The Skinny: Boston 6, Isles 3

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 23

Boston 6, Isles 3

Brad Marchand and Pavel Zacha each stuffed in two goals and Elias Lindholm and David Pastrnak each had three assists as the Boston Bruins defeated the Isles 6-3 before a Thanksgiving Eve crowd of 16,145 at UBS Arena. 

Brock Nelson scored twice and added an assist while Maxim Tsyplakov scored for the first time in twelve games as the Isles rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to earn a 3-3 tie through 40 minutes, but Pavel Zacha scored twice in a 2:35 span to decide the contest.

The Isles fall to 8-10-5 on the season; they will head to Washington for the front-end of a back-to-back on  Friday afternoon.

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Brad Marchand (7) Elias Lindholm (8) 00:57 BOS 1,NYI 0

Brad Marchand (8) Justin Brazeau (5), Elias Lindholm (9) 06:31 BOS 2,NYI 0

Maxim Tsyplakov (3) Brock Nelson (7) 12:50 BOS 2,NYI 1

2nd Period

Brock Nelson (9) Maxim Tsyplakov (10), Isaiah George (2) 08:52 BOS 2,NYI 2

Morgan Geekie (2) Pavel Zacha (5), David Pastrnak (12) 11:59 BOS 3,NYI 2

Brock Nelson (10) Ryan Pulock (8), Bo Horvat (10) 19:52 BOS 3,NYI 3

3rd Period

Pavel Zacha (4) Andrew Peeke (4), David Pastrnak (13) 10:48 BOS 4,NYI 3

Pavel Zacha (5) David Pastrnak (14), Nikita Zadorov (6) 13:23 BOS 5,NYI 3

Nikita Zadorov (1)EN Elias Lindholm (10) 17:58 BOS 6,NYI 3

The Skinny

The Isles are 1-4-1 in their last six games…The Isles have outscored the opposition 36-29 in the first and second periods but have been outscored 40-21 in the third period and overtime…The 36 goals allowed in the third period are the most in the NHL…The Isles have both scored and allowed 40 goals at 5-on-5 but have been outscored 29-17 in all other situations…The Isles are 1-3-4 when tied after 40 minutes…The Isles have scored only ten goals in the last five games …There was only one penalty called in the game; the Bruins killed the late Islander power play… Brock Nelson has points on seven of the last Islander goals; he recorded his 17th career game with at least three points, but the Isles lost for the second time (15-2-0)…Ryan Pulock earned his 199th point on Nelson's second goal…The Isles, who lead the NHL with a 56% faceoff percentage, have won the majority of draws in 21 of their first 23 games…Isaiah George now has assists in consecutive games….At 3-5-2, the Isles have their 2nd-fewest points through ten home games in the last twelve years (2-5-3 in 2021-22)… Maxim Tsyplakov scored his first goal in 12 games…The Bruins scored three goals in the third period after scoring only ten third period goals in their first 23 games…David Pastrnak has 32 points (9-23-32) in 32 games against the Isles… The Bruins are 3-1-0 under interim coach Joe Sacco; it was the first time in seven games that Boston scored more than two goals…It was the first time in seven games that the Isles did not have a third period lead…Brad Marchand's first goal was the first allowed by the Isles in the opening minute of a game this season, and the earliest since Pat Maroon scored for Minnesota 19 seconds into the game on November 7, 2023.

First Time in a Long Time

Brock Nelson scored for the fourth straight game against the Bruins. It is only the 4th time an Islander has had a streak of at least that long (Ziggy Palffy -6 in 1997/98; Mike Bossy -4 in 1979; Bill Muckalt in 1999/2000). 

Club 200  

Noah Dobson recorded his 200th point on Monday, joining Denis Potvin, Stefan Persson and Tomas Jonsson as the only defensemen to record their first 200 points as Islanders. Ryan Pulock now needs one point to join that club.

Anders Lee has 199 assists; he will be the 21st player in club history to reach 200 assists.

Home Cooking

The Isles are in the midst of playing eight of 11 games are at home; they do not play consecutive road games during that stretch. So far, the Isles are 1-2-0:

• 23-Nov-24 Vs St. Louis W 3-1

• 25-Nov-24 Vs Detroit     L 2-4

• 27-Nov-24 Vs Boston    L 3-6

• 29-Nov-24 @ Washington

• 30-Nov-24 Vs Buffalo

• 3-Dec-24  @ Montreal

• 5-Dec-24  Vs Seattle

• 7-Dec-24  Vs Carolina

• 8-Dec-24  @ Ottawa

• 10-Dec-24 Vs Los Angeles

• 12-Dec-24 Vs Chicago

Third Periods

Goals:  Isles 20, Opponents 36

Tying Goals: Isles 3, Opponents 9 (in 8 games)

Go Ahead Goals: Isles 5 (in 4 games), Opponents 7

Empty Net Goals: Isles 4, Opponents 7

The Isles have either been ahead or tied after two periods in 17 of their 23 games; they are 1-4-1 in the six games that they trailed after forty minutes. In the four games that they trailed the entire third period, they have been within one goal at some point in all but one of them (10/12 @ DAL).

Did Somebody Say Comeback?

The Isles have four come-from behind wins this season, including one when they trailed in the third period. The opponents have come-from-behind to win seven times this season, including an NHL-high six times in the third period.

Overtime is Our Time

The Isles have played an NHL-leading eight overtime games. They are 1-4 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 2-1 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 1-3 in overtime and 1-0 in shootouts, while Semyon Varlamov is 0-1 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts. 

Empty Netters 

The Isles have scored 4 empty-net goals and allowed 7.

Killing Their Own PP

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

Building on a Lead

The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 14 times this season:

• Score the next goal: 5 times

• Allowed the next goal: 7 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 2 times 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2024-25  8-10-5 for 21 points in 23 games

• 2023-24  10-7-6 for 26 points in 23 games

The Isles did not lose their 10th game in regulation last season until New Year's Eve.

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-1-1

• Season: 4-31-35

• Last Season (Final) 33-137-170

The 137 assists were the most since 2006-07, when they also had 137.

Varly, Varly

Semyon Varlamov has 41 career shutouts and 289 career wins. Among active NHL goalies (and excluding Carey Price, who is technically still active), Varlamov is seventh in wins and fourth in shutouts.

All-time Goalie Wins

46. Mike Liut 293

47. Ed Giacomin 290

Connor Hellebuyck 290 (late game Wednesday)

49. Semyon Varlamov 289

Home and Road

The Isles are 8-10-5 overall; they are 3-5-2 at home and 5-5-3 on the road.

Boston is 11-10-3 overall; they are 6-5-2 at home and 5-5-1 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 5-7-1 against the East (2-2-1 vs. Metropolitan and 3-5-0 vs. Atlantic) and 3-3-4 against the West (2-1-2 vs. Central and 1-2-2 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 132 games at UBS Arena and recorded 92 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 1,452

3. Glen Sather 1,319

Lou Lamoriello (1,452) and Patrick Roy (158) have combined for 1,610 career wins as general manager and coach. That is the highest in the NHL among active combinations by a wide margin.

First Things First

The Isles are 4-3-3 when scoring first and are 4-7-2 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    8-6-10=24

Boston 9-5-7=21

The Isles are 5-5-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 3-4-3 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 15 saves; he is 5-6-3 this season and 2-3-2 vs. Boston.

Joonas Korpisalo made 21 saves; he is 5-2-1 this season and 6-5-3 vs the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-1 (2:00) on the power play; Boston did not have a power play.

The Isles are 6-1-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-9-4 when they do not. The Isles are 5-3-4 when they allow at least one power play goal and 3-7-1 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 8-2-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-8-2 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 4-3-5 in games decided by a single goal including 1-3 in regulation. They are 1-4 in games decided in overtime and are 2-1 in shootouts. The Isles are 2-3 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     

The Isles are 1-1-0 on the front end and 0-2-0 on the back end this season. The next back-to-back will be on November 29th in Washington and November 30th vs. Buffalo.

Fewest Wins on Back-end

0 1972-73 (0-22-3)

1 2023-24 (1-6-3)

2 2012-13 (1-5-1; 48-game schedule)

3 1994-95 (2-3-3; 48-game schedule)

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (23:28); Boston: Parker Wotherspoon (season-high 21:49)

Anders Lee led Isles forwards (season-high 19:42)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Noah Dobson (6-6-3), Alex Romanov (0-1-0), Ryan Pulock (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1)

Face-offs

Isles 30, Boston 27 (53%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 4 of 6 for the Isles; Elias Lindholm won 11 of 19 for Boston. 

Hit Count

Isles 36 (Casey Cizikas -7)

Boston 35 (Brandon Carlo -5)

Fights 

None. Season total: 3 (Mayfield, Wahlstrom, Martin)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 11 (Noah Dobson -3)

Boston 15 (Two with 3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 55, Boston 48

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 48, Boston 46

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Bo Horvat +7

Boston: Brandon Carlo +14

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 9, Boston 6

5-on-5: Isles 8, Boston 6

Scratches

(Mathew Barzal – LTIR), (Anthony Duclair-LTIR), (Adam Pelech – IR), (Mike Reilly-IR), Hudson Fasching,  Grant Hutton

Games Lost to injury: 66.   (Last season's total: 181)

The Ironmen

Brock Nelson is the Islanders' ironman, having played 189 consecutive games. Kyle Palmieri (139) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (119) have also played every game since the start of last season.

Most Overtime Goals, Season (Islanders)

1. John Tavares 4 (2014-15)

2. Bo Horvat 3 (2023-24)

Brock Nelson 3 (2019-20)

John Tavares 3 (2010-11)

Most Overtime Assists, Career (Islanders)

1. Mathew Barzal 16

2. John Tavares 12

Most Overtime Points, Career (Islanders)

1. John Tavares 23

2. Mathew Barzal 21

3. Brock Nelson 18

Barzal has a point on 21 of the 40 overtime goals that the Isles have scored since he became a regular in 2016-17.

National TV Games 

The Isles are 0-0-0 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners, with ten games remaining. The first national game will stream on December 5th on ESPN+/Hulu, as the Isles host Calgary. The Isles have five national telecasts scheduled through the end of March, with the other five all scheduled in April.

Matinee Isles

The Isles are 0-2-0 in matinee games this season, with 9 games remaining. The next matinee will be on November 29th in Washington. The NHL considers games that start before 5:00 local time to be afternoon contests. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the Isles are 13-15-10 in matinees.

Challenges

Isles: 0 successful, 2 failures  (No offsides -PIT 11/5, No goalie interference – SEA 11/16)

Opponents: 2 successful, 1 failure (No Goalie Interference -UTA 10/10, Offside-VAN 11/15, Goalie Interference-STL 11/23)

Quickies (Two goals in under a minute)

For (0):

Vs (0): 

Quick Responses (One team scoring within a minute of other team)

Isles responses (1): BUF 11/1

Opponent responses (3): UTA 10/10 (2), SEA 11/16

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins 

For (2): Vs. PIT 11/5 (Trailed 3-1, won 4-3 (SO))

Vs (1):  Vs. NJ 11/9 (Led 3-1, Lost 4-3 (OT))

Last Minute Heroes (Tying or go-ahead goals in the final three minutes of the third period):

For (2): Maxim Tsyplakov 10/10 vs. UTA (17:53, GAG but lost in OT); Anders Lee 11/12 @ EDM (17:20-GTG; EDM won in OT)

Vs (5): Josh Doan 10/10 vs. UTA (18:06- GTG; UTA won in OT); Cole Caufield 10/19 vs MTL (17:50-GTG; NYI won in SO); Jesper Bratt 10/25 at NJD (18:31-GTG; NYI won in OT); Stefan Noesen 11/9 vs NJ (19:10-GTG; NJD won in OT); Lucas Raymond 11/21 at DET (19:09-GAG)

OT Winners

For (1): Bo Horvat 10/25 at NJD (1:09)

Vs (4): Dylan Guenther 10/10 vs. UTA (2:18); Jake Neighbours 10/17 @ STL (2:04); Jack Hughes 11/9 vs NJD (2:35); Leon Draisaitl 11/12 @ EDM (1:52)

Shootout Winners

For (2): Noah Dobson 10/19 vs MTL, Bo Horvat 11/5 vs PIT

Vs (1): Andrei Kuzmenko 11/19 @ CGY 

 

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,057…

5. Clark Gillies 872 *** 6. Brock Nelson 863 *** 7. Casey Cizikas 838 *** 8. Matt Martin 835 *** 9. Bob Bourne 814 *** 10. Anders Lee 782 …

31. Dave Lewis 514 *** 32. Adam Pelech 511 *** 33. Mathew Barzal 510 *** 34. Rich Pilon and Mick Vukota and Ryan Pulock 509 *** 37. Ed Westfall 493 *** 38. Scott Mayfield 491

Goals    

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

5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. Brock Nelson 285 *** John Tavares 272 *** 9. Anders Lee 268 …

20. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 21. Mathew Barzal 130…

29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Casey Cizikas 108

Assists

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

8. Patrick Flatley 328 *** 9. Brent Sutter 323 *** 10. Stefan Persson and Mathew Barzal 317…

14. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 15. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 16. Brock Nelson 263…

19. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 21. Anders Lee 199…

28. Jean Potvin 167 *** 29. Jeff Norton 166 *** 30. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 31. Noah Dobson 159 *** 32. David Volek 154 *** 33. Ryan Pulock 151 *** 34. Mariusz Czerkawski 150 *** 35. Travis Green 145 *** 36. Steve Thomas 140 *** 37. Mark Streit and Casey Cizikas 139

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…

8. Pat LaFontaine 566 *** 9. Brock Nelson 548 …

13. Derek King 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Anders Lee 467 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 447…

30. David Volek 249 *** 31. Casey Cizikas 247

+/-

1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…

15. Bob Lorimer +105  *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 ***17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +73 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67  *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Ryan Pulock +57 *** 24. Greg Gilbert +54 *** 25. Gord Lane +48

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57…

4. Stefan Persson 52 *** 5. Ryan Pulock 48 *** 6. Jean Potvin 46 *** 7. Nick Leddy 45 *** 8. Roman Hamrlik 43 *** 9. Noah Dobson 41…

14. Vladimir Malakhov 27 *** 15. Adam Pelech, Scott Mayfield and four others 26  

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

6. Jean Potvin 167 *** 7. Jeff Norton 166 *** 8. Noah Dobson 159 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 151…

11. Travis Hamonic 120 *** 12. Adam Pelech 118… 

18. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 19. Johnny Boychuk 96 *** 20. Dave Langevin, Thomas Hickey, and Scott Mayfield 95

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

6. Jean Potvin 213 *** 7. Noah Dobson 200 *** 8. Ryan Pulock 199…

11. Roman Hamrlik 153 *** 12. Travis Hamonic 146 *** 13. Adam Pelech 144 …

19. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 20. Scott Mayfield 120

Goalie Games

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

4. Kelly Hrudey 241 *** 5. Ilya Sorokin 206 *** 6. Thomas Greiss 193 *** 7. Tommy Salo 187 *** 8. Jaroslav Halak 177 *** 9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 172

Wins

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

4. Kelly Hrudey 106 *** 5. Thomas Greiss 101 *** 6. Ilya Sorokin 100 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 76

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 18 *** 

4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16

On the Farm   

Bridgeport is 5-10-1-2 heading into home games with Belleville on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

Brian Pinho leads the team with 11 goals and 17 points. Chris Terry has 14 assists to pace the Baby Isles in that category.

Season Series Stats

Boston leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0). The teams will next meet in Boston on January 5th.

Boston has won seven of the last eight from the Isles, including twice in shootouts.

UP NEXT

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29th – ISLES AT WASHINGTON 3:00pm

[MSGSN2 (pre-game at 2:30], WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]

The Isles head to the Nation's Capital for the only time this season, as they face Washington for the first time. The Capitals are 15-6-1 this season, despite playing the last four games without Alexander Ovechkin. 

It is the first meeting of the division rivals in eleven months; the teams split four games last season with the entire series concluded before the calendar turned in 2024. Special teams have not played a significant role in recent meetings; the Isles have not scored a power play goal in the last eight meetings and have allowed the Caps to score once in the last 16 games between the teams.

The Isles will play as many games in Seattle, Washington as they do in Washington, DC this season.

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