"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 79
Isles 6, Tampa Bay 1
Brock Nelson scored a goal and added two assists as part of a four-goal second period as the Islanders avenged a 5-0 loss to Tampa Bay on Saturday by defeating the Lightning 6-1 before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.
Adam Pelech scored the game's first goal (a career-high 6th) and had a +26 Corsi rating as he was on-ice for 30 Islander attempts at 5-on-5 and only four Tampa Bay attempts.
The Isles improve to 40-30-9 and remain tied in points with Florida for the two wild cards, with Pittsburgh just one point behind. The Isles have one fewer regulation win than Florida and are currently the second Wild Card; all three teams have just three games to play. Their magic number to clinch a playoff spot drops to 5 (over Pittsburgh). The Isles will host Philadelphia on Saturday night.
The Scoring:
1st Period
No Goals
2nd Period
Adam Pelech (6) Hudson Fasching (9), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (25) 03:46 TBL 0,NYI 1
Brock Nelson (33) Samuel Bolduc (1) 09:54 TBL 0,NYI 2
Kyle Palmieri (16) Brock Nelson (38), Ryan Pulock (21) 10:43 TBL 0,NYI 3
Nikita Kucherov (30) Brayden Point (42) 16:47 TBL 1,NYI 3
Ryan Pulock (5) Brock Nelson (39), Pierre Engvall (13) 19:40 TBL 1,NYI 4
3rd Period
Simon Holmstrom (6) Bo Horvat (29), Zach Parise (12) 15:14 TBL 1,NYI 5
Bo Horvat (38) Noah Dobson (31) 19:40 TBL 1,NYI 6
The Skinny
The Isles are 17-8-4 in their last 29 games and 11-4-0 in their last fifteen home games …. The Isles have outscored the opposition 32-11 over the last 22 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 22 games … Adam Pelech's sixth goal marked a career high; Jean-Gabriel Pageau established a new career high in assists on the play …Samuel Bolduc earned his first career assist on the game-winning goal ..Brock Nelson had a pair of assists to pass Mathew Barzal for the club lead (39-37) to complete his third career three-point period; he joins Ryan Pulock (11-26 vs Philadelphia) as the only Isles with three-point periods this season…The Isles have won 31 straight games that they have scored at least four goals in a period… The Isles scored twice, both against a goalie, at the 19:40 mark of a period…Nikita Kucherov now has six seasons with at least thirty goals; Brayden Point recorded his 90th point for the second time in his career…Steven Stamkos played in his 1,000th NHL game, joining Drew Doughty and Josh Bailey as the only 2008 draftees to do so…Every Islander but Casey Cizikas ("even") was a + player….Josh Bailey did not dress, leaving him four games behind Denis Potvin for second place on the club's games played list with only three games remaining this season…Brock Nelson's game-winning goal was his first on 44 career shots on goal against Brian Elliott…Ilya Sorokin is the first Islander to win 29 games since Jaroslav Halak won a club-record 38 in 2014-15; no other goalie in club history has won more than 32 – a mark Sorokin could tie if he were to win the last three games of the season…..Sorokin also became the first Isles goalie to appear in 59 games since Halak also did so in 2014-15. No Islander has played in 60 games since Rick DiPietro, who did so in three consecutive seasons (2005-06 to 2007-08); those are three of the six prior 60-game seasons in club history…It was the third time this season (all at home) that the Isles won by at least five goals (Anaheim, Toronto)…It's only the 17th time in club history that the Isles have won at least 40 goals…Matt Martin matched a season-high with a game-high five shots on goal.
The Injuries
Both Tanner Jeannot and Pat Maroon suffered injuries in the second period and did not return.
First Time in a Long Time
• Brock Nelson is the first Islander with at least 72 points in a season since 2017-18, when Mathew Barzal had 85 and John Tavares had 84.
The Wild Card Race
1. Florida 89 points (35 RWs/39 ROWs/41 Ws) in 79 games (Saturday at Washington)
2. Isles 89 points (34 regulation wins, 39 ROWs, 40 Ws) in 79 games (Saturday vs. Philadelphia)
3. Pittsburgh 88 points (30 RWs,38 ROWs, 39 Ws) in 79 games (Saturday at Detroit)
4. Buffalo 83 points (28 RWs, 36 ROWs, 38 Ws) in 77 games (Saturday vs. Carolina)
Today's results eliminated Detroit and Ottawa; the Isles have also clinched the RW tiebreaker against both Pittsburgh and Buffalo.
Remaining Schedule
Isles: Sat vs PHI, April 10 @ WAS, April 12 vs MTL (2H/1R; zero in playoffs, three out)
Florida: Sat @ WAS, April 10 vs TOR, April 13 vs CAR (2H/1R; two in, one out)
Buffalo: Sat vs CAR, April 10 @NYR, April 11 @NJD, April 13 vs OTT, April 14 @CBJ (2H/3R; three in, two out)
Maximum Points/RWs
• Florida 95/38
• Isles 95/37
• Pittsburgh 94/33
• Buffalo 93/33
The Islander magic number to clinch a playoff spot is now 5. If the Isles go 2-0-1 in the remaining three games they are guaranteed a playoff spot. Their magic number against Buffalo is 4; they could guarantee a finish ahead of Buffalo as early as Saturday with a win vs. Philadelphia and a Sabre regulation loss.
The Isles have clinched at least 10th place in the East, as CBJ, MTL,PHI, WAS, DET and OTT 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 3,7415
2. Matt Martin 3,699
Martin had six hits in this game, giving him 291 for the season. He needs nine 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 40-30-9 for 89 points in 79 games
• 2021-22 35-34-10 for 80 points in 79 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.
Offense from Defense
• Today: 2-3-5
• Season: 39-123-162
• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160
The Islander defense have scored 39 goals, which matches the total they scored in 2017-18. The 162 points are their most since 2017-18 (171).
Best of the Best
Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 127 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 11.8% of his starts, which is tied for the second-highest in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:
• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%
• Ilya Sorokin 11.8%
• 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; Joe Thornton and Alex Kovalev are next with 430 goals.
Active NHLers: 8th-11th in goals
8. Jeff Carter 431
9. Zach Parise 429
10. Patrice Bergeron 427
11. John Tavares 424
Home and Road
The Isles are 40-30-9 overall; they are 23-13-3 at home and 17-17-6 on the road.
Tampa Bay is 45-28-6 overall; they are 27-7-5 at home and 18-21-7 on the road.
East and West
The Isles are 24-17-6 against the East (15-7-2 vs. Metropolitan and 9-10-4 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 80 games at UBS Arena and recorded 58 sellouts of 17,255.
Sweet Lou
Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:
1. David Poile 1,530
2. Lou Lamoriello 1,403
3. Glen Sather 1,319
First Things First
The Isles are 25-11-5 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 13-15-13=41
Tampa Bay 3-14-13=30
The Isles are 23-11-4 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 29 saves; he is 29-21-7 on the season and 1-4-0 vs. Tampa Bay.
Brian Elliott made 35 saves; he is 11-7-2 on the season and 10-3-9 vs. the Isles.
Special Teams
The Isles were 0-2 on the power play (4:00); Tampa Bay was 0-1 on the power play (2:00).
The Isles are 16-10-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 24-20-5 when they do not. The Isles are 15-13-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 25-16-6 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 33-6-4 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
The Isles were 7-7-1 in the front end and 8-5-2 in the back end this season.
Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Adam Pelech (22:33); Tampa Bay: Victor Hedman (22:36)
Zach Parise 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 (12-4-0), 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 39, Tampa Bay 25 (61%)
Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 14 of 16 for the Isles; Nicholas Paul won 5 of 9 for Tampa Bay.
Hit Count
Isles 23 (Matt Martin -6)
Tampa Bay 16 (Michael Eyssimont- 3)
Fights
None. Season total: 17 (Martin-7, Johnston-3, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Cizikas, Romanov, Mayfield)
Blocked Shots
Isles 11 (Scott Mayfield -3)
Tampa Bay 26 (Nick Perbix -6)
For the Analytics Crowd
Corsi: All situations: Isles 82, Tampa Bay 51
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 74, Tampa Bay 44
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Adam Pelech +26
Tampa Bay: Corey Perry +6
High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 17, Tampa Bay 14
5-on-5: Isles 16, Tampa Bay 10
Scratches
Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Mathew Barzal-INJ), Parker Wotherspoon, Ross Johnston, (Alexander Romanov- INJ), Josh Bailey
Games Lost: 203
The Ironmen
Zach Parise played in his 161st consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 162 games, making it the 15th-longest active streak in the NHL. Anders Lee extended his streak to 109 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 seven times this season (six 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)
• 0:49 4/7 vs TBL (Nelson and Palmieri)
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 763 *** 8.Brock Nelson 755 *** 9. Mike Bossy 752 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 742…
12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. Anders Lee 675 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Cal Clutterbuck 633
Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Anders Lee 239 *** 9. Bob Bourne and Brock Nelson 238 *** 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 221…
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 459 *** 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. Greg Gilbert and Ryan Pulock +54
Defense Goals
1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…
6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik and Ryan Pulock 43 *** 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 129…
15. Bryan Berard 100 *** 16. Vladimir Malakhov and Adam Pelech 98…
21. Ken Morrow 88 *** 22. Bert Marshall 87 *** 23. Noah Dobson 86 ***24. Radek Martinek 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 172…
17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Adam Pelech 123 *** 19. Thomas Hickey 117*** 20. Noah Dobson 116 *** 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 133
Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
7. Roland Melanson 77 *** 8. Ilya Sorokin 68 *** 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 scored the tying goal with 5:35 to play and Andy Andreoff completed the comeback with the overtime winner as Bridgeport defeated Springfield 4-3 on Tuesday morning before a sellout crowd in Bridgeport to improve to 32-27-7-1 on the season; however, Hartford's overtime win on Wednesday kept Bridgeport three points behind the Wolf Pack for the final playoff spot. Bridgeport has five games to play while Hartford has four.
Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is 2nd in the AHL) with 33 goals, while Chris Terry continues to lead in assists (44) and points (67); his 67 points are tied-5th in the AHL with his 44 assists are 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 visits Hartford on Friday in the final meeting of the season between the cross-state rivals.
Season Series Stats
Tampa Bay wins the season series, 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 2). The win stops a six-game regular season losing streak against the Lightning and was the Isles' first of any type since Anthony Beauvillier overtime goal won the final game every played at Nassau Coliseum.
UP NEXT
SATURDAY, APRIL 8th - PHILADELPHIA AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm
[MSGSN (Pre-game at 7:00), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]
The Isles will look to win the season series against the Flyers and move closer to a playoff berth as they entertain Philadelphia in the final game of the season series.
The Isles won the first meeting of the season at UBS Arena back on November 26th and then split a pair of games in Philadelphia, including a 2-1 win over the Flyers in Bo Horvat's Islander debut on February 6th.
The Isles are 3-0-0 against the Flyers at UBS and have won six straight home games against the Flyers outscoring Philly 25-11 (including two shootout winning goals).
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
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