The Skinny: Isles 4, Boston 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 44

Isles 4, Boston 1     

Noah Dobson scored the winning goal with 14:10 to play to key a three-goal Islander third period as they defeated the Boston Bruins 4-1 before a crowd of 16,518 at UBS Arena.

Taylor Hall had given Boston a 1-0 lead in the first period, but Jean-Gabriel Pageau' power play goal, his second goal in three games, tied the game heading to the third.  Three Islander goals later, their three game losing streak was over as the Isles improved to two games below NHL-.500 (18-20-6).

The Scoring:

1st Period

Taylor Hall (11) Craig Smith (10), Mike Reilly (7) 17:26 BOS 1,NYI 0

2nd Period

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (7) Noah Dobson (14), Mathew Barzal (21) 11:30 BOS 1,NYI 1 PPG

3rd Period

Noah Dobson (8) Brock Nelson (9) 05:50 BOS 1,NYI 2

Mathew Barzal (12) Kieffer Bellows (7), Adam Pelech (12) 13:32 BOS 1,NYI 3

Brock Nelson (16)EN Zdeno Chara (7) 18:47 BOS 1,NYI 4

The Skinny         

The Isles allowed the first goal for the tenth time in eleven games... Sebastian Aho celebrated his 26th birthday by playing his second consecutive game…Barry Trotz coached his 250th regular season game behind the Islander bench, joining Al Arbour and Jack Capuano as the only ones to do so; 25 of the other 31 NHL teams have named a new coach since Trotz joined the Islanders on June 21, 2018)…The Isles earned only their second win (2-14-1) when trailing after one period; the other was on December 11th vs. New Jersey…Kieffer Bellows returned to the lineup and earned an assist on the insurance goal; Bellows had a career-high five shots and also finished with five hits…The Isles killed both Boston power plays; they have killed 15 of 18 over the last twelve games and have held the opposition to two or fewer power play in a franchise-record 12 consecutive games…The Isles have won six straight home games against Boston for the first time…Noah Dobson has eight of the Isles' 14 goals by defensemen this season; his 22 points this season are one more than he had in his first two seasons.  He needs two more goals to become the youngest Islander defenseman in 24 years to score at least ten goals…Each of the four Islander goals featured a point by a defenseman...Brock Nelson hit the empty-net for his 184th goal, matching Billy Harris' total for 12th in club history.

Road Warriors

Beginning with the All-Star Break, the Isles are playing 9 of 11 on the road. The Isles are 2-3-0 in that stretch and have been outscored 18-16.

• 2/9 @ Vancouver 6-3 W

• 2/11 @ Edmonton 1-3 L

• 2/12 @ Calgary 2-5 L

• 2/15 @ Buffalo 3-6 L

• 2/17 Vs. Boston 4-1 W

• 2/20 Vs. Montreal

• 2/22 @ Seattle

• 2/24 @ San Jose

• 2/26 @ Los Angeles

• 2/27 @ Anaheim

• 3/1 @ Colorado 

Histor-Z

Zdeno Chara played in his 1,649th NHL game;  Chara is just two games behind Chris Chelios' record for NHL defensemen.

All-time Games:

7. Mark Recchi 1,652

8. Chris Chelios 1,651  

9. Zdeno Chara 1,649

Last Second Disappointments

The Isles have allowed a (non-empty net) goal in the last minute of a period four times since January 22nd; three of those goals have come in the last six seconds of a period.:

• Pierre Engvall (TOR) 1/22   19:59 (1st pd)

• Andreas Athanasiou (LA) 1/27  19:54 (2nd pd)

• Cody Ceci (EDM) 2/11 19:03 (1st pd)

• Alex Tuch  tonight 19:59 (2nd pd)

This season, the Isles have allowed ten (non-empty net) goals in the final minute of the period.

Home and Road

The Isles are 18-20-6 overall; they are 10-10-3 at home and 8-10-3 on the road.

Boston is 28-16-4 overall; they are 15-10-1 at home and 12-7-3 on the road.

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 23 home games and sold out 20 of them. They are the twenty largest indoor crowds to ever see the Islanders play at home. 

Leader of the Pack

Barry Trotz has coached more games and recorded more victories than any other active coach. Trotz' NHL record is 895-655-60-164 in 1,774 games.

Most Coaching Wins

1. Scotty Bowman  1,244

2. Joel Quenneville  970

3. Barry Trotz    895

Most Games Coached

1. Scotty Bowman   2,141

2. Barry Trotz        1,774

3. Joel Quenneville 1,768

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,474

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,344

3. Glen Sather 1,319

It All Starts at the Top

Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz have 2,239 wins between them. They start each game with more than any other pair in NHL history (David Poile and Peter Laviolette had 2,036 after their last game together). Bill Torrey and Al Arbour had a then-record 1,462 at the end of the 1991-92 season, which was their last season together. 

First Things First

The Isles are 13-4-4 when scoring first and are 5-16-2 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    6-13-10=29

Boston    13-7-7=27

The Isles are 7-6-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 11-ZLinus Ullmark made 25 saves; he is 16-8-1 on the season and 3-5-1 vs. the Isles.    

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-2 on the power play (3:02); Boston was 0-2 on the power play (4:00).

The Isles are 9-6-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 9-14-2 when they do not. The Isles are 5-8-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 13-12-3 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 16-4-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-15-4 when they do not. Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 104-13-13 when scoring three or more.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 4-5-6 in games decided by a single goal including 2-5 in regulation. They are 1-3 in games decided in overtime and are 1-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-5 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game (including one game the Isles scored after allowing an empty-netter).

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 5-3-1 in the front end and 2-6-1 in the back end. The next back-to-back is scheduled for February 26th  in Los Angeles and February 27th in Anaheim.

 

Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 23-10-5 in back-ends. 

Matinee Isles

The Isles are 1-1-2 in matinees this season; the next matinee will be on February 20th against Montreal. The Isles are scheduled to play thirteen matinees this season.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (20:43); Boston: Charlie McAvoy (26:19)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:03 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-2-1), Anthony Beauvillier (0-1-0), Mathew Barzal (0-0-1), Adam Pelech (7-4-2), Zdeno Chara (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Robin Salo (0-2-0), Scott Mayfield (0-2-0), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (0-1-0), Noah Dobson (6-7-2).

Face-offs

Isles 20, Boston 30 (40%)

Casey Cizikas won 4 of 5 for the Isles; Tomas Nosek won 6 of 7 for Boston. 

The Isles are 9-12-4 when they win more face-offs than the opposition, 0-1-1 when face-offs are even, and 6-9-1 when they win fewer.

Hit Count

Isles 35 (Cal Clutterbuck -8)

Boston 20 (Two with 3)

Fights 

There were no fights. Season total: 16 (Chara 4, Martin 4, Johnston 2, Bellows 1, Mayfield 1, Nelson 1, Palmieri 1, Pageau 1, Wahlstrom 1)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 15 (Adam Pelech -4)

Boston 11 (Two with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 45, Boston 52

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 40, Boston 39

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Sebastian Aho and Anthony Beauvillier +9

Boston: Taylor Hall +16

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 8, Boston 8

5-on-5: Isles 7, Boston 8

Scratches

(Josh Bailey -INJ), Andy Greene, Ross Johnston, (Semyon Varlamov – COVID)

Games Lost: 110 (62 to injuries and 48 to COVID protocol)

Iron Man

Scott Mayfield played in his 133rd consecutive game. Only two other Islanders (Zach Parise and Cal Clutterbuck) have played in every game this season.

Challenges

Isles: 1 successful, 1 failure

The Isles are 1-0-0 in games that they are successful and 0-1-0 in games that they are unsuccessful.(no goalie interference 10/14 @CAR, offside 1/18 @PHI)

Opponents: 3 successful, 0 failures  

The Isles are 1-1-1 in games where opponents' challenges go their way and 0-0-0 in games where challenges go the Isles' way. (goalie interference 10/16 @FLA and 10/23 @ARI; offside 12/19 vs VGK)

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored one goal and allowed three goals in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime:

For: 1  (Noah Dobson 19:56 – 12/5/21 vs CHI; Isles lost in SO)

Vs:  2 (Eeli Tolvanen 19:48 – 12/9/21 vs NSH-GWG, Shea Theodore 19:12 – 12/19/21 vs VGK; Isles lost in SO)

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 957…

10. John Tavares 669 *** 11. Matt Martin 650  *** 12. Brock Nelson 639 *** 13. Derek King 638 *** 14. Casey Cizikas 627 … 

20. John Tonelli 594 *** 21. Cal Clutterbuck 572 *** 22. Anders Lee 560

Goals

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

11. John Tonelli 206 *** 12. Anders Lee 197 *** 13. Billy Harris and Brock Nelson 184 *** 15. Ziggy Palffy 168 *** 16. Josh Bailey 165

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 367…

17. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 19. Nick Leddy 198 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 197 *** 21. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 22. Ed Westfall 181 *** 23. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 24. Duane Sutter and Alexei Yashin 171 *** 26. Brock Nelson 168

Points

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

8. John Tonelli 544 *** 9. Bob Bourne 542 *** 10. Josh Bailey 532 …

15. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369 *** 17. Brock Nelson 353 *** 18. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 19. Pierre Turgeon 340 *** 20. Anders Lee 339…

24. Duane Sutter 292 *** 25. Alexei Yashin 290 *** 26. Ed Westfall 286 *** 27. Mathew Barzal 285

+/-

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

20. Jude Drouin +58 *** 21. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 22. Adam Pelech +56 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54 *** 24. Gord Lane +48 *** 25. Adrian Aucoin +47

Games Coached 

1. Al Arbour 1,500 *** 2. Jack Capuano 483 *** 3. Barry Trotz 250

 

Coaching Wins

1. Al Arbour 740 *** 2. Jack Capuano 227 *** 3. Barry Trotz 133

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 17-20-5-4 on the season heading into a pair of weekend home games; Bridgeport hosts Hershey on Saturday night and Hartford on Sunday afternoon. 

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 0).

The Isles are 7-2-1 in their last ten regular season games with the Bruins, including a franchise-record six straight wins over the B's on home ice. 

The final meeting of the season will be in Boston on March 26th.

UP NEXT

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20th–MONTREAL AT ISLANDERS 2:00 PM 

[MSG+ (pre-game at 1:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Isles conclude the short homestand as they welcome the Canadiens to UBS for the first time.

This will be the second meeting of the season between the squads; the Isles defeated Montreal 6-2 back on November 4th as Brock Nelson scored four times.

It is the first home game with Montreal since the Habs defeated the Islanders 6-2 on March 3, 2020 in what turned out to be the final Islander game in Brooklyn. 

The Habs, who lost in the Stanley Cup Final last season, broke a 10-game skein with a come-from-behind 3-2 overtime win over St. Louis on Thursday.  Cole Caufield scored the tying goal and the overtime winner as Montreal recorded just their ninth win of the season.

The teams will conclude the season series on April 15th in Montreal.

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