"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 1
Isles 3, Buffalo 2
Casey Cizikas deflected home an Adam Pelech shot with 6:20 to play to break a 2-2 tie and that turned out to be the winner as the Isles opened the 2023-24 season with a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.
Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri scored first period goals to give the Isles a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes, but Buffalo scored early in both the second and third periods to knot the score, setting the stage for Cizikas' winning tally.
The Isles opened the season by winning their first game on home ice for the first time since January 21, 1995, vs. Florida (3-5-3 all-time).
The Isles host Arizona on Tuesday and New Jersey on Friday to conclude the season-opening homestand.
The Scoring:
1st Period
Brock Nelson (1) Pierre Engvall (1) 05:57 BUF 0,NYI 1
Kyle Palmieri (1) Brock Nelson (1), Ryan Pulock (1) 18:18 BUF 0,NYI 2
2nd Period
Jordan Greenway (1) Casey Mittelstadt (1), Zach Benson (1) 04:15 BUF 1,NYI 2
3rd Period
Casey Mittelstadt (1) Zach Benson (2), Rasmus Dahlin (1) 02:34 BUF 2,NYI 2
Casey Cizikas (1) Adam Pelech (1), Cal Clutterbuck (1) 13:40 BUF 2,NYI 3
The Skinny
Brock Nelson now has six Opening Night goals, one shy of Mike Bossy's club record. Nelson now has 242 goals, two ahead of Anders Lee for 8th place on the club's all-time goal list …Bo Horvat had eight shots on goal (one shy of his career high)… Ilya Sorokin played in his 137th Islander game, breaking a tie with Roland Melanson for 9th place in club history…Scott Mayfield played on his 31st birthday; both Julien Gauthier (26) and Brock Nelson (32) will celebrate a birthday on Sunday…Matt Martin played in his 899th NHL game…The shots finished tied, 29-29. The Isles did not play a single game last season where the shots were even…Casey Cizikas did not score a game-winning goal last season….Adam Pelech's assist on the winning goal was the 100th of his career…. It was the sixth time that the Isles opened their season against the Sabres. The other five were all in Buffalo, with the Isles going 1-3-1, including a tie in 1978...The Isles led 2-0 after one period; they led by two goals after one period only four times last season.
Opening Night Leaders
Goals: Bossy 7, Nelson 6
Assists: Trottier 9, Gillies 7, Nelson 6
Points: Trottier 14, Nelson 12
Penalty Minutes: Rich Pilon 39, Ray Schultz 23 (in 1 game!), Duane Sutter 21
First Times in a Long Time
• The Isles won a season-opener on home ice for only the third time, and first time since January 21, 1995.
• The Isles dressed 20 players on Opening Night who all had previous experience with the team for the first time since 1987.
Home is Where The Sorokin Is
Ilya Sorokin, who went 20-10-3 at UBS Arena with a 1.91 GAA and a 93.6% save percentage last season, won his first home game of the new campaign. He is only the third goalie in Islander history to win at least 20 games at home in a season (Halak 22 in 2014-15, Smith 20 in 1981-82). Among all active goalies, Sorokin has the best career home marks in both GAA (2.01) and save percentage (93.1%).
Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are now 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,760
2. Matt Martin 3,708
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
• 2023-24 1-0-0 for 2 points in 1 game
• 2022-23 0-1-0 for 0 points in 1 game.
Offense from Defense
• Today: 0-2-2
• Season: 0-2-2
• Last Season (Final) 41-132-173
The Islander defense scored 41 goals last season, which was the most since they scored 42 in 2003-04. The 173 points were their most since 1993-94, when they had 174 points in an 84-game season.
Best of the Best
Ilya Sorokin has 16 shutouts in 131 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.2% of his starts, which is the highest in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:
• Ilya Sorokin 12.2%
• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%
• Ken Dryden 11.8%
• Dominik Hasek 11.3%
Home and Road
The Isles are 1-0-0 overall; they are 1-0-0 at home and 0-0-0 on the road.
Buffalo is 0-2-0 overall; they are 0-1-0 at home and 0-1-0 on the road.
East and West
The Isles are 1-0-0 against the East (0-0-0 vs. Metropolitan and 1-0-0 vs. Atlantic) and 0-0-0 against the West (0-0-0 vs. Central and 0-0-0 vs. Pacific).
Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 83 games at UBS Arena and recorded 61 sellouts of 17,255.
Sweet Lou
Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:
1. David Poile 1,531
2. Lou Lamoriello 1,406
3. Glen Sather 1,319
First Things First
The Isles are 1-0-0 when scoring first and are 0-0-0 when allowing the opening goal.
The Shots
Isles 7-10-12=29
Buffalo 7-14-8=29
The Isles are 0-0-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 0-0-0 when they are out-shot.
In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 27 saves; he is 1-0-0 on the season and 5-2-2 vs. Buffalo.
Devon Levi made 26 saves; he is 0-2-0 on the season and 0-1-0 vs. the Isles.
Special Teams
The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (4:38); Buffalo was 0-2 on the power play (1:02).
The Isles are 0-0-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 1-0-0 when they do not. The Isles are 0-0-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 1-0-0 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 1-0-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-0-0 when they do not. Under Lane Lambert the Isles are 36-6-4 when scoring at least three goals.
One-Goal Games
The Isles are 1-0-0 in games decided by a single goal including 1-0 in regulation. They are 0-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-0 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 0-0-0 in the front end and 0-0-0 in the back end this season. The first set of back-to-backs will be on Friday in New Jersey and Saturday in Buffalo.
Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Ryan Pulock (22:52); Buffalo: Owen Power (26:24)
Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 2034 of ice-time.
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (1-0-0)
Face-offs
Isles 39, Buffalo 25 (61%)
Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 10 of 12 for the Isles; Dylan Cozens won 10 of 14 for Buffalo.
Hit Count
Isles 29 (Matt Martin - 5)
Buffalo 23 (Two with 4)
Fights
None. Season total: 0
Blocked Shots
Isles 14 (Scott Mayfield -4)
Buffalo 16 (Two with 3)
For the Analytics Crowd
Corsi: All situations: Isles 58, Buffalo 53
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 50, Buffalo 49
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Simon Holmstrom +13
Buffalo: Jordan Greenway +9
High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 8, Buffalo 5
5-on-5: Isles 8, Buffalo 5
Scratches
Oliver Wahlstrom. Julien Gauthier, Samuel Bolduc
Games Lost: 0
The Ironmen
Anders Lee played in his 113th consecutive Islander game; it Is the longest active streak on the team. (Scott Mayfield, Ryan Pulock and Brock Nelson are the other current Islanders to appear in every game last season.)
Challenges
Isles: 0 successful, 0 failures
Opponents: 0 successful, 1 failures – BUF no offside
Quickies
The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute no times this season (no times at home and none on road):
Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins
The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win no times this season and have not allowed the opposition to do so.
For (0):
Vs (0):
Last Minute Heroes:
The Isles have scored no goals and have allowed no goals in the final three minutes of the third period
Shootout Winners
For (0):
Vs (0):
All-time Islander Leader Boards:
Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,057…
6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Matt Martin 767 *** 8.Brock Nelson 759 *** 9. Mike Bossy 752 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 746…
12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. Anders Lee 679 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Cal Clutterbuck 637
Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 242 *** 9. Anders Lee 240 …
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 …
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 222…
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 464 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 *** 16. Anders Lee 416 *** 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 +78 *** 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 131…
15. Bryan Berard and Adam Pelech 100 *** 17. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Noah Dobson 91 *** 21. Ken Morrow 88 *** 23. Bert Marshall 87 ***24. Radek Martinek and Scott Mayfield 85
Defense Points
1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…
8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 173…
17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Adam Pelech 125 *** 19. Noah Dobson 121 *** 20. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 21. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 22. Scott Mayfield 111
Goalie Games
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 …
8. *** Glenn Healy 176 *** 9. Ilya Sorokin 137 *** 10. Roland Melanson 136 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 135
Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
7. Roland Melanson 77 *** 8. Ilya Sorokin 71 *** 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 1-1-0-0 on the season after splitting a pair of games with Rochester and Syracuse.
Bridgeport visit Providence on Wednesday.
Season Series Stats
The Isles lead the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0). The series continues in Buffalo on October 21st.
The Isles have won 12 of their last 13 home games against the Sabres.
UP NEXT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17th— ARIZONA AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm,
[MSGSN (pre-game at 7:00], WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]
The season-opening homestand continues with the only visit of the season from the Coyotes.
Arizona swept the series last season, winning 2-0 at UBS in November and winning 5-4 in Tempe in December.
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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