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The Skinny: Seattle 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny"  By Eric Hornick Game 27 Seattle 5, Isles 2 Vince Dunn set up two goals in the first period and then scored the event...

Tuesday, January 09, 2024

The Skinny: Vancouver 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 40
Vancouver 5, Isles 2
Filip Hronek and Quinn Hughes scored 2:17 apart late in the first period to break a scoreless tie and the Isles could never get even, dropping a 5-2 decision to the Vancouver Canucks before a crowd of 15,690 at UBS Arena. 

Brock Nelson had both goals for the Isles, who suffered consecutive regulation losses for the first time in two months.

The Isles fall to 18-12-10 on the season; they are tied with Philadelphia for third place in the Metro but technically fall into the first wild card spot. The Isles host Toronto on Thursday to conclude this short homestand.

The Scoring:
1st Period
Filip Hronek (3) Ilya Mikheyev (12), Conor Garland (14) 16:25 VAN 1,NYI 0 
Quinn Hughes (11) 18:42 VAN 2,NYI 0

2nd Period
Elias Pettersson (20) J.T. Miller (36) 10:20 VAN 3,NYI 0
Brock Nelson (18) Kyle Palmieri (13), Mathew Barzal (30) 11:11 VAN 3,NYI 1 PPG
Tyler Myers (3) Teddy Blueger (12), Conor Garland (15)17:24 VAN 4,NYI 1 

3rd Period
Brock Nelson (19) 15:15 VAN 4,NYI 2
Dakota Joshua (11)EN 18:32 VAN 5,NYI 2

The Skinny    
The Isles are 1-3-1 in their last five games and are 2-4-1 since the Christmas break…Brock Nelson now has 497 points in 798 career games; it was his 4th two-goal game of the season…Mathew Barzal extended his point streak to four games with his 18th point in 11 career games against Vancouver… Noah Dobson led the Isles with 24:39 of ice-time but saw his streak of playing at least 25 minutes end at a  club-record 21 games…. The Isles' defense has 36 points in the last seventeen games and have 13 points in the last eight games (6-7-13)…The Isles have outscored their opponents 35-24 in the first period but have been outscored 52-44 in the second period and 56-43 in the third period and overtime this season…The Isles have been outscored 14-5 in the second period since the Christmas break …The Isles are 1-9-1 when they trail after two periods …. Ilya Sorokin appeared in a season-high eighth straight game; he appeared in ten straight games last season….Adam Pelech played 17:33 in first game back after missing 20 games with an injury…With tonight's results, only two points celebrate the teams ranked 6th-12th in the Eastern Conference….Vancouver now had 121 points from the defense, which is one shy of the NHL lead (Colorado)…Quinn Hughes has twelve points (4-8-12) in seven games against the Isles…The Canucks extended their NHL lead in wins when scoring first (21-5-1) and when leading after two periods (24-0-0)…It was the 15th time this season that the Canucks won by three goals or more.

The Injury
Casey Cizikas left the game after playing 0:11 in the 2nd period. He had blocked a shot in the first period.

First Times in a Long Time
The Isles allowed goals to three opposing defensemen for the first time since December 14, 2017 (Seth Jones, Markus Nutivaara, and Zach Werenski for CBJ)
Noah Dobson (32) and Mathew Barzal (30) each have at least 30 assists in the team's first 40 games. Isles had not had teammates do that since 1984-85, when Brent Sutter (39), Bossy (38) and Tonelli (30) all did.
Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek scored in both Islander -Canuck games this season. They are only the second set of opposing defensemen teammates to score twice against the Isles in the last seven seasons (Cale Makar and Devon Toews two seasons ago for Colorado).
It was the first time all season the Isles trailed by multiple goals after one period and the first time they have trailed by multiple goals at home after 1 period with Lambert as coach.

Beasts of the East
The Isles are tied for the most points, and have the 2nd-best record, in the Eastern Conference since November 15:
Florida 16-8-1 (33 points .660)
Isles 13-6-7  (33 points; .635)
Rangers 15-9-1 (31 points; .620)
Philadelphia 13-7-5 (31 points; .620)
Carolina 13-7-5 (31 points; .620)

Building on a Lead
The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 31 times this season:
Score the next goal: 7 times
Allowed the next goal: 22 times
Game ended with 2-goal difference: twice 

Road Warriors
The Isles are in a stretch where they are playing eight out of ten games on the road; they are 1-3-1 in this stretch:
12/31 @ Pittsburgh (3-1 L)
1/2 @ Colorado      (5-4 OTL)
1/4 @ Arizona        (5-1 W)
1/6 @ Vegas          (5-2 L)
1/ 9 Vs. Vancouver(5-2 L)
1/11 Vs. Toronto
1/13 @ Nashville
1/15 @ Minnesota
1/16 @ Winnipeg
1/19 @ Chicago

The Isles are starting the new year with 17 straight inter-division games; they will play only two division foes in their first 30 games (February 18 vs NYR at MetLife, February 20 at Pittsburgh) of 2024.

Fewest Regulation Losses Thru 40 Games (Post-Cup era)
10 (2020-21; 26-10-4)
12 (2023-24; 18-12-10) 
12 (2019-20; 25-12-3)
13 (2014-15; 26-13-1)
13 (2001-02; 20-13-5-2)
13 (2015-16; 22-13-5)

Overtime Is Our Time
The Isles have played 14 overtime games. They are 3-7 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-3 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 2-6 in overtime and 1-2 in shootouts, while Semyon Varlamov is 1-1 in overtime and 0-1 in shootouts. 

The NHL record for overtime games is 30, played by Boston in 2003-04. The Isles are on pace to play 29 overtime games.

The Isles have won 14 of the last 38 games decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).

Most OT/SO Losses Thru 40 Games
10 (2023-24)
8 (2016-17)
The Isles played 11 ties through 39 games in 1973-74 and 9 ties through 39 games in 1974-75. In 1985-86, the Isles played 9 ties and also lost once in overtime.

Most OT/SO Losses Thru 40 Games (since 2000) in NHL
Dallas 11 (2009-10)
Dallas 11 (2021)
Isles 10 (2023-24)
Tampa Bay 10 (2009-10)
Tampa Bay 10 (2008-09)
New Jersey 10 (2013)

Killing Their Own PP
The Isles have taken a penalty to interrupt their power play thirteen times this season.

Power Play Up; Penalty Killing Down
The Isles have scored 26 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.
The Isles have allowed 33 power play goals; they allowed 39 all last season. Only 11 of those 39 were at home; the Isles have already allowed 14 home power play goals this season.

Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,865
2. Matt Martin 3,750

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  18-12-10 for 46 points in 40 games
2022-23  22-16-2 for 46 points in 40 games

Offense from Defense
Today:   0-0-0
Season: 16-60-76
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.

Lots of Work for Sorokin
Most shots against:
Ilya Sorokin 971
Alexandar Georgiev 923
Jusse Saros 900
Thatcher Demko 873

By comparison, the Kings goalies have faced only 968 shots.

No goalie has ever played the full season for the Islanders and led the NHL in this category; Kelly Hrudey led the NHL in 1988-89; he was traded at the deadline to Los Angeles.

Varly, Varly
Semyon Varlamov has 40 career shutouts and 278 career wins. Among active NHL goalies (and excluding Carey Price, who is technically still active), Varlamov is 6th in wins and tied-third in shutouts.

All-time Goalie Wins
50. Brian Elliott 279
51. Semyon Varlamov 278
52. Marty Turco 275

Home and Road
The Isles are 18-12-10 overall; they are 10-5-6 at home and 8-7-4 on the road.
Vancouver is 27-11-3 overall; they are 14-4-1 at home and 13-7-2 on the road.

East and West
The Isles are 12-7-6 against the East (7-4-4 vs. Metropolitan and 5-3-2 vs. Atlantic) and 6-5-4 against the West (2-2-1 vs. Central and 4-3-3 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 103 games at UBS Arena and recorded 70 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 1,424
3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First
The Isles are 12-2-8 when scoring first and are 6-10-1 when allowing the opening goal. They are 0-0-1 when the game heads to a shootout following a scoreless tie.

The Shots
Isles        11-4-5=20
Vancouver  11-17-6=34
The Isles are 6-3-3 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 11-8-7 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves; he is 12-8-8 on the season and 2-2-1 vs. Vancouver. 
Casey DeSmith made 18 saves; he is 7-3-2 on the season and 4-2-1 vs. the Isles. 

Special Teams
The Isles were 1-2 on the power play (2:32); Vancouver was 0-4 on the power play (7:50, including a :10 5-on-3).
The Isles are 10-5-6 when they score at least one power play goal and 8-7-4 when they do not. The Isles are 7-6-7 when they allow at least one power play goal and 11-6-3 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 16-3-8 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-9-2 when they do not. Under Lane Lambert the Isles are 51-9-12 when scoring at least three goals.

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 11-1-10 in games decided by a single goal including 7-1 in regulation. They are 3-7 in games decided in overtime and are 1-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-3 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     
The Isles are 2-0-3 in the front end and 0-2-3 in the back end this season. The next set of back-to-backs will be on January 15th in Minnesota and January 16th in Winnipeg; the following back-to-back set will be on March 10th in Anaheim and March 11th in Los Angeles. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Noah Dobson (24:39);  Vancouver: Quinn Hughes (24:33)
Mathew Barzal led Islander forwards with 21:36 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (14-10-7), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).

Face-offs
Isles 29, Vancouver 21 (58%)
Bo Horvat won 13 of 20 for the Isles; JT Miller won 11 of 17 for Vancouver. 

Hit Count
Isles 22 (Matt Martin -7)
Vancouver 14 (Nikita Zadorov -3)

Fights 
None. Season total: 5 (Martin 2, Pelech 1, Lee 1, Mayfield 1)
 
Blocked Shots
Isles 17 (Sebastian Aho and Alexander Romanov -3)
Vancouver 10 (Two with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 34, Vancouver 64
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 31, Vancouver 47
 
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Kyle Palmieri and Pierre Engvall +11
Vancouver: Grigori Denisenko +13

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 6, Vancouver 14
5-on-5: Isles 6, Vancouver 9

Scratches
(Ryan Pulock-LTIR), (Robert Bortuzzo -INJ), (Semyon Varlamov -IR), Hudson Fasching, Oliver Wahlstrom, Samuel Bolduc
Games Lost to injury: 84

The Ironmen
Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 152 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (124) is the only other Islander to have played at least 100 consecutive games:

Challenges
Isles: 2 successful, 2 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2), OTT offside (11/24), LA no goalie interference (12/9), VGK no goalie interference (1/6)

Opponents: 1 successful, 2 failures – BUF no offside  (10/21), CAR no high-stick (11/30); ANA goalie interference (12/13)

Quickies
The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute five times this season (three times at home – CBJ 12/7 x2, WSH 12/29, and twice on road-@OTT 11/24, @ARI 1/4) and allowed two in the same span five times (COL 10/25 x2, MIN 11/8, @MTL 12/16, PIT 12/27)

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 two goals and have allowed four goals in the final three minutes of the third period to tie or go-ahead:
For (2: Bo Horvat 10/20 vs NJ 18:49 (Isles lost in OT); Simon Holmstrom 12/13 vs ANA 18:27 (GWG)
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 (6):   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; Dylan Strome (WAS) 12/20; Nathan MacKinnon (COL) 1/2

Shootout Winners
For (1):  Oliver Wahlstrom (Vs CGY) 11/18
Vs (3):  Kailer Yamamoto (SEA) 11/16, Tyson Foerster (PHI) 11/25, David Pastrnak (BOS) 12/15

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 798 *** 8. Matt Martin 785 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 784 *** 10. Mike Bossy 752 *** 11. Anders Lee 718 *** Patrick Flatley 712 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. Cal Clutterbuck 676

Goals    
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 260 *** 9. Anders Lee 251 …
23. Alexei Yashin and Frans Nielsen 119 *** 25. Steve Thomas, Matt Moulson and Mark Parrish 118 *** 28. Ray Ferraro and Mathew Barzal 116 *** 30.Benoit Hogue and Ed Westfall 105 *** 32. Anthony Beauvillier and Casey Cizikas 102

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …
11. Bob Bourne 304 *** 12. Derek King 288 *** 13. Mathew Barzal 287…
16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249  *** 18. Brock Nelson 237…
22. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 23. Anders Lee 182…
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…
11. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 12. Derek King 499 *** 13. Brock Nelson 495 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 433 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 403…
32. Ray Ferraro 238 *** 33. Travis Green 237 *** 34. Casey Cizikas 233

+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +82 ***  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. Noah Dobson 36

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. Noah Dobson 123…
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. Noah Dobson 159… 
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 164 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 149

Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
6. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 7. Ilya Sorokin 82 *** 8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Glenn Healy 66 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 65

Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 18 *** 
4. Rick DiPietro 16 *** 5. Semyon Varlamov 15

On the Farm  
Ruslan Iskhahov scored his 4th overtime goal of the season as Bridgeport improved to 10-19-3-0 on the season with a 3-2 overtime win over Charlotte on Sunday. Iskhakov has a point in eight straight games and leads the team in goals (12), assists (16) and points (28). 

The Baby Isles host Springfield on Wednesday. 

Season Series Stats
Vancouver wins the season series 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 1). 

The Isles are 2-4-2 in their last eight games against Vancouver, including three straight regulation losses in games at UBS Arena. It is the first time since 1993-1995 that the Canucks have won three straight in regulation vs. the Isles in New York.

UP NEXT
THURSDAY, JANUARY 10th —TORONTO AT ISLANDERS  – 7:00pm ET
[ESPN, WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].
The Isles look to snap the losing streak as they welcome the Toronto Maple Leafs back to UBS Arena for a nationally-televised game.

The Isles beat Toronto 4-3 in overtime on December 11th, as Bo Horvat scored in the extra session after former Islander John Tavares' 1000th point tied the game with seconds to play.

The Isles will be looking for their third straight win over the Leafs; that has not happened since 2010.

The teams will meet on February 6th at the Air Canada Centre to conclude the season series.

Mike Monaco, AJ Mleczko and Emily Kaplan will have the call for ESPN.

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

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