The Skinny: Isles 3, Los Angeles 2 (OT)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 26

Isles 3, Los Angeles 2 (OT)

Anders Lee scored twice in the third period to erase a 2-0 deficit and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored the winning goal thirteen seconds into overtime as the Islanders handed the Kings their first road loss of the season with a 3-2 overtime victory over Los Angeles before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.

After a scoreless first period, the Kings scored twice in a 3:28 span of the second period to take a two-goal lead heading to the third. The Kings were 13-0-0 when leading after the middle period and the Isles had lost (in regulation) all four games that they trailed. However, Lee's first multi-goal game of the season squared things before Pageau scored the earliest overtime goal for the Isles since Pat LaFontaine converted :10 into the extra session in 1988 against Washington. 

The Isles have points in eleven of their last twelve games (7-1-4); ten of those games have been decided by a single goal.

The Isles improve to 12-7-7 on the season as they are now a season-best five games over NHL-.500. They will remain in third place in the Metropolitan Division but have now closed within six points of the first place Rangers. The Isles are 2-0-1 through the first half of their season-long six-game homestand that continues at 7pm Monday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

2nd Period

Adrian Kempe (9) Kevin Fiala (18), Drew Doughty (8) 05:40 LAK 1,NYI 0 PPG

Vladislav Gavrikov (3) Kevin Fiala (19), Phillip Danault (10) 09:08 LAK 2,NYI 0

3rd Period

Anders Lee (6) Mike Reilly (3), Mathew Barzal (19) 08:42 LAK 2,NYI 1

Anders Lee (7) Scott Mayfield (4), Bo Horvat (15) 15:49 LAK 2,NYI 2

OT 

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (2) Simon Holmstrom (3), Noah Dobson (19) 00:13 LAK 2,NYI 3

The Skinny    

The Isles are 4-0-1 in their last five games overall and 3-0-2 in their last five games overall; it is the third time this season that they have points in at least five consecutive games…It was Jean-Gabriel Pageau's third career overtime goal but his first as an Islander…Bo Horvat extended his point streak to six games (4-6-10) while Mathew Barzal now has 12 points in his last five games.… Anders Lee recorded his 37th multi-goal game …Noah Dobson recorded his 19th assist and played 25:59; it is the 8th straight game he has played at least 25 minutes (no Islander has averaged 25 minutes per game since 2013-14) …Dobson was one of three different Isles defensemen with an assist; the defense now has eleven points in the last three games.… This was only the fifth game all season that the Isles have not led at any point of regulation; however, they are now 1-3-1 in those games…. The Isles 1-4-0 when trailing after two periods…Mike Reilly has four points in the last three games… Simon Holmstrom assisted on the winning goal to give him a new career high in points (10)…The Isles PK is now 12-13 over the last five games and 22-25 (88.0%) over the last ten games…. The Isles have outscored their opponents 25-15 in the first period and 29-27 in the middle period; however, they have been outscored 40-24 in the third period and overtime this season … The Isles scored a third period tying goal for the fifth time this season; they have allowed 11 of them…The Isles are 4-5-0 when allowing the first goal; they lost the first five games that they surrendered the first goal but have won the last four….Robert Bortuzzo, claimed on waivers yesterday, made his Islander debut.  Bortuzzo replaced Ryan Pulock, who was placed on Injured Reserve after playing in 108 consecutive games…Valadislav Gabrikov scored a goal in his 300th NHL game.

 

Streak Busters

The Isles ended numerous Kings streaks:

• NHL-record 11-game road win streak to start season

• 11-game road win (one shy of record for any time in a single season)

• 11-game road point streaks to start season for both Anze Kopitar and Trevor Moore (no player has reached 12 games since Brendan Shanahan)

• A team shutout streak of 136:12, both on the road and overall

• 13-0-0 when leading after 2 periods (they were the only team not to allow a tying goal in the 3rd pd)

The Kings do become only the third team in NHL history with points in their first 12 road games (11-0-1), joining the 1951-52 Red Wings (10 wins, 5 ties) and the 2012-13 Blackhawks (10 win, 2 OTL).

First Times in a Long Time

• Jean-Gabriel Pageau is the first Islander since Pat LaFontaine (0:10 on November 5, 1988, vs. Washington) to score in the first 0:13 of overtime. LaFontaine is the only other Islander to do so. 

• Noah Dobson has played over 25 minutes in eight straight games; it is the longest streak for an Islander since Andrew MacDonald played over 25 minutes in eleven straight games in 2013.

Overtime Is Our Time

The Isles are 2-5 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-2 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin records his first win in six games decided in overtime (1-5), while Semyon Varlamov is 1-0 in games decided by an overtime goal.

The Isles have won 13 of the last 35 games decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).

Killing Their Own PP

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

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,817

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  12-7-7 for 31 points in 26 games

• 2022-23  16-10-0 for 32 points in 26 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-3-3

• Season: 9-39-48

• 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 18 shutouts in 147 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.2% of his starts, which is the highest in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.1%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Lots of Work for Sorokin

Ilya Sorokin has faced 616 shots in his 17 games (an average of 36.2 per game).

Varly, Varly

Semyon Varlamov has 40 career shutouts and 277 career wins. Among active NHL goalies (and excluding Carey Price, who is technically still active), Varlamov is 6th in wins (276) and tied-third in shutouts (40).

All-time Goalie Wins

50. Brian Elliott 279

51. Semyon Varlamov 277

52. Marty Turco 275

Home and Road

The Isles are 12-7-7 overall; they are 6-3-5 at home and 6-4-2 on the road.

Los Angeles is 16-4-4 overall; they are 5-4-3 at home and 11-0-1 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 9-4-4 against the East (5-2-3 vs. Metropolitan and 4-2-1 vs. Atlantic) and 3-3-3 against the West (1-2-0 vs. Central and 2-1-3 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 96 games at UBS Arena and recorded 66 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 1,417

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 8-2-6 when scoring first and are 4-5-0 when allowing the opening goal. They are 0-0-1 when the game heads to a shootout following a scoreless tie.

The Shots

Isles          11-6-12-1=30

Los Angeles 9-15-12-0=36

The Isles are 3-2-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 8-5-5 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 34 saves; he is 7-4-6 on the season and 1-2-0 vs. Los Angeles. 

Cam Talbot made 27 saves; he is 12-4-2 on the season and 8-3-1 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-4 on the power play (6:06); Los Angeles was 1-5 on the power play (6:34). 

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

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 10-2-6 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-5-1 when they do not. Under Lane Lambert the Isles are 45-8-10 when scoring at least three goals.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 8-1-7 in games decided by a single goal including 5-1 in regulation. They are 2-5 in games decided in overtime and are 1-2 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 1-0-2 in the front end and 0-1-2 in the back end this season. 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 (25:59);  Los Angeles: Drew Doughty (26:27)

Mathew Barzal led Islander forwards with 19:21 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (8-5-4), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).

Face-offs

Isles 28, Los Angeles 30 (48%)

Casey Cizikas won 6 of 10 for the Isles; Anze Kopitar won 16 of 22 for Los Angeles.

Hit Count

Isles 25 (Cal Clutterbuck -6)

Los Angeles 20 (Andreas Englund -7)

Fights 

Scott Mayfield fought Andreas Englund in the second period. Season total: 4 (Martin 1, Pelech 1, Lee 1, Mayfield 1)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 21 (Scott Mayfield -4)

Los Angeles 11 (Two with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 55, Los Angeles 68

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 40, Los Angeles 48

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Noah Dobson +9

Los Angeles: Jordan Spence +11

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 13, Los Angeles 15

5-on-5: Isles 10, Los Angeles 9

Scratches

Matt Martin (INJ), Adam Pelech (upper body – LTIR), (Sebastian Aho-IR). (Ryan Pelech-IR). Oliver Wahlstrom, Grant Hutton

Games Lost to injury: 37

The Ironmen

Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 138 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (110) is the only other Islander to have played at least 100 consecutive games:

Challenges

Isles:2 successful, 1 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2), OTT offside (11/24), LA no goalie interference (12/9)

Opponents: 0 successful, 2 failures – BUF no offside  (10/21), CAR no high-stick (11/30)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute three times this season (twice times at home – CBJ 12/7 x2 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 at least two goals behind after two periods to win one time this season and have allowed the opposition to do so four times.

For (1): LA 12/9 (trailed 0-2, won 3-2 in OT)

Vs (4): DET 10/30 (trailed 0-2, won 4-3 in OT); CAR 11/4 (trailed 1-3, won 4-3 in OT) ; @ NJ 11/28 (trailed 2-4, won 5-4 in regulation); SJ 12/5( trailed 1-4; won 5-3 in OT)

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored one goal and have allowed three 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)

Vs (3): Curtis Lazar 11/28 @ NJ 19:37 (GWG); Sebastian Aho 11/30 @ CAR 19:57 (Isles won in OT); Tomas Hertl vs SJ 18:30 (SJ won in OT)

OT Winners

For (2):   Mathew Barzal (vs CAR) 11/30, Jean Gabriel Pageau (vs LA) 12/9

Vs (5):   Jack Hughes (NJ) 10/20, Lucas Raymond (DET) 10/30, Sebastian Aho (CAR) 11/4, Quinn Hughes (VAN) 11/15; William Eklund (SJ) 12/5

Shootout Winners

For (1):  Oliver Wahlstrom (Vs CGY) 11/18

Vs (2):  Kailer Yamamoto (SEA) 11/16, Tyson Foerster (PHI) 11/25

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. Brock Nelson 784 *** 8. Matt Martin 780 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 771…

11. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 12. Anders Lee 704 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Cal Clutterbuck 662

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 252 *** 9. Anders Lee 247 …

23. Alexei Yashin and Frans Nielsen 119 *** 25. Steve Thomas, Matt Moulson and Mark Parrish 118 *** 28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29. Mathew Barzal 114 *** 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 …

12. Derek King 288 *** 13. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 14. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 15. Mathew Barzal 276…

17. Tomas Jonsson 249  *** 18. Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo, and Brock Nelson 230…

22. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Anders Lee 179…

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 482 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 426 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 390…

34. Kenny Jonsson 232 *** 35. Greg Gilbert 231 *** 36. Benoit Hogue and Trent Hunter 229 *** 38. Casey Cizikas 230

+/-

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 and Ryan Pulock 45 *** 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… 10. Travis Hamonic 120 *** 11. Dave Lewis 117 *** 12. Roman Hamrlik and Noah Dobson 110 *** 14. Tom Kurvers and Gerry Hart 109 *** 16. Adam Pelech 102… 

20. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 22. Scott Mayfield 90

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 178… 10. Roman Hamrlik 153 ***

11 .Travis Hamonic 146 *** 12. Noah Dobson 145… 

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

20. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 21. Scott Mayfield 115

Goalie Games

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

8. Glenn Healy 176 *** 9. Ilya Sorokin 153 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 144

Wins

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

6. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 7. Roland Melanson and Ilya Sorokin 77 *** 9. Glenn Healy 66 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 64

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 18 *** 

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

On the Farm  

Bridgeport is 6-15-1-0 on the season after dropping games to Utica and Springfield this weekend.

The Baby Isles will spend next weekend in Charlotte, playing a pair of games against the Checkers.

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series 1 games to 0 (and 2 points to 2). The teams will meet on March 11th in Long Angeles to conclude the season series. 

 

This was the Isles' first win over Los Angeles at UBS Arena and ended a 4-game losing streak overall against Los Angeles.

UP NEXT

MONDAY, DECEMBER 11th  — TORONTO AT ISLANDERS– 7:00pm ET

[MSGSN (6:30 pre-game), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].

Game four of this six-game homestand will be on Monday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto captain John Tavares will arrive at UBS Arena with 998 career points.

The Isles took two of three from Toronto last season, winning In overtime in Toronto in November on an Anthony Beauvillier goal and raking the Leafs 7-2 at UBS last March 21st.

The Leafs have won six of the last nine games between the teams, using a different goaltender to record each win.

The teams will meet  again at UBS on January 11 before playing the first game after the All-Star Break in Toronto on February 5th.

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