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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 ...

Saturday, April 22, 2023

The Skinny: Isles 5, Carolina 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Eastern Conference Round 1, Game 3
Isles 5, Carolina 1   
Carolina Leads Series 2-1
The Islanders wanted a new building for themselves and for Long Island.  So it was fitting that Long Island native Kyle Palmieri broke a 1-1 tie with a power play goal late in the third period, keying the fastest four goals by one team ever in the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Islanders earned a 5-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 of their series. A sellout crowd of 17,255 at the first playoff game ever at UBS Arena witnessed the Isles cutting the 'Canes lead in the series to two games to one.

After a scoreless first period, Casey Cizikas scored the first playoff goal in the new arena to give the Isles the lead; however, Jesper Fast tied the score with a shorthanded goal. The game stayed that way until the final four minutes when Palmieri, Matt Martin, Scott Mayfield (empty net) and Anders Lee all scored in a 2:18 span to rewrite the Stanley Cup record book.

Game 4 will be at 1pm on Sunday at UBS Arena; game five will be Tuesday in Raleigh. 

The Scoring:
1st Period
No Goals

2nd Period
Casey Cizikas (1) Ryan Pulock (1) 12:49 CAR 0,NYI 1
Jesper Fast (2) Jordan Staal (2) 16:56 CAR 1,NYI 1 SHG

3rd Period
Kyle Palmieri (2) Sebastian Aho (1), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (1) 16:09 CAR 1,NYI 2 PPG
Matt Martin (1) Kyle Palmieri (2), Scott Mayfield (1) 16:53 CAR 1,NYI 3 
Scott Mayfield (1)EN 18:11 CAR 1,NYI 4
Anders Lee (1) Casey Cizikas (1), Ryan Pulock (2) 18:27 CAR 1,NYI 5

The Series 
Game 1: Carolina 2, ISLES 1
Game 2: Carolina 4, ISLES 3 (OT)
Game 3: ISLES 5, Carolina 1
Game 4: Sunday at UBS Arena 1:00
Game 5: Tuesday at Carolina 7:00
Game 6: (if needed) Friday, April 28 at UBS Arena
Game 7: (if needed) Sunday, April 30 at Carolina

The Skinny    
The first period was scoreless; it was the 23rd consecutive playoff game that the Isles have not led after the first session. That is the longest such streak since Montreal Maroons had a 26-game streak from 1928-1935…Antti Raanta is 8-0 in home playoff games for Carolina but is 0-7 on the road… Kyle Palmieri now has nine playoff goals for the Isles (most of any Islander in 2021 and 2023 playoff runs) and has 30 points in 60 career playoff games; Palmieri leads the Isles in goals (2), Points (4) and +/- (+4) in this year's playoffs...Anders Lee's goal was his 9th career and first since September 3, 2020 vs. Philadelphia (in Toronto)… Ryan Pulock had 3 hits, giving him 19 for the series; he also leads the team in blocks in the series with 9.  Pulock's two assists give him three points in the series; it was his first multi-assist game in post-season play.…Alexander Romanov returned to the lineup and went +3…The Isles improve to 97-53 in home playoff games (including bubble games in 2020); their .647 winning percentage is second all-time to Edmonton (.656) in home games...Ilya Sorokin is the 7th goalie in club history to record five playoff wins.
 
First Times in a Long Time
The Isles scored four goals in a playoff period for the first time since May 8, 1993, vs. Pittsburgh.
The Isles scored a power play goal for the first time in their last eight home playoff games; it was also their first power play goal of the series.
The Islander defense was credited with five points – first time they have done that in a playoff game since May 7, 2013, vs. Pittsburgh when they had six (including three from Mark Streit).
The Isles won a playoff game that was tied after 40 minutes by at least four goals for the first time since May 15, 1983, vs. EDM.  Game 3 of the Final was tied 1-1 thru two periods; Isles won 5-1.

 The Four Quick Goals
Scott Mayfield and Anders Lee scored 16 seconds apart; the 6th-fastest two goals in club playoff history  (Clutterbuck and Pulock hold record of 11 seconds 6/9/21 vs BOS)
Matt Martin, Mayfield, and Lee scored 94 seconds apart to break the club record (97 seconds by Trottier, Tonelli and Bossy to clinch the 4th Cup on 5/17/83 vs EDM); the Palmieri, Martin and Mayfield goals were 122 seconds apart – the fastest since the Cup clincher and now 4th-fastest.
The four goals in 2:18 broke the club record of 3:27, set vs BOS on 5/3/93 (D. Sutter, Bossy, Potvin, and Nystrom) and broke a Stanley Cup record of 2:35 that had lasted 79 years (3/30/44 – MTL vs TOR – Toe Blake (2), Maurice Richard and Ray Getliffe)

Parise to Pulock to Cizikas
Casey Cizikas scored the first Islander playoff goal at UBS Arena; JP Parise had done so at Nassau Coliseum while Ryan Pulock did it at Barclays Center.

Pulock the Playoff Scorer
Ryan Pulock is 5th among Islander defensemen in career playoff goals:
1. Denis Potvin 56 
2. Ken Morrow 11
3. Mike McEwen 9 
        Tomas Jonsson 9
5. Ryan Pulock 8
The four players ahead of him share 14 Stanley Cup rings with the Islanders.

Pulock the Playoff Hitter
In regular season play, Ryan Pulock averages 1.6 hits (703 hits in 428 games).  In the playoffs, Pulock has 169 hits in 58 games (2.9 per game), and he holds the Isles career record (real-time era) for playoff hits.

Most Hits by an Isles Defenseman (Playoffs, since 2007)
Johnny Boychuk  10  4/23/2015 @ WSH
Ryan Pulock 9 4/17/2023@ CAR 
Ryan Pulock 8 5/16/2021@ PIT
Ryan Pulock 8 5/20/2021vs PIT

Going Wild
Wild Card teams are 10-18 in 28 previous series against division champions. This is the second time that the Isles have qualified as a Wild Card; they defeated Florida in six games in 2016 for their first playoff series win in 23 years. (The Wild Card has existed since 2014, but it was not used in 2020 or 2021).

The Goals (Series)
Isles        0-4-5-0=9
Carolina  2-3-1-1=7

The Shots (Series)
Isles       25-28-33-3=89
Carolina 41-33-26-4=104

Led/Tied/Trailed
Game 1: Led: 0:00, Tied: 4:11, Trailed: 55:49
Game 2: Led: 3:01, Tied:28:12,  Trailed 33:50
Game 3: Led 7:58, Tied 52:02. Trailed 0:00
Series:   Led: 10:59, Tied: 85:25, Trailed: 89:39

Playoffs All-Time
The Isles improve to 173-143 in 316 all-time playoff games. They are 97-53 at home (88-44 at the Coliseum, 2-5 at Barclays, 5-2 in Toronto, 1-2 in Edmonton and 1-0 at UBS Arena) and 76-90 on the road. In this year's playoffs, the Isles are 0-0 at home and 0-2 on the road.

The Isles have scored 998 goals in their playoff history.  They are looking to be the 12th NHL team to reach 1,000 (Colorado has 983 and is the only team that is close)

Offense from Defense
Today:  1-4-5
Playoffs 2-7-9

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 82 regular season games at UBS Arena and recorded 60 sellouts of 17,255.  The Isles have sold out 1 playoff game as well. 

Overtime is Our Time
The Isles are 40-23 (.635) all-time in overtime, including 20-13 at home. The Isles are 0-1 in overtime in 2023 and have gone 11-10 in 21 overtime games since 2015. The Isles are the best overtime team in Stanley Cup history: 
Isles 40-23 .635 (0-1 this year)
Carolina 28-17 .622 (1-0 this year)
Anaheim 24-15 .615
Tampa Bay 23-16 .590
Colorado 46-33  .582

The Isles are tied for the best road percentage in Stanley Cup history:
Isles 20-10 .667  (0-1 this year)
Tampa Bay 14-7 .667
Anaheim 15-8 .652
Colorado 26-14 .650
Carolina 13-9 .591

The Isles' winning percentage is tied-3rd at home in overtime games (teams playing at least 5 home games)
Carolina 15-8 .652  (1-0 this year)
Chicago 30-18-1 .612
Isles 20-13 .606
Buffalo 20-13 .606
Montreal 46-29-1 .605

Overtime vs. Carolina
The Isles are 0-2 all-time in playoff overtime games vs. Carolina:
4/26/19 Vs Jordan Staal L (0-1) 04:04  (Brooklyn*)
4/19/23 @ Jesper Fast L (3-4)  05:03
*It was the last overtime game and penultimate playoff game at Barclays Center.

Sweet Lou
Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest post-season win total for any general manager in NHL history:
1. Glen Sather 187-137
2. Lou Lamoriello 170-147

Sather (324) is also the only GM with more playoff games than Lamoriello (317).

First Things First
The Isles are 1-0 when scoring first and are 0-2 when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots
Isles      7-13-17=37
Carolina  15-9-7=31

Shots by Game
Game 1:  Isles 26, Carolina 37
Game 2:  Isles 26, Carolina 36
Game 3:  Isles 37, Carolina 31
Series:    Isles 89, Carolina 104

The Isles are 1-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0 when the shots are even and 0-2 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 31 saves; he is 1-2 this year and 5-3 in his playoff career.   
Antti Raanta made 33 saves; he is 2-1 this year and 8-7 in his playoff career.

Special Teams
The Isles were 0-4 on the power play (6:02),.but allowed a shorthanded goal; Carolina was 1-5 on the power play (9:59).

Power Plays by Game
Game 1: Isles 0-4 (8:00, 4 shots), Carolina 2-4 (4:52, 5 shots)
Game 2: Isles 0-0 (0:00, 0 shots), Carolina 1-6 (9:18, 8 shots)
Game 3: Isles 1-5 (9:59, 10 shots), Carolina 0-4 (6:02, 3 shots)
Series: Isles 0-4 (17:59, 14 shots), Carolina 3-14 (20:12, 16 shots)

The Isles are 1-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 0-2 when they do not. The Isles are 0-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 1-0 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 1-1 when they score at least three goals and are 0-1 when they do not.

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 0-2 in games decided by a single goal (0-1 in regulation and 0-1 in overtime). The Isles are 0-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Adam Pelech (23:27);  Carolina: Brady Skjei (22:41)
Jean-Gabriel Pageau led Isles forwards with 19:19 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Noah Dobson (0-1), Scott Mayfield (0-1), Adam Pelech (1-0)

Face-offs
Isles 31, Carolina 32 (49%)
Bo Horvat won 7 of 13 for the Isles; Jordan Staal won 14 of 25 for Carolina. 

Face-offs by Game
Game 1: Isles 35, Carolina 37 (48%)
Game 2: Isles 30, Carolina 26 (54%) 
Game 2: Isles 31, Carolina 32 (49%)
Series  : Isles 96, Carolina 95 (50%)

Hit Count
Isles 43 (Zach Parise and Casey Cizikas -5)
Carolina 28 (Jordan Staal -6)

Hits by Game
Game 1: Isles 44, Carolina 39
Game 2: Isles 54. Carolina 28
Game 3: Isles 43, Carolina 28
Series   : Isles 141, Carolina 95

Fights 
None. Playoff total: 0

Blocked Shots
Isles 17 (Ryan Pulock -4)
Carolina 14 (Three with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 66, Carolina 55
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 46, Carolina 45

Corsi Game by Game:
Game 1: (All) Isles 57, Carolina 73; (5-on-5) Isles 42, Carolina 62
Game 2: (All) Isles 58, Carolina 73; (5-on-5) Isles 55, Carolina 53
Game 3; (All) Isles 66, Carolina 55; (5-on-5) Isles 46, Carolina 45
Series: (All) Isles 181, Carolina 201; (5-on-5) Isles 143, Carolina 160

5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Noah Dobson +8
Carolina: Jordan Martinook/Jesper Fast +12

Scratches
Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), Samuel Bolduc, Parker Wotherspoon, Ross Johnston, Simon Holmstrom, Jakub Skarek
Playoff Games Lost: 5

The Ironman (Playoffs)
Matt Martin played in his 76th consecutive Islander playoff game; he has played in every Islander playoff game since 2013.

Challenges
Isles: 0 successful, 0 failures  

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

League reviews: 0  

Quickies
The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute twice during this postseason.   They did so seven times in the regular season. 
:44 – Game 3 vs. CAR  (Kyle Palmieri and Matt Martin)
:16 – Game 3 vs. CAR (Scott Mayfield (EN) and Anders Lee)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins
There has not been a multi-goal third period comeback in this year's playoffs.
The Isles came from two goals behind after two periods to win four times and allowed the opposition to do so once in the regular season.
 
Last Minute Heroes:
There has not been a tying or winning goal in the final three minutes of the third period in the playoffs,
In the regular season, the Isles scored four goals and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

Overtime Winners
Playoffs:  For 0, Vs. 1.   (Jesper Fast R1G2 vs CAR 5:03)
Regular Season: For 5, Vs. 4

Active Islander Playoff Leaders: (As NYI)
Games: 
Matt Martin 76
Casey Cizikas 72
Josh Bailey 71
Brock Nelson 70
Cal Clutterbuck 68
Ryan Pulock 58
Scott Mayfield 54

Consecutive Games:
Matt Martin 76 (every game since start of 2013 playoffs)
Brock Nelson 65
Ryan Pulock 54
Mathew Barzal 52
Scott Mayfield 52

Goals:
Brock Nelson 24
Josh Bailey 16
Mathew Barzal 14
Jean-Gabriel Pageau 11
Cal Clutterbuck 10
Anders Lee 9
Kyle Palmieri 9
Ryan Pulock 8
Matt Martin 8
Casey Cizikas 6

Assists:
Josh Bailey 34
Mathew Barzal 25
Brock Nelson 19
Ryan Pulock 15
Jean-Gabriel Pageau 14
Adam Pelech 11
Scott Mayfield 11
Casey Cizikas 11
Noah Dobson 9

Points:
Josh Bailey 50
Brock Nelson 43
Mathew Barzal 39
Jean-Gabriel Pageau 25
Ryan Pulock 23
Cal Clutterbuck 17
Anders Lee 17
Casey Cizikas 17

Penalty Minutes:
Matt Martin 121
Cal Clutterbuck 70
Casey Cizikas 60
Scott Mayfield 47
Anders Lee 40
Mathew Barzal 37

+/-
Scott Mayfield +23
Jean-Gabriel Pageau +19
Kyle Palmieri +9
Adam Pelech +7
Cal Clutterbuck +5

PP Goals
Mathew Barzal 4
Ryan Pulock 3
Josh Bailey 3
Anders Lee 3
Brock Nelson 3 
Kyle Palmieri 2
Oliver Wahlstrom 1

SH Goals
Josh Bailey 1
 
GW Goals
Brock Nelson 7
Ryan Pulock 3
Josh Bailey 3
Kyle Palmieri 2
Mathew Barzal 2
Scott Mayfield 1
Casey Cizikas 1
Matt Martin 1

OT Goals 
Josh Bailey 2
Mathew Barzal 1
Kyle Palmieri 1
Casey Cizikas 1

Goaltending
Ilya Sorokin 5-3 2.63 GAA, .928 save percentage.
Semyon Varlamov 18-14  2.30 GAA, .922 save percentage.

(Varlamov's 18 wins is second in club history to Billy Smith's 88. Among goalies who have played at least ten post-season games, Varlamov has the best goals against average while Sorokin has the best save percentage in club history.)

Series Stats
Carolina leads the series, 2 games to 1. 

The Isles are 1-6 all-time in playoff games against Carolina, including 1-2 at home.

The Isles are 6-14 in best-of-7 playoff series when they trail a series 2-1, including 2021 series wins against both Pittsburgh and Boston while Carolina is 6-4 when leading 2-1.

UP NEXT
SUNDAY, APRIL 21st  -  CAROLINA AT ISLES 1:00pm
[MSGSN (Pre-game at 12:30), TNT, WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]
The Isles will look to even the series as they host the Canes in Game 4.

The Isles have won seven of their last ten home playoff games.

The Isles trailed all three of their 2021 series by a 2-1 margin and won game four in all three series. Since 2019, the Isles are 5-3 in game 4's, including 4-2 on home ice.

Brendan Burke, Butch Goring and Thomas Hickey will have the Isles broadcast on MSGSN.  Out-of-area fans can catch the game with Kenny Albert, Keith Jones, and Bryce Salvador on TNT.

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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