The Skinny: Detroit 4, Isles 2

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 22

Detroit 4, Isles 2

It happened again. For the second time in five days, the Detroit Red Wings scored a pair of goals late in the third period to rally from a deficit and defeat the Islanders, this time by a 4-2 score before a crowd of 14,900 at UBS Arena. 

Anders Lee and Kyle Palmieri had twice given the Isles a one-goal lead, but Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond scored in a 2:33 span to turn the game Detroit's way, as Raymond was credited with the game-winner against the Isles for the second straight game. Simon Edvinssson's empty-netter sealed the game with seconds to play. 

The Isles have had a third period lead in six straight games but have gone 2-3-1 in that stretch as they fall to 8-9-5 on the season; they will host Boston in the final game of this three-game homestand on Wednesday in the traditional Thanksgiving Eve game. 

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Anders Lee (8) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (5), Noah Dobson (8) 04:35 DET 0,NYI 1

Moritz Seider (2) Andrew Copp (3), Christian Fischer (2) 13:25 DET 1,NYI 1

2nd Period

Kyle Palmieri (10) Brock Nelson (6), Isaiah George (1) 07:42 DET 1,NYI 2

3rd Period

Dylan Larkin (12) Justin Holl (2), Albert Johansson (1) 11:20 DET 2,NYI 2

Lucas Raymond (5) Simon Edvinsson (7), Moritz Seider (10) 13:53 DET 3,NYI 2

Simon Edvinsson (3)EN 19:57 DET 4,NYI 2

The Skinny

The Isles are 1-3-1 in their last five games; the loss ended their three-game home point streak…The Isles have outscored the opposition 33-26 in the first and second periods but have been outscored 37-21 in the third period and overtime…The 33 goals allowed in the third period are the most in the NHL…The Isles have outscored the opposition 37-35 at 5-on-5 but have been outscored 28-17 in all other situations…The Isles are 6-2-1 when leading after 40 minutes…The Isles have scored only seven goals in the last four games …The Isles killed all three Red Wing penalties in their best home penalty kill night of the season;  they have allowed nine goals in nineteen times short at home this season…Kyle Palmieri has three goals in the last two games…The Red Wings are 2-8-0 when trailing after two periods, with both wins coming against the Isles…Isaiah George, playing his 10th NHL game, recorded his first point; Albert Johansson, playing his 11th NHL game for Detroit, did the same…Detroit had only 32 shots on goal in two games on Long Island, but won them both; they averaged only 21 shots in three games (fewest for any opponent that swept Isles in series of at least three games)…Alex Lyon is only the fourth goalie in the last three seasons to record three wins in a season against the Isles, joining Igor Shesterkin (3-1-0 last season), Darcy Kuemper (3-0-1 in 2022-23), and Linus Ullmark (3-0-0 in 2022-23)…Kyle Palmieri now has 498 career points.

Milestone Men

• Brock Nelson had an assist to give him 545 points, passing John Tonelli for 9th place on the club's all-time list.

• Noah Dobson had an assist to give him 200 points.

First Times in a Long Time

The Isles were swept by the Red Wings for only the second time. The prior time occurred in 1998-99.

Club 200  

Noah Dobson recorded his 200th point, joining Denis Potvin, Stefan Persson and Tomas Jonsson as the only defensemen to record their first 200 points as Islanders. Ryan Pulock needs two points 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 fat, the Isles are 1-1-0:

• 23-Nov-24 Vs St. Louis W 3-1

• 25-Nov-24 Vs Detroit     L 2-4

• 27-Nov-24 Vs Boston

• 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 33

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

Go Ahead Goals: Isles 5 (in 4 games), Opponents 6

Empty Net Goals: Isles 4, Opponents 6

The Isles have either been tied or ahead after two periods in 16 of their 22 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).

Quick on the Draw

Bo Horvat won all seven draws he took; he is the sixth NHL player to go 7-0 or better this season. Horvat is the first Islander to go 7-0 or better since Derek Brassard went 8-0 against the Rangers at The Garden on January 13, 2020.

Overall, the Isles went 27-13, for a season best 67.5%; it is the fourth time this season in the NHL that a team won at least 67.5%. The Isles, who lead the NHL with a 56.3% faceoff percentage, have won the majority of draws in 20 of their first 22 games.

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 6.

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  8-9-5 for 21 points in 22 games

• 2023-24  9-7-6 for 24 points in 22 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-2-2

• Season: 4-30-34

• 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

49. Semyon Varlamov 289

Home and Road

The Isles are 8-9-5 overall; they are 3-4-2 at home and 5-5-3 on the road.

Detroit is 9-10-2 overall; they are 4-5-1 at home and 5-5-1 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 5-6-1 against the East (2-2-1 vs. Metropolitan and 3-4-0 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 131 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

Leaders of the Pack

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 4-6-2 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    7-9-13=29

Detroit 5-7-9=21

The Isles are 5-4-2 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

Semyon Varlamov made 17 saves; he is 3-4-2 this season and 7-8-0 vs. Detroit.

Alex Lyon made 26 saves; he is 4-4-0 this season and 3-1-0 vs the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 (5:34) on the power play; Detroit was 0-3 (5:34).

The Isles are 6-1-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-8-4 when they do not. The Isles are 5-3-4 when they allow at least one power play goal and 3-6-1 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 8-1-3 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 (23:45); Detroit: Moritz Seider (24:59)

Simon Holmstrom led Isles forwards (career-high 21:51)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Noah Dobson (6-5-3), Alex Romanov (0-1-0), Ryan Pulock (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1)

Face-offs

Isles 27, Detroit 13 (67%)

Bo Horvat won 7 of 7 for the Isles; Andrew Copp won 5 of 8 for Detroit. 

Hit Count

Isles 23 (Matt Martin and Scott Mayfield-5)

Detroit 24 (Christian Fischer -7)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 14 (Ryan Pulock -4)

Detroit 11 (Jeff Petry -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 57, Detroit 55

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 40, Detroit 46

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Scott Mayfield and Noah Dobson +5

Detroit: JT Compher +12

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 12, Detroit 11

5-on-5: Isles 8, Detroit 11

Scratches

(Mathew Barzal – LTIR), (Anthony Duclair-LTIR), (Adam Pelech – IR), (Mike Reilly-IR), Hudson Fasching,  (Alex Romanov – ILL)

Games Lost to injury: 62.   (Last season's total: 181)

The Ironmen

Brock Nelson is the Islanders' ironman, having played 188 consecutive games. Kyle Palmieri (138) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (118) 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 862 *** 7. Casey Cizikas 837 *** 8. Matt Martin 834 *** 9. Bob Bourne 814 *** 10. Anders Lee 781 …

31. Dave Lewis 514 *** 32. Adam Pelech 511 *** 33. Mathew Barzal 510 *** 34. Rich Pilon and Mick Vukota 509 *** 36. Ryan Pulock 508 *** 37. Ed Westfall 493 *** 38. Scott Mayfield 490

Goals    

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

5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. Brock Nelson 283 *** 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 262…

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. Mariusz Czerkawski and Ryan Pulock 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 545 …

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 +56 *** 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 150…

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 *** Ryan Pulock 198…

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 205 *** 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 after earning a 4-1 win in Hartford on Sunday afternoon.

Marc Gatcomb has a goal and an assist; Brian Pinho's late goal was his team-leading 11th as he moved into 3rd place in the AHL goal race. His 17 points also lead the team. Marcus Hogberg made 24 saves to earn his second win of the season.

The Baby Isles will host Belleville on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. 

Season Series Stats

Detroit sweeps the season series, 3 games to 0 (and 6 points to 0). 

Detroit has won four straight over the Isles for the first time since February 21, 2000- November 2, 2001, when they defeated the Isles five straight times, including once in overtime.

UP NEXT

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27th  –BOSTON AT ISLES 7:30pm

[MSGSN (pre-game at 7:00], WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]

The Isles will welcome Joe Sacco and the Boston Bruins to UBS for the only time this season as the Isles face Boston for the first time this season. 

The Bruins will host Vancouver on Tuesday, looking for their third straight win under their new coach before heading to Long Island on Wednesday. 

The Isles beat Boston 5-1 on March 2nd to end a six-game losing streak to Boston; however, all six of those losses were to Linus Ullmark (now in Ottawa).

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