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The Skinny: Rangers 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny" By Eric Hornick Game 68 Rangers 5, Isles 2 Johnny Brodzinski broke a 2-2 tie with 4:59 left in the middle period and ...

Sunday, February 26, 2023

The Skinny: Isles 4, Winnipeg 0

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 63
Isles 4, Winnipeg 0
Bo Horvat scored a first period shorthanded goal as the Isles outshot Winnipeg 12-1 in the session and the Jets could never catch them.  Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves for his 38th career shutout as the Isles defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-0 before a crowd of 13,797 at Canada Life Centre.  

Alexander Romanov, Brock Nelson and Adam Pelech, the latter into an empty net, also scored for the Isles, who shut-out the Jets in Winnipeg for the second straight season and extended their road shutout streak against the Jets to 166:48.

The Isles improve to 31-25-7 and will head to Minnesota for a Tuesday game with the Wild. The Isles still hold the 1st Wild Card spot; they are two points ahead of Pittsburgh and three points ahead of Buffalo.

The Scoring:
1st Period
Bo Horvat (36) 07:56 NYI 1,WPG 0 SHG

2nd Period
Alexander Romanov (2) Casey Cizikas (10), Hudson Fasching (4) 04:22 NYI 2,WPG 0
Brock Nelson (27) Zach Parise (10) 18:41 NYI 3,WPG 0

3rd Period
Adam Pelech (5)EN Scott Mayfield (11) 17:59 NYI 4,WPG 0 

The Skinny    
The Isles improve to 8-3-2 in their last 13 games and 3-1-1 in their last five road games…Brock Nelson now has points in 16 of his last 17 games; his 60 points are a new career high and is the first Islander with at least 60 points since Mathew Barzal did so in 2019-20.… Adam Pelech recorded a goal in consecutive games for the first time in his career and matched his season high with four shots on goal… The Isles have won six straight third periods, outscoring the opposition 9-0… The Isles' third period differential improves to +8; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games, -17 over the next 34 games but are +9 over the last six games …  Alexander Romanov scored his second goal of the season and his first since December 22nd…Romanov and Ryan Pulock both went +3 while Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois both went -4…Semyon Varlamov recorded his 38th career shutout and his 2nd shutout of the season; Varlamov has recorded multiple shutouts in each of his four seasons with the Isles (only Chico Resch – 6 seasons- had a longer stretch as an Isle) and in six straight seasons overall…It was Varlamov's 17th win against Winnipeg, matching his most against any opponent (Dallas -17) and his 11th win of the season (one more than last year)…Varlamov tied Ilya Sorokin for 10th place in club history with 59 wins and broke a tie for shutouts with Jaroslav Halak for 6th place…It is the 7th shutout for the Isles this season and second on the road…Bo Horvat's goal was the 4th shorthanded goal for the Isles and their first since January 3rd in Vancouver…The Isles have now won eight straight games that they have scored shorthanded; ironically Ilya Sorokin had been in goal for the first seven.

Bo Knows Special Teams (sorry Kinger)
Bo Horvat recorded his 4th shorthanded goal of the season (3 for Vancouver), tying Sam Lafferty and Reilly Smith for the league lead.  He is the only player in the NHL with at least 12 power play goals and at least four shorthanded goals.  Alexander Barkov (12 and 4 last year) is the only other player to do this in the NHL in the last 12 seasons; Mike Bossy (14 and 4 in 1984-85) is the only player to reach those totals in a single season playing only for the Isles.

Horvat is one of 24 active players with at least 12 shorthanded goals (Jean-Gabriel Pageau has 18 and Cal Clutterbuck has 17); he has 44 power play goals and 6 shorthanded goals over the last four seasons – Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider are the only other NHL players to have reached those totals.

First Times in a Long Time
The Isles got multiple goals from defensemen for the second straight game.  It's the first time that's happened since October 21-23, 2016, when Dennis Seidenberg and Johnny Boychuk scored against Minnesota and Thomas Hickey, Calvin deHaan and Boychuk all scored against Arizona.

The Isles held an opponent to just one shot in a period for the first time this season.   However, it was the first time since November 10, 2010, in Anaheim, that the Isles held an opponent to one shot (or fewer) in the first period.

Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are now 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,692
2. Matt Martin 3,645

Last Year vs. This Year
2022-23  31-25-7 for 69 points in 63 games
2021-22  28-26-9 for 65 points in 63 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense
Today:  2-1-3
Season: 35-94-129
Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 35 goals, three more than they did last season and the most that they have scored since tallying 39 goals in 2017-18.  The Isles are fourth in the NHL in defense goals, and lead the NHL in percent of goals scored by their defense (19.1%).

Best of the Best
Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 115 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 13.0% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:
Ilya Sorokin 13.0%
Roman Cechmanek 12.2%
Ken Dryden 11.8%
Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 
Zach Parise has 423 career goals, good for 9th among actives and 85th all-time. Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road
The Isles are 31-25-7 overall; they are 18-11-3 at home and 12-14-4 on the road.
Winnipeg is 35-24-1 overall; they are 20-10-0 at home and 15-14-1 on the road.

East and West
The Isles are 17-13-5 against the East (12-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 5-8-5 vs. Atlantic) and 14-12-2 against the West (6-7-2 vs. Central and 8-5-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 73 games at UBS Arena and recorded 51 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou
Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:
1. David Poile 1,519
2. Lou Lamoriello 1,394
3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First
The Isles are 21-8-3 when scoring first and are 10-17-4 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots
Isles          12-8-4=24
Winnipeg   1-14-8=23
The Isles are 15-10-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 16-15-5 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets
Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves; he is 11-7-2 on the season and 17-10-2 vs Winnipeg. 

David Rittich made 20 saves; he is 9-6-0 on the season and 1-1-0 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams
The Isles were 0-1 on the power play (2:00); Winnipeg was 0-3 on the power play (6:00).

The Isles are 13-10-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 18-15-4 when they do not. The Isles are 13-12-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 18-13-5 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 25-6-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 6-19-4 when they do not.

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 13-6-7 in games decided by a single goal including 9-6 in regulation. They are 4-3 in games decided in overtime and are 0-4 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-7 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs   
The next set of back-to-backs will be on March 14th in Los Angeles and on March 15th in Anaheim. The Isles are 7-5-0 in the front end and 7-4-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Adam Pelech (24:16);  Winnipeg: Josh Morrissey (24:35)
Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 20:18 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-12-2), Adam Pelech (6-2-0), Ryan Pulock (6-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-1-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Bo Horvat (2-0-1), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs
Isles 26, Winnipeg 23 (53%)
Bo Horvat won 11 of 17 for the Isles; Pierre-Luc Dubois won 7 of 13 for Winnipeg. 

Hit Count
Isles 22 (Four with 3)
Winnipeg 19 (Two with 3)
Fights 
Scott Mayfield fought Pierre-Luc Dubois in 2nd period. Season total: 15 (Martin-6, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov, Martin)
 
Blocked Shots
Isles 25 (Scott Mayfield -5)
Winnipeg 9 (Three with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 43, Winnipeg 67
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 36, Winnipeg 55

5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Casey Cizikas +3
Winnipeg:  Nikolaj Ehlers +16

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 10, Winnipeg 13
5-on-5: Isles 9, Winnipeg 10

Scratches
Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Cal Clutterbuck – IR), (Jean-Gabriel Pageau-IR), (Mathew Barzal-INJ), Parker Wotherspoon, Ross Johnston
Games Lost: 151

The Ironman
Zach Parise played in his 145th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 146 games, making it the 16th-longest active streak in the NHL. 

Challenges
Isles: 1 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3

Opponents: 2 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27, VAN goalie interference 2/9

League reviews: 5 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – awarded), MTL goal (Matheson) 2/11-stood.

Quickies
The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute six times this season (five times at home and once on road):
0:17 10/29 vs. COL (Mayfield and Beauvillier)
0:59 11/7 vs. CGY (Lee and Palmieri)
0:22 11/26 vs PHI (Nelson and Beauvillier)
0:43 12/4 vs CHI (Parise and Nelson)
0:21 12/6 vs STL (Fasching and Pageau)
0:34 12/9 @ NJD (Cizikas and Wahlstrom)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins
The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win three times this season and have allowed the opposition to do so once.
For: Trailed 3-1, Won 5-3 vs. COL 10/29
        Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) vs CGY 11/7
        Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 at NYR 11/8
Vs  Led 4-2, Lost 6-5 vs VAN 2/9

Last Minute Heroes:
The Isles have scored two goal and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 
For(2): Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)
Josh Bailey @ TOR 11/21 (17:02; Isles won in OT)
Zach Parise Vs PIT 2/17 (17:17; GW)
Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners
For (4): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)
Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 
Anthony Beauvillier @ TOR 11/21 (1:56)
Mathew Barzal vs VEG 1/28 (4:28)
Vs. (3): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)
Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)
Mike Matheson @ MTL 2/11 (4:38)

Shootout Winners
Vs (4):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13
Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19
Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10
Tim Stutzle Vs OTT 2/14

All-time Islander Leader Boards:
Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,048…
6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 747 *** 9. Brock Nelson 739 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 726…
12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 659 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
8. Bob Bourne 238 *** 9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 234 *** 11. Brock Nelson 232 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182…
28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29 Mathew Barzal, Benoit Hogue, and Ed Westfall 105

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 394…
13. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 14. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 15. Billy Harris 259 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 257 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 215…
23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Anders Lee 174

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 576  …
13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 447 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 408 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 362

+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +74 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54

Defense Goals
1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…
6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Ryan Pulock 41 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 29

Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…
8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 125…
15. Bryan Berard 100 *** 16. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 17. Johnny Boychuk 96 *** 18. Adam Pelech,  Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95…
24. Adrian Aucoin 80 ***25. Scott Lachance, Noah Dobson, and Scott Mayfield 79

Defense Points
1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…
8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 166…
17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Adam Pelech 119 *** 19. Thomas Hickey 117...20. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 21. Radek Martinek 109 *** 22. Dave Langevin 109 ***23. Noah Dobson 108 *** 24. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 26. Scott Mayfield 103

Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
8. Glenn Healy 66 *** 9. Tommy Salo 62 *** 10. Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov 59

Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 16 …
4. Ilya Sorokin 15 *** 5. Tommy Salo 14 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov 13 

On the Farm
It was a lost weekend for Bridgeport as they lost 5-2 to Charlotte on Saturday and 4-3 to Lehigh Valley on Sunday, dropping the B-Isles to 23-21-7-1 on the season.  Chris Terry and Andy Andreoff scored on Saturday, with William Dufour earning assists on both goals;  goals by Cole Bardreau, Dufour, and Ruslan Iskhakov (on a penalty shot) helped build a 3-0 lead on Sunday.

Andreoff leads the team with 21 goals, while Terry continues to lead in assists (33) and points (50). William Dufour has 19 goals, which is tied-3rd among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is 3rd  among AHL rookies with 27 assists and is tied-4th among rookies with 40 points.

Bridgeport has three games remaining on their six-game homestand: Thursday vs. Providence, Saturday vs. Hartford, and Sunday vs. Springfield.

Season Series Stats
The Islanders sweep the season series, 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 0).  

The Isles have won 4 straight games in Winnipeg (the last two by shutout and are 11-1-1 in Winnipeg since the Jets relocated to Manitoba.

Overall, the Isles have won seven straight from Winnipeg, sweeping the season series in 2019-20, 2021-22, and 2022-23.  It is their longest active streak against any opponent.

UP NEXT
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28th –ISLANDERS AT MINNESOTA 8:00pm
[MSGSN (Pre-game at 7:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]
The Isles have only one game remaining before Friday's 3pm trade deadline, and it is in St. Paul against the Wild on Tuesday.

The Wild rallied for their third straight win over the Isles back on January 12th, scoring three times in the third period.   

This has been a streaky series since the Wild entered the NHL:
Minnesota won the first three, 
Isles won the next three, 
Minnesota won the next five,
Isles won the next four, 
Minnesota won the next three,
Isles won the next three,
Minnesota won the next three,
Isles won the next three,
Minnesota won the last three.

The Isles are 13-15-2 against the Wild all-time.

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

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