The Skinny: Washington 5, Isles 4 (OT)

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 24

Washington 5, Isles 4 (OT)

Jakub Chychrun scored his third career overtime goal 1:20 into the extra session as the Washington Capitals completed a comeback from a 4-2 third period deficit to earn a 5-4 overtime victory over the Islanders before a Black Friday sellout crowd of 18,573 at Capital One Arena. 

Simon Holmstrom scored twice, and Anders Lee had three points, as the Isles rallied from a 2-1 deficit to take a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes.

The Isles are 8-10-6 on the season; they will host Buffalo in the back-end of a back-to-back on Saturday night.

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Simon Holmstrom (4) Anders Lee (7) 03:36 NYI 1,WSH 0

Nic Dowd (6) Ivan Miroshnichenko (1), Brandon Duhaime (4) 04:50 NYI 1,WSH 1

Tom Wilson (8) Connor McMichael (8), Dylan Strome (25) 12:10 NYI 1,WSH 2 PPG

2nd Period

Anders Lee (9) Noah Dobson (9), Isaiah George (3) 01:15 NYI 2,WSH 2

Kyle MacLean (1) Bo Horvat (11), Anders Lee (8) 16:28 NYI 3,WSH 2

Simon Holmstrom (5) Dennis Cholowski (3), Bo Horvat (12) 18:09 NYI 4,WSH 2

3rd Period

Dylan Strome (8) Jakob Chychrun (7), Connor McMichael (9) 01:20 NYI 4,WSH 3 PPG

Tom Wilson (9) Trevor van Riemsdyk (11), Connor McMichael (10) 07:24 NYI 4,WSH 4

OT

Jakob Chychrun (7) Dylan Strome (26), John Carlson (13) 01:20 NYI 4,WSH 5

The Skinny

The Isles are 1-4-2 in their last seven games…The Isles have outscored the opposition 40-31 in the first and second periods but have been outscored 43-21 in the third period and overtime…The 38 goals allowed in the third period are the most in the NHL…The Isles have scored 44 goals and allowed 42 goals at 5-on-5 but have been outscored 32-17 in all other situations…The Isles are 6-2-2 when leading after 40 minutes, but are 1-2-2 in the last five games in that situation…The Isles have had a third period lead at some point in seven of the last eight game …The Isles, who lead the NHL with a 56.1% faceoff percentage, have won the majority of draws in 22 of their first 24 games…Isaiah George now has assists in three consecutive games….The Islander power play is 0-22 in the last nine meetings with Washington; they had killed 33 of 34 Cap power plays over prior sixteen meetings before the Caps scored twice today…Simon Holmstrom scored his 25th and 26th career goals after scoring once in a game 24 other times; he finished with a career-high six shots…Kyle MacLean scored his first goal since the playoff clincher in New Jersey on April 15th… The Isles have outscored the opposition 21-14 in the second period this season; they were outscored 107-83 in the second period a season ago…The Isles have played nine overtime games, matching Calgary and Philadelphia for the most in the NHL; their six OT/SO losses lead the NHL as do the five OT goals allowed…Dylan Strome has five goals in nine games against Semyon Varlamov…Jean-Gabriel Pageau missed a game for the first time since missing 12 games in February/March 2023.

The Injury

Scott Mayfield left the game after blocking a shot with 8 minutes to play; he did not return.

First Times in a Long Time

• Isaiah George is the first Islander defenseman since Bryan Berard with a three-game point streak before his 21st birthday.

• Bo Horvat and Anders Lee both tied career-highs by going +4; it is the first time that multiple Isles were +4 or better in a game the Isles did not win since November 1, 1984, in Montreal (6-5 OT loss) when Mike Bossy, Brent Sutter and John Tonelli all did so.  It is the only other time in club history that happened.

Milestone Man

Anders Lee recorded his 200th and 201st assists; he is the 21st player in club history to reach 200 assists.  Lee also became the 17th Islander with 100 multi-point games.

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.

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 1-2-1 (1-2-0 at home and 0-0-1 on road):

• 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 L 4-5ot

• 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 38

Tying Goals: Isles 3, Opponents 10 (in 9 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 18 of their 24 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 eight times this season, including an NHL-high seven times in the third period.

Overtime

The Isles have played nine overtime games, tied with PHI and CGY for most in NHL. They are 1-5 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 0-2 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 15 times this season:

• Score the next goal: 5 times

• Allowed the next goal: 8 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 2 times 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2024-25  8-10-6 for 22 points in 24 games

• 2023-24  10-7-7 for 27 points in 24 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-3-3

• Season: 4-35-39

• 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 Friday)

49. Semyon Varlamov 289

Home and Road

The Isles are 8-10-6 overall; they are 3-5-2 at home and 5-5-4 on the road.

Washington is 16-6-1 overall; they are 8-4-1 at home and 8-2-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 5-7-2 against the East (2-2-2 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

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

The Shots

Isles           13-8-3-0=24

Washington 12-5-8-1=26

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

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 21 saves; he is 3-4-3 this season and 8-12-5 vs. Washington.

Logan Thompson made 20 saves; he is 10-1-1 this season and 2-1-1 vs the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 (6:00) on the power play; Washington was 2-4 (5:57) on the power play.

The Isles are 6-1-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-9-5 when they do not. The Isles are 5-3-5 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 8-2-4 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 4-3-6 in games decided by a single goal including 1-3 in regulation. They are 1-5 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     

Including today, the Isles are 1-1-1 on the front end and 0-2-0 on the back end this season. This back-to-back concludes on Saturday vs. Buffalo. The next back-to-back will be on December 7th vs Carolina and December 8th in Ottawa.

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: Ryan Pulock (24:28); Washington: John Carlson (25:49)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards (20:03)

Face-offs

Isles 38, Washington 28 (58%)

Csaey Cizikas won 8 of 10 for the Isles; Lars Eller won 6 of 9 for Washington. 

Hit Count

Isles 21 (Matt Martin -4)

Washington 20 (Tom Wilson -7)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 19 (Three with 3)

Washington 14 (Martin Fehervary -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 46, Washington 60

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 33, Washington 47

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Alexander Romanov+3

Washington: Nic Dowd +12

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 5, Washington 11

5-on-5: Isles 4, Washington 8

Scratches

(Mathew Barzal – LTIR), (Anthony Duclair-LTIR), (Adam Pelech – IR), (Mike Reilly-IR), (Jean-Gabriel Pageau-INJ),  Grant Hutton

Games Lost to injury: 71.   (Last season's total: 181)

The Ironmen

Brock Nelson is the Islanders' ironman, having played 190 consecutive games. Kyle Palmieri (140) has also played every game since the start of last season.  Jean-Gabriel missed today's game, ending his streak at 119.

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 Seattle. The Isles have five national telecasts scheduled through the end of March, with the other five all scheduled in April.

Matinee Isles

Including today, the Isles are 0-2-1 in matinee games this season, with 8 games remaining. The next matinee will be on December 15th in Chicago. 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 13-15-11 in matinees.

Challenges

Isles: 1 successful, 2 failures  (No offsides -PIT 11/5, No goalie interference – SEA 11/16, Goalie Interference 11/29)

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

Vs (2):  Vs. NJ 11/9 (Led 3-1, Lost 4-3 (OT), Led 4-2, Lost 5-4 (SO))

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 (5): 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); Jakub Chychrun 11/29 @ WAS (1:20)

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 864 *** 7. Casey Cizikas 839 *** 8. Matt Martin 836 *** 9. Bob Bourne 814 *** 10. Anders Lee 783 …

31. Dave Lewis 514 *** 32. Adam Pelech 511 *** 33. Mathew Barzal and Ryan Pulock 510 *** 35. Rich Pilon and Mick Vukota 509 *** 37. Ed Westfall 493 *** 38. Scott Mayfield 492

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 269 …

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 201…

28. Jean Potvin 167 *** 29. Jeff Norton 166 *** 30. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 31. Noah Dobson 160 *** 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 470 *** 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 160 *** 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 201 *** 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 173

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's 14 assists pace the Baby Isles in that category.

Season Series Stats

Washington leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 1). The teams have only two meeting remaining, on April 6th and April 15th, and both games will be at UBS Arena. 

The Isles are 3-2-2 in their last seven meetings with the Caps, including 2-1-2 in Washington.

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30th – BUFFALO AT ISLES 7:30pm

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

The Isles return home to host the Buffalo Sabres in the second meeting of the teams this season.  The Isles earned a 4-3 win in their only trip to Western New York this season back on November 1st as Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves.

While the teams have split the last six games, the Isles are 12-1-0 in their last 13 home games with Buffalo, including 3-1-0 at UBS Arena.  

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