The Skinny; Isles 4, Toronto 3 (OT)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 27

Isles 4, Toronto 3 (OT)

Bo Horvat scored the winning goal :46 into overtime as the Isles earned their third straight win, extended their point streak to six (5-0-1) with a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.

After Auston Matthews scored a first period power play goal, Brock Nelson and Casey Cizikas responded to give the Isles a first intermission lead. Kyle Palmieri scored 70 seconds into the middle session to double the advantage before John Tavares earned his 999th point with his eighth goal of the season. The games stayed that way for over 32 minutes, but Morgan Rielly's 6th-attacker goal tied the game with 6.4 seconds to play. Tavares earned his 1,000th point on the play to become the 6th player in NHL history to earn his 1,000th point against his former team. 

The Isles have points in twelve of their last thirteen games (8-1-4); eleven of those games have been one-goal games.

The Isles improve to 13-7-7 on the season as they are now a season-best six games over NHL-.500. They move into second place in the Metropolitan Division and have closed again within six points of the first place Rangers. The Isles are 3-0-1 on their season-long six-game homestand that concludes with games on Wednesday vs. Anaheim and Friday vs. Boston. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Auston Matthews (19) Mitchell Marner (17), William Nylander (20) 05:50 TOR 1,NYI 0 PPG

Brock Nelson (12) Kyle Palmieri (9), Noah Dobson (20) 09:20 TOR 1,NYI 1

Casey Cizikas (4) Cal Clutterbuck (5), Hudson Fasching (3) 18:33 TOR 1,NYI 2

2nd Period

Kyle Palmieri (8) Brock Nelson (10), Noah Dobson (21) 01:10 TOR 1,NYI 3

John Tavares (8) Conor Timmins (3), Jake McCabe (5) 07:43 TOR 2,NYI 3

3rd Period

Morgan Rielly (4) John Tavares (17), William Nylander (21) 19:53 TOR 3,NYI 3

OT 

Bo Horvat (10) Mathew Barzal (20), Noah Dobson (22) 00:46 TOR 3,NYI 4

The Skinny    

The Isles are 5-0-1 in their last six games overall and 4-0-2 in their last six games at home; it is the second time this season that they have points in at least six consecutive games…It was Bo Horvat's sixth career overtime goal but his first as an Islander… Horvat extended his point streak to seven games (5-6-11) while Mathew Barzal now has 13 points in his last six games…Barzal earned his 12th overtime assist, matching John Tavares' club record.…Noah Dobson recorded three assists, giving him 22 on the season, and played 26:03; it is the 9th straight game he has played at least 25 minutes (no Islander has averaged 25 minutes per game since 2013-14)…The Isles' defense now has fourteen points in the last four games.… The Isles have outscored their opponents 27-16 in the first period and 30-28 in the middle period; however, they have been outscored 41-25 in the third period and overtime this season … The Isles allowed a third period tying goal for the twelfth time this season; they have scored five of them…The Isles are 5-5-0 when allowing the first goal; they lost the first five games that they surrendered the first goal but have won the last five…After opening the season by losing their first five overtime/shootout games, the Isles have won four of their last six…The Isles are now one point ahead of last season's pace (13-7-7 vs. 16-11-0)…It was the Isles' 17th one-goal game (9-1-7), which is the most in the NHL…Auston Matthews scored his 7th power play goal and had 11 shots on goal…William Nylander had a pair of assists to extend his point streak to five games; he has points in 22 of his 25 games.

 

First Times in a Long Time

• The Isles have won consecutive games, both in overtime, for the first time since March 22-25, 2021, vs. Philadelphia and Boston. Anthony Beauvillier had both overtime goals.

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

For Old Times Sake, #JT91

John Tavares became the sixth player to record his 1,000th point against a former team (joining Marian Hossa, Keith Tkachuk, Alex Mogilny, Brian Propp, and Johnny Bucyk) , the 10th active player, and the 98th overall. He is the third player to reach 1,000 points for a different team after playing for the Isles (Pat LaFontaine and Pierre Turgeon). It was the 266th multi-point game of his career.

Woah, Noah!

Noah Dobson has eleven assists in the last seven games; while Mathew Barzal has done that three times (two of them overlapping), no Isle has had more since John Tavares had overlapping streaks of 12 assists in 7 games and 13 assists in 7 games in 2017.

Vladimir Malakhov had 11 assists in seven games in October 1993; he was the last Isles defenseman with such a streak.

Dobson now has 22 assists through 27 games; Denis Potvin had 22 or more through 27 games five times but Dobson is the only other defenseman to do so.

Fewest Regulation Losses Thru 27 Games (Post-Cup era)

• 6 (2019-20; 19-6-2)

• 6 (2021; 17-6-4)

• 7 (2023-24; 13-7-7)

• 7 (2001-02; 15-7-4-1)

+120

The Isles all-time record improved to 120 games over NHL-500 (1780-1660-539) for the first time since a loss in Chicago on March 17, 1996, dropped them to +120.  The Isles used their fifteenth straight win in 1982 to get to +120 for the first time.

Overtime Is Our Time

The Isles are 3-5 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-2 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin records his second win in seven games decided in overtime (2-5), while Semyon Varlamov is 1-0 in games decided by an overtime goal.

The Isles have won 14 of the last 36 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 3,818

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  13-7-7 for 33 points in 27 games

• 2022-23  16-11-0 for 32 points in 27 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-3-3

• Season: 9-42-51

• 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 148 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:

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ilya Sorokin 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Lots of Work for Sorokin

Ilya Sorokin has faced 656 shots in his 18 games (an average of 36.4 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 13-7-7 overall; they are 7-3-5 at home and 6-4-2 on the road.

Toronto is 14-6-5 overall; they are 8-4-1 at home and 6-2-4 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 10-4-4 against the East (5-2-3 vs. Metropolitan and 5-2-1 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 97 games at UBS Arena and recorded 67 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 1,418

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

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

The Shots

Isles       14-12-4-1=31

Toronto  9-14-12-2=37

The Isles are 3-2-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 9-5-5 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 34 saves; he is 8-4-6 on the season and 3-3-0 vs. Toronto. 

Ilya Samsonov made 27 saves; he is 5-1-4 on the season and 6-4-1 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-1 on the power play (2:00); Toronto was 1-1 on the power play (1:03). 

The Isles are 7-4-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 6-3-3 when they do not. The Isles are 4-5-4 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 11-2-6 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 46-8-10 when scoring at least three goals.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 9-1-7 in games decided by a single goal including 5-1 in regulation. They are 3-5 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 (26:03);  Toronto: Morgan Rielly (24:05)

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

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (9-5-4), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).

Face-offs

Isles 26, Toronto 30 (46%)

Brock Nelson won 10 of 12 for the Isles; David Kampf won 7 of 10 for Toronto.

Hit Count

Isles 19 (Julien Gauthier -5)

Toronto 12 (Noah Gregor -3)

Fights 

None. Season total: 4 (Martin 1, Pelech 1, Lee 1, Mayfield 1)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 16 (Scott Mayfield and Alexander Romanov -4)

Toronto 11 (Morgan Rielly -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 65, Toronto 67

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 62, Toronto 52

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Bo Horvat +17

Toronto: TJ Brodie +4

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 16, Toronto 15

5-on-5: Isles 15, Toronto 9

Scratches

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

Games Lost to injury: 41

The Ironmen

Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 139 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (111) 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 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 four 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 (4): 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); Morgan Rielly 12/11 vs TOR 19:53 (Isles won in OT)

OT Winners

For (3):   Mathew Barzal (vs CAR) 11/30, Jean Gabriel Pageau (vs LA) 12/9, Bo Horvat (vs TOR) 12/11

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 785 *** 8. Matt Martin 780 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 772…

11. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 12. Anders Lee 705 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Cal Clutterbuck 663

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 253 *** 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 101

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 277…

17. Tomas Jonsson 249  *** 18. Brock Nelson 231…

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 484 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 426 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 391…

34. Kenny Jonsson 232 *** 35. Greg Gilbert and Casey Cizikas 231

+/-

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. Noah Dobson 113 *** 13. Roman Hamrlik 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. Noah Dobson 148… 

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 154 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 144

Wins

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

6. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 7. Ilya Sorokin 78 *** 8. Roland Melanson 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. 

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 game to 0 (and 2 points to 1). The teams will meet again at UBS Arena on January 11th and then conclude the season series February 5th in Toronto. 

The Isles have won three of the last four games against Toronto after dropping four straight games to the Leafs. 

UP NEXT

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13th  — ANAHEIM AT ISLANDERS– 7:30pm ET

[MSGSN2 (7:00 pre-game), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].

Game five of this six-game homestand will be on Wednesday against the Anaheim Ducks. 

The Isles have swept the season series each of the last two seasons between the teams, with Ilya Sorokin earning four victories, all in regulation, as the Isles have outscored Anaheim 21-7.

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