Saturday, March 31, 2018

The Skinny: New Jersey 4, Isles 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 79
New Jersey 4, Isles 3
Travis Hall scored twice but it was Blake Coleman's shorthanded goal late in the difference that proved to be the difference as the New Jersey Devils held on for a 4-3 win over the Isles before a sellout crowd of 16,514 at Prudential Center.

The Devils improve to 4-0-1 in their last five games while the Isles fall to 2-8-0 in their last ten games.
 
The Scoring: 
1ST PERIOD
01:15 New York Tanner Fritz (3) ASST: Brandon Davidson (3), John Tavares (47) 1-0
07:54 New Jersey Stefan Noesen (13) ASST: Blake Coleman (11), Will Butcher (38) 1-1

2ND PERIOD
00:41 New Jersey PPG - Taylor Hall (35) ASST: Will Butcher (39), Kyle Palmieri (18) 1-2
09:08 New Jersey Taylor Hall (36) ASST: Stefan Noesen (14) 1-3
13:19 New York PPG - Anthony Beauvillier (19) ASST: Mathew Barzal (59), Brock Nelson (15) 2-3
18:58 New Jersey SHG - Blake Coleman (13) ASST: Mirco Mueller (4), Michael Grabner (9) 2-4

3RD PERIOD
16:21 New York Chris Wagner (7) ASST: Johnny Boychuk (12), Nick Leddy (32) 3-4

The Skinny  
Isles are 17-30-8 since December 1st …Chris Wagner scored his first goal as an Islander (12th game); he is the 368th Islander to score a goal… Anthony Beauvillier's goal gives the Isles six players with at least 19 goals for the first time since 1993-94; Beauvillier has more than doubled last season's goal output (9)... Anders Lee was held goalless for the second straight game as he remains at 39 goals …The Isles went 1-2 on the power play.  The power play is operating at 23.0%; the Isles will finish the season having converted 20% of their power plays over a full season for the first time since 1993-94 (20.1%)… The Isles are 3-12-4 in their last 19 games… Josh Bailey sat out a second straight game with an injury; he remains tied with Patrick Flatley for 7th place on the all-time Isles games played list (712)…A goal was deflected into the Isles' goal off an Islander defenseman for the fifth straight game …With the loss, the Isles are guaranteed to figure under NHL-.500 for the first time since 2013-14…Blake Coleman's goal was the 11th shorty scored by the Devils and was the 11th allowed by the Isles…Taylor Hall extended his latest point streak to seven games (5-7-12) as he extended his career high totals in both goals (36) and points (88); Hall had points in 34 of his last 37 appearances…The Devils are 50-0-12 the last two seasons when leading after two periods…The Isles finished March with a 3-9-3 record.
 
Lottery Update
In addition to their own picks, the Isles own Calgary's first two picks in the upcoming entry draft.  At the end of play Saturday, the Isles held the 7th pick and either the 11th or 12th pick (based on the results of Edmonton-Calgary game) heading into the upcoming draft lottery, giving them a 9.0% (or 9.5%) chance of winning the lottery.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years
Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with a team-leading 59 assists and 79 points in 79 games, he is on pace for 61 assists and 82 points: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie
1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76
2. MATHEW BARZAL 59 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie
1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76
2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78
3. MATHEW BARZAL 79 2017-18 

Barzal will join Denis Potvin as the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in assists; he is two points behind John Tavares for the club lead in points.  Billy Harris, Potvin, Trent Hunter (tied) and John Tavares are the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in points.

Nice Company
Mathew Barzal is one of only four rookies since 1983-84 with at least 59 assists in a season.   

1. Joe Juneau BOS 1992-93 70
2. Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 63
3. Sergei Makarov CGY 1989-90 62
4. MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 59


He is also one of only four rookies since 2000-01 with at least 79 points.

More points by a rookie: last 18 seasons
1 Alex Ovechkin WSH2005-06 106
2 Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 102
3 Evgeni Malkin PIT 2006-07   85
4 MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18   79

(Barzal passed Paul Stastny, who finished his rookie season with 78 points.)

34 Goal Club
Anders Lee has 39 goals and John Tavares has 34.  They are the first Islander teammates with at least 34 goals since Pierre Turgeon, Steve Thomas and Benoit Hogue all did so in 1993-94 and the first to combine for at least 73 goals since Ziggy Palffy (48) and Bryan Smolinski (28) had 76 in 1996-97.

39 Goal Club
Anders Lee is only the 2nd Islander in the last 20 years to score 39 goals in a season:

1. Jason Blake 40 2006-07
2.    ANDERS LEE 39 2017-18

Lee is also the first Islander with multiple 34+ goal seasons since Ziggy Palffy (1995-96 to 1997-98). 

59 Helpers
Mathew Barzal has 59 assists; it's the highest total by an Islander since Pierre Turgeon had 74 helpers in 1992-93, which is the most by an Islander in the Post-Cup era.

Two Over 50
Barzal and Josh Bailey are the first Islander teammates with more than 50 assists since Mike Bossy (62) and Bryan Trottier (59) did so in 1985-86.

Pulock Moving up on Rookie Season Lists Too!
Pulock has 9 goals on the season; only two rookie defensemen (Denis Potvin-17 and Vladimir Malakhov-14) have scored more goals.  Ken Leiter, Chris Campoli and Tomas Jonsson also finished their rookie seasons with 9 goals.

Four of Pulock's goals have come on the power play.  Among Islander rookie defensemen, only Malakhov (7) and Potvin (6) have more.  Ken Leiter also scored four power play goals as a rookie.

Pulock is only the 8th Islander rookie defenseman to record 29 points in his rookie season. Ken Leiter also had 29 points.

Three's Company
Mathew Barzal has eight games of at least three points this season (five games with three points and three games with five points). Since 1993-94, only Sidney Crosby (11 times), Artemi Panarin (10 times) and Alex Ovechkin (8 times) have done so as often in their rookie seasons.

Five's Alive
The Isles have scored at least five goals 11 times at home (9-2-0) and 19 times overall (17-2-0). The Isles have also scored two shootout winners for a fifth goal of the game (not included above). 

Five's Trouble
The Isles have allowed at least five goals 13 times at home (1-10-2) and 22 times overall (1-19-2).  

First Things First
The Isles have scored first 37 times this season (22-10-5). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season but are only 11-10-5 in the last 26 games that they scored first.

First Goal 
The Isles are 22-10-5 when they score first and are 10-27-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots
Isles           12-11-7=30
New Jersey 15-10-10=35

The Isles are 8-15-5 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 24-21-5 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Home and Road
The Islanders are 32-37-10 overall; 17-18-4 at home and 15-19-6 on the road.  
New Jersey is 41-28-9 overall; 21-14-4 at home and 20-14-5 on the road.  

By Division & Conference
The Isles are 11-13-2 in Division games and 21-24-8 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 19-27-3 against the East and 13-10-7 against the West.  

Our House
The Isles are 17-18-4 at home; they are 10-14-0 against the East and 7-4-4 against the West.  However, after opening the season 8-0-2 on home ice, the Isles are 9-18-2 in their last 29 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets
Thomas Greiss made 31 saves but falls to 11-8-2 on the season and 2-4-0 in his career against the Isles. It was his 1st appearance since being injured in a shutout win in Carolina on February 16th.
Keith Kinkaid made 27 saves and improves to 23-10-3 on the season and 3-3-2 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays
The Isles were 1-2 on the power play in 3:57 of PP time, but they allowed a shorthanded goal; New Jersey was 1-2 on the power play in 3:30 of PP time.
The Isles are 19-16-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-21-7 when they do not.  The Isles are 17-26-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 15-11-7 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number
The Isles are 30-15-5 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-22-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games
The Isles are 13-11-10 in games decided by a single goal including 4-11 in regulation. They are 6-7 in games decided in overtime and are 3-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-4 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs
Including tonight, the Isles are 6-10-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 6-9-1 on the back-end.   This was the final back-to-back set of the season.
 
Tired vs. Rested
The Isles are 3-4-0 when both teams played the night before. 
The Isles are 6-2-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 
The Isles are 3-5-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.
The Isles are 19-26-9 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Mathew Barzal (21:51); New Jersey: Sami Vatanen (27:15)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 21:51 of ice-time.

Face-offs
Isles 40, New Jersey 30 (57%).

Mathew Barzal and Brock Nelson each won 10 of 15 for the Isles; no Devil who took multiple draws won more than he lost.
 
Face-offs by period: 1st period 12/27; 2nd period 13/21; 3rd period 15/22.
Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 38/58, Power play 0/4, Penalty kill 2/8.

Hit Count
Isles 13 (Chris Wagner-3)  
New Jersey 31 (Blake Coleman-5)

Fights
There were no fights. Season total – 15: (Johnston 4, Boychuk 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1, Clutterbuck 1, Seidenberg 1).

Blocked Shots
The Isles blocked 6 shots (6 with 1).

For the Corsi Crowd 
All situations: Isles 50, New Jersey 51 
5-on-5 Isles 41, New Jersey 42

5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: John Tavares +6
New Jersey: Taylor Hall +8

Night and Day 
The Isles are 28-36-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.   All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen
Anders Lee 115, Brock Nelson 92, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 79.

Scratches
(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Alan Quine-IR), Casey Cizikas-INJ, Josh Bailey-INJ, Jaroslav Halak, Scott Mayfield, Dennis Seidenberg
Total games lost: 310

Late Heroes
The Isles have scored five times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:
10/9 – STL Blues – Anders Lee (19:00); tied game, but Isles lost in shootout
12/7 – PIT Penguins – Brock Nelson (18:50); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime
12/27- BUF Sabres – Josh Bailey (18:51); tied game, and Isles won in overtime
2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime
3/5 – VAN Canucks – Jordan Eberle (18:56); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

Late Goals Allowed
The Isles have allowed a goal six times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:
12/16 – LA Kings – Anze Kopitar (19:47); tied game, but Isles won in overtime
12/21—ANA Ducks – Rickard Rakell (18:45); tied game and Ducks won in overtime
2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime
2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime
2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game
3/9 – EDM Oilers – Connor McDavid (18:10); tied game and Oilers won in shootout

Offside Challenges
The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.
10/10 vs STL Blues – unsuccessful; Isles killed ensuing power play.
10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful
1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 
2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

The opponents have not yet challenged an Islander goal due to an offside this season.

7-11
The Isles have used 7 defensemen six times this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ, 1/16 vs. NJ, 3/2 vs. MTL, 3/30 vs. TOR, 3/31 @NJ) and are 2-4-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-4-0 when they dress seven natural defensemen.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900 
6. Mike Bossy 752 *** 7.  Patrick Flatley & Josh Bailey 712*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 666

Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 *** 4. Clark Gillies 304***
5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. John Tavares 269
17. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Josh Bailey 124 *** 20. Anders Lee 123 

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553*** 4. Clark Gillies 359***
5.  John Tavares 349
13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Josh Bailey 251

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052 *** 4. Clark Gillies 663 ***
5.  John Tavares 618
13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 375 

Games Played (Goalies)
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 *** 4. Kelly Hrudey 241 ***
5. Tommy Salo 187 *** 6. Glenn Healy and Jaroslav Halak 176 
10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 116

Wins (Goalie)
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130***4. Kelly Hrudey 106 ***
5. Jaroslav Halak 87 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 
9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats
New Jersey wins the season series three games to one (and seven points to two). 

The Devils won the final three meetings, all with Keith Kinkaid in goal.  It's the first time in over five years that New Jersey has earned three straight wins over the Isles.

On the Farm
Sebastian Aho assisted on a goal in each period as Bridgeport improved to 34-27-5-3 with a 5-1 win over Hartford.
 
Travis St. Denis leads the team in both goals (22) and points (43). Christopher Gibson (on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

The Sound Tigers have seven games remaining, beginning with a 10:30 AM School Day Matinee against Providence on Tuesday.
 
Up Next
TUESDAY, APRIL 3rd -- PHILADELPHIA AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 
[MSG+2 (Islander pre-game at 6:30PM), WNYM 970AM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

The Islanders will need to win both of their remaining home games to finish with above NHL-.500 at Barclays Center for the third straight season.

The first of those two games will be against the Flyers.  The Isles swept a pair of extra time game from Philly over Thanksgiving, but the Flyers rebounded for a home-ice win in early January.

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

Friday, March 30, 2018

The Skinny: Toronto 5, Isles 4

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 78
Toronto 5, Isles 4
Auston Matthews scored the game-winning goal with 3:59 to play and Frederik Andersen made 29 saves as he tied the Maple Leaf record for win by a goaltender (37- Ed Belfour & Andrew Raycroft) as Toronto defeated the Isles 5-4 before a crowd of 13,018 at Barclays Center.

The Isles went 1-7-0 at home in March, as they fall to 5-15-1 at home in 2018.
 
The Scoring: 
1ST PERIOD
12:04 New York Anthony Beauvillier (18) ASST: Jordan Eberle (31), Adam Pelech (14) 0-1
16:22 Toronto PPG - Nazem Kadri (31) ASST: Mitchell Marner (47), Morgan Rielly (44) 1-1
18:34 New York  PPG - Johnny Boychuk (6) ASST: Anthony Beauvillier (13), Brock Nelson (14) 1-2

2ND PERIOD
07:56 Toronto Nikita Zaitsev (5) ASST: Auston Matthews (25), Jake Gardiner (42) 2-2
10:45 New York Brock Nelson (19) ASST: Andrew Ladd (16), Adam Pelech (15) 2-3
17:18 Toronto Mitchell Marner (22) ASST: Jake Gardiner (43), Nazem Kadri (23) 3-3

3RD PERIOD
02:01 Toronto James van Riemsdyk (36) ASST: Ron Hainsey (19) 4-3
06:28 New York PPG - John Tavares (34) ASST: Anders Lee (22), Jordan Eberle (32) 4-4
16:02 Toronto Auston Matthews (31) ASST: William Nylander (39), Zach Hyman (24) 5-4

The Skinny  
Isles are 17-29-8 since December 1st …Anthony Beauvillier's goal gives the Isles seven players with at least 18 goals for the first time since 1993-94; Beauvillier has doubled last season's goal output (9).. Anders Lee earned his career-high 22nd assist as he remains at 39 goals …The Isles went 2-3 on the power play.  The power play is operating at 22.8%; the Isles will finish the season having converted 20% of their power plays over a full season for the first time since 1993-94 (20.1%)… The Isles are 3-11-4 in their last 17 games… This was the Isles' final game vs. a Canadian opponent; the Isles finished 6-7-4 North of the Border this year…Mitch Marner extended his point streak to 11 games as the Leafs reached the 100 point mark… Josh Bailey sat out the game with an injury; he remains tied with Patrick Flatley for 7th place on the all-time Isles games played list (712)…Adam Pelech had a pair of assists… A goal was deflected into the Isles' goal off an Islander defenseman for the fourth straight game ..Brock Nelson recorded his 99th career goal with his 19th goal of the season; he is one goal shy of his fourth consecutive 20-goal season…The Isles can not finish above .500 as they are now 32-36-10 on the season; the Isles have fallen under .500 at home(17-18-4) after starting the season 8-0-2 in Brooklyn.

Lottery Update
In addition to their own picks, the Isles own Calgary's first two picks in the upcoming entry draft.  At the end of play Friday, the Isles held the 8th and 11th picks heading into the upcoming draft lottery, giving them a 9.0% chance of winning the lottery.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years
Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with a team-leading 58 assists and 78 points in 78 games, he is on pace for 61 assists and 82 points: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie
1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76
2. MATHEW BARZAL 58 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie
1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76
2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78
3. MATHEW BARZAL 78 2017-18 

Denis Potvin is the only rookie to ever lead the Isles in assists; Billy Harris, Potvin, Trent Hunter (tied) and John Tavares are the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in points.

Nice Company
Mathew Barzal is one of only four rookies since 1983-84 with at least 58 assists in a season.   

1. Joe Juneau BOS 1992-93 70
2. Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 63
3. Sergei Makarov CGY 1989-90 62
4. MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 58


He is also one of only five rookies since 2000-01 with at least 78 points.

More points by a rookie: last 18 seasons
1 Alex Ovechkin WSH2005-06 106
2 Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 102
3 Evgeni Malkin PIT 2006-07   85
4 Paul Stastny COL 2006-07   78
MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18   78

34 Goal Club
Anders Lee has 39 goals and John Tavares has 34.  They are the first Islander teammates with at least 34 goals since Pierre Turgeon, Steve Thomas and Benoit Hogue all did so in 1993-94 and the first to combine for at least 73 goals since Ziggy Palffy (48) and Bryan Smolinski (28) had 76 in 1996-97.

39 Goal Club
Anders Lee is only the 2nd Islander in the last 20 years to score 39 goals in a season:

1. Jason Blake 40 2006-07
2.    ANDERS LEE 39 2017-18

Lee is also the first Islander with multiple 34+ goal seasons since Ziggy Palffy (1995-96 to 1997-98). 

58 Helpers
Mathew Barzal has 58 assists; it's the highest total by an Islander since Pierre Turgeon had 74 helpers in 1992-93, which is the most by an Islander in the Post-Cup era.

Two Over 50
Barzal and Josh Bailey are the first Islander teammates with more than 50 assists since Mike Bossy (62) and Bryan Trottier (59) did so in 1985-86.

Pulock Moving up on Rookie Season Lists Too!
Pulock has 9 goals on the season; only two rookie defensemen (Denis Potvin-17 and Vladimir Malakhov-14) have scored more goals.  Ken Leiter, Chris Campoli and Tomas Jonsson also finished their rookie seasons with 9 goals.

Four of Pulock's goals have come on the power play.  Among Islander rookie defensemen, only Malakhov (7) and Potvin (6) have more.  Ken Leiter also scored four power play goals as a rookie.

Pulock is only the 8th Islander rookie defenseman to record 29 points in his rookie season. Ken Leiter also had 29 points.

Three's Company
Mathew Barzal has eight games of at least three points this season (five games with three points and three games with five points). Since 1993-94, only Sidney Crosby (11 times), Artemi Panarin (10 times) and Alex Ovechkin (8 times) have done so as often in their rookie seasons.

Five's Alive
The Isles have scored at least five goals 11 times at home (9-2-0) and 19 times overall (17-2-0). The Isles have also scored two shootout winners for a fifth goal of the game (not included above). 

Five's Trouble
The Isles have allowed at least five goals 13 times at home (1-10-2) and 22 times overall (1-19-2).  

First Things First
The Isles have scored first 36 times this season (22-9-5). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season but are only 11-9-5 in the last 25 games that they scored first.

First Goal 
The Isles are 22-9-5 when they score first and are 10-27-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots
Isles    11-11-11=33
Toronto 11-12-9=32

The Isles are 8-15-5 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 24-20-5 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Home and Road
The Islanders are 32-36-10 overall; 17-18-4 at home and 15-18-6 on the road.  
Toronto is 47-24-7 overall; 27-9-2 at home and 20-15-5 on the road.  

By Division & Conference
The Isles are 11-12-2 in Division games and 21-24-8 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 19-26-3 against the East and 13-10-7 against the West.  

Our House
The Isles are 17-18-4 at home; they are 10-14-0 against the East and 7-4-4 against the West.  However, after opening the season 8-0-2 on home ice, the Isles are 9-18-2 in their last 29 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets
Christopher Gibson made 27 saves but falls to 2-3-2 on the season in his first career appearance against Toronto. 
Frederik Andersen made 29 saves and improves to 37-20-5 on the season and 6-1-1 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays
The Isles were 2-3 on the power play in 5:19 of PP time; Toronto was 1-2 on the power play in 2:07 of PP time.
The Isles are 19-15-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-21-7 when they do not.  The Isles are 17-25-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 15-11-7 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number
The Isles are 30-14-5 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-22-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games
The Isles are 13-10-10 in games decided by a single goal including 4-10 in regulation. They are 6-7 in games decided in overtime and are 3-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-4 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs
Including tonight, the Isles are 6-10-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 6-8-1 on the back-end.   The final back-to-back set of the season concludes Saturday in New Jersey.
 
Tired vs. Rested
The Isles are 3-4-0 when both teams played the night before. 
The Isles are 6-2-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 
The Isles are 3-4-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.
The Isles are 19-26-9 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Mathew Barzal (21:13); Toronto: Ron Hainsey (23:53)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 21:13 of ice-time.

Face-offs
Isles 25, Toronto 30 (45%).

No Isle who took multiple draws won more than he lost; William Nylander won 8 of 9 for Toronto.
 
Face-offs by period: 1st period 8/19; 2nd period 6/14; 3rd period 11/22.
Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 20/47, Power play 2/4, Penalty kill 3/4.

Hit Count
Isles 13 (3 with 2)  
Toronto 14 (Connor Carrick -3)

Fights
There were no fights. Season total – 15: (Johnston 4, Boychuk 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1, Clutterbuck 1, Seidenberg 1).

Blocked Shots
The Isles blocked 21 shots (Brandon Davidson -5)

For the Corsi Crowd 
All situations: Isles 58, Toronto 66 
5-on-5 Isles 37, Toronto 54

5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Mathew Barzal +2
Toronto: William Nylander & Auston Matthews +16

Night and Day 
The Isles are 28-35-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.   All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen
Anders Lee 114, Brock Nelson 91, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 78.

Scratches
(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Alan Quine-IR), Casey Cizikas-INJ, Josh Bailey-INJ, Jaroslav Halak, Scott Mayfield
Total games lost: 304

Late Heroes
The Isles have scored five times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:
10/9 – STL Blues – Anders Lee (19:00); tied game, but Isles lost in shootout
12/7 – PIT Penguins – Brock Nelson (18:50); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime
12/27- BUF Sabres – Josh Bailey (18:51); tied game, and Isles won in overtime
2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime
3/5 – VAN Canucks – Jordan Eberle (18:56); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

Late Goals Allowed
The Isles have allowed a goal six times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:
12/16 – LA Kings – Anze Kopitar (19:47); tied game, but Isles won in overtime
12/21—ANA Ducks – Rickard Rakell (18:45); tied game and Ducks won in overtime
2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime
2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime
2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game
3/9 – EDM Oilers – Connor McDavid (18:10); tied game and Oilers won in shootout

Offside Challenges
The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.
10/10 vs STL Blues – unsuccessful; Isles killed ensuing power play.
10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful
1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 
2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

The opponents have not yet challenged an Islander goal due to an offside this season.

7-11
The Isles have used 7 defensemen four times this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ, 1/16 vs. NJ, 3/2 vs. MTL) and are 2-2-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-2-0 when they dress seven natural defensemen.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900 
6. Mike Bossy 752 *** 7.  Patrick Flatley & Josh Bailey 712*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 665

Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 *** 4. Clark Gillies 304***
5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. John Tavares 269
17. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Josh Bailey 124 *** 20. Anders Lee 123 

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553*** 4. Clark Gillies 359***
5.  John Tavares 348
13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Josh Bailey 251

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052 *** 4. Clark Gillies 663 ***
5.  John Tavares 617
13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 375 

Games Played (Goalies)
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 *** 4. Kelly Hrudey 241 ***
5. Tommy Salo 187 *** 6. Glenn Healy and Jaroslav Halak 176 
10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 115

Wins (Goalie)
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130***4. Kelly Hrudey 106 ***
5. Jaroslav Halak 87 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 
9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats
Toronto wins the season series three games to none (and six points to one). 

The Leafs have won four straight games from the Isles; it's their longest streak since 1999, when Toronto won all five games played in that calendar year.

On the Farm
Bridgeport is 33-27-5-3 after splitting a pair of games this week.  On Wednesday, the Sound Tigers beat Hershey 6-4, but Bridgeport was blanked 5-0 in Springfield on Friday.
 
Travis St. Denis leads the team in both goals (22) and points (43). Christopher Gibson (on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

Bridgeport heads to Hartford on Saturday.
 
Up Next
SATURDAY, MARCH 31ST – ISLANDERS AT NEW JERSEY 7:00PM 
[MSG+2 (Islander pre-game at 6:30PM), WNYM 970AM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

The Islanders will look to avoid a third straight loss to New Jersey for the first time in over five years as they look to earn a split of the season series with the Devils.

The Isles rallied for a shootout win against New Jersey on January 7th but have scored just one goal in each of the last two games against the Devs.

While the Isles have been struggling at home recently, the Isles have earned points in five of their six road games in March (2-1-3).

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

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

The Skinny: Isles 4, Ottawa 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 77
Isles 4, Ottawa 3
Andrew Ladd scored the game-winning goal with 2:03 to play and Jaroslav Halak made 33 saves for his first victory in 40 days as the Isles defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-3 before a crowd of 15,284 at Canadian Tire Center.

Mathew Barzal assisted on the last two goals, giving him 58 on the season.  Barzal's assists allowed him to pass the rookie totals of Teemu Selanne (56) and Mario Lemieux (57).

The Scoring: 
1ST PERIOD
06:15 New York PPG - Anders Lee (39) ASST: John Tavares (46), Adam Pelech (13) 1-0
12:54 Ottawa PPG - Matt Duchene (24) ASST: Jean-Gabriel Pageau (15), Bobby Ryan (21)1-1
14:49 Ottawa Erik Karlsson (9) ASST: Matt Duchene (29), Bobby Ryan (22) 1-2

2ND PERIOD
01:23 New York Anthony Beauvillier (17) ASST: Mathew Barzal (57), Jordan Eberle (30) 2-2
18:42 New York Brock Nelson (18) ASST: Tanner Fritz (4), Andrew Ladd (15) 3-2

3RD PERIOD
15:26 Ottawa Bobby Ryan (11) ASST: Matt Duchene (30), Ryan Dzingel (16) 3-3
17:57 New York Andrew Ladd (11) ASST: Thomas Hickey (18), Mathew Barzal (58) 4-3

The Skinny  
Isles are 17-28-8 since December 1st … Anders Lee scored his 6th goal in the last 6 games as he became the first Islander in 11 years to score as many as 39 goals …The Isles went 1-2 on the power play.  The power play is operating at 22.6%; the Isles haven't converted 20% of their power plays over a full season since 1993-94 (20.1%)… The Isles are 3-10-4 in their last 17 games…Nick Leddy did not play, ending a 153-game streak; Anders Lee is the new Islander ironman… This was the Isles' final game in Canada this season; the Isles finished 4-3-3 North of the Border this year…Jaroslav Halak recorded his first win since his 50-save shutout against the Rangers on February 15th and his first win on the road since the All-Star Break…Halak played his 176th game as an Islander, tying Glenn Healy for 6th place on the all-time Isles list…Josh Bailey played in his 712th Islander game, tying Patrick Flatley for 7th place on the all-time Isles list…Bobby Ryan had a three-point game (1-2-3) for Ottawa. His goal was deflected past Halak by the stick of Brandon Davidson…The Isles are 2-0-2 in games played in Canada this month but only 1-7-1 in March in the USA…Dennis Seidenberg was involved in his first fight in six seasons; he is the oldest Islander defender to be in a fight since Steve Staios in 2011…Andrew Ladd had a goal and an assist in the same game for the first time since November 24th in Philadelphia…After not having an assist in his first 22 games, Tanner Fritz has four assists in the last eight games…Brock Nelson recorded his 98th career goal with his 18th goal of the season; he is two goals shy of his fourth consecutive 20-goal season.…The Isles recorded their 4th one-goal win in regulation this season; two of the four have come in Ottawa.

Lottery Update
In addition to their own picks, the Isles own Calgary's first two picks in the upcoming entry draft.  Both teams were eliminated from playoff contention on Monday night. At the end of play Monday, the Isles held the 8th and 12th picks heading into the upcoming draft lottery, giving them an 8.5% chance of winning the lottery.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years
Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with a team-leading 58 assists and 78 points in 77 games, he is on pace for 62 assists and 83 points: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie
1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76
2. MATHEW BARZAL 58 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie
1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76
2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78
3. MATHEW BARZAL 78 2017-18 

Denis Potvin is the only rookie to ever lead the Isles in assists; Billy Harris, Potvin, Trent Hunter (tied) and John Tavares are the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in points.

Nice Company
Mathew Barzal is one of only four rookies since 1983-84 with at least 58 assists in a season.   

1. Joe Juneau BOS 1992-93 70
2. Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 63
3. Sergei Makarov CGY 1989-90 62
4. MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 58

(Barzal broke a tie with Teemu Selanne with his 2nd period assist and passed Mario Lemieux with an assist on the winning goal)

He is also one of only five rookies since 2000-01 with at least 78 points.

More points by a rookie: last 18 seasons
1 Alex Ovechkin WSH 2005-06 106
2 Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 102
3 Evgeni Malkin PIT 2006-07   85
4 Paul Stastny COL 2006-07   78
MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18   78

(Barzal passed Artemi Panarin's rookie total of 77)

33 Goal Club
Anders Lee has 39 goals and John Tavares has 33.  They are the first Islander teammates with at least 33 goals since Pierre Turgeon, Steve Thomas and Benoit Hogue all did so in 1993-94 and the first to combine for at least 72 goals since Ziggy Palffy (48) and Bryan Smolinski (28) had 76 in 1996-97.

39 Goal Club
Anders Lee is only the 2nd Islander in the last 20 years to score 39 goals in a season:

1. Jason Blake 40 2006-07
2.    ANDERS LEE 39 2017-18

Lee is also the first Islander with multiple 34+ goal seasons since Ziggy Palffy (1995-96 to 1997-98). 

58 Helpers
Mathew Barzal has 58 assists; it's the most by an Islander since Pierre Turgeon had 74 helpers in 1992-93, which is the most by an Islander in the Post-Cup era.

Two Over 50
Barzal and Josh Bailey are the first Islander teammates with more than 50 assists since Mike Bossy (62) and Bryan Trottier (59) did so in 1985-86.

Pulock Moving up on Rookie Season Lists Too!
Pulock has 9 goals on the season; only two rookie defensemen (Denis Potvin-17 and Vladimir Malakhov-14) have scored more goals.  Ken Leiter, Chris Campoli and Tomas Jonsson also finished their rookie seasons with 9 goals.

Four of Pulock's goals have come on the power play.  Among Islander rookie defensemen, only Malakhov (7) and Potvin (6) have more.  Ken Leiter also scored four power play goals as a rookie.

Pulock is only the 8th Islander rookie defenseman to record 29 points in his rookie season. Ken Leiter also had 29 points.

Three's Company
Mathew Barzal has eight games of at least three points this season (five games with three points and three games with five points). Since 1993-94, only Sidney Crosby (11 times), Artemi Panarin (10 times) and Alex Ovechkin (8 times) have done so as often in their rookie seasons.

Five's Alive
The Isles have scored at least five goals 11 times at home (9-2-0) and 19 times overall (17-2-0). The Isles have also scored two shootout winners for a fifth goal of the game (not included above). 

Five's Trouble
The Isles have allowed at least five goals 12 times at home (1-9-2) and 21 times overall (1-18-2).  

First Things First
The Isles have scored first 35 times this season (22-8-5). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season but are only 11-8-5 in the last 24 games that they scored first.

First Goal 
The Isles are 22-8-5 when they score first and are 10-27-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots
Isles    15-7-9=31
Ottawa 8-13-15=36

The Isles are 8-14-5 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 24-20-5 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Home and Road
The Islanders are 32-35-10 overall; 17-17-4 at home and 15-18-6 on the road.  
Ottawa is 26-39-11 overall; 15-18-6 at home and 11-21-5 on the road.  

By Division & Conference
The Isles are 11-12-2 in Division games and 21-23-8 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 19-25-3 against the East and 13-10-7 against the West.  

Our House
The Isles are 17-17-4 at home; they are 10-13-0 against the East and 7-4-4 against the West.  However, after opening the season 8-0-2 on home ice, the Isles are 9-17-2 in their last 28 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets
Jaroslav Halak made 35 saves and improves to 19-26-6 on the season and 8-7-3 in his career against Ottawa. Halak had gone 0-8-2 in his prior 10 decisions.

Mike Condon made 27 saves but falls to 5-16-5 on the season and 3-2-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays
The Isles were 1-2 on the power play in 3:01 of PP time; Ottawa was 1-4 on the power play in 6:41 of PP time.
The Isles are 19-14-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-21-7 when they do not.  The Isles are 17-24-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 15-11-7 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 30-13-5 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-22-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games
The Isles are 13-9-10 in games decided by a single goal including 4-9 in regulation. They are 6-7 in games decided in overtime and are 3-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-4 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs
Including tonight, the Isles are 6-9-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 6-8-1 on the back-end.   The final back-to-back set of the season will be on March 30th vs. Toronto and March 31st in New Jersey.
 
Tired vs. Rested
The Isles are 3-4-0 when both teams played the night before. 
The Isles are 6-2-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 
The Isles are 3-4-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.
The Isles are 19-25-9 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Adam Pelech (23:10); Ottawa: Erik Karlsson (30:16)

John Tavares led Isles forwards with 18:05 of ice-time.

Face-offs
Isles 31, Ottawa 26 (54%).

John Tavares won 11 of 18 for the Isles; no Sen who took multiple draws won more than he lost.
 
Face-offs by period: 1st period 7/16; 2nd period 10/20; 3rd period 14/21.
Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 29/50, Power play 0/2, Penalty kill 2/5.

Hit Count
Isles 36 (3 with 5)  
Ottawa 25 (Mark Borowiecki -6)

Fights
Dennis Seidenberg fought Zack Smith in the second period. Season total – 15: (Johnston 4, Boychuk 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1, Clutterbuck 1, Seidenberg 1).

Blocked Shots
The Isles blocked 23 shots (Adam Pelech-4)

For the Corsi Crowd 
All situations: Isles 54, Ottawa 74 
5-on-5 Isles 48, Ottawa 63

5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Brandon Davidson +2
Ottawa: Christian Wolanin +10

Night and Day 
The Isles are 28-34-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.   All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen
Anders Lee 113, Brock Nelson 90, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 77.

Scratches
(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Thomas Greiss-IR), (Alan Quine-IR), Casey Cizikas-INJ, Nick Leddy-INJ, Johnny Boychuk-INJ 
Total games lost: 298

Late Heroes
The Isles have scored five times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:
10/9 – STL Blues – Anders Lee (19:00); tied game, but Isles lost in shootout
12/7 – PIT Penguins – Brock Nelson (18:50); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime
12/27- BUF Sabres – Josh Bailey (18:51); tied game, and Isles won in overtime
2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime
3/5 – VAN Canucks – Jordan Eberle (18:56); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

Late Goals Allowed
The Isles have allowed a goal six times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:
12/16 – LA Kings – Anze Kopitar (19:47); tied game, but Isles won in overtime
12/21—ANA Ducks – Rickard Rakell (18:45); tied game and Ducks won in overtime
2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime
2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime
2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game
3/9 – EDM Oilers – Connor McDavid (18:10); tied game and Oilers won in shootout

Offside Challenges
The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.
10/10 vs STL Blues – unsuccessful; Isles killed ensuing power play.
10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful
1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 
2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

The opponents have not yet challenged an Islander goal due to an offside this season.

7-11
The Isles have used 7 defensemen four times this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ, 1/16 vs. NJ, 3/2 vs. MTL) and are 2-2-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-2-0 when they dress seven natural defensemen.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900 
6. Mike Bossy 752 *** 7.  Patrick Flatley & Josh Bailey 712*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 664

Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 *** 4. Clark Gillies 304***
5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. John Tavares 268
17. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Josh Bailey 124 *** 20. Anders Lee 123 

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553*** 4. Clark Gillies 359***
5.  John Tavares 348
13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Josh Bailey 251

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052 *** 4. Clark Gillies 663 ***
5.  John Tavares 616
13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 375 

Games Played (Goalies)
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 *** 4. Kelly Hrudey 241 ***
5. Tommy Salo 187 *** 6. Glenn Healy and Jaroslav Halak 176 
10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 115

Wins (Goalie)
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130***4. Kelly Hrudey 106 ***
5. Jaroslav Halak 87 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 
9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats
The Isles win the season series two games to one (and four points to two). 

The road team won all three games in the season series.

On the Farm
Bridgeport is 32-26-5-3 heading into Wednesday's game with Hershey.
 
Travis St. Denis leads the team in both goals (22) and points (41). Christopher Gibson (on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

Bridgeport heads to Springfield on Friday and Hartford on Saturday.
 
Up Next
FRIDAY, MARCH 30th –TORONTO AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 
[MSG+ (Islander pre-game at 6:30PM), WNYM 970AM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

The Islanders return home to face the playoff-bound Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday.
 
Toronto has won the first two games, both at the Air Canada Center.  The Leafs won the first game 5-0 and the second game was decided in a shootout.

The Isles will be looking for their third straight win at Barclays Center against the Leafs after sweeping a pair of games last season.

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

Hamonic Deal Just Got Better

With the Flames eliminated from the playoffs, the Isles not only will receive a 2018 lottery pick (1st round) and a 2018 2nd round from Calgary, the Isles now own Calgary's 2nd pick in 2019  (and will send the Flames their 4th pick in 2019).

The additional 2nd round pick would have been in 2020 had the Flames made the playoffs because Calgary would have owed their 2019 pick to Arizona (Mike Smith deal).  The Flames will now send a 3rd round pick to Arizona (either this year or next).

As of right now, the Isles own 4 of the first 43 picks in the June draft.

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

The Skinny: Florida 3, Isles 0

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 76
Florida 3, Isles 0
James Reimer made 32 saves and Keith Yandle added a goal and an assist as the Florida Panthers blanked the Isles 3-0 before a crowd of 10,951 at Barclays Center.

The loss mathematically eliminated the Islanders from playoff consideration for the second straight season.
 
The Isles are 5-14-1 at home in 2018.
 
The Scoring: 
1ST PERIOD
11:38 Florida Keith Yandle (8) ASST: Evgenii Dadonov (34), Aleksander Barkov (49) 1-0

2ND PERIOD
01:47 Florida PPG - Nick Bjugstad (18) ASST: Jamie McGinn (13), Aaron Ekblad (18) 2-0
06:09 Florida Evgenii Dadonov (24) ASST: Keith Yandle (44), James Reimer (1) 3-0

3RD PERIOD
No Scoring

The Skinny  
Isles are 16-28-8 since December 1st and fall a season-low four games below NHL-.500 (31-35-10) …John Tavares' point streak ended at five games (1-8-9) … Anders Lee's point streak ended at four games (5-1-6) …The Isles went 0-4 on the power play despite having 11 shots on goal.  The power play is still operating at 22.0%; the Isles haven't converted 20% of their power plays over a full season since 1993-94 (20.1%)… The Panthers blanked the Isles for the first time since October 8, 2011 as they improve to 10-3-1 in March and 20-6-1 in their last 27 games... The Isles are 2-10-4 in their last 16 games…James Reimer has won five straight starts; he has reached 20 wins for the first time since his rookie season (2010-11) … Keith Yandle played in his 707th consecutive game (longest active streak) …Micheal Haley played his 200th NHL game.

Lottery Update
In addition to their own picks, the Isles own Calgary's first two picks in the upcoming entry draft.  The Flames were also eliminated from playoff contention on Monday night. At the end of play Monday, the Isles held the 8th and 12th picks heading into the upcoming draft lottery.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years
Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with a team-leading 56 assists and 76 points in 76 games, he is on pace for 60 assists and 82 points: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie
1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76
2. MATHEW BARZAL 56 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie
1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76
2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78
3. MATHEW BARZAL 76 2017-18 

Denis Potvin is the only rookie to ever lead the Isles in assists; Billy Harris, Potvin, Trent Hunter (tied) and John Tavares are the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in points.

Nice Company
Mathew Barzal is one of only six rookies since 1983-84 with at least 56 assists in a season.   

1. Joe Juneau BOS 1992-93 70
2. Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 63
3. Sergei Makarov CGY 1989-90 62
4. Mario Lemieux PIT 1984-85 57
5. Teemu Selanne WPG 1992-93 56
MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 56

He is also one of only six rookies since 2000-01 with at least 76 points.

More points by a rookie: last 18 seasons
1 Alex Ovechkin WSH 2005-06 106
2 Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 102
3 Evgeni Malkin PIT 2006-07   85
4 Paul Stastny COL 2006-07   78
5 Artemi Panarin CHI 2015-16   77
6 MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18   76

33 Goal Club
Anders Lee has 38 goals and John Tavares has 33.  They are the first Islander teammates with at least 33 goals since Pierre Turgeon, Steve Thomas and Benoit Hogue all did so in 1993-94 and the first to combine for at least 71 goals since Ziggy Palffy (48) and Bryan Smolinski (28) had 76 in 1996-97.

38 Goal Club
Anders Lee is only the 3rd Islander in the last 20 years to score 38 goals in a season:

1. Jason Blake 40 2006-07
2. John Tavares 38 2014-15
      ANDERS LEE 38 2017-18

Lee is also the first Islander with multiple 34+ goal seasons since Ziggy Palffy (1995-76 to 1997-78). 

56 Helpers
Mathew Barzal has 56 assists; it's the most by an Islander since Pierre Turgeon also had 56 assists in 1993-94.  Turgeon had 74 helpers in 1992-93, which is the most by an Islander in the Post-Cup era.

Two Over 50
Barzal and Josh Bailey are the first Islander teammates with more than 50 assists since Mike Bossy (62) and Bryan Trottier (59) did so in 1985-86.

Pulock Moving up on Rookie Season Lists Too!
Pulock has 9 goals on the season; only two rookie defensemen (Denis Potvin-17 and Vladimir Malakhov-14) have scored more goals.  Ken Leiter, Chris Campoli and Tomas Jonsson also finished their rookie seasons with 9 goals.

Four of Pulock's goals have come on the power play.  Among Islander rookie defensemen, only Malakhov (7) and Potvin (6) have more.  Ken Leiter also scored four power play goals as a rookie.

Pulock is only the 8th Islander rookie defenseman to record 29 points in his rookie season. Ken Leiter also had 29 points.

Three's Company
Mathew Barzal has eight games of at least three points this season (five games with three points and three games with five points). Since 1993-94, only Sidney Crosby (11 times), Artemi Panarin (10 times) and Alex Ovechkin (8 times) have done so as often in their rookie seasons.

Five's Alive
The Isles have scored at least five goals 11 times at home (9-2-0) and 19 times overall (17-2-0). The Isles have also scored two shootout winners for a fifth goal of the game (not included above). 

Five's Trouble
The Isles have allowed at least five goals 12 times at home (1-9-2) and 21 times overall (1-18-2).  

First Things First
The Isles have scored first 34 times this season (21-8-5). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season but are only 10-8-5 in the last 23 games that they scored first.

First Goal 
The Isles are 21-8-5 when they score first and are 10-27-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots
Isles    10-11-11=32
Florida 16-19-6=41

The Isles are 8-14-5 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 23-20-5 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Home and Road
The Islanders are 31-35-10 overall; 17-17-4 at home and 14-18-6 on the road.  
Florida is 39-28-7 overall; 23-11-3 at home and 16-17-4 on the road.  

By Division & Conference
The Isles are 11-12-2 in Division games and 20-23-8 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 18-25-3 against the East and 13-10-7 against the West.  

Our House
The Isles are 17-17-4 at home; they are 10-13-0 against the East and 7-4-4 against the West.  However, after opening the season 8-0-2 on home ice, the Isles are 9-17-2 in their last 28 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets
Christopher Gibson made 38 saves but falls to 2-2-2 on the season in his first career appearance against Florida. 

James Reimer made 32 saves and improves to 20-13-5 on the season and 5-2-2 in his career against the Isles. Reimer recorded his 21st career shutout and first against the Islanders.

Power Plays
The Isles were 0-4 on the power play in 7:24 of PP time; Florida was 1-6 on the power play in 10:22 of PP time.
The Isles are 18-14-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-21-7 when they do not.  The Isles are 16-24-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 15-11-7 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 29-13-5 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-22-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games
The Isles are 12-9-10 in games decided by a single goal including 3-9 in regulation. They are 6-7 in games decided in overtime and are 3-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-4 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs
Including tonight, the Isles are 6-9-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-8-1 on the back-end.   This back-to-back set concludes on Tuesday in Ottawa. The final back-to-back set of the season will be on March 30th vs. Florida and March 31st in New Jersey.
 
Tired vs. Rested
The Isles are 2-4-0 when both teams played the night before. 
The Isles are 6-2-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 
The Isles are 3-4-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.
The Isles are 19-25-9 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Adam Pelech (20:22); Florida: Keith Yandle (23:58)

John Tavares led Isles forwards with 19:15 of ice-time.

Face-offs
Isles 30, Florida 31 (49%).

Brock Nelson won 6 of 10 for the Isles; Vincent Trocheck won 10 of 13 for Florida.
 
Face-offs by period: 1st period 9/20; 2nd period 12/25; 3rd period 9/16.
Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 17/41, Power play 6/8, Penalty kill 7/12.

Hit Count
Isles 14 (4 with 2)  
Florida 14 (3 with 2)

Fights
There were no fights. Season total – 14: (Johnston 4, Boychuk 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1, Clutterbuck 1).

Blocked Shots
The Isles blocked 17 shots (Adam Pelech-4))

For the Corsi Crowd 
All situations: Isles 58, Florida 77 
5-on-5 Isles 41, Florida 51

5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Brock Nelson +5
Florida: Mike Matheson +11

Night and Day 
The Isles are 27-34-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.   All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen
Nick Leddy 153, Anders Lee 112, Brock Nelson 89, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 76.

Top 5 Club
Nick Leddy now holds the fifth longest consecutive game streak in Islander history for a defenseman: 
1. Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979 262
2. Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220 (*) (**)
3. Gerry Hart 3/1/1975-11/22/1977 198
4. Andrew MacDonald 12/19/2011- 3/2/2014 164 (**)
5. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 153
(*) Start of NHL career.
(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches
(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Scott Mayfield - IR), (Thomas Greiss-IR), (Alan Quine-IR), Casey Cizikas-INJ, Dennis Seidenberg 
Total games lost: 290

Late Heroes
The Isles have scored five times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:
10/9 – STL Blues – Anders Lee (19:00); tied game, but Isles lost in shootout
12/7 – PIT Penguins – Brock Nelson (18:50); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime
12/27- BUF Sabres – Josh Bailey (18:51); tied game, and Isles won in overtime
2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime
3/5 – VAN Canucks – Jordan Eberle (18:56); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

Late Goals Allowed
The Isles have allowed a goal six times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:
12/16 – LA Kings – Anze Kopitar (19:47); tied game, but Isles won in overtime
12/21—ANA Ducks – Rickard Rakell (18:45); tied game and Ducks won in overtime
2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime
2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime
2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game
3/9 – EDM Oilers – Connor McDavid (18:10); tied game and Oilers won in shootout

Offside Challenges
The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.
10/10 vs STL Blues – unsuccessful; Isles killed ensuing power play.
10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful
1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 
2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

The opponents have not yet challenged an Islander goal due to an offside this season.

7-11
The Isles have used 7 defensemen four times this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ, 1/16 vs. NJ, 3/2 vs. MTL) and are 2-2-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-2-0 when they dress seven natural defensemen.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900 
6. Mike Bossy 752 *** 7.  Patrick Flatley 712 *** 8. Josh Bailey 711*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 663

Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 *** 4. Clark Gillies 304***
5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. John Tavares 268
17. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Josh Bailey 124 *** 20. Anders Lee 122 

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553*** 4. Clark Gillies 359***
5.  John Tavares 347
13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Josh Bailey 251

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052 *** 4. Clark Gillies 663 ***
5.  John Tavares 615
13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 375 

Games Played (Goalies)
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 *** 4. Kelly Hrudey 241 ***
5. Tommy Salo 187 *** 6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 175 
10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 115

Wins (Goalie)
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130***4. Kelly Hrudey 106 ***
5. Jaroslav Halak 86 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 
9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats
Florida wins the season series two games to one (and five points to two). 

Florida has won four of the five regular season games in Brooklyn between the teams, but the Isles won all three playoff games at Barclays Center in 2016.

On the Farm
Bridgeport improved to 32-26-5-3 with 6-3 win in Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Sunday.  Travis St. Denis and Ryan Bourque each scored a pair of goals while Eamon McAdam made 24 saves.
 
St. Denis leads the team in both goals (22) and points (41). Christopher Gibson (on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

Bridgeport closes out March with three games in four days.  The Sound Tigers host Hershey on Wednesday before heading to Springfield on Friday and Hartford on Saturday.
 
Up Next
TUESDAY, MARCH 27th –ISLANDERS AT OTTAWA 7:30PM 
[MSG+ (Islander pre-game at 7:00PM), WNYM 970AM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

The Islanders head to the Canadian Capital for a game with Ottawa on Tuesday.  The teams have split a pair of games this season with the road team winning both games.  

The Isles won 2-1 in Ottawa on November 25th; it's one of only two games that the Isles have won when two goals or fewer, but it was the Sens' 6-5 win on December 1st in Brooklyn that put an end to the Isles' 8-0-2 home start.

This is the Isles' final game in Canada this season; the Isles are 3-3-3 North of the Border so far this year.

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

Sunday, March 25, 2018

The Skinny: Chicago 3, Isles 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 75
Chicago 3, Isles 1
Anton Forsberg made 31 saves and came within 2:42 of his first career shutout as the Chicago Blackhawks broke a five-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Isles before a crowd of 13,091 at Barclays Center.

John Tavares scored his 33rd goal for the only Islander goal, but a Brent Seabrook empty-netter put the game away.
 
The Isles are 5-13-1 at home in 2018.
 
The Scoring: 
1ST PERIOD
No Scoring

2ND PERIOD
02:36 Chicago PPG - Patrick Kane (26) ASST: Patrick Sharp (11), Erik Gustafsson (9) 0-1
04:25 Chicago Brandon Saad (17) ASST: Jordan Oesterle (10), Jan Rutta (14) 0-2

3RD PERIOD
17:18 New York John Tavares (33) ASST: Anders Lee (21), Thomas Hickey (17) 1-21
18:46 Chicago EN - Brent Seabrook (6) 1-3

The Skinny  
Isles are 16-27-8 since December 1st and fall three games below NHL-.500 (31-34-10) for the first time since ending the 2013-14 season with a 34-37-11 record … Ryan Pulock saw his five-game point streak end.  His 29 points rank second among Islander defensemen, behind Nick Leddy's 41…John Tavares extended his point streak to five games (1-8-9) and extended his team-leading point total to 78 (two more than Mathew Barzal…Barzal's point streak ended at five games… The Isles went 0-2 on the power play after scoring nine power play goals (in 18 attempts) in the prior four games.  The power play is still operating at 22.4%; the Isles haven't converted 20% of their power plays since the 1993-94 season (20.1%)… Anders Lee has a point in four straight games (5-1-6)…Brent Seabrook played his 998th game and Duncan Keith played his 989th game (all with Chicago)…The Blackhawks are 20-0-0 when allowing 1 goal or fewer but are only 11-36-9 when allowing two or more.

Pushed to the Brink
The Isles "tragic number" for playoff elimination has fallen to 1.  The Isles will be eliminated with their next loss (or shootout win) or by any point earned by New Jersey.

Lottery Update
In addition to their own picks, the Isles own Calgary's first two picks in the upcoming entry draft.  The Flames' tragic number is four, and Calgary could be eliminated as early as Monday.  At the end of play Saturday, the Isles held the 8th and 12th picks heading into the upcoming draft lottery.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years
Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with a team-leading 56 assists and 77 points in 75 games, he is on pace for 61 assists and 84 points: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie
1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76
2. MATHEW BARZAL 56 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie
1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76
2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78
3. MATHEW BARZAL 76 2017-18 

Denis Potvin is the only rookie to ever lead the Isles in assists; Billy Harris, Potvin, Trent Hunter (tied) and John Tavares are the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in points.

Nice Company
Mathew Barzal is one of only six rookies since 1983-84 with at least 56 assists in a season.   

1. Joe Juneau BOS 1992-93 70
2. Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 63
3. Sergei Makarov CGY 1989-90 62
4. Mario Lemieux PIT 1984-85 57
5. Teemu Selanne WPG 1992-93 56
MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 56

He is also one of only six rookies since 2000-01 with at least 76 points.

More points by a rookie: last 18 seasons
1 Alex Ovechkin WSH2005-06 106
2 Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 102
3 Evgeni Malkin PIT 2006-07   85
4 Paul Stastny COL 2006-07   78
5 Artemi Panarin CHI 2015-16   77
6 MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18   76

33 Goal Club
Anders Lee has 38 goals and John Tavares has 33.  They are the first Islander teammates with at least 33 goals since Pierre Turgeon, Steve Thomas and Benoit Hogue all did so in 1993-94 and the first to combine for at least 71 goals since Ziggy Palffy (48) and Bryan Smolinski (28) had 76 in 1996-97.

38 Goal Club
Anders Lee is only the 3rd Islander in the last 20 years to score 38 goals in a season:

1. Jason Blake 40 2006-07
2. John Tavares 38 2014-15
      ANDERS LEE 38 2017-18

Lee is also the first Islander with multiple 34+ goal seasons since Ziggy Palffy (1995-76 to 1997-78). 

56 Helpers
Mathew Barzal has 56 assists; it's the most by an Islander since Pierre Turgeon also had 56 assists in 1993-94.  Turgeon had 74 helpers in 1992-93, which is the most by an Islander in the Post-Cup era.

Two Over 50
Barzal and Josh Bailey are the first Islander teammates with more than 50 assists since Mike Bossy (62) and Bryan Trottier (59) did so in 1985-86.

Pulock Moving up on Rookie Season Lists Too!
Pulock has 9 goals on the season; only two rookie defensemen (Denis Potvin-17 and Vladimir Malakhov-14) have scored more goals.  Ken Leiter, Chris Campoli and Tomas Jonsson also finished their rookie seasons with 9 goals.

Four of Pulock's goals have come on the power play.  Among Islander rookie defensemen, only Malakhov (7) and Potvin (6) have more.  Ken Leiter also scored four power play goals as a rookie.

Pulock is only the 8th Islander rookie defenseman to record 29 points in his rookie season. Ken Leiter also had 29 points.

Three's Company
Mathew Barzal has eight games of at least three points this season (five games with three points and three games with five points). Since 1993-94, only Sidney Crosby (11 times), Artemi Panarin (10 times) and Alex Ovechkin (8 times) have done so as often in their rookie seasons.

Five's Alive
The Isles have scored at least five goals 11 times at home (9-2-0) and 19 times overall (17-2-0). The Isles have also scored two shootout winners for a fifth goal of the game (not included above). 

Five's Trouble
The Isles have allowed at least five goals 12 times at home (1-9-2) and 21 times overall (1-18-2).  

First Things First
The Isles have scored first 34 times this season (21-8-5). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season but are only 10-8-5 in the last 23 games that they scored first.

First Goal 
The Isles are 21-8-5 when they score first and are 10-26-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots
Isles    10-8-14=32
Chicago 9-10-6=25

The Isles are 8-14-5 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 23-19-5 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Home and Road
The Islanders are 31-34-10 overall; 17-16-4 at home and 14-18-6 on the road.  
Chicago is 31-36-9 overall; 17-17-4 at home and 14-19-5 on the road.  

By Division & Conference
The Isles are 11-12-2 in Division games and 20-22-8 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 18-24-3 against the East and 13-10-7 against the West.  

Our House
The Isles are 17-16-4 at home; they are 10-12-0 against the East and 7-4-4 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 28-8-7 all-time at Barclays against the West.  However, after opening the season 9-0-2 on home ice, the Isles are 8-16-2 in their last 26 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets
Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves but falls to 18-26-6 on the season and 8-2-3 in his career against Chicago. Halak is 0-8-2 in his last 10 decisions.

Anton Forsberg made 31 saves and improves to 10-16-3 on the season and 1-3-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays
The Isles were 0-2 on the power play in 4:00 of PP time; Chicago was 1-2 on the power play in 2:33 of PP time.
The Isles are 18-14-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-20-7 when they do not.  The Isles are 16-23-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 15-11-7 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 29-13-5 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-21-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games
The Isles are 12-9-10 in games decided by a single goal including 3-9 in regulation. They are 6-7 in games decided in overtime and are 3-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-4 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 6-8-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-8-1 on the back-end. The next back-to-back set will be on March 26th vs. Florida and March 27th in Ottawa.
 
Tired vs. Rested
The Isles are 2-4-0 when both teams played the night before. 
The Isles are 6-2-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 
The Isles are 3-4-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.
The Isles are 19-24-9 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Mathew Barzal (20:20); Chicago: Brent Seabrook (21:00)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:20 of ice-time.

Face-offs
Isles 23, Chicago 20 (53%).

Mathew Barzal won 9 of 10 for the Isles; David Kampf won 7 of 9 for Chicago.
 
Face-offs by period: 1st period 8/14; 2nd period 8/16; 3rd period 7/13.
Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 18/36, Power play 1/3, Penalty kill 4/4.

Hit Count
Isles 13 (Tanner Fritz -3)  
Chicago 7 (7 with 1)

Fights
There were no fights. Season total – 14: (Johnston 4, Boychuk 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1, Clutterbuck 1).

Blocked Shots
The Isles blocked 19 shots (Thomas Hickey-5)

For the Corsi Crowd 
All situations: Isles 53, Chicago 49 (Including 25-12 in the Isles' favor in the 3rd period)
5-on-5 Isles 37, Chicago 44

5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Three with +4
Chicago: Patrick Kane +10

Night and Day 
The Isles are 27-33-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.   All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen
Nick Leddy 152, Anders Lee 111, Brock Nelson 88, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 75.

Top 5 Club
Nick Leddy now holds the fifth longest consecutive game streak in Islander history for a defenseman: 
1. Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979 262
2. Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220 (*) (**)
3. Gerry Hart 3/1/1975-11/22/1977 198
4. Andrew MacDonald 12/19/2011- 3/2/2014 164 (**)
5. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 152
(*) Start of NHL career.
(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches
(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Scott Mayfield - IR), (Thomas Greiss-IR), (Alan Quine-IR), Dennis Seidenberg, Chris Wagner 
Total games lost: 282

Late Heroes
The Isles have scored five times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:
10/9 – STL Blues – Anders Lee (19:00); tied game, but Isles lost in shootout
12/7 – PIT Penguins – Brock Nelson (18:50); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime
12/27- BUF Sabres – Josh Bailey (18:51); tied game, and Isles won in overtime
2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime
3/5 – VAN Canucks – Jordan Eberle (18:56); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

Late Goals Allowed
The Isles have allowed a goal six times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:
12/16 – LA Kings – Anze Kopitar (19:47); tied game, but Isles won in overtime
12/21—ANA Ducks – Rickard Rakell (18:45); tied game and Ducks won in overtime
2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime
2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime
2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game
3/9 – EDM Oilers – Connor McDavid (18:10); tied game and Oilers won in shootout

Offside Challenges
The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.
10/10 vs STL Blues – unsuccessful; Isles killed ensuing power play.
10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful
1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 
2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

The opponents have not yet challenged an Islander goal due to an offside this season.

7-11
The Isles have used 7 defensemen four times this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ, 1/16 vs. NJ, 3/2 vs. MTL) and are 2-2-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-2-0 when they dress seven natural defensemen.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900 
7.  Patrick Flatley 712 *** 8. Josh Bailey 710*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 662

Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 *** 4. Clark Gillies 304***
5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. John Tavares 268
18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Josh Bailey 123 *** 20. Anders Lee 122 

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553*** 4. Clark Gillies 359***
5.  John Tavares 347
13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Josh Bailey 251

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052 *** 4. Clark Gillies 663 ***
5.  John Tavares 615
13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 374 

Games Played (Goalies)
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282
6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 175 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***
10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 115

Wins (Goalie)
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130***4. Kelly Hrudey 106 ***
5. Jaroslav Halak 86 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 
9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats
The teams split the season series one game to one (and two points to two). 

Chicago has won all three games that they have played at Barclays Center, including an overtime win in the Isles' first home game in Brooklyn.

On the Farm
Bridgeport is 31-26-5-3 following a 4-1 loss on Friday in Syracuse.  Casey Bailey scored the only Sound Tiger goal – it was his 15th goal of the season.  Travis St. Denis assisted on the goal to wrest the team scoring lead from Tanner Fritz, who was recalled on New Year's Day.

St. Denis leads the team in both goals (20) and points (38). Christopher Gibson (on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

Bridgeport visits Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Sunday afternoon.

Up Next
MONDAY, MARCH 26th –FLORIDA AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 
[MSG+ (Islander pre-game at 6:30PM), WFAN 660/101.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM]

The Florida Panthers are trying to track down New Jersey in the Eastern Conference playoff race and the Panthers will visit Barclays Center on Monday in the final game of the Isles' 5-game homestand.

The Panthers control their own destiny even though they trail New Jersey by three points; Florida has nine games to play while New Jersey has only seven.

Florida has won three of the four regular season games in Brooklyn between the teams but the Isles won all three playoff games at Barclays Center in 2016.

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