The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 28
Isles 4, Anaheim 3
Simon Holmstrom scored the latest go-ahead shorthanded goal in Islander history to break a 3-3 tie as the Isles rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks before a crowd of 14,207 at UBS Arena. The Isles have won a season-best four straight, are 4-0-1 on this homestand, and now have a season-best seven-game point streak (6-0-1).
After a scoreless first, the Isles grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second period on goals by Kyle Palmieri and Casey Cizikas, but Troy Terry and Adam Henrique scored to tie the game through 40 minutes. Sam Carrick scored early in the third to give the Ducks the lead, but Mathew Barzal's power play goal tied the game 2:39 later and set the stage for Holmstrom's heroics.
The Isles have points in thirteen of their last fourteen games (9-1-4); twelve of those games have been one-goal games.
The Isles improve to 14-7-7 on the season as they are now a season-best seven games over NHL-.500. They remain in second place in the Metropolitan Division and have closed within four points of the first place Rangers. The Isles conclude the homestand Friday against Boston.
The Scoring:
1st Period
No Goals
2nd Period
Kyle Palmieri (9) Brock Nelson (11), Hudson Fasching (4) 00:40 ANA 0,NYI 1
Casey Cizikas (5) Cal Clutterbuck (6), Noah Dobson (23) 06:32 ANA 0,NYI 2
Troy Terry (6) Pavel Mintyukov (13), Leo Carlsson (6) 07:47 ANA 1,NYI 2 PPG
Adam Henrique (6) Urho Vaakanainen (5), Brett Leason (4) 13:29 ANA 2,NYI 2
3rd Period
Sam Carrick (6) 05:07 ANA 3,NYI 2
Mathew Barzal (10) Bo Horvat (16), Noah Dobson (24) 07:46 ANA 3,NYI 3 PPG
Simon Holmstrom (8) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (9) 18:27 ANA 3,NYI 4 SHG
The Skinny
The Isles are 6-0-1 in their last seven games overall and 5-0-2 in their last seven games at home; it is their longest point streak ever at UBS Arena and longest at any home venue since opening the 2020-21 season with a 12-0-2 home record … Horvat extended his point streak to eight games (5-7-12), which is one game shy of his career high (set last season with Vancouver) while Mathew Barzal now has 14 points in his last seven games… Noah Dobson recorded two assists, giving him 24 on the season, and played 26:57; it is the 10th straight game he has played at least 25 minutes (no Islander has averaged 25 minutes per game since 2013-14)…The Isles' defense now has sixteen points in the last five games.… The Isles have outscored their opponents 27-16 in the first period and 32-30 in the middle period; however, they have been outscored 42-27 in the third period and overtime this season … The Isles scored a third period tying goal for the sixth time this season; they have allowed twelve of them… The Isles are now one point ahead of last season's pace (14-7-7 vs. 17-11-0)…It was the Isles' 10th one-goal win in 18 one-goal games (10-1-7); they lead the NHL in both categories…Simon Holmstrom now leads the NHL in shorthanded goals (4) and points (5) while Jean-Gabriel Pageau leads the NHL in shorthanded assists (4). It is the first time in his career that Pageau has had four shorthanded assists in a season…The Ducks' net was empty for the final 1:14 but the Isles did not score their 1st empty-net goal of the season; the Isles are the only NHL team without an empty-netter… Only St. Louis (8) and Philadelphia (7) have more SH goals than the Isles (6)…The Isles had two goals disallowed (one on video review for goalie interference and one by the referee for a high stick)…The Isles have scored at least four goals in seven of their last eight games after doing it only four times in the first 20 games…Brock Nelson earned an assist; the Isles are 8-0-0 when he has an assist and are 9-1-5 when he earns a point… Anaheim had two assists from rookies, giving them 35 points from rookies this season (third in NHL)
First Times in a Long Time
Simon Holmstrom (22 years, 203 days) is the third-youngest Islander to record four career shorthanded goals. Only Bryan Trottier and Josh Bailey did it at a younger age; Trottier was 21 and 142 days while Bailey was 21 and 179 days.
Holmstrom is the first Islander in 13 seasons with at least four shorties. Frans Nielsen had seven (to tie the club record) and Michael Grabner had six in 2011-01.
Holmstrom is the first Islander since Dan Plante to score four of his first fourteen career goals while shorthanded. Billy Carroll is the only other Isle to ever do it.
The Late Shorty
Per Hockey-Reference, Simon Holmstrom is the 20th player in NHL history to score a go-ahead shorthanded goal in the final two minutes of regulation and is the first Isle to do so. Anaheim's Mason MacTavish did it to Pittsburgh earlier this season (October 30).
Holmstrom is the first Isle with a 3rd period go-ahead shorty since Johnny Boychuk did so on October 21, 2016 (4:24 of 3rd) and broke Wayne McBean's club record for the latest 3rd period go-ahead shorty (13:46 at Minnesota North Stars on November 19, 1991).
The Isles do have one overtime shorty in regular season play – Michael Peca on February 12, 2002, in Philadelphia.
Woah, Noah!
Noah Dobson is now 5-24-29 on the season (giving him 150 career points); he is 3rd among NHL defensemen in assists (and 4th in defenseman points). Dobson has thirteen assists in the last eight games; he is the first Islander to do that since John Tavares had 14 assists in 8 games in 2017.
Tom Kurvers had 13 assists in eight games in January 1992; he was the last Isles defenseman with such a streak. However, Dobson is also +10 in this stretch – the only other Isles defenseman with 13 assists and a +10 rating in an 8-game stretch was Denis Potvin, who did so early in the 1982-83 season (10/19-11/2).
Dobson now has 24 assists through 28 games; Denis Potvin had 24 or more through 28 games five times but Dobson is the only other defenseman to do so.
Fewest Regulation Losses Thru 28 Games (Post-Cup era)
• 6 (2019-20; 19-7-2)
• 6 (2021; 18-6-4)
• 7 (2023-24; 13-7-7)
• 7 (2001-02; 16-7-4-1)
+121
The Isles all-time record improved to 121 games over NHL-500 (1781-1660-539) for the first time since a loss in Pittsburgh on March 16, 1996, dropped them to +121.
Overtime Is Our Time
The Isles are 3-5 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-2 in shootouts. In games decided in overtime, Ilya Sorokin is 2-5, while Semyon Varlamov is 1-0.
The Isles have won 14 of the last 36 games decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).
Killing Their Own PP
The Isles have taken a penalty to interrupt their power play eleven times this season.
Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,819
2. Matt Martin 3,734
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 14-7-7 for 35 points in 28 games
• 2022-23 17-11-0 for 34 points in 28 games
Offense from Defense
• Today: 0-2-2
• Season: 9-47-56
• 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 18 shutouts in 148 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:
• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%
• Ilya Sorokin 12.2%
• Ken Dryden 11.8%
• Dominik Hasek 11.3%
Lots of Work for Sorokin
Ilya Sorokin has faced 660 shots in his 18 games (an average of 36.7 per game).
Varly, Varly
Semyon Varlamov has 40 career shutouts and 278 career wins. Among active NHL goalies (and excluding Carey Price, who is technically still active), Varlamov is 6th in wins (276) and tied-third in shutouts (40).
All-time Goalie Wins
50. Brian Elliott 279
51. Semyon Varlamov 278
52. Marty Turco 275
Home and Road
The Isles are 14-7-7 overall; they are 8-3-5 at home and 6-4-2 on the road.
Anaheim is 10-18-0 overall; they are 5-10-0 at home and 5-8-0 on the road.
East and West
The Isles are 10-4-4 against the East (5-2-3 vs. Metropolitan and 5-2-1 vs. Atlantic) and 4-3-3 against the West (1-2-0 vs. Central and 3-1-3 vs. Pacific).
Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 98 games at UBS Arena and recorded 67 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 1,419
3. Glen Sather 1,319
First Things First
The Isles are 9-2-6 when scoring first and are 5-5-0 when allowing the opening goal. They are 0-0-1 when the game heads to a shootout following a scoreless tie.
The Shots
Isles 13-13-8=34
Anaheim 2-9-12=23
The Isles are 4-2-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 9-5-5 when they are out-shot.
In the Nets
Semyon Varlamov made 20 saves; he is 6-3-1 on the season and 5-6-3 vs. Anaheim.
John GIbson made 30 saves; he is 5-13-0 on the season and 4-4-1 vs. the Isles.
Special Teams
The Isles were 1-4 on the power play (6:21); Anaheim was 1-2 on the power play (2:19) but allowed a shorthanded game-winning goal.
The Isles are 8-4-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 6-3-3 when they do not. The Isles are 5-5-4 when they allow at least one power play goal and 9-2-3 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 12-2-6 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-5-1 when they do not. Under Lane Lambert the Isles are 47-8-10 when scoring at least three goals.
One-Goal Games
The Isles are 10-1-7 in games decided by a single goal including 6-1 in regulation. They are 3-5 in games decided in overtime and are 1-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-1 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 1-0-2 in the front end and 0-1-2 in the back end this season. The next set of back-to-backs will be on December 15 vs Boston and December 16 at Montreal.
Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Noah Dobson (26:57); Anaheim: Jackson Lacombe (22:50)
Mathew Barzal led Islander forwards with 18:01 of ice-time.
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (10-5-4), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).
Face-offs
Isles 35, Anaheim 33 (51%)
Bo Horvat won 14 of 26 for the Isles; Adam Henrique won 15 of 20 for Anaheim.
Hit Count
Isles 10 (Anders Lee -3)
Anaheim 16 (Radko Gudas -4)
Fights
None. Season total: 4 (Martin 1, Pelech 1, Lee 1, Mayfield 1)
Blocked Shots
Isles 12 (Noah Dobson and Kyle Palmieri -3)
Anaheim 15 (Jackson Lacome -4)
For the Analytics Crowd
Corsi: All situations: Isles 67, Anaheim 48
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 55, Anaheim 39
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Mike Reilly and Noah Dobson +9
Anaheim: Three with +5
High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 13, Anaheim 9
5-on-5: Isles 10, Anaheim 9
Scratches
Matt Martin (IR), Adam Pelech (upper body – LTIR), (Scott Mayfield -INJ), Oliver Wahlstrom
Games Lost to injury: 44
The Ironmen
Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 140 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (112) is the only other Islander to have played at least 100 consecutive games:
Challenges
Isles:2 successful, 1 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2), OTT offside (11/24), LA no goalie interference (12/9)
Opponents: 1 successful, 2 failures – BUF no offside (10/21), CAR no high-stick (11/30); ANA goalie interference (12/13)
Quickies
The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute three times this season (twice at home – CBJ 12/7 x2 and once on road-11/24 @OTT) and allowed two in the same span three times (COL 10/25 x2, MIN 11/8)
Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins
The Isles have come from at least two goals behind after two periods to win one time this season and have allowed the opposition to do so four times.
For (1): LA 12/9 (trailed 0-2, won 3-2 in OT)
Vs (4): DET 10/30 (trailed 0-2, won 4-3 in OT); CAR 11/4 (trailed 1-3, won 4-3 in OT) ; @ NJ 11/28 (trailed 2-4, won 5-4 in regulation); SJ 12/5( trailed 1-4; won 5-3 in OT)
Last Minute Heroes:
The Isles have scored two goals and have allowed four goals in the final three minutes of the third period to tie or go-ahead:
For (2: Bo Horvat 10/20 vs NJ 18:49 (Isles lost in OT); Simon Holmstrom 12/13 vs ANA 18:27 (GWG)
Vs (4): Curtis Lazar 11/28 @ NJ 19:37 (GWG); Sebastian Aho 11/30 @ CAR 19:57 (Isles won in OT); Tomas Hertl vs SJ 18:30 (SJ won in OT); Morgan Rielly 12/11 vs TOR 19:53 (Isles won in OT)
OT Winners
For (3): Mathew Barzal (vs CAR) 11/30, Jean Gabriel Pageau (vs LA) 12/9, Bo Horvat (vs TOR) 12/11
Vs (5): Jack Hughes (NJ) 10/20, Lucas Raymond (DET) 10/30, Sebastian Aho (CAR) 11/4, Quinn Hughes (VAN) 11/15; William Eklund (SJ) 12/5
Shootout Winners
For (1): Oliver Wahlstrom (Vs CGY) 11/18
Vs (2): Kailer Yamamoto (SEA) 11/16, Tyson Foerster (PHI) 11/25
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. Brock Nelson 786 *** 8. Matt Martin 780 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 773…
11. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 12. Anders Lee 706 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Cal Clutterbuck 664
Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 253 *** 9. Anders Lee 247 …
23. Alexei Yashin and Frans Nielsen 119 *** 25. Steve Thomas, Matt Moulson and Mark Parrish 118 *** 28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29. Mathew Barzal 115 *** 30.Benoit Hogue and Ed Westfall 105 *** 32. Anthony Beauvillier and Casey Cizikas 102
Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …
12. Derek King 288 *** 13. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 14. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 15. Mathew Barzal 277…
17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Brock Nelson 232…
22. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Anders Lee 179…
34. Steve Thomas 140 *** 35. Mark Streit 139 *** 36. Greg Gilbert 136 *** 37. Ryan Pulock 133
Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 485 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 *** 16. Anders Lee 426 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 392…
32. Ray Ferraro 238 *** 33. Travis Green 237 *** 34. Kenny Jonsson and Casey Cizikas 232
+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +83 *** 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 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57…
5. Jean Potvin 46 *** 6. Nick Leddy and Ryan Pulock 45 *** 8. Roman Hamrlik 43 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk and Noah Dobson 35
Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…
7. Jeff Norton 166 *** 8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 133 *** 10. Travis Hamonic 120 *** 11. Dave Lewis 117 *** 12. Noah Dobson 115 *** 13. Roman Hamrlik 110 *** 14. Tom Kurvers and Gerry Hart 109 *** 16. Adam Pelech 102…
20. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 22. Scott Mayfield 90
Defense Points
1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…
7. Jeff Norton 188 *** 8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 178… 10. Roman Hamrlik 153 ***11. Noah Dobson 150…
15. Johnny Boychuk and Bryan Berard 131 *** 17. Gerry Hart 128 *** 18. Adam Pelech 127…
20. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 21. Scott Mayfield 115
Goalie Games
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 …
8. Glenn Healy 176 *** 9. Ilya Sorokin 154 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 145
Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
6. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 7. Ilya Sorokin 78 *** 8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Glenn Healy 66 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 65
Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 18 ***
4. Rick DiPietro 16 *** 5. Semyon Varlamov 15
On the Farm
Bridgeport is 6-15-1-0 on the season.
The Baby Isles will spend the weekend in Charlotte, playing games Friday and Saturday against the Checkers.
Season Series Stats
The Isles lead the season series 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 2). The teams will conclude the season series March 11th in Anaheim.
The Isles have won five straight against the Ducks and have not lost at home to Anaheim since March 29, 2015, at the Coliseum.
UP NEXT
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15th — BOSTON AT ISLANDERS– 7:30pm ET
[MSGSN (7:00 pre-game), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].
The final game of this six-game homestand will be on Friday against the Boston Bruins.
The Bruins have won five straight from the Isles, holding the Islanders (0-4-1) to 11 goals in the five games. However, four of those games have been played in Boston.
On Long Island, the Isles are 6-1-0 in their last seven games with the B's, including 2-1-0 at UBS Arena.
The Bruins used a three-goal third period to defeat the Isles, 5-2 in Boston on November 9th. The Bruins will return to Long Island on March 2nd to complete the season series.
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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