The Skinny: Washington 3, Isles 1

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 81

Washington 3, Isles 1

Dylan Strome completed a hat trick into an empty net, and Charlie Lindgren made 32 saves, as the Washington Capitals defeated the Isles, 3-1, before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Jean-Gabriel Pageau was credited with the only Islander goal.

The Isles close out the season on Thursday in Columbus at 7:00pm, in a game that could mean a playoff spot for the Blue Jackets. 

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Dylan Strome (27) Pierre-Luc Dubois (45), Rasmus Sandin (26) 08:15 WSH 1,NYI 0 PPG

2nd Period

Dylan Strome (28) Alex Ovechkin (29) 07:52 WSH 2,NYI 0

3rd Period

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (14) 11:36 WSH 2,NYI 1

Dylan Strome (29)EN Tom Wilson (31), Nic Dowd (13)18:49 WSH 3,NYI 1

The Skinny

The Isles are 3-6-4 in the last thirteen games…The Isles are 6-4-3 in their last thirteen home games and 12-6-3 in their last 21 home games (which started with a 6-0-0 stretch)… The Isles have been outscored 100-86 in the third period and overtime….The Isles have scored 161 goals and allowed 156 goals at 5-on-5 but have been outscored 95-60 in all other situations… The Isles went 0-4 on the power play; the Isles have been outscored 27-15 on the power play over the last 50 games… The Isles allowed the first goal for the 51st time this season, two shy of the club record…It was the third career hat trick for Dylan Strome, with the previous two coming with Chicago; his 29-52-81 totals are all career highs... The Isles are 2-2-0 in home finales at UBS Arena, losing to Tampa Bay in Barry Trotz' last game in 2022, and defeating Montreal in 2023 and Pittsburgh in 2024.

First Time in a Long Time 

Dylan Strome is the first Capital with a hat trick against the Isles since Alex Ovechkin did so at the Coliseum on January 18, 2020.

 

Milestone Men

• Kyle Palmieri played in his 899th game.

• Simon Holmstrom played in his 199th game.

Special Teams

The Isles head into the final game with a 12.6% power play, which would be the lowest in club history since the stat became official in 1977-78.  Their 72.2% penalty kill is ahead of only last season's 71.5%. 

The home penalty kill, which just two seasons ago, set a club record high for a full season (89.2%), hit a club record low (70.0%) this season. 

-30- Win Club

1. Jaroslav Halak 38 (2014-15)

2. Billy Smith 32 (1981-82)

    Rick DiPietro 32 (2006-07)

    Chris Osgood 32 (2001-02)

5. Ilya Sorokin 31 (2022-23) 

6. Rick DiPietro 30 (2005-06)

    Ilya Sorokin 30 (2024-25; CURRENT)

Simon Says 20

Simon Holmstrom is the first Swedish-born Islander to record 20 goals since the 1981-82 season, when Bobby Nystrom had 22 goals. Nystrom (7x) and Anders Kallur (2x) are the only Swedes with more goals in a season than Holmstrom.

Third Periods

Goals:  Isles 81, Opponents 93

Tying Goals: Isles 11, Opponents 18 (in 17 games)

Go Ahead Goals: Isles 14 (in 13 games), Opponents 11

Empty Net Goals: Isles 13, Opponents 23

The Isles have either been ahead or tied after two periods in 47 of their 80 games. In the 34 games that they have trailed through 40 minutes (5-26-2), they have been within one goal at some point in all but nine of them.

Did Somebody Say Comeback?

The Isles have sixteen come-from behind wins this season, including five when they trailed in the third period. The opponents have come-from-behind to win eighteen times this season, including eleven times in the third period.

Overtime

The Isles are 5-9 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 2-3 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 5-5 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts, Semyon Varlamov is 0-2 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts, and Marcus Hogberg is 0-2 in overtime and 0-1 in shootouts.

Bo Knows Overtime

Bo Horvat has three overtime goals this season, six as an Islander, and eleven in his NHL career. All six of his overtime goals have come in the last two seasons; John Tavares is the only other Islander with multiple seasons with at least three overtime goals.

Most Overtime Goals, Career (Islanders)

1. John Tavares 11 

2. Brock Nelson 9 

3. Bo Horvat, Kyle Okposo, and Josh Bailey 6

6. Mathew Barzal, Thomas Hickey, and Anthony Beauvillier 5

Most Overtime Goals, Season (Islanders)

1. John Tavares 4 (2014-15)

2. Bo Horvat 3 (2023-24)

    Bo Horvat 3 (2024-25)

    Brock Nelson 3 (2019-20)

    John Tavares 3 (2010-11)

Empty Netters 

The Isles have scored 13 empty-net goals and allowed 23.

Building on a Lead

The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 55 times this season:

• Score the next goal: 20 times

• Allowed the next goal: 26 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 9 times 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2024-25  35-34-12 for 82 points in 81 games

• 2023-24  38-27-16 for 92 points in 81 games 

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-0-0

• Season: 32-129-161

• Last Season (Final) 33-137-170

The Islander defense scored only four times in the first 26 games but have 27 goals in the last 54 games; Islander defensemen have earned 36.0% of the team's assists, which is 2nd in the NHL (Buffalo 36.8%).

Home and Road

The Isles are 35-34-12 overall; they are 19-17-5 at home and 16-17-7 on the road.

New Jersey is 51-21-9 overall; they are 26-9-6-at home and 25-12-3 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 22-22-5 against the East (11-10-4 vs. Metropolitan and 11-12-1 vs. Atlantic) and 13-12-7 against the West (8-5-3 vs. Central and 5-7-4 vs. Pacific).

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 1,479

3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack

Lou Lamoriello (1,479) and Patrick Roy (185) have combined for 1,664 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 19-5-6 when scoring first and are 15-30-6 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles           8-12-13=33

Washington 10-13-13=36

he Isles are 16-25-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 18-9-7 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves; he is 30-24-6 this season and 4-4-1 vs. Washington.

Charlie Lindgren made 32 saves; he is 20-14-3 this season and 2-1-0 vs the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-4 (7:08); Washington was 1-4 (5:44) .

The Isles are 14-6-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 21-28-10 when they do not. The Isles are 15-17-8 when they allow at least one power play goal and 20-17-4 when they do not.

The Isles are 10-5-0 when they outscore the opposition on special teams, 7-17-7 when they are outscored, and 18-12-5 when special team goals are equal.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 31-10-8 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 4-24-4 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 15-7-12 in games decided by a single goal including 8-7 in regulation. They are 5-9 in games decided in overtime and are 2-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 5-10 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     

The Isles went 6-4-2 on the front end and 5-7-0 on the back end this season. 

The Isles are 9-7-1 when the opponent is on the back end, including 2-2-0 when the Isles also played the previous day.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Tony DeAngelo (23:36); Washington: Matt Roy (season-high 25:52)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards (21:39).

Face-offs

Isles 36, Washington 29 (55%)

Kyle MacLean won 10 of 12 for the Isles; Dylan Strome won 10 of 18 for Washington. 

Hit Count

Isles 8 (Marc Gatcomb -3)

Washington 13 (Brandon Duhaime -7)

Fights 

None. Season total: 10 (Mayfield, Wahlstrom, Martin-2, Pageau, Tsyplakov, Gatcomb, Cizikas-2, Lee)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 17 (Noah Dobson -5)

Washington 19 (Matt Roy -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 66, Washington 73

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 43, Washington 53

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Pierre Engvall +15

Washington: Pierre-Luc Dubois +12

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 9, Washington 18

5-on-5: Isles 5, Washington 12

Scratches

(Semyon Varlamov-LTIR), (Mathew Barzal – IR), (Alex Romanov – ILL), Tristan Lennox, Anthony Duclair, Adam Boqvist, Mike Reilly

Games Lost to injury: 301. (Last season's total: 181)

The Ironmen

Kyle Palmieri is the Islanders' ironman, having played 197 consecutive games. Casey Cizikas (107) and Anders Lee (90) are the only other Isles to have also played every game this season.

National TV Games 

The Isles went 4-4-0 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners.

Matinee Isles

The Isles went 3-5-3 in matinee games this season. 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 15-17-13 in matinees.

Challenges

Isles: 7 successful, 5 failures  (No offsides -PIT 11/5, No goalie interference – SEA 11/16, Goalie Interference- WAS 11/29, goalie interference – TOR 12/31, no goalie interference – BOS 1/5, offsides-VEG 1/9, goalie interference – OTT 1/14, goalie interference – COL 1/28, goalie interference – PHI 1/30, no goalie interference – PIT 3/18, offside -MTL 3/20, no goalie interference – MTL 3/20)

Opponents: 8 successful, 4 failures (No Goalie Interference -UTA 10/10, Offside-VAN 11/14, Goalie Interference-STL 11/23, Offside -BUF 11/30, No Goalie Interference-CHI 12/15, Goalie Interference – PIT 12/28. Offside 12/31, No goalie interference – NSH 3/1, goalie interference – NYR 3/3, goalie interference x2 – LA 3/11, No goalie interference – CBJ 3/24)

Hockey Opps: 0 favorable, 1 unfavorable (Goalie interference – CBJ 3/24)

Quickies (Two goals in under a minute)

For (4): CHI 12/12, PHI 1/24, FLA 3/16, NAS 4/8

Vs (3): CHI 12/15, MIN 2/8, CAR 3/30

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

Isles responses (8): BUF 11/1, CAR 12/7, BOS 1/5, SJ 1/18, MIN 2/8, DAL 2/23, NAS 3/1, MIN 4/4

Opponent responses (9): UTA 10/10 (2), SEA 11/16, CHI 12/15, TOR 12/31, BOS 1/5, NAS 3/1, LA 3/11, CGY 3/22

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins 

For (3): PIT 11/5 (Trailed 3-1, won 4-3 (SO), FLA 3/16 (Trailed 2-0, won 4-2), PIT 3/18 (Trailed 2-0, won 4-2).

Vs (3):  NJ 11/9 (Led 3-1, Lost 4-3 (OT), WSH 11/29 Led 4-2, Lost 5-4 (SO), NAS 4/8, Led 6-4, Lost 7-6 (OT))

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

For (5): 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); Mathew Barzal 1/11 @ UTA (18:35-GAG), Kyle MacLean 3/22 vs. CGY (17:09, GAG, but lost in OT, Bo Horvat 4/12 @ PHI 18:59 – GTG: PHI won in SO)

Vs (10): 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); 12/15 Connor Bedard at CHI (19:06-GAG); Bobby McMann 1/2 vs. TOR (17:01- GAG); Nikita Kucherov 2/1 at TB (19:13-GTG; NYI won in OT); Jonathan Huberdeau 3/22 vs. CGY (17:38- GTG; CGY won in OT), Michael Bunting 4/8 at NAS (19:20- GTG; NAS won in OT)

OT Winners

For (5): Bo Horvat 10/25 @ NJD (1:09), Bo Horvat 1/5 @ BOS (3:10), Brock Nelson 1/25 vs CAR (2:03), Tony DeAngelo 2/1 @ TB (0:32), Bo Horvat 3/20 vs MTL (3:37)

Vs (9): 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 12/3 @ MTL (2:39); Leon Draisaitl 3/14 vs. EDM (3:52); Nazem Kadri 3/22 vs CGY (3:51); Fedor Svechkov 4/8 vs NAS (1:56)

Shootout Winners

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

Vs (3): Andrei Kuzmenko 11/19 @ CGY, Adam Fantilli 3/24 vs CBJ, Bobby Brink 4/12 @ PHI

 

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

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

4. Brock Nelson 901 *** 5. Bobby Nystrom 900 *** 6. Casey Cizikas 896 *** 7. Clark Gillies 872 *** 8. Matt Martin 854 *** 9. Anders Lee 840 …

22. John Tonelli 594 *** 23. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock 560 *** 25. Ken Morrow 550 *** 26. Duane Sutter 547 *** 27. Lorne Henning 543 *** 28. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 29. Scott Mayfield 534 *** 30. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 31. Mathew Barzal and Pat LaFontaine 530 

Goals    

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

5. Brock Nelson 295 *** 6. Anders Lee 289 …

20. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 21. Mathew Barzal 134…

29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Casey Cizikas 114

Assists

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

7. John Tonelli 338 *** 8. Patrick Flatley and Mathew Barzal 328…

19. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 21. Anders Lee 218…

24. Ed Westfall 181 *** 25. Noah Dobson 180 *** 26. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 27. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 29. Jean Potvin 167 *** 30. Jeff Norton 166 *** 31. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 32. Ryan Pulock 161… 

34. Mariusz Czerkawski 150 *** 35. Casey Cizikas 147

Points

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

12. Bob Bourne 542 *** 13. Anders Lee 506… 

15. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 462…

27. Ed Westfall 286 *** 28. Casey Cizikas 261

+/-

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

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +80 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson +76  *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 ***  19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Ryan Pulock +58 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 23. Patrick Flatley +57 ***  24. Greg Gilbert +54  

Defense Goals

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

4. Ryan Pulock 53 *** 5. Stefan Persson 52 *** 6. Noah Dobson 50…

13. Bryan Berard 31 *** 14. Scott Mayfield 28 *** 15. Vladimir Malakhov 27 *** 16. Adam Pelech and four others 26  

Defense Assists

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

4. Nick Leddy 198 *** 5. Noah Dobson 180…

7. Jean Potvin 167 *** 8. Jeff Norton 166 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 161 ***10. Mark Streit 139 *** 11. Adam Pelech 135… 

17. Bryan Berard 100 *** 18. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 19. Scott Mayfield 97

Defense Points

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

5. Kenny Jonsson 232 *** 6. Noah Dobson 230 *** 7. Ryan Pulock 214…

10. Mark Streit 179 *** 11. Adam Pelech 161…

18. Gerry Hart 128 *** 19. Vladimir Malakhov and Scott Mayfield 125

Goalie Games

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 253 … 

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. Ilya Sorokin 125 …

7. Jaroslav Halak 88 ***  8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 76

Shutouts

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

4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16

On the Farm   

Bridgeport is 15-48-4-3 as they head to Hartford for a game on Friday. 

Brian Pinho has a team-leading (and career-high) 25 goals, five ahead of Liam Foudy. Chris Terry's 47 assists and 65 points both lead the team and are tied for 1st and tied for 3rd in the AHL, respectively.

The Baby Isles visit Providence on Saturday to close out the campaign. 

Season Series Stats

Washington wins the season series, 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 3). 

The Isles are 6-4-3 in the last 13 meetings with Washington, dating back to the final week of Barry Trotz' Islander tenure. At UBS Arena, the Isles are 3-4-1 vs. the Caps.

UP NEXT

THURSDAY, APRIL 17th  – ISLES AT COLUMBUS 7:00pm 

[MSGSN, WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]

The Isles close out the campaign with a game against the Jackets on Thursday. If Montreal loses in regulation on Wednesday to Carolina, the Jackets will earn a playoff spot if they beat the Isles in regulation on Thursday.

The Isles are 1-1-1 this season against Columbus, but it is that last '1' that Isles fans will remember for a long time, as a disallowed Alex Romanov goal in the final minute led to a shootout loss back on March 24th. That game was the last game of a six-game Islander point streak; they have won just three times since (3-6-2).

The Isles are 10-1-2 in their last thirteen games against Columbus, including 4-1-1 in their last six trips to Nationwide Arena.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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