The Skinny: Isles 7, Columbus 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 25

Isles 7, Columbus 3

Mathew Barzal scored twice and added a pair of assists while Bo Horvat became the first Islander in two decades to score in :20 or less as the Isles scored the game's final three goals to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-3 before a crowd of 13,510 at UBS Arena.

Pierre Engvall scored four minutes into the first period but a pair of Columbus goals early in the second period gave the Jackets the lead. The Isles would score six of the game's final seven goals, all in a 17:21 span for the victory. The Isles have points in ten of their last eleven games (6-1-4); this was only the second game in that stretch decided by more than a single goal.

The Isles improve to 11-7-7 on the season (a season-best 4 games over NHL-.500) and move into third place in the Metropolitan Division (ahead of Carolina); the six-game homestand continues Saturday vs. a Los Angeles Kings team that has become the first team in NHL history to win their first 11 road games. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Pierre Engvall (4) Noah Dobson (18) 04:00 CBJ 0,NYI 1

2nd Period

Emil Bemstrom (4) Adam Fantilli (8), Kent Johnson (3) 05:56 CBJ 1,NYI 1

Adam Fantilli (6) Kent Johnson (4), Zach Werenski (19) 10:11 CBJ 2,NYI 1

Cal Clutterbuck (4) Hudson Fasching (2), Casey Cizikas (5) 14:30 CBJ 2,NYI 2

Mathew Barzal (8) Scott Mayfield (3), Mike Reilly (2) 18:51 CBJ 2,NYI 3

Kyle Palmieri (7) Brock Nelson (9), Mathew Barzal (17) 19:19 CBJ 2,NYI 4 PPG

3rd Period

Adam Fantilli (7) Emil Bemstrom (2) 01:28 CBJ 3,NYI 4

Mathew Barzal (9) Bo Horvat (14) 05:33 CBJ 3,NYI 5

Bo Horvat (8) Julien Gauthier (3) 11:31 CBJ 3,NYI 6

Bo Horvat (9) Mathew Barzal (18), Samuel Bolduc (1) 11:51 CBJ 3,NYI 7

The Skinny    

Bo Horvat had his third straight multi-point game (4-5-9); he now has seven multi-point games this season. Both Horvat and Anders Lee matched their career best with a +4 rating … Pierre Engvall scored his 51st career goal – most of any active player who does not have a multi-goal game …Noah Dobson recorded his 18th assist and played 25:29; it is the 7th straight game he has played at least 25 minutes (no Islander has averaged 25 minutes per game since 2013-14); Dobson spent the first intermission tied with Mathew Barzal for the team point lead, but Barzal went 2-2-4 over the final two periods.…Dobson was one of four different Isles defensemen with an assist; it's the second straight game the D has had four points.. The Isles have been outscored 26-12 over the last fifteen third periods… The Isles have led at some point of 21 of their first 25 games, winning eleven of them; only Columbus (23) and Vancouver (22) have led at some point of more games… The Isles are 10-1-4 when leading after two periods…a Mike Reilly has three points in the last two games…The Isles out-shot the opposition for the second straight game after being outshot in the previous nine games.…The Isles power play scored for the 5th straight game (6-15, 40.0%) and has now scored 12 times in 31 opportunities (an NHL-leading 38.7%) since November 15th….The Isles PK is now 8-8 over the last four games and 18-20 (90.0%) over the last nine games…. The Isles have outscored their opponents 25-15 in the first period and 29-25 in the middle period; however, they have been outscored 40-21 in the third period and overtime this season … The Isles have allowed 11 third period tying goals this season (including twice by Calgary on November 18th and by Carolina on November 30th) after allowing only eight last season; the Isles are 3-1-5 in those games…Adam Fantilli earned points on all three Jacket goals for his first career two-goal and first career three-point games…Brock Nelson and Julien Gauthier each extended their point streaks to three games.

 

First Times in a Long Time

• Bo Horvat is the first Islander since Alexei Yashin (0:12 on March 25, 2003, in Chicago) to score two goals in 20 seconds or less. It is the 8th fastest two goals ever by one Islander and the 84th time the team has done so (one player or multiple players).

• The Isles have four players with at least 20 points at the 25-game mark (Barzal 27, Dobson 23, Horvat 23, Nelson 20) for the first time since 2017-18 (Bailey 30, Tavares 29, Lee 27,Barzal 24, Leddy 21).

• The Isles have scored a power play goal in five straight games and have not allowed a power play goal in four straight games. It is the first time since October 2015 that they have had a streak of at least four straight games where they scored on the power play and were perfect on the penalty kill. That 2015 stretch is one of only two in club history (February 1993) where they have done that in five straight games.

Seventh Heaven

The Isles scored seven goals for the first time since March 21, 2023, vs. Toronto. It is the third time that they have done so under Lambert (also October 15, 2022, vs. Anaheim) and these are the only three times it has happened at UBS Arena.

Barz-Day?

Mathew Barzal recorded a four-point game for the second consecutive Thursday. He has 12 points in his six Thursday games, including ten points in his last three Thursday games. Alas, the Isles do not play again on a Thursday until January 4th in Arizona. (Nikita Kucherov is the only player in the NHL with three games of at least four points this season.)  It is Barzal's sixth career game with at least four points.

Overtime Is (Not) Our Time

The Isles are 1-5 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-2 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin has allowed all five overtime goals, while Semyon Varlamov is 1-0 in games decided by an overtime goal.

The Isles have lost 22 of the last 34 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 ten times this season.

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,811

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  11-7-7 for 29 points in 25 games

• 2022-23  15-10-0 for 30 points in 24 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-4-4

• Season: 9-36-45

• 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 146 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.3% of his starts, which is the highest in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.3%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Lots of Work for Sorokin

Ilya Sorokin has faced 580 shots in his 16 games (an average of 36.3 per game).

Varly, Varly

Semyon Varlamov has 40 career shutouts and 2777career 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 11-7-7 overall; they are 5-3-5 at home and 6-4-2 on the road.

Columbus is 8-15-5 overall; they are 6-7-2 at home and 2-8-3 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 2-3-3 against the West (1-2-0 vs. Central and 1-1-3 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 95 games at UBS Arena and recorded 65 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 1,416

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 8-2-6 when scoring first and are 3-5-0 when allowing the opening goal. They are 0-0-1 when the game heads to a shootout following a scoreless tie.

The Shots

Isles          9-12-16=36

Columbus 11-15-9=35

The Isles are 3-2-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 7-5-5 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 32 saves; he is 5-3-1 on the season and 11-5-2 vs. Columbus. 

Spencer Martin made 29 saves; he is 2-7-1 on the season and 0-3-0 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-2 on the power play (2:16); Columbus was 0-1 on the power play (2:00). 

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

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 9-2-6 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 44-8-10 when scoring at least three goals.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 7-1-7 in games decided by a single goal including 5-1 in regulation. They are 1-5 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: Alex Romanov (25:59);  Columbus: Zach Werenski (26:09)

Bo Horvat led Islander forwards with 18:25 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (7-5-4), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).

Face-offs

Isles 29, Columbus 34 (46%)

Casey Cizikas won 7 of 11 for the Isles; Boone Jenner won 13 of 20 for Columbus.

Hit Count

Isles 18 (Anders Lee -3)

Columbus 18 (Justin Danforth-5)

Fights 

None. Season total: 3 (Martin 1, Pelech 1, Lee 1)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 22 (Alex Romanov -6)

Columbus 14 (Three with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 55, Columbus 74

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 51, Columbus 69

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Anders Lee and Ryan Pulock +9

Columbus: Kirill Marchenko +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 11, Columbus 11

5-on-5: Isles 10, Columbus 11

Scratches

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

Games Lost to injury: 33

The Ironmen

Three Islanders have played at least 100 consecutive games:

• Anders Lee 137

• Brock Nelson 109

• Ryan Pulock 108

Challenges

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

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 no times this season and have allowed the opposition to do so four times.

For (0):  

Vs (3): 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); SL 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 (1):   Mathew Barzal (vs CAR) 11/30

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 783 *** 8. Matt Martin 780 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 770…

11. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 12. Anders Lee 703 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Cal Clutterbuck 661

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 252 *** 9. Anders Lee 245 …

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 275…

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 424 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 389…

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…

12. Roman Hamrlik 110 *** 13. Noah Dobson 109 *** 14. Tom Kurvers and Gerry Hart 109 *** 16. Adam Pelech 102… 

20. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 22. Scott Mayfield 89

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…

11, Travis Hamonic 146 *** 12. Noah Dobson 144… 

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

20. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 21. Scott Mayfield 114

Goalie Games

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

8. Glenn Healy 176 *** 9. Ilya Sorokin 152 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 144

Wins

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

6. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 7. Roland Melanson 77 *** 8. Ilya Sorokin 76 *** 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 6-13-1-0 on the season as they begin a six-game road trip that will take them into the Christmas break. 

The first pair of games are this weekend: Friday in Utica and Saturday in Springfield. 

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 0). This was Columbus' only visit to Long Island this season; the series finale will on April 4th in Ohio. 

 

The Isles are 8-0-2 in their last ten games with the Jackets, including 5-0-0 all-time at UBS Arena.

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9th  — LOS ANGELES AT ISLANDERS– 7:30pm ET

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

Game 3 of this six-game homestand will be on Saturday against the record-setting Los Angeles Kings.

The Kings have swept the season series in each of the last two seasons, winning both games at UBS by 3-2 scores (and both games out west by 5-2 scores).

Los Angeles has opened the season with 11 straight road wins, an NHL record; they are only the fifth team to win eleven straight road games at any point of the season. The Kings will also be looking to tie the all-time NHL record road winning streak (12), set by Detroit in 2005-06 and equaled by Minnesota in 2014-15.

The teams will meet in Los Angeles on March 11th 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