The Skinny: Seattle 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 27

Seattle 5, Isles 2

Vince Dunn set up two goals in the first period and then scored the eventual winning goal in the second period as the Seattle Kraken defeated the Isles 5-2 before a crowd of 14,877 at UBS Arena. 

Trailing 4-0, the Isles got third period goals from Noah Dobson and Maxim Tsyplakov to cut the Kraken lead in half but could not get any closer. 

The Isles are 9-11-7 on the season; they host Carolina in a rare 5:00 start on Saturday. 

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Tye Kartye (3) Vince Dunn (4), Adam Larsson (3) 02:48 SEA 1,NYI 0

Oliver Bjorkstrand (7) Vince Dunn (5), Chandler Stephenson (15) 16:58 SEA 2,NYI 0 PPG

2nd Period

Vince Dunn (2) Adam Larsson (4), Matty Beniers (10) 03:55 SEA 3,NYI 0

Shane Wright (5) Brandon Montour (11) 13:05 SEA 4,NYI 0 PPG

3rd Period

Noah Dobson (2) Simon Holmstrom (8), Anders Lee (10) 11:57 SEA 4,NYI 1

Maxim Tsyplakov (4) Ryan Pulock (9), Bo Horvat (13) 15:37 SEA 4,NYI 2

Jaden Schwartz (7)EN Brandon Tanev (6), Adam Larsson (5) 17:20 SEA 5,NYI 2 

The Skinny

The Isles are 2-5-3 in their last ten games…The Isles have outscored the opposition 43-36 in the first and second periods but have been outscored 45-24 in the third period and overtime…The 39 goals allowed in the third period are tied with Pittsburgh for the most in the NHL…The Isles have scored 47 goals and allowed 44 goals at 5-on-5 but have been outscored 37-19 in all other situations…It is the first time in fourteen games that the Isles trailed for the entire third period.…The Isles, who lead the NHL with a 55.9% faceoff percentage, won 60% tonight; they have won the majority of draws in 24 of their first 27 games.… The Isles have outscored the opposition 24-17 in the second period this season; they were outscored 107-83 in the second period a season ago… Oliver Bjorkstrand now has a seven-game point streak…Seattle went 2-2 on the power play after going 2-prior 30 and starting the game 30th on the power play. It was the fourth time this season that the Isles were shorthanded and allowed a power play goal each time short; all four of those games were at home, where the Isles have allowed 11 goals in 23 times short (52.2% PK)….The Isles PK is now last overall (19-57, 66.7%) while their PK is tied-last with Boston (9-76 11.8%)… The Isles have never won a home game that they trailed by four goals in the third period; they did win on March 14, 1987, in New Jersey in that fashion, and have won two other games, one at home, where they faced four goal deficits in the second period…Marcus Hogberg made his Islander debut in his first NHL game since April 28, 2021; he is the sixth Swedish goalie in Islander history and the 56th goalie overall.…Maxim Tsyplakov now had 14 points, matching Sebastian Aho for the 2nd-highest total by an Islander since 2020-21; Oliver Wahlstrom had 21 points in 2020-21…Tsyplakov leads NHL rookies with 76 hits; it is the most by an Islander rookie since 2017-18, when Ryan Pulock had 113 and Ross Johnston had 89.

Top 10 Goal Scorers 

Both Brock Nelson and Anders Lee are looking to rearrange the top-10 goal scoring list in club history:

• 5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 

• 7. Brock Nelson 285 

• 8. John Tavares 272 

• 9. Anders Lee 271

Welcome to Club 200  

Ryan Pulock assisted on the second Islander goal for his 200th NHL point. He joins Denis Potvin, Stefan Persson, Tomas Jonsson and Noah Dobson as the only defensemen to record their first 200 points as Islanders. 

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 2-3-2 (2-3-0 at home and 0-0-2 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 4-5 OT

• 30-Nov-24 Vs Buffalo    W 3-0

• 3-Dec-24  @ Montreal L 1-2 OT

• 5-Dec-24  Vs Seattle   L 2-5

• 7-Dec-24  Vs Carolina

• 8-Dec-24  @ Ottawa

• 10-Dec-24 Vs Los Angeles

• 12-Dec-24 Vs Chicago

Set of 5s

The Isles are 5-5-5 on the road this season. Their 15 road points rank them tied-four in the East, behind only New Jersey (22), Washington (18), and Florida (17).

Third Periods

Goals:  Isles 23, Opponents 39

Tying Goals: Isles 3, Opponents 10 (in 9 games)

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

Empty Net Goals: Isles 5, Opponents 8

The Isles have either been ahead or tied after two periods in 20 of their 27 games; they are 1-5-1 in the seven games that they trailed after forty minutes. In the five games that they trailed the entire third period, they have been within one goal at some point in all but two of them (10/12 @ DAL, 12/5 vs SEA).

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 ten overtime games, tied with Philadelphia for most in NHL. They are 1-6 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 2-1 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 1-4 in overtime and 1-0 in shootouts, while Semyon Varlamov is 0-2 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts. 

Sorokin now has 34 OT/SO losses, extending his club record (Rick DiPietro had 28). 

Empty Netters 

The Isles have scored 5 empty-net goals and allowed 8.

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 16 times this season:

• Score the next goal: 6 times

• Allowed the next goal: 8 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 2 times 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2024-25  9-11-7 for 25 points in 27 games

• 2023-24  13-7-7 for 33 points in 27 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:   1-1-2

• Season: 5-38-43

• 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. Connor Hellebuyck 291 

48. Ed Giacomin 290

49. Semyon Varlamov 289

Oh Canada

The Isles are playing 17 games against Canadian-based teams this season; they are 3-0-3 through six games. After opening with a home shootout win over Montreal, the Isles played four road games in November (2-0-2) and have four more road games in December (0-0-1 with three to play). Seven of the eight games scheduled for the New Year will be at home. 

Going back to last season the Isles have earned points in nine straight games against Canadian teams; the next Canadian opponent will be Ottawa, a road game on Sunday.

Home and Road

The Isles are 9-11-7 overall; they are 4-6-2 at home and 5-5-5 on the road.

Seattle is 13-13-1 overall; they are 7-6-1 at home and 6-7-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 6-7-3 against the East (2-2-2 vs. Metropolitan and 4-5-1 vs. Atlantic) and 3-4-4 against the West (2-1-2 vs. Central and 1-3-2 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 134 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 1,453

3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack

Lou Lamoriello (1,453) and Patrick Roy (159) have combined for 1,612 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 5-3-4 when scoring first and are 4-8-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles     9-6-14=29

Seattle 8-5-12=25

 

The Isles are 5-6-3 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 4-4-4 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 9 saves in the first two periods; he is 6-7-4 this season and 2-3-1 vs. Seattle. Magnus Hogberg stopped all 11 shots he faced in the third period.

Joey Daccord made 27 saves; he is 12-6-1 this season and 2-0-0 vs the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 (6:00) on the power play; Seattle was 2-2 (3:38) on the power play.

The Isles are 7-1-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-10-6 when they do not. The Isles are 5-4-6 when they allow at least one power play goal and 4-7-1 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 9-2-4 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-9-3 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 4-3-7 in games decided by a single goal including 1-3 in regulation. They are 1-6 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 1-2-0 on the back end this season. 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: Noah Dobson (23:09); Seattle: Jamie Oleksiak (23:26)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards (20:52)

Face-offs

Isles 32, Seattle 21 (60%)

Bo Horvat won 11 of 17 for the Isles; Mitchell Stephens won 7 of 11 for Seattle. 

Hit Count

Isles 24 (Alexander Romanov -6)

Seattle 23 (Two with 5)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 14 (Noah Dobson -2)

Seattle 19 (Two with 4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 62, Seattle 61

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 40, Seattle 53

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Bo Horvat +2

Seattle: Brandon Montour +11

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 11, Seattle 8

5-on-5: Isles 9, Seattle 6

Scratches

(Mathew Barzal – LTIR), (Anthony Duclair-LTIR), (Adam Pelech – IR), (Mike Reilly-IR), (Semyon Varlamov-INJ), Dennis Cholowski,  Matt Martin

Games Lost to injury: 85.   (Last season's total: 181)

The Ironmen

Brock Nelson is the Islanders' ironman, having played 193 consecutive games. Kyle Palmieri (143) has 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 

Including tonight, the Isles are 0-1-0 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners, with nine games remaining. The next national game will stream on December 17th on ESPN+/Hulu, as the Isles visit Carolina. 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 0-2-1 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: 3 successful, 1 failure (No Goalie Interference -UTA 10/10, Offside-VAN 11/14, Goalie Interference-STL 11/23, Offside -BUF 11/30)

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 (6): 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); Nick Suzuki (2:39)

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 867*** 7. Casey Cizikas 842 *** 8. Matt Martin 838 *** 9. Bob Bourne 814 *** 10. Anders Lee 786 …

31. Dave Lewis 514 *** 32. Ryan Pulock 513 *** 33. Adam Pelech 511 *** 34. Mathew Barzal 510 *** 35. Rich Pilon and Mick Vukota 509 *** 37. Scott Mayfield 496

Goals    

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

5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. Brock Nelson 285 *** 8, John Tavares 272 *** 9. Anders Lee 271 …

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 203…

28. Jean Potvin 167 *** 29. Jeff Norton 166 *** 30. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 31. Noah Dobson 161 *** 32. David Volek 154 *** 33. Ryan Pulock 152 *** 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…

7. Josh Bailey 580 *** 8. Pat LaFontaine 566 *** 9. Brock Nelson 548 …

13. Derek King 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Anders Lee 473 *** 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 42…

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 161 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 152…

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 203 *** 8. Ryan Pulock 200…

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 209 *** 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 and Ilya Sorokin 101 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 76

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 19 *** 

4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16

On the Farm   

Bridgeport fell to 5-13-1-2 with a 6-1 home-ice loss to Hartford on Wednesday. Alex Jefferies scored the only goal for the Islanders.

Brian Pinho leads the team with 11 goals and 17 points. Chris Terry's 15 assists pace the Baby Isles in that category.

Bridgeport visits Springfield on Friday and Providence on Saturday.

Season Series Stats

Seattle sweeps the season series, 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 0). 

The Isles are 1-2-1 at home, and 2-4-2 all-time, against the Kraken. The Isles are winless in their last four games against the Kraken (0-2-2).

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7th –CAROLINA AT ISLES 5:00pm

[MSGSN (Pre-Game at 4:30pm), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]

It is an early start-time as the Islanders meet the Carolina Hurricanes for the first time since Carolina eliminated the Isles in the 2024 playoffs.

The Isles have never won a regular season home game from Carolina at UBS Arena, going 0-4-1; in fact, the Isles are winless in seven straight home games vs the Canes (0-5-2) in a streak that began in the last home game the Isles played before COVID interrupted the 2019-20 season. The Isles are 2-3 in five home playoff games at UBS against Carolina.

The road team won all four regular season meetings last season, with each team winning once in regulation, and once in overtime.

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