The Skinny: Isles 3, Philadelphia 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 18

Isles 3, Philadelphia 2

Brock Nelson scored twice, and Ilya Sorokin made 34 saves as the Isles defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.   

Anders Lee scored for the second time in three games to give the Isles a lead just 1:49 into play. The Flyers would never get even, although they twice cut two-goal Islander leads in half and saw their win streak end at 5.

It was the second straight win for the Isles, who now have a point in four straight games (2-0-2).  The game marked the 1,000th NHL game for Cal Clutterbuck and the 100th game for Lane Lambert as the Isles' coach.

The Isles go over NHL-.500 (7-6-5) for the first time in two weeks; they head to Ottawa for a Black Friday game before hosting Philadelphia again on Saturday.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Anders Lee (3) Oliver Wahlstrom (2) 01:49 PHI 0,NYI 1

2nd Period

Brock Nelson (9) Adam Pelech (2), Pierre Engvall (8) 13:10 PHI 0,NYI 2

Cam York (3) Owen Tippett (7), Ryan Poehling (4) 14:18 PHI 1,NYI 2

3rd Period

Brock Nelson (10) Pierre Engvall (9), Adam Pelech (3) 02:33 PHI 1,NYI 3

Joel Farabee (8) Bobby Brink (6) 15:56 PHI 2,NYI  3

The Skinny    

The Isles have outscored their opponents 19-10 in the first period this season … Brock Nelson scored his 250th and 251st career goals to give him a team-leading ten goals, including six goals in November; he is the 8th player in club history to reach 250 goals... Nelson also extended his point streak to four games (4-2-6)…Oliver Wahlstrom has three points in the last six games, to go along with his shootout winner on Saturday…Bo Horvat saw his point streak end at five games while Mathew Barzal saw the four game point streak end.…The Flyers had not trailed in any of their prior five games, all wins…The Isles have been outscored 19-6 in the third period over the last eleven games and 16-4 over the last nine games…The Isles have been outscored 29-12 in the third period and overtime this season ..The Isles have led at some point of 15 of their first 18 games, but this was only their seventh win…Cal Clutterbuck had two hits in his 1,000th NHL game to reach 3,800 hits (most in NHL history since the stat was recorded)… The Isles were shorthanded only one time, which matched the season low (November 11 vs. Washington)…Adam Pelech played his 457th game, passing Thomas Hickey for 40th place…The Isles allowed fewer than three goals for the first time since November 2nd (3-0 win vs. Washington)…Joel Farabee scored for the fifth time in eleven games against Ilya Sorokin; Jack Hughes (6) is the only opponent to beat Sorokin more frequently…Brock Nelson now has 12 goals against the Flyers and has 32 career multi-goal games (tied with Bob Bourne for 10th  in club history); he is the first Islander to have two multi-goal games this season….Adam Pelech had two assists after having only one in his first 14 games. The Flyers have not won a game this season when they allowed the first goal (0-7-1) or trailed after either period (0-5-0 after one period; 0-5-1 after two periods).

1,000 Game Club

Cal Clutterbuck is the 382nd skater in NHL history to play 1,000 games; former teammate Kyle Okposo was 381st.

He is the 11th player to do so as an Islander:

• Ed Westfall

• Butch Goring

• Denis Potvin

• Bryan Trottier

• Keith Acton

• Mike Sillinger

• Steve Staios

• Jason Chimera

• Andy Greene

• Josh Bailey

First Time in a Long Time

The Isles scored in the first two minutes of the game for the third time this season, all during November. It is the first time since February 2016 that the Isles have done that in a single month.

5-on-5 

The Flyers' goal was at 5-on-5; it was only the sixth 5-on-5 goal allowed by the Isles in the last five games (with four coming in Calgary).

Shoot the Puck!

The Isles have been getting more rubber on goal during power plays than they did last season:

• 2023-24  Isles have 73 shots in 72:53 of PP   (1.00 shots per minute)

• 2022-23  Isles had 336 shots in 379:43 of PP (0.88 shots per minute)

That's a 13% increase in shots per minute spent on the power play.

Killing Their Own PP

The Isles have taken a penalty to interrupt their power play eight times this season.

Heavy Hitters

Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are now 1-2 all-time in hits:

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,800

2. Matt Martin 3,734

Martin (7) and Clutterbuck (3) have combined for the 10-biggest hits seasons in Isles history in the Real-Time era, which began in 2005-06. 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2023-24  7-6-5 for 19 points in 18 games

• 2022-23  11-7-0 for 22 points in 18 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-2-2

• Season: 7-22-29

• Last Season (Final) 41-132-173

The Islander defense scored 41 goals last season, which was the most since they scored 42 in 2003-04.  The 173 points were their most since 1993-94, when they had 174 points in an 84-game season.

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 17 shutouts in 142 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.0% of his starts, which is the second-highest in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ilya Sorokin 12.0%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Varly, Varly

Semyon Varlamov has 40 career shutouts and 274 career wins.  Among active NHL goalies (and excluding Carey Price, who is technically still active), Varlamov is 6th in wins (274) and third in shutouts (40).

Home and Road

The Isles are 7-6-5 overall; they are 4-3-3 at home and 3-3-2 on the road.

Philadelphia is 10-8-1 overall; they are 5-4-0 at home and 5-4-1 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 5-3-3 against the East (3-1-2 vs. Metropolitan and 2-2-1 vs. Atlantic) and 2-3-2 against the West (1-2-0 vs. Central and 1-1-2 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 92 games at UBS Arena and recorded 64 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,531

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,412

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 6-1-5 when scoring first and are 1-5-0 when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles             9-12-4=25 

Philadelphia 8-14-14=36

The Isles are 2-2-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 4-4-4 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 35 saves; he is 5-3-4 on the season and 9-2-1 vs. Philadelphia.   

Carter Hart made 22 saves; he is 6-4-0 on the season and 4-6-3 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

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

The Isles are 3-3-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 4-3-2 when they do not. The Isles are 1-4-4 when they allow at least one power play goal and 6-2-1 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 5-1-5 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-5-0 when they do not.  Under Lane Lambert the Isles are 40-7-9 when scoring at least three goals.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 5-0-5 in games decided by a single goal including 4-0 in regulation. They are 0-4 in games decided in overtime and are 1-1 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-1 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     

The Isles are 0-0-2 in the front end and 0-1-1 in the back end this season. The next set of back-to-backs will be on November 24 in Ottawa and November 25 vs. Philadelphia.  

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (22:14);  Philadelphia: Travis Sanheim (27:49)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 18:23 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (5-4-2), Alex Romanov (0-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).

Face-offs

Isles 33, Philadelphia 26 (56%)

Brock Nelson won 6 of 8 for the Isles; no Flyer who took multiple face-offs won more than he lost. 

Hit Count

Isles 16 (Alexander Romanov -4)

Philadelphia 17 (Two with 3)

Fights 

None. Season total: 2 (Martin 1, Pelech 1)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 26 (Adam Pelech and Alexander Romanov -4)

Philadelphia 14 (Ryan Poehling-4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 51, Philadelphia 81

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 45, Philadelphia 73

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Hudson Fasching EVEN

Philadelphia: Cam York +22

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 14, Philadelphia 16

5-on-5: Isles 13, Philadelphia 14

Scratches

Matt Martin (upper body), Julien Gauthier, Samuel Bolduc

Games Lost to injury: 13

The Ironmen

Three Islanders have played at least 100 consecutive games:

• Anders Lee 130 

• Brock Nelson 102 

• Ryan Pulock 101 

Challenges

Isles:1 successful, 0 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2)

Opponents: 0 successful, 1 failures – BUF no offside  (10/21) 

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute no times this season (no times at home and none on road) and allowed two in the same span three times (COL 10/25 x2, MIN 11/8)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win no times this season and have allowed the opposition to do so once.

For (0):  

Vs (2): DET 10/30 (trailed 0-2, won 4-3 in OT); CAR 11/4 (trailed 1-3, won 4-3 in OT) 

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored one goal and have allowed no goals in the final three minutes of the third period to tie or go-ahead:

For (1): Bo Horvat 10/20 vs NJ 18:49 (Isles lost in OT)

OT Winners

For (0):  

Vs (4):   Jack Hughes (NJ) 10/20, Lucas Raymond (DET) 10/30, Sebastian Aho (CAR) 11/4, Quinn Hughes (VAN) 11/15

Shootout Winners

For (1):  Oliver Wahlstrom (NYI) 11/18

Vs (1):  Kailer Yamamoto (VAN) 11/16 

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,057…

6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Matt Martin 780 *** 8.Brock Nelson 776 *** 9.  Casey Cizikas 763…

11. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 12. Anders Lee 696 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Cal Clutterbuck 654

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 251 *** 9. Anders Lee 243 …

28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29. Mathew Barzal 109 *** 30.Benoit Hogue and Ed Westfall 105 ***32. Anthony Beauvillier 102 *** 33. Anders Kallur 101 *** 34. Casey Cizikas 100

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …

13. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 14. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 15. Mathew Barzal 267…

18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 225…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Anders Lee 177…

34. Steve Thomas 140 *** 35. Mark Streit 139 *** 36. Greg Gilbert 136 *** 37. Ryan Pulock 133

Points

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

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 476 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 420 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 376…

34. Kenny Jonsson 232 *** 35. Greg Gilbert 231 *** 36. Benoit Hogue and Trent Hunter 229 *** 38. Casey Cizikas 228

+/-

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

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +83 ***  17. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 *** 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 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57…

5. Jean Potvin 46 *** 6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Ryan Pulock 44 *** 8. Roman Hamrlik 43 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk and Noah Dobson 35

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

7. Jeff Norton 166 *** 8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 133…

12. Roman Hamrlik 110 *** 13. Tom Kurvers and Gerry Hart 108  ***15. Adam Pelech 102 *** 

16. Noah Dobson 101… 

20. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 22. Ken Morrow 88 *** 23. Bert Marshall and Scott Mayfield 87

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

7. Jeff Norton 188 *** 8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 177…

11, Travis Hamonic 146 *** 12. Dave Lewis 141 *** 13. Noah Dobson 136… 

15. Johnny Boychuk and Bryan Berard 131 *** 17. Gerry Hart 128 *** 18. Adam Pelech 127…

20. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 21. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 22. Scott Mayfield 112

Goalie Games

1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 …

8. *** Glenn Healy 176 *** 9. Ilya Sorokin 148 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 141

Wins

1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…

7. Roland Melanson 77 *** 8. Ilya Sorokin 75 *** 9. Glenn Healy 66 *** 10. Tommy Salo 62 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 61

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 17 *** 

4. Rick DiPietro 16 *** 5. Semyon Varlamov 15

On the Farm  

Bridgeport is 5-10-1-0 on the season as they beat Providence 3-1 on Sunday and fell 4-2 in Springfield on Wednesday.  Eetu Liukas' first goal in North America turned out to be the game-winner on Sunday.   

The Baby Isles host Providence on Saturday night and Belleville on Sunday afternoon to close out their November schedule.

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0).  The teams will meet again on Saturday at UBS Arena and then on April 1st in Philadelphia to complete the season series.

The Isles are 12-2-0 in the last fourteen games against the Flyers and have won all five games with Philly at UBS, outscoring the Flyers 20-8.  Overall, the Isles now have won eight straight home games against the Flyers; it is their longest home winning streak against Philadelphia since they won nine straight Coliseum contests between 1992 and 1995.

UP NEXT

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24th  —ISLANDERS AT OTTAWA– 7:00pm ET

[MSGSN, WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].

The Isles head to the capital of Canada (or at least's the suburbs of it) when they meet the Senators for the second time this season.

The Isles defeated Ottawa, 3-2, at UBS on October 26 on a Noah Dobson goal; the Isles scored twice in the first, but Ottawa responded with two in the middle period before Dobson scored the winner in the third period. 

Overall, the Isles are 13-3-1 in their last 17 games with the Sens and have won 6 of their last 8 games in Ottawa. 

 

Ottawa will return to UBS Arena for a matinee on March 16th to complete the season series.

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