The Skinny: Isles 5, Ottawa 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 19

Isles 5, Ottawa 3

Mathew Barzal and Anders Lee scored six seconds apart in the second period to cap off four consecutive Islander goals, as the Isles overcame the early loss of defensemen Adam Pelech and Sebastian Aho to defeat the Ottawa Senators 5-3 before a crowd of 17,693 at Canadian Tire Centre.   

Both defensemen were lost in the first 3 ½ minutes of the game but the Final Four defenders contributed four assists as the Isles earned their third straight win and extended their point streak to five straight games (3-0-2).  

The Isles improve to 8-6-5 on the season; they return home to face Philadelphia again on Saturday.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Drake Batherson (5) Brady Tkachuk (5), Josh Norris (5) 10:25 NYI 0,OTT 1 PPG

Kyle Palmieri (5) Brock Nelson (5), Alexander Romanov (1) 13:55 NYI 1,OTT 1

2nd Period

Oliver Wahlstrom (2) Alexander Romanov (2), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (6) 06:22 NYI 2,OTT 1

Mathew Barzal (5) Kyle Palmieri (7), Brock Nelson (6) 09:51 NYI 3,OTT 1 PPG

Anders Lee (4) Oliver Wahlstrom (3) 09:57 NYI 4,OTT 1

Tim Stützle (5) Mathieu Joseph (10) 10:56 NYI 4,OTT 2

Drake Batherson (6) Tim Stützle (17), Mathieu Joseph (11) 11:43 NYI 4,OTT 3

3rd Period

Simon Holmstrom (5) Noah Dobson (11), Scott Mayfield (2) 05:18 NYI 5,OTT 3

The Skinny    

While the Isles were credited with a 5-4 shootout win in Calgary last week, this was the first time the Isles have scored five times in the actual game since last April 6th vs. Tampa Bay (6-1 win)… The Isles have outscored their opponents 20-11 in the first period this season … Brock Nelson extended his point streak to five games (4-4-8); he now shares the team scoring lead with Mathew Barzal and Noah Dobson (each with 16 points)…Dobson and Barzal now have identical 5-11-16 totals… Barzal's goal was on the power play; the Isles are now converting on 23.5% of their power play chances (9th in NHL)…Oliver Wahlstrom has five points in the last seven games, to go along with his shootout winner on Saturday… Anders Lee now has 13 goals in 28 career games against Ottawa…The Isles outscored Ottawa 1-0 in the third period after being outscored 16-4 over the last nine third periods…The Isles have been outscored 29-13 in the third period and overtime this season ..The Isles have led at some point of 16 of their first 19 games, but this was only their eighth win…  Alexander Romanov was credited with his first two assists of the season; it was his 4th career two assist game and sixth career two point game…The Isles defense had four assists…In his 1,001st NHL game, Cal Clutterbuck led the Islander forwards with 18:06 of ice-time…The Isles snapped Ottawa's three-game win streak…Simon Holmstrom now is only one goal shy of his rookie year total of 6; he is the only player in the NHL with at least five goals but no assists…Tim Stutzle had a goal and an assist to give him 199 career points…Hudson Fasching played in his 99th NHL game…Vladimir Tarasenko went -3 and was the player who was off-side on the Parker Kelly goal that the Isles reversed with a successful challenge…With the win the Isles moved within one point of a playoff spot

The Injuries

Sebastian Aho and Adam Pelech both suffered injuries in the first 3 ½ minutes and did not return, leaving the Isles with four defensemen for almost the entire game.

The Final Four

With Aho and Pelech out, the other four defensemen all played over 26 minutes

• Noah Dobson – career high 31:05 – most by an Islander since Andrew MacDonald 10/22/2013 vs Vancouver (31:26); most by an Islander in a game ending in regulation since Adrian Aucoin (31:28 vs Rangers on 1/13/2004).

• Alex Romanov –  career high 30:02

• Ryan Pulock – season high 28:47

• Scott Mayfield – season high 26:19

Dobson and Romanov are the first Islander teammates to play over 30 minutes in the same game since Travis Hamonic (30:30) and Calvin de Haan (30:28) did so on March 27, 2014, and the first to do so in a game that ended in regulation since Aucoin (31:50) and Roman Hamrlik (30:32) did so on November 12, 2002, also vs. Ottawa.

That Was Fast!

The Isles scored twice in six seconds.  It was the second fastest two goals in club history (Lee and Kulemin did it in :03 on November 30, 2016, vs Pittsburgh, with Kulemin's goal going into an empty net) and matched the fastest two goals against a goalie (Clark Gillies and Mike Bossy :06 on October 27, 1979, vs Chicago).  It was also the fastest two goals by any NHL team since April 26, 2022, when Erik Haula and Taylor Hall also scored six seconds apart for Boston in a game against Florida.

The goals also knocked Kirk Muller out of the Islander record books – he and Alexander Semak scored :07 apart on October 10, 1995, in Toronto  - which until tonight was the fastest two road goals in Islander history.

That Was Fast too!

The final four goals of the second period were scored in a span of 1:52 – the fastest in an Islander game since November 23, 2016, when the Kings scored three goals followed by an Anders Lee tally – all in in a 1:01 span.

Up For The Challenge, Again

The Isles won their second challenge of the season, erasing a Senator goal just before Wahlstrom gave the Isles the lead.  The Isles have won all five of their challenges under Lane Lambert.

5-on-5 

The Isles allowed two 5-on-5 goals; they have allowed only eight 5-on-5 goals in the last six 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 76 shots in 74:22 of PP   (1.01 shots per minute)

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

That's a 14% 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 3,802

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  8-6-5 for 21 points in 19 games

• 2022-23  11-8-0 for 22 points in 19 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-4-4

• Season: 7-24-31

• 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 275 career wins.  Among active NHL goalies (and excluding Carey Price, who is technically still active), Varlamov is 6th in wins (275) and third in shutouts (40).

All-time Goalie Wins

50. Brian Elliott 279

51. Semyon Varlamov 275

      Marty Turco 275

Home and Road

The Isles are 8-6-5 overall; they are 4-3-3 at home and 4-3-2 on the road.

Ottawa is 8-8-0 overall; they are 6-6-0 at home and 2-2-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 6-3-3 against the East (3-1-2 vs. Metropolitan and 3-2-1 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 1,413

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 6-1-5 when scoring first and are 2-5-0 when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles            12-9-5=26

Ottawa       10-11-10=31

The Isles are 2-2-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 5-4-4 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 28 saves; he is 3-3-1 on the season and 7-5-2 vs. Ottawa.   

Anton Forsberg made 21 saves; he is 3-4-0 on the season and 2-6-0 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-1 on the power play (1:29); Ottawa was 1-3 on the power play (4:48). 

The Isles are 4-3-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 4-3-2 when they do not. The Isles are 2-4-4 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 6-1-5 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 41-7-9 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     

Including tonight, the Isles are 1-0-2 in the front end and 0-1-1 in the back end this season. This back-to-back set concludes at home on Saturday against Philadelphia. The next set of back-to-backs will be on December 15 vs Boston and December 16 at Montreal. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (career high 31:05);  Ottawa: Jake Sanderson (23:48)

Cal Clutterbuck led Isles forwards with 18:06 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (6-4-2), Alex Romanov (0-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).

Face-offs

Isles 35, Ottawa 26 (57%)

Bo Horvat won 11 of 17 for the Isles; for the third consecutive game, no opponent who took multiple face-offs won more than he lost. 

Hit Count

Isles 15 (Alexander Romanov -3)

Ottawa 18 (Parker Kelly-3)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 31 (Ryan Pulock -6)

Ottawa 17 (Jacob Bernard-Docker-4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 51, Ottawa 81

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 47, Ottawa 67

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Oliver Wahlstrom +8

Ottawa: Josh Norris +18

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 14, Ottawa 16

5-on-5: Isles 14, Ottawa 10

Scratches

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

Games Lost to injury: 14

The Ironmen

Three Islanders have played at least 100 consecutive games:

• Anders Lee 131

• Brock Nelson 103 

• Ryan Pulock 1012

Challenges

Isles:2 successful, 0 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2), OTT offside (11/24)

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

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute once this season (no times at home and once on road-11/24 @OTT) 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 777 *** 9.  Casey Cizikas 764…

11. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 12. Anders Lee 697 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Cal Clutterbuck 655

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 251 *** 9. Anders Lee 244 …

28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29. Mathew Barzal 110 *** 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 227…

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 478 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 421 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 377…

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  and  Noah Dobson 102… 

20. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 22. Ken Morrow and Scott Mayfield 88

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 137… 

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

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

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 142

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 and Semyon Varlamov 62

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 heading into their final two games of November.  They will host Providence on Saturday night and Belleville on Sunday afternoon.

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 0).  The teams will meet again on March 16th at UBS Arena to complete the season series.

The Isles are 14-3-1 in their last 18 games with the Sens and have won 7 of their last 9 games in Ottawa. 

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25th  — PHILADELPHIA AT ISLANDERS– 7:30pm ET

[MSGSN (pre-game at 7:00, WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].

The Isles return home to host the Flyers for the second time this week as they conclude the back-to-back set.

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.

The teams will meet on April 1st in Philadelphia to conclude 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