The Skinny: Calgary 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Calgary 5, Isles 2

MacKenzie Weegar completed his first career hat trick into the empty net as the Calgary Flames held off a late Islander rally for a 5-2 victory over the Isles before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.

Jonathan Huberdeau also scored for Calgary, so four of their five goals were from players acquired in the Matthew Tkachuk deal. Brock Nelson and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, the latter on a 6-on-5 situation scored for the Islanders.

The Isles fall to 3-3-1 under Patrick Roy as they fail to win three consecutive games for the first time since a four-game stretch December 7th-13th. They are 4-8-2 in their last fourteen games and 22-18-12 overall as they remain four points behind third place Philadelphia and three points behind Tampa Bay for the final wild card spot. The Isles will host Seattle on Tuesday in their last game before next Sunday's Stadium Series game against the Rangers. 

The Scoring:  

1st Period

MacKenzie Weegar (13) Jacob Markstrom (4), Blake Coleman (22) 03:47 CGY 1,NYI 0

2nd Period

Jonathan Huberdeau (8) Yegor Sharangovich (16), Noah Hanifin (20) 08:38 CGY 2,NYI 0 PPG

MacKenzie Weegar (14) Walker Duehr (4), Jakob Pelletier (1) 15:16 CGY 3,NYI 0

3rd Period

Brock Nelson (22) Noah Dobson (47), Kyle Palmieri (17) 04:00 CGY 3,NYI 1

Blake Coleman (21)EN 15:59 CGY 4,NYI 1

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (7) Mathew Barzal (40) 17:28 CGY 4,NYI 2

MacKenzie Weegar (15)EN Jonathan Huberdeau (23), Nazem Kadri (28) 19:38 CGY 5,NYI 2

The Skinny    

The Isles are 2-1-0 since the All-Star Break and are 6-9-3 since the Christmas break…Since Christmas the Isles are 4-3-1 at home and 2-6-2 on the road… The Isles' defense has 59 points in the last 28 games and have 40 points in the last 21 games (10-30-40)…The Isles have outscored their opponents 43-33 in the first period but have been outscored 69-53 in the second period and 70-57 in the third period and overtime this season…The Isles have been outscored 31-16 in the second period since the Christmas break …The Isles are 2-14-2 when trailing after two periods …. Mathew Barzal and Kyle Palmieri each extended their point streaks to five games.… The Isles have allowed eight power play goals under Patrick Roy; they have allowed only eight goals at 5-on-5… The Isles had a multi-goal lead for the first time since January 4th in Arizona …The Isles remain a + team at 5-on-5, outscoring their opponents 102-101... Brock Nelson regained the club lead with his 22nd goal…With Alexander Romanov missing the game (day-to-day), Noah Dobson is the only Isles defenseman to appear in every game this season…It was MacKenzie Weegar's first hat trick of his career and the sixth by a Flames defenseman since they moved to Calgary…The Flames have now scored fifteen empty net goals, including two tonight…The Isles allowed a power play goal for the sixth straight game…Jacob Markstrom leads the NHL with four assists by a goalie; no other goalie has more than two assists this season.

The 600 Club

Semyon Varlamov became the 5th active goalie to appear in 600 games:

1. Marc- Andre Fleury 1009

2. Jonathan Quick 772

3. Carey Price 712

4. Sergei Bobrovsky 679

5. Semyon Varlamov 600

Varlamov is the 54th goaltender all-time to play 600 games.

Woah Noah

Dobson is the first Islander defenseman with at least 54 points since 2008-09 when Mark Streit had 56, and the first with at least 47 assists since Vladimir Malakhov had 47 in 1993-94. No Islander defenseman has had more than 47 since 1989-90, when Jeff Norton recorded 50.

Dobson is on pace for 74 assists; Denis Potvin holds the club record for assists by a defenseman (70 in 1978-79). Dobson is on pace for 85 points, which would trail only three seasons by Potvin.

The New Coach

The Isles are 3-3-1 under Patrick Roy and have allowed only two goals in each of their three wins. Ilya Sorokin is 3-1-0 under Roy while Semyon Varlamov is 0-2-1.

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 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 28 overtime 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 52 Games (Since 1998-99)

• 12 (2023-24)

• 10 (2016-17)

• 8 (2009-10)

• 8 (2011-12)

• 8 (2021-22)

Killing Their Own PP

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

Power Play Up; Penalty Killing Down

The Isles have scored 32 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.

The Isles have allowed 45 power play goals; they allowed 39 all last season. 

 

Building on a Lead

The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 33 times this season:

• Score the next goal: 8 times

• Allowed the next goal: 23 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: twice 

The Isles held a two-goal lead on Thursday for the first time since their 5-1 win over Arizona on January 4th.

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,905

2. Matt Martin 3,786

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  22-18-12 for 56 points in 52 games

• 2022-23  25-22-5 for 55 points in 52 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-1-1

• Season: 20-83-103

• 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 1,258

• Alexandar Georgiev 1,189 (excludes Saturday night)

• Juuse Saros 1,129 (excludes Saturday night)

• Thatcher Demko 1,110

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 33

2. Ilya Sorokin 26

3. Darcy Kuemper 22

4. Sam Montembault 21

Karel Vejmelka 21

Most Games, 40+ Shots (Islander History)

1. Billy Smith 46    (674 games)

2. Kelly Hrudey 27 (241 games)

3. Ilya Sorokin 26   (173 games)

Sorokin has made at least 40 saves six times this season and a franchise-record 16 times in his career.

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 21-18-12 overall; they are 12-7-7 at home and 9-11-5 on the road.

Calgary is 25-22-5 overall; they are 12-11-1 at home and 13-11-4 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 15-8-7 against the East (7-4-4 vs. Metropolitan and 8-4-3 vs. Atlantic) and 7-10-5 against the West (3-5-2 vs. Central and 4-5-3 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 109 games at UBS Arena and recorded 75 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 1,427

3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack

Lou Lamoriello (1,427) and Patrick Roy (133) have combined for 1,560 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 16-3-9 when scoring first and are 6-15-3 when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles       6-13-18=37

Calgary  8-13-3=24

The Isles are 7-5-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 14-12-8 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 19 saves; he is 6-6-3 on the season and 7-12-2 vs. Calgary.

Jacob Markstrom made 18 saves; he is 17-13-2 on the season and 7-5-2 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-1 on the power play (2:00); Calgary was 1-1 on the power play (0:58).

The Isles are 12-6-6 when they score at least one power play goal and 10-12-6 when they do not. The Isles are 9-12-8 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 20-4-9 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-14-3 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 14-3-12 in games decided by a single goal including 8-3 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 (24:27);  Calgary: Noah Hanifan (25:55)

Mathew Barzal led Islander forwards with 23:39 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (18-16-9), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).

Face-offs

Isles 30, Calgary 30 (50%)

Bo Horvat won 12 of 16 for the Isles; Kevin Rooney won 8 of 11 for Calgary. 

Hit Count

Isles 21 (Bo Horvat -3)

Calgary 11 (Three with 2)

Fights 

None. Season total: 6 (Martin 2, Pelech 1, Lee 1, Mayfield 1, Horvat 1)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 16 (Oliver Wahlstrom and JG Pageau-3)

Calgary 19 (Chris Tanev -5)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 72, Calgary 58

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 55, Calgary 49

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Pierre Engvall +16

Calgary: Two with +2

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 13, Calgary 5

5-on-5: Isles 9, Calgary 3

Scratches

(Robert Bortuzzo -LTIR), (Hudson Fasching-INJ), (Alexander Romanov-INJ), Samuel Bolduc

Games Lost to injury: 131

The Ironmen

Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 164 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (136) 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: 2 successful, 2 failures – BUF no offsides (10/21), CAR no high-stick (11/30); ANA goalie interference (12/13), CGY offside (2/10)

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 four goals and have allowed six goals in the final three minutes of the third period to tie or go-ahead:

For (4): 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); Pierre Engvall 2/5 @ TOR 17:58 (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 (9):   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, Oliver Ekman-Larsson (FLA) 1/27

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 810 *** 8. Matt Martin 796 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 786 *** 10. Mike Bossy 752 *** 11. Anders Lee 730 *** Patrick Flatley 712 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. Cal Clutterbuck 688

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 263 *** 9. Anders Lee 253 …

21. Jason Blake 127 *** 22. Duane Sutter 121 *** 23. Mathew Barzal 120…

30. Benoit Hogue and Ed Westfall 105 *** 32. Casey Cizikas 103

Assists

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

10. Stefan Persson 317 *** 11. Bob Bourne 304 *** 12. Mathew Barzal 297…

16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249  *** 18. Brock Nelson 240…

22. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 23. Anders Lee 183…

33. Travis Green 145 *** 34. Steve Thomas 140 *** 35. Mark Streit 139 *** 36. Noah Dobson 138 *** 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 502 *** 13. Derek King 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 *** 16. Anders Lee 436 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 417…

32. Ray Ferraro 238 *** 33. Travis Green 237 *** 34. Casey Cizikas 234

+/-

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 and Ryan Pulock 46 *** 6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 8. Roman Hamrlik 43 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Noah Dobson 37

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 138 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 133…

13. Roman Hamrlik 110 *** 14. Tom Kurvers and Gerry Hart 109 *** 16. Adam Pelech 104… 

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 and Ryan Pulock 179 *** 10. Noah Dobson 175… 

15. Johnny Boychuk and Bryan Berard 131 *** 17. Adam Pelech 129…

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 173 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 152

Wins

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

6. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 7. Ilya Sorokin 86 *** 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 fell to 13-26-5-0 on the season with a 4-1 loss in Hartford on Friday. Julien Gauthier scored in his AHL season debut.

Bridgeport hosts Lehigh Valley on Saturday.

Season Series Stats

The teams split the season series, 1 game to 1 (Calgary earned 3 points to the Isles' 2).

The Isles are 3-8-0 in their last eleven games with Calgary, and the Flames have earned points in ten of the eleven contests. 

UP NEXT

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13th –SEATTLE AT ISLANDERS – 7:30pm

[MSGSN (7:00 pre-game), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].

The Isles look to split the season series with the Kraken as Seattle visits UBS Arena for the sixth meeting of the teams this season.

The teams met nearly three months ago in Seattle and the Isles dropped a 4-3 shootout decision. 

Each team won a game the first two seasons of this rivalry and the Isles will look to extend that streak on Tuesday.

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