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The Skinny: Los Angeles 3, Isles 1

"The Skinny"  By Eric Hornick Game 30 Los Angeles 3, Isles 1 Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala scored to give Los Angeles a 2-0 lead an...

Sunday, January 28, 2024

The Skinny: Florida 3, Isles 2 (OT)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 49
Florida 3, Isles 2 (OT)
Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored his 8th career overtime goal as the Florida Panthers spoiled Alumni Weekend with a 3-2 win over the Isles before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Both Florida goals in regulation were scored on the power play (Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk) but the Isles tied the game each time, with Simon Holmstrom scoring his 12th goal in the 2nd period and Kyle Palmieri adding a 6th-attacker goal with 1:31 to play. 

The Isles are 1-2-1 under Patrick Roy. They are 2-7-2 in their last eleven games and 20-17-12 overall as they climb into 4th place in the Metro and within four points of third place Philadelphia. The Isles are off now until February 5th, when they face the Maple Leafs in Toronto.

The Scoring: 
1st Period
No Goals

2nd Period
Sam Reinhart (37) Matthew Tkachuk (35), Carter Verhaeghe (26) 07:56 FLA 1,NYI 0 PPG
Simon Holmstrom (12) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (14), Oliver Wahlstrom (4) 16:29 FLA 1,NYI 1

3rd Period
Matthew Tkachuk (16) Aleksander Barkov (37), Brandon Montour (9) 05:59 FLA 2,NYI 1 PPG
Kyle Palmieri (13) Noah Dobson (46), Mathew Barzal (38) 18:31 FLA 2,NYI 2

OT
Oliver Ekman-Larsson (9) Evan Rodrigues (21), Anthony Stolarz (1) 01:57 FLA 3,NYI 2

The Skinny    
The Isles went 3-7-3 in January and are 4-8-3 since the Christmas break…Since Christmas the Isles are 3-2-1 at home and 1-6-2 on the road… Noah Dobson now has a career-high 46 assists (good for tied-5th in the NHL and tied-2nd among defensemen) and has established a new career-high in points (52).. The Isles' defense has 53 points in the last 25 games and have 34 points in the last eighteen games (8-26-34)…The Isles have outscored their opponents 39-31 in the first period but have been outscored 65-49 in the second period and 67-54 in the third period and overtime this season…The Isles have been outscored 27-10 in the second period since the Christmas break …The Isles are 2-13-3 when trailing after two periods  ….Semyon Varlamov made 33 saves in his 599th NHL game; it was the first time he had started consecutive games since the game before and the game after last season's All-Star break.  Ilya Sorokin was the back-up in both of those games; the only other time since his rookie season he has done so. … Vegas is 20-0-4 when scoring first and 22-0-3 when leading after two periods… Bo Horvat is closing in on 500 points (228-252-480); he has played 699 NHL games.…Dobson now has his nine assists in the 2nd 5-game assist streak of the season (and third of his career) and his 3rd 5-game point streak of the season (and fifth of his career); he has never had a point in six straight games…Sam Reinhart extended his point streak to 13 games and set a Florida team record with his NHL-leading 20th power play goal of the season; 52 of his 101 goals for the Cats have been scored on the power play…The Isles allowed two power play goals for the second straight game and the 4th time in 13 games this month….The Isles allowed their 9th overtime goal (most in the NHL); they have scored five themselves (tied-most in the NHL)... The Panthers extended their franchise record with an 8th-straight road win.

Woah Noah
Noah Dobson is the first Islander since Bryan Trottier in 1983-84 to have at least 46 assists in the team's first 49 games. Dobson is the only defenseman in Islander history to do so; Trottier did it five times, and Mike Bossy did it once. 

Dobson is the first Islander defenseman with at least 52 points since 2008-09 when Mark Streit had 56, and the first with at least 46 assists since Vladimir Malakhov had 47 in 1993-94.

Dobson is on pace for 77 assists; the club record for assists by a defensemen was set by Denis Potvin (70 in 1978-79).  Dobson is on pace for 87 points, which would trail only three seasons by Potvin.

Isles at The Break
         Last Season    This Season
Game            52        49
Record     25-22-5     20-17-12
Points             55       52
GF/GA      148/141    142/163
PP/PK      15.5/83.0    23.0/72.3
Metro            6th         4th 
East             10th        9th 

Leaders:
Goals      Nelson/Lee 19  Nelson 21
Assists    Barzal 31         Dobson 46
Points     Nelson 46         Dobson 52
+/-         Pelech +10       Dobson +21

The New Coach
The Isles are 1-2-1 under Patrick Roy. All four games have been decided by one goal.

The 20-Goal Club
Brock Nelson is the 7th player in club history to have at least eight seasons of at least 20 goals:
• Bryan Trottier 13
• Brent Sutter/Mike Bossy 10
• John Tavares/Denis Potvin 9
• Clark Gillies/Brock Nelson 8

Anders Lee needs seven more goals this season for his 8th season with at least 20 goals.

Inter-Division Games
The Isles are starting the new year with 17 straight inter-division games; they will play only two division foes in their first 30 games (February 18 vs NYR at MetLife, February 20 at Pittsburgh) of 2024.
 
Overtime Is (Not) Our Time
The Isles have played 18 overtime games. They are 5-9 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-3 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 4-7 in overtime and 1-2 in shootouts, while Semyon Varlamov is 1-3 in overtime and 0-1 in shootouts. 

The NHL record for overtime games is 30, played by Boston in 2003-04. The Isles are on pace to play 30overtime games.

The Isles have won 16 of the last 42 games decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).

Most OT/SO Losses Thru 49 Games (Since 1998-99)
• 12 (2023-24)
• 9 (2016-17)
• 8 (2009-10)
• 8 (2021-22)

Killing Their Own PP
The Isles have taken a penalty to interrupt their power play sixteen times this season.

Power Play Up; Penalty Killing Down
The Isles have scored 31 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.
The Isles have allowed 42 power play goals; they allowed 39 all last season. 
 
Building on a Lead
The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 31 times this season:
• Score the next goal: 7 times
• Allowed the next goal: 22 times
• Game ended with 2-goal difference: twice 

Heavy Hitter
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,897
2. Matt Martin 3,777

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  20-17-12 for 52 points in 49 games
• 2022-23  23-21-5 for 51 points in 49 games

Offense from Defense
• Today:   0-1-1
• Season: 18-79-97
• 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.

Lots of Work for Sorokin
Most shots against:
• Ilya Sorokin 1,202
• Alexandar Georgiev 1,133
• Juuse Saros 1,071
• Thatcher Demko 1,032 (not including late game Saturday)

No goalie has ever played the full season for the Islanders and led the NHL in this category; Kelly Hrudey led the NHL in 1988-89; he was traded at the deadline to Los Angeles.

Facing 40
Ilya Sorokin has faced at least forty shots nine times this season and 26 times in his career. 

Most Games, 40+ Shots in a Season vs Isles Goalie
1. Jaroslav Halak 11  2017-18
2. Gerry Desjardins 10 1972-73
3. Ilya Sorokin 9 2023-24
Joey Mac Donald 9 2008-09
Dwayne Roloson 9 2009-10

No other NHL goalie has faced 40+ shots more than six times this season.

Most games, 40+ Shots (Since 2021-22)
1. John Gibson 32
2. Ilya Sorokin 26
3. Darcy Kuemper 22
4. Sam Montembault 21
5. Karel Vejmelka 20

Most Games, 40+ Shots (Islander History)
1. Billy Smith 46    (674 games)
2. Kelly Hrudey 27 (241 games)
3. Ilya Sorokin 26   (171 games)

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

Home and Road
The Isles are 20-17-12 overall; they are 12-6-7 at home and 8-11-5 on the road.
Florida is 31-14-4 overall; they are 14-7-2 at home and 17-7-2 on the road.

East and West
The Isles are 13-8-7 against the East (7-4-4 vs. Metropolitan and 6-4-3 vs. Atlantic) and 7-9-5 against the West (3-5-2 vs. Central and 4-4-3 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 107 games at UBS Arena and recorded 73 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 1,425
3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack
Lou Lamoriello (1,425) and Patrick Roy (131) have combined for 1,556 wins as general manager and coach. That is the highest in the NHL among active combos by a wide margin.

First Things First
The Isles are 14-3-9 when scoring first and are 6-14-3 when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots
Isles    7-8-7-1=23
Toronto 4-17-13-2=36
The Isles are 6-5-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 13-12-7 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets
Semyon Varlamov made 33 saves; he is 6-5-2 on the season and 8-5-1 vs. Toronto.
Anthony Stolarz made 21 saves; he is 8-4-2 on the season and 1-2-0 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams
The Isles were 0-1 on the power play (2:00); Florida was 2-4 on the power play (5:54).

The Isles are 11-6-6 when they score at least one power play goal and 9-11-6 when they do not. The Isles are 7-11-8 when they allow at least one power play goal and 13-6-4 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 18-4-9 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-13-3 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 13-3-12 in games decided by a single goal including 7-3 in regulation. They are 5-9 in games decided in overtime and are 1-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-5 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     
The Isles are 2-1-3 in the front end and 0-3-3 in the back end this season. The next back-to-back set will be on March 10th in Anaheim and March 11th in Los Angeles. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Noah Dobson (27:45);  Florida: Brandon Montaur (24:11)
Mathew Barzal led Islander forwards with a career-high 23:42 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (16-15-9), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).

Face-offs
Isles 31, Florida 36 (46%)
Bo Horvat won 12 of 13 for the Isles; Aleksander Barkov won 16 of 18 for Florida. 

Hit Count
Isles 15 (Five with 2)
Florida 16 (Four with 3)

Fights 
None. Season total: 5 (Martin 2, Pelech 1, Lee 1, Mayfield 1)
 
Blocked Shots
Isles 24 (Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield -6)
Florida 8 (Two with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 47, Florida 73
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 43, Florida 49
 
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Mike Reilly +6
Florida: Gustav Forsling +8

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 5, Florida 11
5-on-5: Isles 5, Florida 4

Scratches
(Ryan Pulock-LTIR), (Robert Bortuzzo -INJ), (Casey Cizikas-IR), (Hudson Fasching-INJ), (Adam Pelech-INJ), Julien Gauthier
Games Lost to injury: 123

The Ironmen
Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 161 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (133) is the only other Islander to have played at least 100 consecutive games.

Challenges
Isles: 2 successful, 2 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2), OTT offside (11/24), LA no goalie interference (12/9), VGK no goalie interference (1/6)

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 five times this season (three times at home – CBJ 12/7 x2, WSH 12/29, and twice on road-@OTT 11/24, @ARI 1/4) and allowed two in the same span six times (COL 10/25 x2, MIN 11/8, @MTL 12/16, PIT 12/27, @NAS 1/13)

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 (3): Bo Horvat 10/20 vs NJ 18:49 (Isles lost in OT); Simon Holmstrom 12/13 vs ANA 18:27 (GWG); Kyle Palmieri 1/27 vs FLA 18:31 (Isles lost in OT)
Vs (6): 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); Alexandre Carrier 1/13 @ NAS 19:52 (GWG); Sean Monahan 1/25 @ MTL 17:48 (GWG)

OT Winners
For (4):   Mathew Barzal (vs CAR) 11/30, Jean Gabriel Pageau (vs LA) 12/9, Bo Horvat (vs TOR) 12/11, Mathew Barzal (vs TOR) 1/11, Bo Horvat (vs DAL) 1/21
Vs (8):   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; Nathan MacKinnon (COL) ½; Seth Jones (CHI) 1/19

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 807 *** 8. Matt Martin 793 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 784 *** 10. Mike Bossy 752 *** 11. Anders Lee 727 *** Patrick Flatley 712 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. Cal Clutterbuck 685

Goals    
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 262 *** 9. Anders Lee 253 …
21. Jason Blake 127 *** 22. Duane Sutter 121 *** 23. Alexei Yashin and Frans Nielsen 119 *** 25. Mathew Barzal, Steve Thomas, Matt Moulson and Mark Parrish 118 *** 29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 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 …
10. Stefan Persson 317 *** 11. Bob Bourne 304 *** 12. Mathew Barzal 295…
16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249  *** 18. Brock Nelson 238…
22. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 23. Anders Lee 182…
33. Travis Green 145 *** 34. Steve Thomas 140 *** 35. Mark Streit 139 *** 36. Noah Dobson 137 ***37. Greg Gilbert 136 *** 38. Ryan Pulock 133

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
11. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 12. Brock Nelson 500 *** 13. Derek King 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 *** 16. Anders Lee 435 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 413…
32. Ray Ferraro 238 *** 33. Travis Green 237 *** 34. Casey Cizikas 233

+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +76 ***  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. Noah Dobson 36

Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…
7. Jeff Norton 166 *** 8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Noah Dobson 137 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 133…
13. Roman Hamrlik 110 *** 14. Tom Kurvers and Gerry Hart 109 *** 16. Adam Pelech 103… 
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 173… 
15. Johnny Boychuk and Bryan Berard 131 *** 17. Gerry Hart and Adam Pelech 128…
19. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 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 171 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 151

Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
6. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 7. Ilya Sorokin 84** 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 11-24-5-0 on the season after dropping a home-and-home series with Providence. They will host Springfield on both Wednesday and Friday.

Season Series Stats
The season series is tied, 1 game to 1 (the Isles have 3 points to Florida's 2). The teams will meet in Sunrise, Florida on March 28th to complete the season series.

The Isles are 6-4-2 in their last 12 games with Florida, including 3-1-2 at home. 

UP NEXT
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5th –ISLANDERS AT TORONTO– 7:00pm
[MSGSN (Pre-game at 6:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].
The Isles will look to sweep the Leafs as they play their first game after the All-Star Break and their only game out of the Metro area until February 20th as they visit Toronto for the only time this season.

The Isles have won twice at home this season against Toronto, with Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal each scoring in overtime, and will be looking to win three games in a season against Toronto for the first time since the 2009-10 season.

It will be the 2,000th road game in Islander history and is expected to be Horvat's 700th NHL game.

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

Friday, January 26, 2024

The Skinny: Montreal 4, Isles 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 48
Montreal 4, Isles 3
Sean Monahan scored the go-ahead goal with 2:12 to play as the Montreal Canadians overcame a 3-goal Islander comeback, all on power play goals, to defeat the Isles 4-3 before a crowd of 21,105 at Bell Centre. 

Trailing 3-0 after one period, the Isles rallied on power play tallies by Bo Horvat, Mathew Barzal and Kyle Palmieri. Noah Dobson assisted on all three goals (giving him eight assists in four games), with the latter two coming 1:37 apart on a major power play.

The Isles, who fell to 1-2-0 under Patrick Roy, are 2-7-1 in their last ten games and 20-17-11 overall as they remain in 5th place in the Metro; they drop four points behind Detroit for the final playoff berth. The Isles return home to face Florida on Saturday in their final game before their weeklong bye/All-Star Break. 

The Scoring:
1st Period
Nick Suzuki (13) Juraj Slafkovsky (13), Sean Monahan (21) 07:06 NYI 0,MTL 1 PPG
Cole Caufield (17) Nick Suzuki (28) 11:36 NYI 0,MTL 2
Sean Monahan (12) Mike Matheson (26), Sam Montembeault (2) 12:19 NYI 0,MTL 3 PPG

2nd Period
Bo Horvat (20) Mathew Barzal (37), Noah Dobson (43) 03:02 NYI 1,MTL 3 PPG

3rd Period
Mathew Barzal (13) Noah Dobson (44), Kyle Palmieri (15) 14:51 NYI 2,MTL 3 PPG
Kyle Palmieri (12) Noah Dobson (45), Bo Horvat (25) 16:28 NYI 3,MTL 3 PPG
Sean Monahan (13) Josh Anderson (6), Cole Caufield (21) 17:48  NYI 3,MTL 4

The Skinny    
The Isles are 3-7-2 in their last twelve games and are 4-8-2 since the Christmas break…Since Christmas the Isles are 3-2-0 at home and 1-6-2 on the road… Noah Dobson now has a career-high 45 assists (good for 5th in the NHL and third among defensemen) and has matched his career-high in points (51).. The Isles' defense has 52 points in the last 24 games and have 33 points in the last seventeen games (8-25-33)…The Isles have outscored their opponents 39-31 in the first period but have been outscored 64-48 in the second period and 65-53 in the third period and overtime this season…The Isles have been outscored 26-9 in the second period since the Christmas break …The Isles are 2-13-2 when trailing after two periods  ….Semyon Varlamov made 22 saves in his 150th game as an Islander, ending Ilya Sorokin's career-high 15- game appearance streak; it was his 598th NHL game, breaking a tie with Jean-Sebastian Giguere for 54th all-time.  They were together for three seasons (2011-12 to 2013-14) in Colorado, including Patrick Roy's first season. … This was the 4,000th regular season home game in Islander history… Vegas is 20-4-3 when scoring first and 19-1-2 when leading after two periods…The Isles set a season-high in shots for the second straight game; their 46 shots was the most that they have had since last Valentine's Day (48 vs. Ottawa) … ….The Isles scored on a 5-on-3 in the second period; it was their first 5-on-3 goal since November 29, 2022 at Philadelphia… The Isles had 45 more attempts (88-43) than Montreal; it was their second-largest advantage of the season (98-49 vs. Washington on December 20th)…Matt Martin and Casey Cizikas missed the same game for only the 13th time since Martin returned to the team in 2018… Bo Horvat scored his 20th goal for the first time as an Islander and the seventh time in his last eight seasons; Horvat is closing in on 500 points (228-252-480); he has played 698 NHL games. …The Isles have lost consecutive one-goal games in regulation after losing only one one-goal game in regulation in their first 46 games…Cole Caufield extended his point streak to eight games…The Canadiens lead the NHL with 15 one-goal wins (out of 20 total)…The Isles last came from three goals behind to win on October 29, 2022 vs. Colorado…The Canadiens allowed at least two goals for the 43rd straight game; it is the longest single-season streak in club history and longest since a 44-game streak over parts of three seasons from 1919-1921.

The Injuries
Hudson Fasching left the game at 6:41 mark of the second period; he did not return.
Adam Pelech left the game with 8 minutes to play after a check to the head by Brendan Gallagher resulted in a match penalty.

First Time in a Long Time
Noah Dobson is the first Islander since Bryan Trottier in 1983-84 to have at least 45 assists in the team's first 48 games. Dobson is the only defenseman in Islander history to do so; Trottier did it five times, Clark Gillies and Mike Bossy did it once. 
Dobson is the first Islander defenseman to have two distinct 4-game spans with at least eight assists in the same season since Denis Potvin did so in 1975-76.
Dobson is the first Islander defenseman with three power play assists in a game since Chris Campoli (10/18/2007 @ Washington); Mathew Barzal is the only forward to do so in the interim (2/9/2018 vs Detroit).
The Isles scored three power play goals for the first time since April 28, 2022, vs. Washington; they had not done it on the road since they did so in Washington on March 15, 2018.
The Isles had eight power plays for the first time since January 14, 2021 at the Rangers; the Isles had won the last six games, and had points in the last nine games, that they had at least eight power play chances.
The Isles trailed by three goals after one period for the first time this season.

Quite the Pace
Noah Dobson is on pace for 77 assists; the club record for assists by a defensemen was set by Denis Potvin (70 in 1978-79).  Dobson is on pace for 87 points, which would trail only three seasons by Potvin.

The New Coach
The Isles are 1-2-0 under Patrick Roy.

Games by the Chilliad  
This was the 4,000th regular season game in club history. Here is a look at the last game of each chiliad (a group of 1,000):
1,000 16-Jan-85 @ Edmonton 3 3 T
2,000 26-Nov-97 Vs NY Rangers 4 1 W
3,000 9-Jan-11 @ Chicago         0 5 L
4,000 25-Jan-24 @ Montreal 3 4 L

The 20-Goal Club
Brock Nelson is the 7th player in club history to have at least eight seasons of at least 20 goals:
Bryan Trottier 13
Brent Sutter/Mike Bossy 10
John Tavares/Denis Potvin 9
Clark Gillies/Brock Nelson 8

Anders Lee needs seven more goals this season for his 8th season with at least 20 goals.

Inter-Division Games
The Isles are starting the new year with 17 straight inter-division games; they will play only two division foes in their first 30 games (February 18 vs NYR at MetLife, February 20 at Pittsburgh) of 2024.
 
Overtime Is Our Time
The Isles have played 17 overtime games. They are 5-8 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-3 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 4-7 in overtime and 1-2 in shootouts, while Semyon Varlamov is 1-1 in overtime and 0-1 in shootouts. 

The NHL record for overtime games is 30, played by Boston in 2003-04. The Isles are on pace to play 29 overtime games.

The Isles have won 16 of the last 41 games decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).

Most OT/SO Losses Thru 48 Games (Since 1998-99)
11 (2023-24)
9 (2016-17)
8 (2009-10)
8 (2021-22)

Killing Their Own PP
The Isles have taken a penalty to interrupt their power play sixteen times this season.

Power Play Up; Penalty Killing Down
The Isles have scored 31 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.
The Isles have allowed 40 power play goals; they allowed 39 all last season. 
 
Building on a Lead
The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 31 times this season:
Score the next goal: 7 times
Allowed the next goal: 22 times
Game ended with 2-goal difference: twice 

Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,895
2. Matt Martin 3,775

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  20-17-11 for 51 points in 48 games
2022-23  23-20-5 for 51 points in 48 games

Offense from Defense
Today:   0-3-3
Season: 18-78-96
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.

Lots of Work for Sorokin
Most shots against:
Ilya Sorokin 1,202
Alexandar Georgiev 1,106
Juuse Saros 1,071
Thatcher Demko 1,032

No goalie has ever played the full season for the Islanders and led the NHL in this category; Kelly Hrudey led the NHL in 1988-89; he was traded at the deadline to Los Angeles.

Facing 40
Ilya Sorokin has faced at least forty shots nine times this season and 26 times in his career. 

Most Games, 40+ Shots in a Season vs Isles Goalie
1. Jaroslav Halak 11  2017-18
2. Gerry Desjardins 10 1972-73
3. Ilya Sorokin 9 2023-24
Joey Mac Donald 9 2008-09
Dwayne Roloson 9 2009-10

No other NHL goalie has faced 40+ shots more than six times this season.

Most games, 40+ Shots (Since 2021-22)
1. John Gibson 32
2. Ilya Sorokin 26
3. Darcy Kuemper 22
4. Sam Montembault 21
5. Karel Vejmelka 20

Most Games, 40+ Shots (Islander History)
1. Billy Smith 46    (674 games)
2. Kelly Hrudey 27 (241 games)
3. Ilya Sorokin 26   (171 games)

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

Home and Road
The Isles are 20-17-11 overall; they are 12-6-6 at home and 8-11-5 on the road.
Montreal is 19-21-7 overall; they are 10-12-3 at home and 10-9-4 on the road.

East and West
The Isles are 13-8-6 against the East (7-4-4 vs. Metropolitan and 6-4-2 vs. Atlantic) and 7-9-5 against the West (3-5-2 vs. Central and 4-4-3 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 106 games at UBS Arena and recorded 72 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 1,425
3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack
Lou Lamoriello (1,425) and Patrick Roy (131) have combined for 1,556 wins as general manager and coach. That is the highest in the NHL among active combos by a wide margin.

First Things First
The Isles are 14-3-9 when scoring first and are 6-14-1 when allowing the opening goal. They are 0-0-1 when the game heads to a shootout following a scoreless tie.

The Shots
Isles    12-18-16=46
Montreal 13-7-6=26
The Isles are 6-5-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 13-11-7 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets
Semyon Varlamov made 22 saves; he is 6-5-2 on the season and 6-3-2 vs. Montreal.
Sam Montembault made 43 saves; he is 11-7-4 on the season and 3-2-2 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams
The Isles were 3-8 on the power play (12:09); Montreal was 2-5 on the power play (7:15).
The Isles are 11-6-6 when they score at least one power play goal and 9-11-5 when they do not. The Isles are 7-11-7 when they allow at least one power play goal and 13-6-4 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number
The Isles are 18-4-9 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-13-2 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 13-3-11 in games decided by a single goal including 7-3 in regulation. They are 5-8 in games decided in overtime and are 1-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-5 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     
The Isles are 2-1-3 in the front end and 0-3-3 in the back end this season. The next back-to-back set will be on March 10th in Anaheim and March 11th in Los Angeles. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Noah Dobson (30:17);  Montreal: Mike Matheson (26:37)
Mathew Barzal led Islander forwards with a career-high 26:31 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (16-15-8), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).

Face-offs
Isles 26, Montreal 24 (52%)
Brock Nelson won 4 of 5 for the Isles; Jake Evans won 10 of 19 for Montreal. 

Hit Count
Isles 14 (Cal Clutterbuck -4)
Montreal 22 (Josh Anderson -5)

Fights 
None. Season total: 5 (Martin 2, Pelech 1, Lee 1, Mayfield 1)
 
Blocked Shots
Isles 10 (Scott Mayfield -3)
Montreal 18 (David Savard-4)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 88, Montreal 43
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 49, Montreal 25
 
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Mathew Barzal +20
Montreal: No Canadien was a "+"

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 23, Montreal 10
5-on-5: Isles 6, Montreal 3

Scratches
(Ryan Pulock-LTIR), (Robert Bortuzzo -INJ), (Casey Cizikas-IR), (Matt Martin -ILL), Mike Reilly, Oliver Wahlstrom
Games Lost to injury: 118

The Ironmen
Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 160 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (132) is the only other Islander to have played at least 100 consecutive games.

Challenges
Isles: 2 successful, 2 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2), OTT offside (11/24), LA no goalie interference (12/9), VGK no goalie interference (1/6)

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 five times this season (three times at home – CBJ 12/7 x2, WSH 12/29, and twice on road-@OTT 11/24, @ARI 1/4) and allowed two in the same span six times (COL 10/25 x2, MIN 11/8, @MTL 12/16, PIT 12/27, @NAS 1/13)

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 (6): 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); Alexandre Carrier 1/13 @ NAS 19:52 (GWG); Sean Monahan 1/25 @ MTL 17:48 (GWG)

OT Winners
For (4):   Mathew Barzal (vs CAR) 11/30, Jean Gabriel Pageau (vs LA) 12/9, Bo Horvat (vs TOR) 12/11, Mathew Barzal (vs TOR) 1/11, Bo Horvat (vs DAL) 1/21
Vs (8):   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; Nathan MacKinnon (COL) ½; Seth Jones (CHI) 1/19

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 806 *** 8. Matt Martin 792 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 784 *** 10. Mike Bossy 752 *** 11. Anders Lee 726 *** Patrick Flatley 712 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. Cal Clutterbuck 684

Goals    
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 262 *** 9. Anders Lee 253 …
21. Jason Blake 127 *** 22. Duane Sutter 121 *** 23. Alexei Yashin and Frans Nielsen 119 *** 25. Mathew Barzal, Steve Thomas, Matt Moulson and Mark Parrish 118 *** 29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 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 …
10. Stefan Persson 317 *** 11. Bob Bourne 304 *** 12. Mathew Barzal 294…
16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249  *** 18. Brock Nelson 238…
22. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 23. Anders Lee 182…
33. Travis Green 145 *** 34. Steve Thomas 140 *** 35. Mark Streit 139 *** 36. Greg Gilbert and Noah Dobson 136 *** 38. Ryan Pulock 133

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
11. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 12. Brock Nelson 500 *** 13. Derek King 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 *** 16. Anders Lee 435 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 412…
32. Ray Ferraro 238 *** 33. Travis Green 237 *** 34. Casey Cizikas 233

+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +76 ***  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. Noah Dobson 36

Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…
7. Jeff Norton 166 *** 8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Noah Dobson 136 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 133…
13. Roman Hamrlik 110 *** 14. Tom Kurvers and Gerry Hart 109 *** 16. Adam Pelech 103… 
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 172… 
15. Johnny Boychuk and Bryan Berard 131 *** 17. Gerry Hart and Adam Pelech 128…
19. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 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 171 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 150

Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
6. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 7. Ilya Sorokin 84** 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 11-22-5-0 on the season heading into a home-and-home series with Providence.  They will play in Rhode Island on Friday and Connecticut on Saturday. 

All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov has points in 12 of the last 14 games and leads the team in goals (13), assists (20) and points (33). 

Season Series Stats
Montreal leads the season series 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 0).  The teams will meet on Long Island on April 11th to complete the season series.

The Isles are 2-2-1 in their last five trips to Bell Centre.

UP NEXT
SATURDAY, JANUARY 27th – FLORIDA AT ISLANDERS– 7:30pm
[MSGSN (Pre-game at 7:00), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].
The Isles play their final game before their bye week and the All-Star Game as they welcome the Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers to UBS Arena for the Alumni Weekend game. 

It is the second of three meetings between the teams this season; the Isles earned a 4-3 win in Florida on December 2nd.

The Isles have won two straight overall against Florida and are 6-4-1 in the last 11 meetings; they have gone 3-1-1 at home during that span.

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

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

The Skinny: Vegas 3, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 47
Vegas 3, Isles 2
Sheldon Rempal and Nicolas Roy scored 1:49 apart in the second period to break open a tie game and the Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights edged the Isles 3-2 before a crowd of 16,077 at UBS Arena. 

Brock Nelson scored on a delayed penalty in the second period and Jean Gabriel scored a third period shorthanded goal for the Isles, who fell to 1-1-0 under Patrick Roy. 

The Isles are 2-6-1 in their last nine games and 20-16-11 overall as they remain in 5th place in the Metro; they are two points behind Detroit for the final playoff berth. The Isles head to Montreal on Thursday before hosting Florida on Saturday in their final game before their weeklong bye/All-Star Break. 

The Scoring:
1st Period
Ivan Barbashev (12) Alex Pietrangelo (18) 11:52 VGK 1,NYI 0

2nd Period
Brock Nelson (21) Alexander Romanov (8), Noah Dobson (42) 03:35 VGK 1,NYI 1
Sheldon Rempal (1) Nicolas Roy (14), Alex Pietrangelo (19) 07:18 VGK 2,NYI 1 PPG
Nicolas Roy (9) Jonathan Marchessault (15), Ivan Barbashev (14) 09:07 VGK 3,NYI 1

3rd Period
Jean-Gabriel Pageau (6) Simon Holmstrom (6), Adam Pelech (4) 09:26 VGK 3,NYI 2 SHG

The Skinny    
The Isles are 3-7-2 in their last twelve games and are 4-8-2 since the Christmas break… Brock Nelson's goal was his 500th point; he passed Derek King for 12th place on the club's all-time point list and became the 12th player with 500 points … Nelson is one of only 21 NHL players with at least 94 goals over the last 2 ½ seasons…Noah Dobson had another assist (five in the last three games) to give him 42 (tied-sixth in the NHL and third among defensemen).. The Isles' defense has 53 points in the last 23 games and have 30 points in the last fourteen games (8-22-30)…The Isles have outscored their opponents 39-28 in the first period but have been outscored 64-47 in the second period and 64-51 in the third period and overtime this season…The Isles have been outscored 26-8 in the second period since the Christmas break …The Isles are 2-12-2 when trailing after two periods  …. Ilya Sorokin appeared in a career-high fifteenth straight game and started for a career-high 10th straight game… This was the 3,999th regular season home game in Islander history… Vegas is 20-4-3 when scoring first and 19-1-2 when leading after two periods…The Isles had a season-high 43 shots; it was only the second time this season that they have had 40 or more shots on goal…This was only the Isles' second 1-goal in regulation this season (11/28 in New Jersey, 5-4)…Sheldon Rempal's goal, coming in his 14th NHL game, was his first in the NHL; he debuted in the League on October 18, 2018….The Isles scored on a delayed penalty in the second period; it was only their second 6-on-5 goal this season (October 20, 2023 vs. New Jersey)…Alex Pietrangelo is now 0-13-13 in 22 career games against the Isles…The Isles had 41 more attempts (82-41) than Vegas; it was their second-largest advantage of the season (98-49 vs. Washington on December 20th).

First Time in a Long Time
Noah Dobson is the first Islander since Pierre Turgeon in 1992-93 to have at least 42 assists in 47 games. Dobson is the only defenseman in Islander history to do so. 

Kings of the Shorty
Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Simon Holmstrom combined on another shorthanded goal. Holmstrom, who is tied for the NHL lead with five shorthanded goals, now leads the league with seven shorthanded points while Pageau is only the 4th active player with 20 shorthanded goals (joining Brad Marchand-34, Andrew Cogliano-22, and Jeff Carter-20). 

Pageau is only the 87th player in league history to record 20 career shorties and is now tied for 75th in career shorties with twelve others. To put Pageau's shorty count in perspective, Rick Nash and Pavel Bure are tied for 75th in career goals (437), while Steve Shutt (424) is 87th.

The Isles now have nine shorthanded goals, including a league-leading six at home. It is the first time since 2014-15 (10) that the Isles have scored at least nine shorties.

The New Coach
The Isles are 1-1-0 under Patrick Roy.

The 20-Goal Club
Brock Nelson is the 7th player in club history to have at least eight seasons of at least 20 goals:
Bryan Trottier 13
Brent Sutter/Mike Bossy 10
John Tavares/Denis Potvin 9
Clark Gillies/Brock Nelson 8

Anders Lee needs seven more goals this season for his 8th season with at least 20 goals.

Inter-Division Games
The Isles are starting the new year with 17 straight inter-division games; they will play only two division foes in their first 30 games (February 18 vs NYR at MetLife, February 20 at Pittsburgh) of 2024.
 
Overtime Is Our Time
The Isles have played 17 overtime games. They are 5-8 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-3 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 4-7 in overtime and 1-2 in shootouts, while Semyon Varlamov is 1-1 in overtime and 0-1 in shootouts. 

The NHL record for overtime games is 30, played by Boston in 2003-04. The Isles are on pace to play 29 overtime games.

The Isles have won 16 of the last 41 games decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).

Most OT/SO Losses Thru 47 Games (Since 1998-99)
11 (2023-24)
9 (2016-17)
8 (2009-10)
8 (2021-22)

Killing Their Own PP
The Isles have taken a penalty to interrupt their power play fifteen times this season.

Power Play Up; Penalty Killing Down
The Isles have scored 28 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.
The Isles have allowed 38 power play goals; they allowed 39 all last season. Only 11 of those 39 were at home; the Isles have already allowed 15 home power play goals this season.
 
Building on a Lead
The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 31 times this season:
Score the next goal: 7 times
Allowed the next goal: 22 times
Game ended with 2-goal difference: twice 

Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,891
2. Matt Martin 3,775

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  20-16-11 for 51 points in 47 games
2022-23  23-19-5 for 51 points in 47 games

Offense from Defense
Today:   0-3-3
Season: 18-75-93
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.

Lots of Work for Sorokin
Most shots against:
Ilya Sorokin 1,202
Alexandar Georgiev 1,081
Juuse Saros 1,047
Thatcher Demko 1,032

No goalie has ever played the full season for the Islanders and led the NHL in this category; Kelly Hrudey led the NHL in 1988-89; he was traded at the deadline to Los Angeles.

Facing 40
Ilya Sorokin has faced at least forty shots nine times this season and 26 times in his career. 

Most Games, 40+ Shots in a Season vs Isles Goalie
1. Jaroslav Halak 11  2017-18
2. Gerry Desjardins 10 1972-73
3. Ilya Sorokin 9 2023-24
Joey Mac Donald 9 2008-09
Dwayne Roloson 9 2009-10

No other NHL goalie has faced 40+ shots more than six times this season.

Most games, 40+ Shots (Since 2021-22)
1. John Gibson 32
2. Ilya Sorokin 26
3. Darcy Kuemper 22
4. Sam Montembault 20
Karel Vejmelka 20

Most Games, 40+ Shots (Islander History)
1. Billy Smith 46    (674 games)
2. Kelly Hrudey 27 (241 games)
3. Ilya Sorokin 26   (171 games)

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

Home and Road
The Isles are 20-16-11 overall; they are 12-6-6 at home and 8-10-5 on the road.
Vegas is 28-14-6 overall; they are 18-5-2 at home and 10-9-4 on the road.

East and West
The Isles are 13-7-6 against the East (7-4-4 vs. Metropolitan and 6-3-2 vs. Atlantic) and 7-9-5 against the West (3-5-2 vs. Central and 4-4-3 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 106 games at UBS Arena and recorded 72 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 1,425
3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack
Lou Lamoriello (1,425) and Patrick Roy (131) have combined for 1,556 wins as general manager and coach. That is the highest in the NHL among active combos by a wide margin.

First Things First
The Isles are 14-3-9 when scoring first and are 6-13-1 when allowing the opening goal. They are 0-0-1 when the game heads to a shootout following a scoreless tie.

The Shots
Isles    8-18-16=42
Vegas 7-9-11=27
The Isles are 6-4-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 13-11-7 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves; he is 14-12-9 on the season and 1-2-1 vs. Vegas.
Adin Hill made 40 saves; he is 11-2-2 on the season and 1-0-0 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams
The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (5:28); Vegas was 1-3 on the power play (4:32).
The Isles are 11-5-6 when they score at least one power play goal and 9-11-5 when they do not. The Isles are 7-10-7 when they allow at least one power play goal and 13-6-4 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 18-3-9 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-13-2 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 13-2-11 in games decided by a single goal including 7-2 in regulation. They are 5-8 in games decided in overtime and are 1-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-5 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     
The Isles are 2-1-3 in the front end and 0-3-3 in the back end this season. The next back-to-back set will be on March 10th in Anaheim and March 11th in Los Angeles. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Noah Dobson (27:57);  Vegas: Alex Pietrangelo (24:37)
Mathew Barzal led Islander forwards with a season high 25:11 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (16-14-8), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).

Face-offs
Isles 27, Vegas 26 (51%)
Bo Horvat won 12 of 20 for the Isles; Nicolas Roy won 10 of 17 for Vegas. 

Hit Count
Isles 24 (Matt Martin -5)
Vegas 11 (Ivan Barbashev-3)

Fights 
None. Season total: 5 (Martin 2, Pelech 1, Lee 1, Mayfield 1)
 
Blocked Shots
Isles 7 (Bo Horvat -2)
Vegas 15 (Brayden McNabb -5)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 82, Vegas 41
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 57, Vegas 33
 
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Noah Dobson +22
Vegas: Jonathan Marchessault +4

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 16, Vegas 6
5-on-5: Isles 10, Vegas 6

Scratches
(Ryan Pulock-LTIR), (Robert Bortuzzo -INJ), (Casey Cizikas-IR), (Pierre Engvall-INJ), Sam Bolduc, Oliver Wahlstrom
Games Lost to injury: 115

The Ironmen
Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 159 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (131) is the only other Islander to have played at least 100 consecutive games.

Challenges
Isles: 2 successful, 2 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2), OTT offside (11/24), LA no goalie interference (12/9), VGK no goalie interference (1/6)

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 five times this season (three times at home – CBJ 12/7 x2, WSH 12/29, and twice on road-@OTT 11/24, @ARI 1/4) and allowed two in the same span six times (COL 10/25 x2, MIN 11/8, @MTL 12/16, PIT 12/27, @NAS 1/13)

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 (5): 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); Alexandre Carrier @ NAS 19:52 (GWG)

OT Winners
For (4):   Mathew Barzal (vs CAR) 11/30, Jean Gabriel Pageau (vs LA) 12/9, Bo Horvat (vs TOR) 12/11, Mathew Barzal (vs TOR) 1/11, Bo Horvat (vs DAL) 1/21
Vs (8):   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; Nathan MacKinnon (COL) ½; Seth Jones (CHI) 1/19

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 805 *** 8. Matt Martin 792*** 9. Casey Cizikas 784 *** 10. Mike Bossy 752 *** 11. Anders Lee 725 *** Patrick Flatley 712 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. Cal Clutterbuck 683

Goals    
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 262 *** 9. Anders Lee 253 …
23. Alexei Yashin and Frans Nielsen 119 *** 25. Steve Thomas, Matt Moulson and Mark Parrish 118 *** 28. Mathew Barzal 117 **** 29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 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. Mathew Barzal 293…
16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249  *** 18. Brock Nelson 238…
22. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 23. Anders Lee 182…
34. Steve Thomas 140 *** 35. Mark Streit 139 *** 36. Greg Gilbert 136 *** 37. Ryan Pulock and Noah Dobson 133

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
11. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 12. Brock Nelson 500 *** 13. Derek King 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 *** 16. Anders Lee 435 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 410…
32. Ray Ferraro 238 *** 33. Travis Green 237 *** 34. Casey Cizikas 233

+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +76 ***  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. Noah Dobson 36

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 and Noah Dobson 133…
13. Roman Hamrlik 110 *** 14. Tom Kurvers and Gerry Hart 109 *** 16. Adam Pelech 103… 
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 169… 
15. Johnny Boychuk and Bryan Berard 131 *** 17. Gerry Hart and Adam Pelech 128…
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 171 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 149

Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
6. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 7. Ilya Sorokin 84** 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 11-22-5-0 on the season heading into a home-and-home series with Providence this weekend. 

All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov has points in 12 of the last 14 games and leads the team in goals (13), assists (20) and points (33). 

The Baby Islanders play again in Providence on Friday and then host the Bruins on Saturday. 

Season Series Stats
Vegas wins the season series 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 0).
The Isles are 3-2-1 all-time at home against Vegas, and 6-5-1 overall against the Golden Knights. In both seasons the Isles lost to Vegas at home, they were swept in the season series. 

UP NEXT
THURSDAY, JANUARY 25th —ISLANDERS AT MONTREAL– 7:00pm
[MSGSN (Pre-game at 6:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].
The Isles play their first road game of the Patrick Roy era on Thursday, but it will be a 'home' game for the coach, as the Isles head to Montreal.

It is the second of three meetings between the teams this season; Montreal defeated the Isles 5-3 back on December 16th in a game that they led 4-0 after two periods.

That is the only Islander regulation loss in their last seven meetings with Les Habitants (4-1-2) and their only regulation loss in their last four trips to La Belle Province (2-1-1). 

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

Monday, January 22, 2024

The Skinny: Isles 3, Dallas 2 (OT)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 46
Isles 3, Dallas 2 (OT)
Patrick Roy's return to the NHL is a victorious one. Bo Horvat scored 41 seconds into overtime to give the Isles a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Alexander Romanov and Hudson Fasching had the other Islander goals, with Noah Dobson earning assists on both goals. Jason Robertson and Nils Lundqvist scored in a 3:33 span of the second period for Dallas.

The Isles improve to 2-5-1 in their last eight games and 20-15-11 overall as they move back into 4th place in the Metro and two points behind Tampa Bay for the final playoff berth. The Isles welcome the Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights to UBS Arena on Tuesday. 

The Scoring:
1st Period
Alexander Romanov (5) Mathew Barzal (35), Noah Dobson (40) 02:52 DAL 0,NYI 1

2nd Period
Jason Robertson (16) Joe Pavelski (22), Radek Faksa (7) 11:35 DAL 1,NYI 1
Nils Lundkvist (2) Sam Steel (9), Joe Pavelski (23) 15:08 DAL 2,NYI 1

3rd Period
Hudson Fasching (3) Noah Dobson (41), Brock Nelson (17) 05:23 DAL 2,NYI 2

OT
Bo Horvat (19) Mathew Barzal (36) 00:41 DAL 2,NYI 3

The Skinny    
The Isles are 3-6-2 in their last eleven games and are 4-7-2 since the Christmas break… Brock Nelson assisted on the tying goal for his 499th point (tying Derek King and one away from 500) … Nelson is one of only 20 NHL players with at least 93 goals over the last 2 ½ seasons…Noah Dobson had two assists for the second straight game to give him 41 (seventh in the NHL and third among defensemen).. The Isles' defense has 50 points in the last 22 games and have 27 points in the last thirteen games (8-19-27)…The Isles have outscored their opponents 39-27 in the first period but have been outscored 62-46 in the second period and 64-50 in the third period and overtime this season…The Isles have been outscored 24-7 in the second period since the Christmas break …The Isles improved to 2-11-2 when trailing after two periods (the other victory was against Los Angeles on December 9th) …. Ilya Sorokin appeared in a career-high fourteenth straight game…The Isles were held without a power play for the first time since last February 28th in Minnesota…This was the 2,000th regular season home game in Islander history (including one each in Oklahoma City, Minneapolis and Yankee Stadium)…Bo Horvat now has seven overtime goals, including two with the Isles; he has a point in three straight games (2-1-3)…Jason Robertson is the 8th player in NorthStars/Stars history to score 120 goals before his 25th birthday (July 22nd)...Hudson Fasching's goal was his first in 11 games…The Isles went 11-19 in games beyond 60 minutes under Lane Lambert…While the Isles have allowed eight OT goals this season they are now tied for the NHL lead in OT goals for, scoring five of them themselves….The Isles are 5-4 in their last nine games decided by an overtime goal; each of their last four wins and two of their last three losses have come on a goal in the first minute of overtime.

First Time in a Long Time
Noah Dobson is the first Islander since Pierre Turgeon in 1992-93 to have at least 41 assists in 46 games. Dobson joins Denis Potvin as the only Islander defenseman with 41 assists in the first 46 games. 

The New Coach
Patrick Roy is the first man to take over the Islanders mid-season since Doug Weight replaced Jack Capuano on January 19, 2017. Coincidentally, both games were home victories over Dallas.

The Isles are 5-1-0 in the first game after a mid-season coaching change, dating back to Bill Stewart replacing Mike Milbury exactly 25 years ago (January 21, 1999). The Isles are 8-9-2 in the first game for their new coach and are 9-11-2 in first games when you include multiple stints for Al Arbour, Lorne Henning, and Milbury.  Bo Horvat's overtime goal (at :41) made Roy a winner in his first game, much like Josh Bailey (:43) had done in Barry Trotz' first game behind the Isles bench.

January 21st
The Isles have won 11 of their last 12 games on January 21st, losing only last season, improving their record on this date to 18-6-3. The 39 points earned on this date are third in club history behind December 23rd (42) and December 17th (40).

The 20-Goal Club
Brock Nelson is the 7th player in club history to have at least eight seasons of at least 20 goals:
Bryan Trottier 13
Brent Sutter/Mike Bossy 10
John Tavares/Denis Potvin 9
Clark Gillies/Brock Nelson 8

Anders Lee needs seven more goals this season for his 8th season with at least 20 goals.

Inter-Division Games
The Isles are starting the new year with 17 straight inter-division games; they will play only two division foes in their first 30 games (February 18 vs NYR at MetLife, February 20 at Pittsburgh) of 2024.
 
Overtime Is Our Time
The Isles have played 17 overtime games. They are 5-8 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-3 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 4-7 in overtime and 1-2 in shootouts, while Semyon Varlamov is 1-1 in overtime and 0-1 in shootouts. 

The NHL record for overtime games is 30, played by Boston in 2003-04. The Isles are on pace to play 30 overtime games.

The Isles have won 16 of the last 41 games decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).

Most OT/SO Losses Thru 45 Games (Since 1998-99)
11 (2023-24)
9 (2016-17)
8 (2009-10)

Killing Their Own PP
The Isles have taken a penalty to interrupt their power play fourteen times this season.

Power Play Up; Penalty Killing Down
The Isles have scored 28 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.
The Isles have allowed 37 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.
 
Building on a Lead
The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 31 times this season:
Score the next goal: 7 times
Allowed the next goal: 22 times
Game ended with 2-goal difference: twice 

Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,888
2. Matt Martin 3,770

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  20-15-11 for 51 points in 46 games
2022-23  23-19-4 for 50 points in 46 games

Offense from Defense
Today:   1-2-3
Season: 18-72-90
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.

Lots of Work for Sorokin
Most shots against:
Ilya Sorokin 1,175
Alexandar Georgiev 1,081
Juuse Saros 1,011
Thatcher Demko 1,001

No goalie has ever played the full season for the Islanders and led the NHL in this category; Kelly Hrudey led the NHL in 1988-89; he was traded at the deadline to Los Angeles.

Facing 40
Ilya Sorokin has faced at least forty shots nine times this season and 26 times in his career. 

Most Games, 40+ Shots in a Season vs Isles Goalie
1. Jaroslav Halak 11  2017-18
2. Gerry Desjardins 10 1972-73
3. Ilya Sorokin 9 2023-24
    Joey Mac Donald 9 2008-09
    Dwayne Roloson 9 2009-10

No other NHL goalie has faced 40+ shots more than six times this season.

Most games, 40+ Shots (Since 2021-22)
1. John Gibson 32
2. Ilya Sorokin 26
3. Darcy Kuemper 22
4. Sam Montembault 20
    Karel Vejmelka 20

Most Games, 40+ Shots (Islander History)
1. Billy Smith 46    (674 games)
2. Kelly Hrudey 27 (241 games)
3. Ilya Sorokin 26   (170 games)

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

Home and Road
The Isles are 20-15-11 overall; they are 12-5-6 at home and 8-10-5 on the road.
Dallas is 27-13-6 overall; they are 14-8-2 at home and 13-5-4 on the road.

East and West
The Isles are 13-7-6 against the East (7-4-4 vs. Metropolitan and 6-3-2 vs. Atlantic) and 7-8-5 against the West (3-5-2 vs. Central and 4-3-3 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 105 games at UBS Arena and recorded 72 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 1,425
3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack
Lou Lamoriello (1,425) and Patrick Roy (131) have combined for 1,556 wins as general manager and coach. That is the highest in the NHL among active combos by a wide margin.

First Things First
The Isles are 14-3-9 when scoring first and are 6-12-1 when allowing the opening goal. They are 0-0-1 when the game heads to a shootout following a scoreless tie.

The Shots
Isles    13-5-9-1=28
Dallas 16-14-13-0=43
The Isles are 6-3-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 13-11-7 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 41 saves; he is 14-11-9 on the season and 1-0-1 vs. Dallas.
Scott Wedgewood made 25 saves; he is 13-4-4 on the season and 1-2-2 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams
The Isles were 0-0 on the power play (0:00); Dallas was 0-3 on the power play (6:00).
The Isles are 11-5-6 when they score at least one power play goal and 9-10-5 when they do not. The Isles are 7-9-7 when they allow at least one power play goal and 13-6-4 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 18-3-9 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-12-2 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 13-1-11 in games decided by a single goal including 7-1 in regulation. They are 5-8 in games decided in overtime and are 1-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-5 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     
The Isles are 2-1-3 in the front end and 0-3-3 in the back end this season. The next back-to-back set will be on March 10th in Anaheim and March 11th in Los Angeles. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Noah Dobson (26:29);  Dallas: Jason Robertson (23:38)
Bo Horvat led Islander forwards with 20:38 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (16-13-8), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).

Face-offs
Isles 23, Dallas 35 (40%)
No Islander won more than he lost; Jamie Benn won 10 of 11 for Dallas. 

Hit Count
Isles 28 (Matt Martin and Jean-Gabriel Pageau -4)
Dallas 15 (Three with )

Fights 
None. Season total: 5 (Martin 2, Pelech 1, Lee 1, Mayfield 1)
 
Blocked Shots
Isles 24 (Three with 3)
Dallas 11 (Jani Hakanpaa -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 47, Dallas 82
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 43, Dallas 68
 
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Brock Nelson +18
Dallas: Jaycob Megma +8

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 14, Dallas 14
5-on-5: Isles 12, Dallas 11

Scratches
(Ryan Pulock-LTIR), (Robert Bortuzzo -INJ), (Semyon Varlamov -IR), (Casey Cizikas-IR), (Pierre Engvall-INJ), Mike Reilly, Oliver Wahlstrom
Games Lost to injury: 111

The Ironmen
Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 158 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (130) is the only other Islander to have played at least 100 consecutive games.

Challenges
Isles: 2 successful, 2 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2), OTT offside (11/24), LA no goalie interference (12/9), VGK no goalie interference (1/6)

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 five times this season (three times at home – CBJ 12/7 x2, WSH 12/29, and twice on road-@OTT 11/24, @ARI 1/4) and allowed two in the same span six times (COL 10/25 x2, MIN 11/8, @MTL 12/16, PIT 12/27, @NAS 1/13)

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 (5): 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); Alexandre Carrier @ NAS 19:52 (GWG)

OT Winners
For (4):   Mathew Barzal (vs CAR) 11/30, Jean Gabriel Pageau (vs LA) 12/9, Bo Horvat (vs TOR) 12/11, Mathew Barzal (vs TOR) 1/11, Bo Horvat (vs DAL) 1/21
Vs (8):   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; Nathan MacKinnon (COL) ½; Seth Jones (CHI) 1/19

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 804 *** 8. Matt Martin 791*** 9. Casey Cizikas 784 *** 10. Mike Bossy 752 *** 11. Anders Lee 724 *** Patrick Flatley 712 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. Cal Clutterbuck 682

Goals    
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 261 *** 9. Anders Lee 253 …
23. Alexei Yashin and Frans Nielsen 119 *** 25. Steve Thomas, Matt Moulson and Mark Parrish 118 *** 28. Mathew Barzal 117 **** 29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 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. Mathew Barzal 293…
16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249  *** 18. Brock Nelson 238…
22. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 23. Anders Lee 182…
34. Steve Thomas 140 *** 35. Mark Streit 139 *** 36. Greg Gilbert 136 *** 37. Ryan Pulock 133 *** 38. Noah Dobson 132

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
11. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 12. Derek King and Brock Nelson 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 *** 16. Anders Lee 435 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 410…
32. Ray Ferraro 238 *** 33. Travis Green 237 *** 34. Casey Cizikas 233

+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +76 ***  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. Noah Dobson 36

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. Noah Dobson 132…
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 168… 
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 170 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 149

Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
6. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 7. Ilya Sorokin 84** 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 11-22-5-0 on the season following losses to Hartford (in regulation, on Saturday) and Providence  (in overtime, on Sunday). 

All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov has points in 12 of the last 14 games and leads the team in goals (13), assists (20) and points (33). 

The Baby Islanders play again in Providence on Friday and then host the Bruins on Saturday. 

Season Series Stats
The Isles lead the season series 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 1). The teams will meet again on February 26th in Dallas.

The Isles are 3-0-1 in their last four home games with the Stars, despite being 4-6-1 in their last eleven meetings overall with Dallas.

UP NEXT
TUESDAY, JANUARY 23rd — VEGAS AT ISLANDERS– 7:30pm
[MSGSN (Pre-game at 7:00), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].
The Isles will look to make it two straight under Patrick Roy as they host Vegas on Tuesday night.

It is the second of two meetings between the teams this season; Vegas defeated the Isles 5-2 back on January 6th.

The Isles are 3-1-1 all-time at home against Vegas, and 6-4-1 overall against the Golden Knights. 

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