The Skinny: Isles 3, Toronto 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 50

Isles 3, Toronto 2

Can you Sweep Up the Leafs? Pierre Engvall scored the winning goal with 2:02 to play as the Islanders completed a season series sweep of the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 3-2 win before a sellout crowd of 18,365 at Scotiabank Arena. 

Mathew Barzal, fresh off six points in the All-Star Games, scored midway through the first but Mitch Marner tied the contest just 50 seconds later in a 4-on-4. However, Kyle MacLean, who was serving a penalty for Bo Horvat, converted a breakaway exactly two minutes later to give the Isles the lead back. 

It stayed that way for over 32 minutes until John Tavares scored a power play goal with 4:48 to play, but that only set the stage for Engall's winner 2:46 later. 

The Isles improve to 2-2-1 under Patrick Roy. They are 3-7-2 in their last twelve games and 21-17-12 overall as they climb within two points of third place Philadelphia. The Isles are off until Thursday when they host Tampa Bay in a nationally-televised game.

The Scoring: 

1st Period

Mathew Barzal (14) Mike Reilly (7), Anders Lee (7) 10:31 NYI 1,TOR 0

2nd Period

Mitchell Marner (21) John Tavares (23), Auston Matthews (19) 00:50 NYI 1,TOR 1

Kyle MacLean (1) Cal Clutterbuck (10) 02:50 NYI 2,TOR 1

3rd Period

John Tavares (14) Morgan Rielly (34), William Nylander (39) 15:12 NYI 2,TOR 2 PPG

Pierre Engvall (6) Brock Nelson (18), Kyle Palmieri (16) 17:58 NYI 3,TOR 2

The Skinny    

The Isles are 1-0-0 since the All-Star Break and are 5-8-3 since the Christmas break…Since Christmas the Isles are 3-2-1 at home and 2-6-2 on the road… The Isles' defense has 54 points in the last 26 games and have 35 points in the last nineteen games (8-27-35)…The Isles have outscored their opponents 40-31 in the first period but have been outscored 66-50 in the second period and 68-55 in the third period and overtime this season…The Isles have been outscored 28-11 in the second period since the Christmas break …The Isles are 16-1-5 when leading after two periods …. Noah Dobson was held without a point, ending his 3rd 5-game point streak of the season (and fifth of his career); he has never had a point in six straight games…. Mathew Barzal's goal gave him 52 points to tie Dobson for the club point lead…Ilya Sorokin played for the first time in 13 days and made 35 saves to earn his third victory of the season again Toronto.… Bo Horvat, playing his 700th NHL game, fought Simon Benoit in the second period; every Islander other than Horvat was credited with a hit …The Isles have allowed six power play goals under Patrick Roy; they have allowed only five goals at 5-on-5… It was the second time this season that John Tavares scored a late goal to tie, only to have the Isles win the game…The Isles earned their first road win since January 4th in Arizona (1-5-1)….Auston Matthews assisted on the first Leaf goal to extend his point streak to seven games…Kyle MacLean is the 397th player to score a goal for the Islanders….This was the 2,000th road game in Isles history...The Isles allowed their 16th third period power play, and the eighth that tied the game.

First Times in a Long Time

• The Isles swept the Leafs for the first time since 1989-90

• Ilya Sorokin is the first Islander to defeat Toronto three times in one season since Chris Osgood in 2001-02

• Mathew Barzal has played at least 23 minutes in four straight games. He is the first Isles forward to do that since John Tavares did so in 2012. (Zigmund Palffy -1998) is the only Islander forward to do so in five games since ice-time was officially recorded.

• Each of the last six games (including all five under Roy) have been decided by one goal; it is the longest streak since a seven-game streak in November 2019.

• With Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock both back, Noah Dobson played 23:15 – his least ice -time since November 22nd vs. Philadelphia.

Woah Noah

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 75 assists; the club record for assists by a defenseman was set by Denis Potvin (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 2-2-1 under Patrick Roy. All five 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 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 30 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 50 Games (Since 1998-99)

• 12 (2023-24)

• 10 (2016-17)

• 8 (2009-10)

• 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 31 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.

The Isles have allowed 43 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 

The Isles have not had a two-goal lead at any point 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 3,902

2. Matt Martin 3,778

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  21-17-12 for 54 points in 50 games

• 2022-23  23-22-5 for 51 points in 50 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-1-1

• Season: 18-80-98

• 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 1,239

• Alexandar Georgiev 1,162

• Juuse Saros 1,129

• Thatcher Demko 1,061

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   (172 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 21-17-12 overall; they are 12-6-7 at home and 9-11-5 on the road.

Toronto is 25-15-8 overall; they are 11-10-2 at home and 14-5-6 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 14-8-7 against the East (7-4-4 vs. Metropolitan and 7-4-3 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 1,426

3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack

Lou Lamoriello (1,426) and Patrick Roy (132) have combined for 1,558 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 15-3-9 when scoring first and are 6-14-3 when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles    13-9-7=29

Toronto 11-10-15=36

The Isles are 6-5-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 14-12-7 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 34 saves; he is 15-12-9 on the season and 5-3-0 vs. Toronto.

Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves; he is 8-4-6 on the season and 6-5-1 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play (3:48); Toronto was 1-2 on the power play (2:40).

The Isles are 11-6-6 when they score at least one power play goal and 10-11-6 when they do not. The Isles are 8-11-8 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 19-4-9 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 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 (23:15);  Toronto: William Nylander (24:55)

Mathew Barzal led Islander forwards with 23:01 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (17-15-9), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).

Face-offs

Isles 26, Toronto 26 (50%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 12 of 17 for the Isles; Pontus Holmberg won 5 of 8 for Toronto. 

Hit Count

Isles 40 (Cal Clutterbuck -5)

Toronto 25 (Ryan Reaves -5)

Fights 

Bo Horvat fought Simon Benoit in the 2nd period. Season total: 6 (Martin 2, Pelech 1, Lee 1, Mayfield 1, Horvat 1)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 18 (Three with 3)

Toronto 18 (Timothy Lijegren -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 66, Toronto 74

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 58, Toronto 59

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Scott Mayfield +15

Toronto: William Nylander +8

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 11, Toronto 16

5-on-5: Isles 11, Toronto 15

Scratches

(Robert Bortuzzo -LTIR), (Casey Cizikas-LTIR), (Hudson Fasching-INJ), Sebastian Aho, Samuel Bolduc

Games Lost to injury: 126

The Ironmen

Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 162 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (134) 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 offsides (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 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 808 *** 8. Matt Martin 794 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 784 *** 10. Mike Bossy 752 *** 11. Anders Lee 728 *** Patrick Flatley 712 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. Cal Clutterbuck 686

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. Mathew Barzal, Alexei Yashin and Frans Nielsen 119…

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 183…

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 436 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 414…

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. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 16. Adam Pelech +75 ***  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 172 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 151

Wins

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

6. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 7. Ilya Sorokin 85 *** 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 13-25-5-0 on the season after going 2-1-0 last week. The AHL is currently in their All-Star Break.

Season Series Stats

The Isles sweep the season series, 3 games to 0 (and 6 points to 2).  

The Isles have won four straight games from Toronto and are 5-1-0 in the last two seasons against the Leafs. 

UP NEXT

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8th –TAMPA BAY AT ISLANDERS - 8:00pm

[ESPN (No pre-game), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].

The Isles will finally face the Tampa Bay Lightning as the Bolts visit UBS Arena in the first meeting of the teams in over ten months.

The Isles defeated Tampa Bay 6-1 in that last meeting for a key victory in their playoff run; it also stopped a six-game losing streak against the Lightning.

The game will be nationally televised by ESPN. John Buccigross, Mark Messier, and P. K. Subban will have the call.

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