The Skinny: Isles 5, Carolina 4 (OT)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 22

Isles 5, Carolina 4 (OT)

Mathew Barzal scored 2:46 into overtime as the Isles overcame third period tying goals by Carolina both in the first minute and in the last 2.5 seconds to defeat the Hurricanes 5-4 before a crowd of 18,700 at PNC Arena.

Barzal's goal capped a four-point game; Noah Dobson assisted on the last three Islander goals as well. The score never differed by more than a goal as the Isles trailed 1-0 and 2-1 and led 3-2 and 4-3. Carolina got points from 11 players, with Jordan Staal being the only Cane with a multi-point game.

The Isles have points in seven of their last eight games (4-1-3).

The Isles improve to 9-7-6 on the season; the final game of this three-game road trip will be in Florida on Saturday at 6pm.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Jalen Chatfield (2) Michael Bunting (10), Dmitry Orlov (8) 08:08 NYI 0,CAR 1

Bo Horvat (7) Mathew Barzal (14), Anders Lee (3) 18:00 NYI 1,CAR 1

2nd Period

Jordan Staal (2) Jordan Martinook (6), Jaccob Slavin (9) 02:01 NYI 1,CAR 2

Simon Holmstrom (6) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (7) 15:59 NYI 2,CAR 2 SHG

Pierre Engvall (2) Mathew Barzal (15), Noah Dobson (14) 18:03 NYI 3,CAR 2

3rd Period

Jack Drury (2) Stefan Noesen (7), Martin Necas (9) 00:39 NYI 3,CAR 3

Kyle Palmieri (6) Noah Dobson (15), Mathew Barzal (16) 06:41 NYI 4,CAR 3 PPG

Sebastian Aho (6) Jordan Stall (6), Brent Burns (5) 19:57 NYI 4, CAR 4

OT

Mathew Barzal (7) Noah Dobson (16) 2:46 NYI 5, CAR 4

The Skinny    

Mathew Barzal had four points to extend his team lead in scoring (7-16-23) over Noah Dobson (2 assists to give him 5-16-21); it was the 24th time in his career that Barzal has recorded at least three points…Barzal also extended his road point streak to eight straight games, matching his career-best (5-11-16); a team-leading 16 of his 23 points have come on the road; he is tied for 5th in the NHL in road scoring…Barzal and Brock Nelson both had eight game road point streaks last season; no Islander has had a nine-game streak in a single season since Alexei Yashin had a 10-game streak in 2002…Dobson now has 11 road points, which is tied-7th among defensemen on the road; his two assists allowed him to first tie and then pass Dave Lewis for 12th in points (142) among Isles defensemen…Dobson played 27:04 to raise his season average to 25:08, which is tied-6th in the NHL; no Islander has averaged 25 minutes per game since 2013-14…. The Isles have been outscored 21-6 over the last twelve third periods… The Isles have outscored their opponents 22-13 in the first period and 23-22 in the middle period; however, they have been outscored 34-15 in the third period and overtime this season ...Jalen Chatfield has two goals this season – both against the Isles. ….Kyle Palmieri scored the Isles' 3rd power play goal in the third period (they have allowed 9)… The Isles allowed two third period tying goals, making a total of ten in the 3rd period this season (including twice by Calgary on November 18th) ; the Isles are 3-1-4 in those games…The Isles allowed only eight tying goals in the third period all last season.…The Isles have led at some point of 18 of their first 22 games, but have won only nine of them…  Simon Holmstrom is now tied for the NHL lead in shorthanded goals (3), including two against Carolina and he has matched his of his rookie year total of 6; he is the only player in the NHL with at least six goals but no assists…Holmstrom is the four Islander to have three career shorthanded goals before his 23rd birthday (Bryan Trottier/Josh Bailey-4, Denis Potvin 3) and joins Bailey as the only ones to do that in a single season...Holmstrom is also the fourth Islander to score three of his first 12 goals shorthanded (Dan Plante-4, Billy Carroll and Dave Lewis 3)… Brock Nelson played his 780th Islander game, matching Matt Martin for the club lead among active players…Anders Lee became the 12th player to appear in 700 Islander games …After opening the season 0-5-0 in games they allowed the first goal, the Isles have won three straight games that they trailed 1-0…The Isles are 8-1-3 when leading after two periods…Semyon Varlamov earned his 63rd win as an Islander, passing Tommy Salo for 10th place in club history…Hudson Fasching's next appearance will be his 100th NHL game. . Isles went 5-5-4 in November

The Kid Who Won The Calder

Mathew Barzal has consecutive three (plus) point games for the first time since 2018, when he did it both in January (his Calder season) and in December.   John Tavares (six times) is the only other Islander in the last 25 years with at least three such streaks.   

It is the second time in his career that Barzal has had consecutive three-point games on the road (1/13-1/15/2018); no Islander since Pat LaFontaine has had more than two sets. Anders Lee was the last Islander to have consecutive 3-point games (3/7-10/2022).

Barzal recorded his 4th career overtime goal in regular season play:

27-Dec-17 Vs Buffalo 3 2 Wot

23-Nov-18 @ New Jersey 4 3 Wot

28-Jan-23 Vs Vegas 2 1 Wot

30-Nov-23 @ Carolina 5 4 Wot

First Times in a Long Time

Noah Dobson is the first Islander defenseman since Denis Potvin (1986-87) to have 21 points in the first 22 games.  Potvin (nine times) is the only d-man in club history with more points through the team's first 22 games.

The Isles have scored a road power play goal in six consecutive road games for the first time since March 11-27, 2012.  They have not had a longer streak since November/December 2008.

The Isles allowed a tying goal in the final three seconds of regulation for the third time in their history and the first time since April 8, 2007, in New Jersey (the famed Dubie poke check game):

• 4/8/2007 at New Jersey John Madden   19:59 Isles won in OT

• 10/19/1980 at Hartford        Dave Keon   19:59 Game ended in a tie (no OT) 

• 10/9/1996 at Ottawa          Alexandre Daigle 19:58 Game ended in a tied in OT

• 11/30/2023 at Carolina       Sebastian Aho      19:57   Isles won in OT

The Isles scored five (or more) goals on only 16 shots for the first time in nearly 13 years and the 6th time ever:

• 8-Apr-79 @ New York 5 2 W

• 30-Nov-90 @ New Jersey 5 5 T

• 5-Mar-96 Vs Boston 5 3 W

• 20-Oct-03 Vs Toronto 5 2 W

• 23-Dec-10 @ New Jersey 5 1 W

• 30-Nov-23 @ Carolina 5 4 Wot

Tonight, Overtime Was Our Time

The Isles are 1-4 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-2 in shootouts.

The Isles have now won 12 of the last 33 games that were decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).

Killing Their Own PP

The Isles have taken a penalty to interrupt their power play ten times this season.

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,806

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  9-7-6 for 24 points in 22 games

• 2022-23  14-8-0 for 28 points in 22 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-3-3

• Season: 7-29-36

• 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 144 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.5% of his starts, which is the highest in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.5%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Varly, Varly

Semyon Varlamov has 40 career shutouts and 276 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 276

52. Marty Turco 275

Home and Road

The Isles are 9-7-6 overall; they are 4-3-4 at home and 5-4-2 on the road.

Carolina is 13-8-1 overall; they are 7-2-1 at home and 6-6-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 7-4-4 against the East (4-2-3 vs. Metropolitan and 3-2-1 vs. Atlantic) and 2-3-2 against the West (1-2-0 vs. Central and 1-1-2 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 93 games at UBS Arena and recorded 65 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 1,414

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 6-2-5 when scoring first and are 3-5-0 when allowing the opening goal. They are 0-0-1 when the game heads to a shootout following a scoreless tie.

The Shots

Isles         7-3-4-2=16

Carolina   12-15-15-1=43

The Isles are 2-2-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 6-5-5 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 39 saves; he is 4-3-1 on the season and 6-4-4 vs. Carolina.   

Pyotr Kochetkov made 11 saves; he is 3-5-0 on the season and 2-1-0 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-4 on the power play (4:35); Carolina was 0-3 on the power play (3:05) and allowed a shorthanded goal. 

The Isles are 5-4-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 4-3-3 when they do not. The Isles are 2-5-4 when they allow at least one power play goal and 7-2-2 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 7-2-5 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 42-8-9 when scoring at least three goals.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 6-1-6 in games decided by a single goal including 4-1 in regulation. They are 1-4 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 (27:06);  Carolina: Brady Skjei (23:11)

Bo Horvat led Islander forwards with 21:15 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (7-5-3), Alex Romanov (0-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).

Face-offs

Isles 34, Carolina 29 (54%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 8 of 13 for the Isles; Jordan Staal won 10 of 15 for Carolina.

Hit Count

Isles 17 (Samuel Bolduc and Anders Lee -3)

Carolina 13 (Four with 2)

Fights 

None. Season total: 3 (Martin 1, Pelech 1, Lee 1)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 30 (Ryan Pulock -5)

Carolina 10 (Two with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 39, Carolina 96

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 29, Carolina 75

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  No Isle was a plus

Carolina: Three with +22

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 9, Carolina 17

5-on-5: Isles 4, Carolina 11

Scratches

Matt Martin, Adam Pelech (upper body – LTIR), (Sebastian Aho-IR). Hudson Fasching, Grant Hutton

Games Lost to injury: 21

The Ironmen

Three Islanders have played at least 100 consecutive games:

• Anders Lee 134

• Brock Nelson 106

• Ryan Pulock 105

Challenges

Isles:2 successful, 0 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2), OTT offside (11/24)

Opponents: 0 successful, 2 failures – BUF no offside  (10/21), CAR no high-stick (11/30)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute once this season (no times at home 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 two goals behind after two periods to win no times this season and have allowed the opposition to do so three times.

For (0):  

Vs (3): 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)

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored one goal and have allowed no goals in the final three minutes of the third period to tie or go-ahead:

For (1): Bo Horvat 10/20 vs NJ 18:49 (Isles lost in OT)

Vs (1): Curtis Lazar 11/28 @ NJ 19:37 (GWG), Sebastian Aho 11/30 @ CAR 19:57 (Isles won in OT)

OT Winners

For (1):   Mathew Barzal (vs CAR) 11/30

Vs (4):   Jack Hughes (NJ) 10/20, Lucas Raymond (DET) 10/30, Sebastian Aho (CAR) 11/4, Quinn Hughes (VAN) 11/15

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. Matt Martin and Brock Nelson 780 *** 9.  Casey Cizikas 767…

11. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 12. Anders Lee 700 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Cal Clutterbuck 657

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 251 *** 9. Anders Lee 244 …

28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29. Mathew Barzal 112 *** 30.Benoit Hogue and Ed Westfall 105 ***32. Anthony Beauvillier 102 *** 33. Anders Kallur 101 *** 34. Casey Cizikas 100

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …

13. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 14. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 15. Mathew Barzal 273…

18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 227…

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 478 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 423 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 385…

34. Kenny Jonsson 232 *** 35. Greg Gilbert 231 *** 36. Benoit Hogue and Trent Hunter 229 *** 38. Casey Cizikas 229

+/-

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 45 *** 7. Ryan Pulock 44 *** 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…

12. Roman Hamrlik 110 *** 13. Tom Kurvers and Gerry Hart 108  ***15. Noah Dobson 107 *** 16. Adam Pelech 102… 

20. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 22. Ken Morrow and Scott Mayfield 88

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 177…

11, Travis Hamonic 146 *** 12. Noah Dobson 142… 

15. Johnny Boychuk and Bryan Berard 131 *** 17. Gerry Hart 128 *** 18. Adam Pelech 127…

20. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 21. Adrian Aucoin and Scott Mayfield 113

Goalie Games

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

8. Glenn Healy 176 *** 9. Ilya Sorokin 150 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 143

Wins

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

7. Roland Melanson 77 *** 8. Ilya Sorokin 75 *** 9. Glenn Healy 66 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 63

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 6-11-1-0 on the season heading into a home-and home series with Providence this weekend.  The teams will meet in Rhode Island on Friday night and Connecticut on Saturday night. 

Season Series Stats

The season series is tied 1 game to 1 (and 3 points to 3). 

The teams will next play in Carolina on December 23rd.

The Islander victory stopped  a 4-game regular season losing streak against the Canes (0-3-1).

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2nd   — ISLANDERS AT FLORIDA– 6:00pm ET

[MSGSN (5:30 pre-game), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].

The road trip concludes Saturday in Sunrise as the Islanders head to Florida for the first meeting with Panthers in 342 days.  The Isles won that most recent meeting by a 5-1 score at UBS Arena after the Cats had beaten the Isles twice in the first six games last season.

That win snapped a six game Islander losing streak against the Cats (0-5-1).  The Isles' last win in Sunrise was on December 12, 2019 (3-1); they have lost three straight in Florida since then, by a combined score of 14-4.

The teams will also meet January 27th at UBS Arena and on March 28th in Sunrise.

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