The Skinny: Washington 3, Isles 2 (OT)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 32

Washington 3, Isles 2 (OT)

Dylan Strome scored his 2nd career overtime goal on a powerplay 1:41 into the extra session as the Washington Capitals defeated the Isles 3-2 before a sellout crowd of 18,573 at Capital One Arena.

Hudson Fasching and Anders Lee scored unassisted goals to twice erase one-goal deficits but did not get the chance to do so in overtime as they suffered their ninth overtime/shootout loss of the season. With the point, the Isles are now 7-1-3 in their last eleven games.

The Isles have points in sixteen of their last eighteen games (10-2-6); fifteen of those games have been one-goal games. 

The Isles are 15-8-9 on the season and tie Philadelphia for 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division, six points behind the first place Rangers. The Isles head to Carolina on Saturday for their final game before the Christmas break.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Hendrix Lapierre (2) Aliaksei Protas (11) 09:56 NYI 0,WSH 1

2nd Period

Hudson Fasching (2) 01:03 NYI 1,WSH 1

Joel Edmundson (1) Anthony Mantha (5), Hendrix Lapierre (3) 13:12 NYI 1,WSH 2

3rd Period

Anders Lee (9) 12:02 NYI 2,WSH 2

OT

Dylan Strome (13) Alex Ovechkin (13), John Carlson (15) 01:41 NYI 2,WSH 3 PPG

The Skinny    

Bo Horvat's career-best point streak ended at eleven games (8-9-17) while Brock Nelson's point streak ended at five games (4-4-8)…Noah Dobson was +2 and played 28:19; it is the 14th straight game he has played at least 25 minutes (no Islander has averaged 25 minutes per game since 2013-14)…Anders Lee has four goals in the last seven games and now has 249 career goals…The Isles' defense was held pointless but now has 23 points in the last nine games.… The Isles have outscored their opponents 27-18 in the first period and 38-37 in the second period but have been outscored 46-33 in the third period and overtime this season … The Isles are now two points ahead of last season's pace (15-8-9 vs. 18-13-1)… The Isles failed to score at least three goals for the first time in twelve games (1-0 SO loss to Philadelphia).…It was only the 4th time in 32 games that the Isles trailed after one period and the first time that they have trailed after one period in consecutive games for the first time since early March…. The Isles have not lost by more than three goals this season…  The Isles scored their eighth shorthanded goal, matching St. Louis, and Calgary for the NHL lead (8) … The Isles have scored 23 PP goals this season; they had only 23 at the All-Star Break (52 games) last season…The Isles extended Alex Ovechkin's career-long goal drought to 14 games but Ovechkin did assist on the overtime power play goa for his 39th career overtime point (ties Evgeni Malkin for 2nd place all-time behind Sidney Crosby's 43)…Ivan Miroshnichenko made his NHL debut less than two years after being diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma…The Caps are 8-0-2 when scoring first and 8-0-0 when leading after the first period.

First Time in a Long Time

Dobson played at least 25 minutes for the fourteenth straight game. It is the longest streak of its kind since Adrian Aucoin did so in fifteen straight games from February 10-March 9, 2004.

 

Woah, Noah!

Noah Dobson is 5-28-33 on the season, remaining tied with Mathew Barzal for the club lead in points. Dobson has seventeen assists in the last twelve games; he is the first Islander to do that since Tom Kurvers did so in 1992. 

Dobson is also +14 in this stretch – he is the only Isles defenseman with 17 assists and a +14 rating in a 12-game stretch in franchise history. Five forwards have done so: Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, Clark Gillies, John Tonelli, and Brent Sutter.

Dobson, who earlier in the week became the first Islander defenseman to ever be named one of the NHL's Three Stars of the Week, now has 28 assists through 32 games; only Denis Potvin (29 in 1983-84) has had more assists by an Isles defenseman through 32 games. (The Award did not exist in Potvin's era.)

Dobson also has 50 assists this calendar year, tying Jeff Norton (1989). Among Isles defensemen, only Denis Potvin (10x with a high 68 in 1978) and Stefan Persson (61 in 1978) have had more in a calendar year.

Fewest Regulation Losses Thru 32 Games (Post-Cup era)

• 8 (2019-20; 22-8-2)

• 8 (2021; 20-8-4)

• 8 (2023-24; 15-8-9) 

• 9 (2001-02; 16-9-5-2)

• 9 (2015-16; 18-9-5)

Overtime Is (Not) Our Time

The Isles are 3-6 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-3 in shootouts. In games decided in overtime, Ilya Sorokin is 2-5, while Semyon Varlamov is 1-1;  Sorokin is 1-2 in shootouts while Varlamov is 0-1.

The Isles have won 14 of the last 37 games decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).

Most OT/SO Losses Thru 32 Games

• 9 (2023-24)

• 7 (2009-10)

The Isles played 10 ties through 32 games in 1973-74 and 9 ties through 32 games in 1985-86.

Killing Their Own PP

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

Power Play Up; Penalty Killing Down

The Isles have scored 23 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.

The Isles have allowed 27 power play goals; they allowed 39 all last season. Only 11 of those 39 were at home; the Isles have already allowed 14 home power play goals this season.

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,837

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  15-8-9 for 39 points in 32 games

• 2022-23  18-13-1 for 37 points in 32 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-0-0

• Season: 10-52-62

• 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 150 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.0% of his starts, which is the second-highest in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ilya Sorokin 12.0%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Lots of Work for Sorokin

Ilya Sorokin has faced 725 shots in his 20 games (an average of 36.3 per game). Only Jordan Binnington has faced more shots (739). No goalie has ever played the full season for the Islanders and led the NHL in this category; Kelly Hrudey did so in the season he was traded at the deadline to Los Angeles (1988-89).

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 and tied-third in shutouts.

All-time Goalie Wins

50. Brian Elliott 279

51. Semyon Varlamov 278

52. Marty Turco 275

It's an SH SH (Simon Holmstrom Shorthanded) Goal

Only seven players in Isles history have scored more shorthanded goals in a season than Simon Holmstrom, who now has five:

1 Bob Bourne       1980-81    7

  Frans Nielsen      2010-11   7

3 Shawn Bates       2002-03   6

Michael Grabner  2010-11   6

Lorne Henning    1976-77    6

Anders Kallur      1980-81    6

Michael Peca      2001-02    6

It's a JG SH Assist

Jean-Gabriel Pageau is the first Isle in 42 years with at least five shorthanded assists in a season:

1 Lorne Henning  1976-77 8

2. Bryan Trottier  1980-81 5

    Denis Potvin    1980-81 5

    Bryan Trottier  1981-82 5

    Billy Carroll      1981-82 5

    J-G Pageau       2023-24 5

Home and Road

The Isles are 15-8-9 overall; they are 9-3-6 at home and 6-5-3 on the road.

Washington is 16-9-4 overall; they are 9-4-2 at home and 7-5-2 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 10-5-6 against the East (5-2-4 vs. Metropolitan and 5-3-2 vs. Atlantic) and 5-3-3 against the West (1-2-0 vs. Central and 4-1-3 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 100 games at UBS Arena and recorded 68 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 1,421

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 9-2-7 when scoring first and are 6-6-1 when allowing the opening goal. They are 0-0-1 when the game heads to a shootout following a scoreless tie.

The Shots

Isles           7-9-16-0=32

Washington 14-12-8-2=36

The Isles are 4-2-3 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-6-6 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 33 saves; he is 6-4-2 on the season and 8-12-4 vs. Washington. 

Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves; he is 8-6-2 on the season and 6-5-2 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (6:00); Washington was 1-3 on the power play (4:58).

The Isles are 9-4-5 when they score at least one power play goal and 6-4-4 when they do not. The Isles are 5-5-6 when they allow at least one power play goal and 10-3-3 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 13-3-7 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-5-2 when they do not. Under Lane Lambert the Isles are 48-9-11 when scoring at least three goals.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 10-1-9 in games decided by a single goal including 6-1 in regulation. They are 3-6 in games decided in overtime and are 1-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-2 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     

Including tonight, the Isles are 2-0-3 in the front end and 0-2-3 in the back end this season. The next set of back-to-backs will be on January 15th in Minnesota and January 16th in Winnipeg; that is the only back-to-back set in either January or February.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (28:19);  Washington: John Carlson (24:11)

Mathew Barzal led Islander forwards with 21:53 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (11-6-6), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).

Face-offs

Isles 21, Washington 21 (50%)

Casey Cizikas won 5 of 8 for the Isles; Nic Dowd won 10 of 17 for Washington.

Hit Count

Isles 18 (Cal Clutterbuck -4)

Washington 16 (Two with 3)

Fights 

None. Season total: 4 (Martin 1, Pelech 1, Lee 1, Mayfield 1)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 19 (Alex Romanov -4)

Washington 17 (Martin Fehevary-4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 61, Washington 68

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 51, Washington 48

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Robert Bortuzzo +9

Washington: Anthony Mantha +5

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 15, Washington 12

5-on-5: Isles 13, Washington 10

Scratches

Matt Martin (INJ), Adam Pelech (upper body – LTIR), (Scott Mayfield -IR), (Ryan Pulock-IR), (Julien Gauthier-INJ), Grant Hutton

Games Lost to injury: 58

The Ironmen

Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 144 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (116) 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 four times (COL 10/25 x2, MIN 11/8, @MTL 12/16)

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 (6):   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; Dylan Strome (WAS) 12/20

Shootout Winners

For (1):  Oliver Wahlstrom (Vs CGY) 11/18

Vs (3):  Kailer Yamamoto (SEA) 11/16, Tyson Foerster (PHI) 11/25, David Pastrnak (BOS) 12/15

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 790 *** 8. Matt Martin 780 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 777…

11. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 12. Anders Lee 710 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Cal Clutterbuck 668

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 256 *** 9. Anders Lee 249 …

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 …

11. Bob Bourne 304 *** 12. Derek King 288 *** 13. Mathew Barzal 280…

16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249  *** 18. Brock Nelson 234…

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…

11. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 12. Derek King 499 *** 13. Brock Nelson 490 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 428 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 395…

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. Noah Dobson 119 *** 12. Dave Lewis 117 ***  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. Noah Dobson 154… 

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 156 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 147

Wins

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

6. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 7. Ilya Sorokin 79 *** 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 7-16-1-0 on the season. The Baby Isles visit Hartford on Friday and Springfield Saturday in their final games before the Christmas break.

Season Series Stats

Washington leads the season series 2 game to 1 (and 4 points to 2). The teams will meet next Friday, December 29th at UBS Arena to conclude their season series.

The Isles are 3-1-2 in their last six trips to DC and 4-3-3 in their last ten games with Washington overall.

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23rd   —ISLANDERS AT CAROLINA– 7:00pm ET

[MSGSN2,  WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].

The Isles conclude the two-game road trip that will take them to the Christmas break as they head to Raleigh to face the Carolina Hurricanes.

It is the third of four meetings between the teams, with each team holding a road OT victory. Carolina rallied from a 3-0 deficit on November 4th at UBS for a 4-3 win in the game that started an Islander seven game winless streak; Mathew Barzal's overtime goal overcame a Canes tying goal from Sebastian Aho with 2.5 seconds to play in Raleigh on November 30th. 

That win in Raleigh ended a four-game regular season losing streak against the Canes (0-3-1).

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

Dobson, who earlier in the week became the first Islander defenseman to ever be named one of the NHL's Three Stars of the Week, now has 28 assists through 32 games; only Denis Potvin (29 in 1983-84) has had more assists by an Isles defenseman through 32 games. (The Award did not exist in Potvin's era.)