The Skinny: Washington 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 81

Washington 5, Isles 2

Dylan Strome and Rasmus Sandin scored in the first 1:03 of the game as the Washington Capitals built a 3-0  lead 13:13 into play and defeated the Islanders 5-2 before a sellout crowd of 18,573 at Capital One Arena.  

Hudson Fasching and Casey Cizikas (the latter with a 6th attacker) scored 1:51 apart in the third period, but each goal was offset by a Capital empty-net tally and the defeat cost the Islanders control of their own destiny in the wild card race.

The Isles fall to 41-31-9 as they drop one point behind Florida for the two wild cards(with each team having just one game to play); Pittsburgh is just one point behind the Isles (and has two games to play).  Buffalo remains alive in the playoff race after their shootout win over the Rangers tonight.  

The Isles conclude the regular season by hosting Montreal on Wednesday.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Dylan Strome (22) John Carlson (19) 00:36 NYI 0,WSH 1

Rasmus Sandin (6) Craig Smith (7), Nicklas Backstrom (13) 01:03 NYI 0,WSH 2

Craig Smith (8) Martin Fehervary (10) 13:13 NYI 0,WSH 3

2nd Period

No Goals

3rd Period 

Hudson Fasching (9) Cal Clutterbuck (6), Noah Dobson (34) 14:52 NYI 1,WSH 3

Tom Wilson (11)EN 15:44 NYI 1,WSH 4 

Casey Cizikas (6) Bo Horvat (32), Sebastian Aho (17) 16:43 NYI 2,WSH 4

Dylan Strome (23)EN 18:50 NYI 2,WSH 5

The Skinny    

The Isles are 18-9-4 in their last 31 games but are 0-3-0 on the road in April.…. The Isles have outscored the opposition 35-13 over the last 24 third periods  … The Isles' third period differential remains +21; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games, -17 over the next 34 games but are +22 the last 24 games  Brock Nelson' remains tied with Anders Lee for 8th place on the club's all-time goal list (239)…This was the fourth time this season that the Isles were outscored by three goals in the first period; all four games were on the road…The Isles were outscored 39-30 in road first periods… Dylan Strome has scored in four straight games (5 goals)…Noah Dobson and Bo Horvat extended their assist streaks to three games while Hudson Fasching extended his point streak to three… It's the third time this season that the Isles have allowed two empty-net goals…It is the fourth time in Isles history that they have allowed two goals in the first 1:03 of the game; the last time was on April 9, 2011 in Philadelphia (2 in the first 0:47 of the season finale)….The Isles scored only 3 goals in the final 221:08 on the road this season (with two of them coming in the final 5:08 tonight)... Washington dressed only 17 skaters due to injuries and salary cap issues.

First Time in a Long Time

• The Isles missed the net 27 times, most since a February 28, 2018, game against Montreal (32)

• The Isles had 94 attempts – their most since having 94 in a shootout loss to Vancouver on January 17, 2016.  The only game that they had more attempts (since the stat was recorded officially in 2007-08) was on October 25, 2008 vs. Carolina, when they had 95 attempts in a 4-3 loss.  It is the most attempts they have ever recorded on the road (previous record 92 in Ottawa on November 1, 2013).

 

The Wild Card Race

1.  Florida 92 points (36 RWs/40 ROWs/42 Ws) in 81 games (Thursday vs Carolina)

2. Isles 91 points (35 regulation wins, 40 ROWs, 41 Ws) in 81 games (Wednesday vs. Montreal)

3. Pittsburgh 90 points (31 RWs,39 ROWs, 40 Ws) in 80 games (Tuesday vs. Chicago, Thursday at Columbus)

4. Buffalo 87 points (29 RWs, 37 ROWs, 40 Ws) in 79 games (Tuesday at New Jersey, Thursday vs. Ottawa, Friday at Columbus)

The Isles have clinched the RW tiebreaker against both Pittsburgh and Buffalo.

Remaining Schedule

Isles: Wednesday vs MTL  (1H/0R; zero in playoffs, one out)

Florida: Thursday vs CAR (1H/0R; one in, zero out)

Pittsburgh: Tuesday vs. CHI, Thursday @ CBJ (1H/1R; zero in, two out)

Buffalo: Tuesday @NJD, Thursday vs OTT, Friday @CBJ (1H/2R; in in, two out)

Maximum Points/RWs

• Florida 94/37

• Isles 93/36

• Pittsburgh 94/33

• Buffalo 93/32

The Islander magic number to clinch a playoff spot remains 3, however if Florida wins their finale and Pittsburgh wins their last two the Isles will be eliminated regardless of whether they beat Montreal.

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 3,752

2. Matt Martin 3,700

Martin had one hit, giving him 292 for the season.  He needs eight 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  41-31-9 for 91 points in 81 games

• 2021-22  37-34-10 for 84 points in 81 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-2-2

• Season: 41-127-168

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 41 goals, which is the most since they scored 42 in 2003-04.  The 168 points are their most since 2017-18 (171).

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 16 shutouts in 129 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.4% of his starts, which is tied for the second-highest 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 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

John Tavares 427

Home and Road

The Isles are 41-31-9 overall; they are 24-13-3 at home and 17-18-6 on the road.

Washington is 35-36-9 overall; they are 18-16-6 at home and 17-20-3 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 25-18-6 against the East (16-8-2 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 81 games at UBS Arena and recorded 59 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 (pending Tuesday game)

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,404

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 26-11-5 when scoring first and are 15-20-3 when allowing the opening goal; they are 0-0-1 when a shootout produces the game's only goal.  

The Shots

Isles        14-9-17=40

Washington 10-10-5=25

The Isles are 23-12-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 18-19-5 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 35 saves; he is 30-22-7 on the season and 2-3-1 vs. Washington.   

Darcy Kuemper made 38 saves; he is 22-26-6 on the season and 5-4-2 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (6:00); Washington was 0-0 on the power play (0:00).

The Isles are 16-10-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 25-21-5 when they do not. The Isles are 15-13-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 26-17-6 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 34-6-4 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 7-25-5 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: Ryan Pulock (24:18);  Washington: Martin Fehervary (22:33)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 20:30 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 (8-6-1), 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 43, Washington 27 (61%)

Brock Nelson won 10 of 14 for the Isles; No Capital won more than he lost. 

Hit Count

Isles 16 (Jean-Gabriel Pageau -4)

Washington 17 (Tom Wilson -5)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 13 (Scott Mayfield -4)

Washington 27 (Two with 4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 94, Washington 49

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 77, Washington 44

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Noah Dobson +21

Washington: Matt Irwin +5

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 18, Washington 9

5-on-5: Isles 15, Washington 8

Scratches

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

Games Lost: 209

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 163rd consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 164 games, making it the 15th-longest active streak in the NHL.  Anders Lee extended his streak to 111 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: 8 (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.; Isles goal-Parise vs PHI 4/8-overturned.

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 765 *** 8.Brock Nelson 757 *** 9. Mike Bossy 752 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 744…

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. Anders Lee 677 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Cal Clutterbuck 635

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Anders Lee and Brock Nelson 239 *** 10. Bob Bourne 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 460 *** 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 ** 24. Ryan Pulock +53  

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 *** 18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Noah Dobson 89 *** 21. Ken Morrow 88 *** 23. Bert Marshall 87 ***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. Noah Dobson 119 *** 20. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 21. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 22. Scott Mayfield 110

Goalie Games

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

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

Wins

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

7. Roland Melanson 77 *** 8. Ilya Sorokin 69 *** 9. Glenn Healy 66 *** 10. Tommy Salo 62 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 59

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro and Ilya Sorokin 16 *** 

5. Tommy Salo 14 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov 13 

On the Farm 

Bridgeport is 32-29-7-1 on the season with three games to play in their regular season. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is 2nd in the AHL) with 34 goals, while Chris Terry continues to lead in assists (45) and points (68); his 68 points are 6th in the AHL with his 45 assists are tied-5th. William Dufour has 21 goals, which is 12th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is 2nd among AHL rookies with 33 assists and is 3rd among all rookies with 50 points.

Bridgeport hosts Lehigh Valley on Wednesday. 

Season Series Stats

Washington wins the season series, 3 games to 1 (and 7 points to 3).  

The Isles are 2-5-1 in their last eight trips to DC.  

After leading 3-0 in the teams' first meeting, the Isles were outscored 15-4 by Washington.

UP NEXT

WEDNESDAY, APRIL12th  -  MONTREAL AT ISLANDERS 7:00pm

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

The Isles will head into game 82 with a chance to make the playoffs; however, the only way the Isles clinch a spot on Wednesday is with a Pittsburgh home-ice loss (in any fashion) on Tuesday to Chicago and an Islander win on Wednesday.

The Isles are 1-0-1 vs. Montreal this season, winning 2-1 at home and losing 4-3 in overtime in Quebec.

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