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The Skinny: Utah 5, Isles 4 (OT)

"The Skinny" By Eric Hornick Game 1 Utah 5, Isles 4 (OT)    Dylan Guenther became the first player in 107 years to record consecu...

Sunday, February 20, 2022

The Skinny: Montreal 3, Isles 2 (SO)

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 45
Montreal 3, Isles 2 (SO)     
Rem Pitlick scored the deciding goal in the shootout as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Islanders 3-2 before a sell-out crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.

Kyle Palmieri and Brock Nelson scored for the Isles, who twice erased one-goal deficits, and Anthony Beauvillier scored a shootout goal, but the Isles could not prevent Montreal from winning consecutive games for the first time this season. The Isles remain two games below NHL-.500 (18-20-7).

The Scoring:
1st Period
Jeff Petry (3) Brett Kulak (9), Ryan Poehling (6) 09:01 MTL 1,NYI 0

2nd Period
Kyle Palmieri (4) Zach Parise (12), Josh Bailey (19) 01:29 MTL 1,NYI 1 PPG
Josh Anderson (10) Nick Suzuki (20), Cole Caufield (8) 18:49 MTL 2,NYI 1

3rd Period
Brock Nelson (17) Kieffer Bellows (8), Sebastian Aho (4) 17:03 MTL 2,NYI 2

OT
No Goals

The Shootout
Anthony Beauvillier (G)/Cole Caufield (G)
Mathew Barzal (NG)/ Rem Pitlick (G/ GDG)
Brock Nelson (NG)

The Isles are 2-7 in games beyond 60 minutes this season while the Canadiens are 3-7…Andrew Hammond improves to 3-5 in shootouts while Ilya Sorokin falls to 3-4; Sorokin has allowed eight goals on ten shootout attempts this season, losing all three….The Isles are 1-4 in shootouts this season; Anthony Beauvillier is the only player to have an attempt in all five games…The Isles are 4-2 in shootouts all-time against Montreal…Rem Pitlick had the deciding goal in his first career shootout attempt.

The Skinny         
The Isles allowed the first goal for the eleventh time in twelve games... Kieffer Bellows earned an assist on the tying goal; Bellows had four shots and finished with two hits…The Isles killed both Montreal power plays; they have killed 17 of 20 over the last thirteen …Brock Nelson's tying goal was his 185th goal, passing Billy Harris for 13th place in club history.  Nelson has 17 goals in 36 games played; he has not scored more than 26 goals in any NHL season…Andrew Hammond made his Canadiens debut, played in his first NHL game since 2018, and earned his first win since April 9, 2016.  The 2,143 day gap between wins is the 8th-longest in modern NHL history…The Isles had a :36 5-on-3 to start the second period; it was the first time all season that the Isles had had a 5-on-3; in fact they had not had a 5-on-3 in regular season play since March 10, 2020 – the final game played before the COVID pause, making this their first 5-on-3 in 101 games.

Oh, Nelly!
Brock Nelson is the third player in club history to score five goals against Montreal in a single season:
Mike Bossy  6 (1983-84, 3 games)
Brock Nelson 5 (2021-22, 2 games, with one to play)
Alexei Yashin 5 (2001-02, 4 games)

Road Warriors
Beginning with the All-Star Break, the Isles are playing 9 of 11 on the road. The Isles are 2-3-1 in that stretch and have been outscored 21-18 (including shootout winners).
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 2-3 L (SO)
2/22 @ Seattle
2/24 @ San Jose
2/26 @ Los Angeles
2/27 @ Anaheim
3/1 @ Colorado 

Histor-Z
Zdeno Chara played in his 1,650th NHL game;  Chara is just one game behind Chris Chelios' record for NHL defensemen.

All-time Games:
7. Mark Recchi 1,652
8. Chris Chelios 1,651  
9. Zdeno Chara 1,650

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  (BUF) 2/15 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 18-20-7 overall; they are 10-10-4 at home and 8-10-3 on the road.
Montreal is 10-33-7 overall; they are 6-17-1 at home and 4-16-6 on the road.

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 24 home games and sold out 21 of them. The 17,255 sellout crowds are the 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 895-656-60-164 in 1,775 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        1,775
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 5-16-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots
Isles    10-12-9-1=32
Montreal    13-5-6-3=27
The Isles are 7-6-3 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 11-13-4 when they are outshot. Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 76-49-17 when outshot.

In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves; he is 15-11-6 on the season and 1-0-1 vs. Montreal. 

Andrew Hammond made 30 saves; he is 1-0-0 on the season and 2-2-0 vs. the Isles.    

Special Teams
The Isles were 1-4 on the power play (6:53, including a :36 5-on-3); Montreal was 0-2 on the power play (4:00).

The Isles are 9-6-5 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 13-12-4 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 2-15-5 when they do not. Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 104-13-13 when scoring three or more.

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 4-5-7 in games decided by a single goal including 2-5 in regulation. They are 1-3 in games decided in overtime and are 1-4 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
Including today, the Isles are 1-1-3 in matinees this season; the next matinee will be on March 5th against St. Louis. The Isles are scheduled to play thirteen matinees this season.

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Adam Pelech (22:53); Montreal: Ben Chiarot (23:48)
Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:22 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 (7-4-3), 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 27, Montreal 19 (59%)
Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 11 of 15 for the Isles; Nick Suzuki won 9 of 16 for Montreal. 

The Isles are 9-12-5 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 33 (Jean-Gabriel Pageau  and Matt Martin -5)
Montreal 24 (Two with 4)
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 12 (Zdeno Chara -4)
Montreal 10 (Jeff Petry -2)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 57, Montreal 45
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 43, Montreal 36

5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Brock Nelson +9
Montreal: Three with +7

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 14, Montreal 6
5-on-5: Isles 9, Montreal 5

Scratches
(Oliver Wahlstrom -INJ), Andy Greene, Ross Johnston, (Semyon Varlamov – COVID)
Games Lost: 112 (63 to injuries and 49 to COVID protocol)

Iron Man
Scott Mayfield played in his 134th 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: 2  (Noah Dobson 19:56 – 12/5/21 vs CHI; Isles lost in SO) (Brock Nelson 17:03 – 2/20/22 vs OTT; 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 958…
10. John Tavares 669 *** 11. Matt Martin 651  *** 12. Brock Nelson 640 *** 13. Derek King 638 *** 14. Casey Cizikas 628 … 
20. John Tonelli 594 *** 21. Cal Clutterbuck 573 *** 22. Anders Lee 561

Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
11. John Tonelli 206 *** 12. Anders Lee 197 *** 13. Brock Nelson 185 *** 14 Billy Harris 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 368…
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 533 …
15. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369 *** 17. Brock Nelson 354 *** 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 +55 *** 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 251
 
Coaching Wins
1. Al Arbour 740 *** 2. Jack Capuano 227 *** 3. Barry Trotz 133

On the Farm
Bridgeport is 18-21-5-4 on the season after splitting a pair of weekend home games; Hershey beat Bridgeport 4-2 on Saturday but the Islanders got a 30-save shutout from Ken Appleby to defeat Hartford 2-0 on Sunday afternoon.  Chris Terry had both Isles goals on Saturday, with Otto Koivula earning an assist on each tally. 

Bridgeport visits Springfield on Wednesday before opening a four-game homestand on Saturday; the Penguins are the opposition for three of the four games.

Season Series Stats
The season series is tied 1 game to 1 (the Isles have earned 3 points to Montreal's 2).

The Isles are 2-5-2 in their last nine games with Montreal, including 1-2-2 at home.

The final meeting of the season will be in Montreal on April 15th.

UP NEXT
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd–ISLANDERS AT SEATTLE  10:00 PM 
[ESPN+/Hulu, WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]
The Isles head back out west to play five games in eight days, beginning on Tuesday in Seattle.

The Isles will play their first game ever at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle and will look to score their first goal ever against the Kraken as Seattle blanked the Isles 3-0 on February 2nd. 

There will be MSG telecast of this game as it will be exclusively streamed by ESPN+/Hulu.

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

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