The Skinny: Isles 3, St. Louis 1

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 21

Isles 3, St. Louis 1

Kyle Palmieri scored twice, and Brock Nelson added a power play goal and two assists, as the Isles defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-1 before a sellout crowd of 17,255 on Hockey Fights Cancer Night at UBS Arena. Ilya Sorokin earned his 100th career win, making 24 saves.

Palmieri and Nelson had given the Isles a 2-0 lead heading to the third but Jake Neighbours scored 45 seconds into the session to make it a one-goal game. Palmieri hit the empty net to end a three-game losing streak (0-2-1) in which the Isles led in the third period of each game.

The Isles are 8-8-5 on the season; they will host Detroit in the middle game of this three-game homestand on Monday. 

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Kyle Palmieri (8) Brock Nelson (4) 18:51 STL 0,NYI 1

2nd Period

Brock Nelson (8) Maxim Tsyplakov (9), Simon Holmstrom (7) 15:55 STL 0,NYI 2 PPG

3rd Period

Jake Neighbours (7) Pavel Buchnevich (8), Robert Thomas (8) 00:45 STL 1,NYI 2 PPG

Kyle Palmieri (9)EN Brock Nelson (5) 19:23 STL 1,NYI 3

The Skinny

The Isles are 5-3-3 in their last eleven games and have points in their last three home games (2-0-1)… …The Isles have outscored the opposition 31-25 in the first and second periods but have been outscored 34-20 in the third period and overtime…The 30 goals allowed in the third period are the 2nd-highest in the NHL…The Isles have outscored the opposition 35-32 at 5-on-5 but have been outscored 27-17 in all other situations…The Isles are 6-1-1 when leading after 40 minutes…The Isles have allowed only five goals in the last three games and have scored five goals in those games as well…It was the Isles' first home win in regulation time this season (and 5th overall)…The Blues' only goal came on their only power play; the Isles have allowed nine goals in sixteen times short at home this season…It was the fourth time this season (third at home) that the opposition scored on every power play…Kyle Palmieri recorded his 30th career multi-goal game, including six with the Isles; Palmieri has scored in six of the eight Islander wins…Brock Nelson recorded at least three points in a game for the 16th time in his career; the Isles are 15-1-0 in those games…Nelson, who had 19 power play points last season, recorded his first power play point; each of the eight Islander power play goals have been scored by a different player… The Blues are 2-10-0 when trailing after two periods…Jake Neighbours scored both goals for the Blues against the Isles this season…Both Anders Lee and Bo Horvat were pointless; each player had recorded a point in every prior Isles win this season.

Milestone Men

Ilya Sorokin is now the 6th goalie in Islander history to reach 100 wins; his next win will tie Thomas Greiss for 5th place on that list.

Brock Nelson had a goal and two assists; each point had historical significance as he tied Bob Bourne for 10th on the point list with his first assist, passed Bourne for 10th place with his power play goal, and then tied John Tonelli for 9th place at 544 points with an assist on the empty-net goal. Nelson, whose 283rd goal leaves him four behind Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter for 5th place, also passed Billy Harris for 16th place on the assist list.

Nelson also recorded his 43rd game-winning goal as an Islander, passing John Tavares, and trailing only Mike Bossy (80), Bryan Trottier (69) and Denis Potvin (44).

First Time in a Long Time

St. Louis native Scott Mayfield recorded a career-high 10 blocked shots tonight - most by any NHL player in a game this season. No player has had more since Derek Forbort had 11 for Winnipeg vs Montreal on 3/4/2021; three players had ten last season. The only other Islander in the real-time era with at least ten blocked shots was Sean Hill, who had 12 on December 3, 2006, at Madison Square Garden.

Milestones on Hold 

• Noah Dobson has 199 points.

• Ryan Pulock has 198 points.

• Anders Lee has 199 assists.

Chasing 200  

Two Islander defensemen are approaching 200 points; Noah Dobson has 199 and Ryan Pulock has 198. Denis Potvin, Stefan Persson and Tomas Jonsson are the only defensemen to record their first 200 points as Islanders.

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

Time for Some Home Cooking

The Isles  are starting a stretch where eight of the next 11 games will be at home and they will not play consecutive road games during that stretch. The Isles are 1-0-0 in this stretch:

• 23-Nov-24 Vs St. Louis W 3-1

• 25-Nov-24 Vs Detroit

• 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

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 5.

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  8-8-5 for 21 points in 21 games

• 2023-24  8-7-6 for 22 points in 21 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-0-0

• Season: 4-28-32

• 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 tied-sixth in wins and fourth in shutouts.

All-time Goalie Wins

46. Mike Liut 293

47. Ed Giacomin 290

48. Semyon Varlamov 289

      Connor Hellebuyck 289

Home and Road

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

St. Louis is 9-12-1 overall; they are 5-6-0 at home and 4-6-1 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 5-5-1 against the East (2-2-1 vs. Metropolitan and 3-3-0 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 130 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 4-2-3 when scoring first and are 4-6-2 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles        12-12-7=31

St. Louis 7-8-10=25

The Isles are 5-3-2 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 24 saves; he is 4-5-3 this season and 4-1-1 vs. St. Louis.

Jordan Bennington made 28 saves; he is 6-9-1 this season and 3-3-2 vs the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-1 (2:25) on the power play; St. Louis was 1-1 (0:10).

The Isles are 6-1-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-7-4 when they do not. The Isles are 5-3-4 when they allow at least one power play goal and 3-5-1 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 0-7-2 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 2-2 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 (23:43); St. Louis: Ryan Suter (26:09)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau led Isles forwards (19:42)

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 34, St. Louis 19 (64%)

Bo Horvat won 12 of 15 for the Isles; No Blue won more than he lost. 

Hit Count

Isles 29 (Alexander Romanov-5)

St. Louis 24 (Jake Neighbours -6)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 20 (Scott Mayfield -10)

St. Louis 6 (Colton Parayko -2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 52, St. Louis 57

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 42, St. Louis 54

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Jean-Gabriel Pageau +11

St. Louis: Dylan Holloway +18

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 8, St. Louis 8

5-on-5: Isles 6, St. Louis 7

Scratches

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

Games Lost to injury: 57.   (Last season's total: 181)

The Ironmen

Brock Nelson is the Islanders' ironman, having played 187 consecutive games. Kyle Palmieri (137) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (117) 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 861 *** 7. Casey Cizikas 836 *** 8. Matt Martin 833 *** 9. Bob Bourne 814 *** 10. Anders Lee 780 …

31. Dave Lewis 514 *** 32. Adam Pelech 511 *** 33. Mathew Barzal 510 *** 34. Rich Pilon and Mick Vukota 509 *** 36. Ryan Pulock 507 *** 37. Ed Westfall 493 *** 38. Scott Mayfield 489

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 267 …

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 261…

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 158 *** 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 and John Tonelli 544 …

13. Derek King 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Anders Lee 466 *** 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 158 *** 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 199 *** 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 171

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 4-10-1-2 after dropping games in regulation on Friday in Wilkes Barre-Scranton and in a shootout against Charlotte on Saturday.

Brian Pinho leads the team and remains tied for 3rd in the AHL with ten goals. His 16 points also lead the team. Jakub Skarek is 3-6-0 with a 3.14 GAA and a .897 save percentage.

The Baby Isles will finish the 3-in-3 weekend on Sunday afternoon in Hartford. 

Season Series Stats

The teams split the season series, 1 game to 1 (the Isles earned 3 points to St. Louis' 2); it is the first season series completed this year. 

The Isles are 7-1-1 in the last nine home games against the Blues (3-1-0 at UBS Arena).

UP NEXT

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25th  –DETROIT AT ISLES 7:30pm

[MSGSN2 (pre-game at 7:00], WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]

The Isles will look for consecutive wins for the first time since November 5th-7th  as they conclude the season series with the Detroit Red Wings.

The Red Wings have earned two wins over the Isles this season, winning 1-0 at UBS in October despite having only 11 shots, and then rallying from a late deficit for a 2-1 win on Thursday in Motown.

The Isles have lost three straight games in regulation to the Red Wings; it is the first time that has happened since 2000.

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