back of the season. 

The Isles fall to 39-30-9 and head home for three of their final four games of the season, beginning on Thursday with Tampa Bay. The Isles remain in the first Wild Card; however, they are now one point ahead of Pittsburgh and two points ahead of Florida.  Pittsburgh and Florida each have five games to play, while the Isles also have four.  Their magic number to clinch a playoff spot remains 9 (over both Buffalo and Florida). 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (13) Pierre Engvall (12), Scott Mayfield (17) 17:33 NYI 1, CAR 0

2nd Period

Jesperi Kotkaniemi (15), Jesse Puljujarvi (10), Stefan Noesen (21) 9:27 NYI 1, CAR 1

3rd Period  

Jordan Martinook (12) Jaccob Slavin (19) 2:31 NYI 1,CAR 2

The Skinny    

It's only the second time since the All-Star Break that the Isles have lost consecutive games in regulation…The Isles are 16-8-4 in their last 28 games and 6-4-4 in their last fourteen road games; the Isles are 17-17-6 on the road with just one road game to play…. The Isles have outscored the opposition 30-11 over the last 21 third periods (but were outscored 1-0, 1-0 this weekend) … The Isles' third period differential falls to +18; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games, -17 over the next 34 games but are +19 the last 21 games …  Ilya Sorokin lost only once in March but falls to 0-2-0 in April…Carolina is 9-2-2 on the back-half of back-to-back games… The Isles went 1-3-0 against Carolina this season; they are 14-4-2 against the rest of the Metro with two games to play.

 

The Wild Card Race

1. Isles 87 points (33 regulation wins) in 78 games (Thursday vs. Tampa Bay)

2. Pittsburgh 86 points (29 RWs) in 77 games (Tuesday at New Jersey)

3.  Florida 85 points (33 RWs) in 77 games (Tuesday vs. Buffalo)

4. Buffalo 81 points (28 RWs) in 75 games (Tuesday at Florida)

5. Ottawa 80 points (29 RWs) in 77 games (Tuesday at Carolina)

Remaining Schedule

Isles  Thu vs TB, Sat vs PHI, April 10 @ WAS, April 12 vs MTL

Pittsburgh Tue @ NJ, Thu vs MIN, Sat @ DET, April 11 vs. CHI, April 13 @ CBJ

Florida Tue vs BUF, Thu vs OTT, Sat @ WAS, April 10 vs TOR, April 13 vs CAR

Buffalo Tue @ FLA, Thu @ DET, Sat vs CAR, April 10 @NYR, April 11 @NJD, April 13 vs OTT, April 14 @CBJ

Ottawa Tue @ CAR, Thu @ FLA, Sat vs TB, April 10 vs CAR, April 13 @Buf

Isn't it Magic?

Pittsburgh can reach 96 points if they win their last five games while Florida can reach 95 if they win their final five games and Buffalo can do so if they win their final seven.  That makes the Isles' Magic number 9 over Florida and Buffalo and 10 over Pittsburgh.  Both Pittsburgh and Florida now control their own destiny over the Isles as Pittsburgh could finish with one more point than Isles and five straight Florida regulation wins would guarantee they finish ahead of the Isles

Islander clinching numbers vs. other East Conference teams:  DET (2), OTT (4)

The Isles have clinched at least 12th place in the East, as CBJ, MTL,PHI  and WAS 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.

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,741

2. Matt Martin 3,693

Martin had four hits in this game, giving him 285 for the season.  He needs 15 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  39-30-9 for 87 points in 78 games

• 2021-22  35-310 for 80 points in 78 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-1-1

• Season: 37-120-157

• 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 126 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 11.9% 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 11.9%

• 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 424

Home and Road

The Isles are 39-30-9 overall; they are 22-13-3 at home and 17-17-6 on the road.

Carolina is 49-18-9 overall; they are 26-10-3 at home and 27-8-4 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 23-17-6 against the East (15-7-2 vs. Metropolitan and 8-10-4 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 1,529

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,402

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 24-11-5 when scoring first and are 15-19-3 when allowing the opening goal; they are 0-0-1 when a shootout produces the game's only goal.  

The Shots

Isles            7-7-8=22

Carolina 15-13-7=35

The Isles are 22-11-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 17-19-5 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves; he is 28-21-7 on the season and 2-4-0 vs. Carolina.   

Frederik Andersen made 21 saves; he is 20-9-1 on the season and 10-4-1 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

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

The Isles are 16-10-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 23-20-5 when they do not. The Isles are 15-13-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 24-16-6 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 7-24-5 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     

This was the final set of back-to-backs this season. The Isles were 7-7-1 in the front end and 8-5-2 in the back end.   It's the third time that they were swept in the back-to-back.  (Tampa Bay/Florida, Edmonton/Calgary, Tampa Bay/Carolina – all six games in the three sweeps were on the road.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (25:28);  Carolina: Brent Burns (23:29)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 17:40 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-12-2), Adam Pelech (11-4-0), Ryan Pulock (7-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-2-4), 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, Carolina 33 (46%)

Casey Cizikas won 6 of 9 for the Isles; Stefan Noesen won 5 of 7 for Carolina.

Hit Count

Isles 18 (Matt Martin -4)

Carolina 11 (Two with 3)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 17 (Scott Mayfield -4

Carolina 13 (Jesperi Kotkaniemi 3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 47, Carolina 67

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 38, Carolina 58

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Jean-Gabriel Pageau +5

Carolina: Two with +11

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 8, Carolina 17

5-on-5: Isles 4, Carolina 13

Scratches

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

Games Lost: 200

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 160th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 161 games, making it the 15th-longest active streak in the NHL.  Anders Lee extended his streak to 108 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 1,056…

6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Matt Martin 762 *** 8.Brock Nelson 754 *** 9. Mike Bossy 752 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 741…

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. Anders Lee 674 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Cal Clutterbuck 632

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 +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. 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 84

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 and Scott Mayfield 109

Goalie Games

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

9. Roland Melanson 136 *** 10 Semyon Varlamov 135 *** 11. Ilya Sorokin 132

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

Chris Terry and Grant Hutton each scored but it was not enough as Bridgeport dropped a 3-2 decision to Lehigh Valley on Sunday and fell to 31-27-7-1 on the season; they remain three points behind the Wolf Pack for the final playoff spot.  Bridgeport has six games to play while Hartford has five.

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is 2nd in the AHL) with 32 goals, while Chris Terry continues to lead in assists (44) and points (66); his 66 points are 6th in the AHL with his 44 assists are also 6th. William Dufour has 20 goals, which is 12th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is tied-2nd among AHL rookies with 32 assists and is 3rd among all rookies with 49 points.

Bridgeport hosts Springfield at 10:30AM on Tuesday.

Season Series Stats

Carolina wins the season series, 3 games to 1 (and 6 points to 2).  The Isles scored only three goals in the final three games.

The Isles fall to 5-3-1 in their last nine games in Carolina and 7-4-1 in their last 12 trips to Raleigh.

UP NEXT

THURSDAY, APRIL 6th  -  TAMPA BAY AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

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

The Isles will look to grab the final game of the season series and stop a 6-game losing streak (in regular season play) against the Lightning overall as they welcome the Bolts to UBS on Thursday.  

Tampa Bay is the only Eastern Conference team that Ilya Sorokin has not yet beaten (0-4-0) and they will be making their first UBS Arena appearance since last season's finale. 

Steven Stamkos has played in 998 games; if he faces the Rangers and Islanders on Wednesday and 

Thursday, his 1000th NHL game will be 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