The Skinny: Florida 3, Isles 0

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 76

Florida 3, Isles 0

James Reimer made 32 saves and Keith Yandle added a goal and an assist as the Florida Panthers blanked the Isles 3-0 before a crowd of 10,951 at Barclays Center.

The loss mathematically eliminated the Islanders from playoff consideration for the second straight season.

 

The Isles are 5-14-1 at home in 2018.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

11:38 Florida Keith Yandle (8) ASST: Evgenii Dadonov (34), Aleksander Barkov (49) 1-0

2ND PERIOD

01:47 Florida PPG - Nick Bjugstad (18) ASST: Jamie McGinn (13), Aaron Ekblad (18) 2-0

06:09 Florida Evgenii Dadonov (24) ASST: Keith Yandle (44), James Reimer (1) 3-0

3RD PERIOD

No Scoring

The Skinny  

Isles are 16-28-8 since December 1st and fall a season-low four games below NHL-.500 (31-35-10) …John Tavares' point streak ended at five games (1-8-9) … Anders Lee's point streak ended at four games (5-1-6) …The Isles went 0-4 on the power play despite having 11 shots on goal.  The power play is still operating at 22.0%; the Isles haven't converted 20% of their power plays over a full season since 1993-94 (20.1%)… The Panthers blanked the Isles for the first time since October 8, 2011 as they improve to 10-3-1 in March and 20-6-1 in their last 27 games... The Isles are 2-10-4 in their last 16 games…James Reimer has won five straight starts; he has reached 20 wins for the first time since his rookie season (2010-11) … Keith Yandle played in his 707th consecutive game (longest active streak) …Micheal Haley played his 200th NHL game.

Lottery Update

In addition to their own picks, the Isles own Calgary's first two picks in the upcoming entry draft.  The Flames were also eliminated from playoff contention on Monday night. At the end of play Monday, the Isles held the 8th and 12th picks heading into the upcoming draft lottery.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with a team-leading 56 assists and 76 points in 76 games, he is on pace for 60 assists and 82 points: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. MATHEW BARZAL 56 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 76 2017-18 

Denis Potvin is the only rookie to ever lead the Isles in assists; Billy Harris, Potvin, Trent Hunter (tied) and John Tavares are the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in points.

Nice Company

Mathew Barzal is one of only six rookies since 1983-84 with at least 56 assists in a season.   

1. Joe Juneau BOS 1992-93 70

2. Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 63

3. Sergei Makarov CGY 1989-90 62

4. Mario Lemieux PIT 1984-85 57

5. Teemu Selanne WPG 1992-93 56

MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 56

He is also one of only six rookies since 2000-01 with at least 76 points.

More points by a rookie: last 18 seasons

1 Alex Ovechkin WSH 2005-06 106

2 Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 102

3 Evgeni Malkin PIT 2006-07   85

4 Paul Stastny COL 2006-07   78

5 Artemi Panarin CHI 2015-16   77

6 MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18   76

33 Goal Club

Anders Lee has 38 goals and John Tavares has 33.  They are the first Islander teammates with at least 33 goals since Pierre Turgeon, Steve Thomas and Benoit Hogue all did so in 1993-94 and the first to combine for at least 71 goals since Ziggy Palffy (48) and Bryan Smolinski (28) had 76 in 1996-97.

38 Goal Club

Anders Lee is only the 3rd Islander in the last 20 years to score 38 goals in a season:

1. Jason Blake 40 2006-07

2. John Tavares 38 2014-15

      ANDERS LEE 38 2017-18

Lee is also the first Islander with multiple 34+ goal seasons since Ziggy Palffy (1995-76 to 1997-78). 

56 Helpers

Mathew Barzal has 56 assists; it's the most by an Islander since Pierre Turgeon also had 56 assists in 1993-94.  Turgeon had 74 helpers in 1992-93, which is the most by an Islander in the Post-Cup era.

Two Over 50

Barzal and Josh Bailey are the first Islander teammates with more than 50 assists since Mike Bossy (62) and Bryan Trottier (59) did so in 1985-86.

Pulock Moving up on Rookie Season Lists Too!

Pulock has 9 goals on the season; only two rookie defensemen (Denis Potvin-17 and Vladimir Malakhov-14) have scored more goals.  Ken Leiter, Chris Campoli and Tomas Jonsson also finished their rookie seasons with 9 goals.

Four of Pulock's goals have come on the power play.  Among Islander rookie defensemen, only Malakhov (7) and Potvin (6) have more.  Ken Leiter also scored four power play goals as a rookie.

Pulock is only the 8th Islander rookie defenseman to record 29 points in his rookie season. Ken Leiter also had 29 points.

Three's Company

Mathew Barzal has eight games of at least three points this season (five games with three points and three games with five points). Since 1993-94, only Sidney Crosby (11 times), Artemi Panarin (10 times) and Alex Ovechkin (8 times) have done so as often in their rookie seasons.

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals 11 times at home (9-2-0) and 19 times overall (17-2-0). The Isles have also scored two shootout winners for a fifth goal of the game (not included above). 

Five's Trouble

The Isles have allowed at least five goals 12 times at home (1-9-2) and 21 times overall (1-18-2).  

First Things First

The Isles have scored first 34 times this season (21-8-5). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season but are only 10-8-5 in the last 23 games that they scored first.

First Goal 

The Isles are 21-8-5 when they score first and are 10-27-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    10-11-11=32

Florida 16-19-6=41

The Isles are 8-14-5 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 23-20-5 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Home and Road

The Islanders are 31-35-10 overall; 17-17-4 at home and 14-18-6 on the road.  

Florida is 39-28-7 overall; 23-11-3 at home and 16-17-4 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 11-12-2 in Division games and 20-23-8 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 18-25-3 against the East and 13-10-7 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 17-17-4 at home; they are 10-13-0 against the East and 7-4-4 against the West.  However, after opening the season 8-0-2 on home ice, the Isles are 9-17-2 in their last 28 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets

Christopher Gibson made 38 saves but falls to 2-2-2 on the season in his first career appearance against Florida. 

James Reimer made 32 saves and improves to 20-13-5 on the season and 5-2-2 in his career against the Isles. Reimer recorded his 21st career shutout and first against the Islanders.

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-4 on the power play in 7:24 of PP time; Florida was 1-6 on the power play in 10:22 of PP time.

The Isles are 18-14-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-21-7 when they do not.  The Isles are 16-24-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 15-11-7 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 29-13-5 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-22-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 12-9-10 in games decided by a single goal including 3-9 in regulation. They are 6-7 in games decided in overtime and are 3-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-4 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 6-9-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-8-1 on the back-end.   This back-to-back set concludes on Tuesday in Ottawa. The final back-to-back set of the season will be on March 30th vs. Florida and March 31st in New Jersey.

 

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 2-4-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 6-2-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 3-4-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 19-25-9 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (20:22); Florida: Keith Yandle (23:58)

John Tavares led Isles forwards with 19:15 of ice-time.

Face-offs

Isles 30, Florida 31 (49%).

Brock Nelson won 6 of 10 for the Isles; Vincent Trocheck won 10 of 13 for Florida.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 9/20; 2nd period 12/25; 3rd period 9/16.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 17/41, Power play 6/8, Penalty kill 7/12.

Hit Count

Isles 14 (4 with 2)  

Florida 14 (3 with 2)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 14: (Johnston 4, Boychuk 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1, Clutterbuck 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 17 shots (Adam Pelech-4))

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 58, Florida 77 

5-on-5 Isles 41, Florida 51

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Brock Nelson +5

Florida: Mike Matheson +11

Night and Day 

The Isles are 27-34-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.   All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen

Nick Leddy 153, Anders Lee 112, Brock Nelson 89, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 76.

Top 5 Club

Nick Leddy now holds the fifth longest consecutive game streak in Islander history for a defenseman: 

1. Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979 262

2. Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220 (*) (**)

3. Gerry Hart 3/1/1975-11/22/1977 198

4. Andrew MacDonald 12/19/2011- 3/2/2014 164 (**)

5. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 153

(*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Scott Mayfield - IR), (Thomas Greiss-IR), (Alan Quine-IR), Casey Cizikas-INJ, Dennis Seidenberg 

Total games lost: 290

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored five times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:

10/9 – STL Blues – Anders Lee (19:00); tied game, but Isles lost in shootout

12/7 – PIT Penguins – Brock Nelson (18:50); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

12/27- BUF Sabres – Josh Bailey (18:51); tied game, and Isles won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime

3/5 – VAN Canucks – Jordan Eberle (18:56); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal six times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:

12/16 – LA Kings – Anze Kopitar (19:47); tied game, but Isles won in overtime

12/21—ANA Ducks – Rickard Rakell (18:45); tied game and Ducks won in overtime

2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime

2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game

3/9 – EDM Oilers – Connor McDavid (18:10); tied game and Oilers won in shootout

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.

• 10/10 vs STL Blues – unsuccessful; Isles killed ensuing power play.

• 10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful

• 1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 

• 2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

The opponents have not yet challenged an Islander goal due to an offside this season.

7-11

The Isles have used 7 defensemen four times this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ, 1/16 vs. NJ, 3/2 vs. MTL) and are 2-2-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-2-0 when they dress seven natural defensemen.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900 

…

6. Mike Bossy 752 *** 7.  Patrick Flatley 712 *** 8. Josh Bailey 711*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 663

Goals

1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 *** 4. Clark Gillies 304***

5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. John Tavares 268

…

17. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Josh Bailey 124 *** 20. Anders Lee 122 

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553*** 4. Clark Gillies 359***

5.  John Tavares 347

…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Josh Bailey 251

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052 *** 4. Clark Gillies 663 ***

5.  John Tavares 615

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 375 

Games Played (Goalies)

1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 *** 4. Kelly Hrudey 241 ***

5. Tommy Salo 187 *** 6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 175 

…

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 115

Wins (Goalie)

1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130***4. Kelly Hrudey 106 ***

5. Jaroslav Halak 86 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 

9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats

Florida wins the season series two games to one (and five points to two). 

Florida has won four of the five regular season games in Brooklyn between the teams, but the Isles won all three playoff games at Barclays Center in 2016.

On the Farm

Bridgeport improved to 32-26-5-3 with 6-3 win in Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Sunday.  Travis St. Denis and Ryan Bourque each scored a pair of goals while Eamon McAdam made 24 saves.

 

St. Denis leads the team in both goals (22) and points (41). Christopher Gibson (on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

Bridgeport closes out March with three games in four days.  The Sound Tigers host Hershey on Wednesday before heading to Springfield on Friday and Hartford on Saturday.

 

Up Next

TUESDAY, MARCH 27th –ISLANDERS AT OTTAWA 7:30PM 

[MSG+ (Islander pre-game at 7:00PM), WNYM 970AM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

The Islanders head to the Canadian Capital for a game with Ottawa on Tuesday.  The teams have split a pair of games this season with the road team winning both games.  

The Isles won 2-1 in Ottawa on November 25th; it's one of only two games that the Isles have won when two goals or fewer, but it was the Sens' 6-5 win on December 1st in Brooklyn that put an end to the Isles' 8-0-2 home start.

This is the Isles' final game in Canada this season; the Isles are 3-3-3 North of the Border so far this year.

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

The Skinny: Chicago 3, Isles 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 75

Chicago 3, Isles 1

Anton Forsberg made 31 saves and came within 2:42 of his first career shutout as the Chicago Blackhawks broke a five-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Isles before a crowd of 13,091 at Barclays Center.

John Tavares scored his 33rd goal for the only Islander goal, but a Brent Seabrook empty-netter put the game away.

 

The Isles are 5-13-1 at home in 2018.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

No Scoring

2ND PERIOD

02:36 Chicago PPG - Patrick Kane (26) ASST: Patrick Sharp (11), Erik Gustafsson (9) 0-1

04:25 Chicago Brandon Saad (17) ASST: Jordan Oesterle (10), Jan Rutta (14) 0-2

3RD PERIOD

17:18 New York John Tavares (33) ASST: Anders Lee (21), Thomas Hickey (17) 1-21

18:46 Chicago EN - Brent Seabrook (6) 1-3

The Skinny  

Isles are 16-27-8 since December 1st and fall three games below NHL-.500 (31-34-10) for the first time since ending the 2013-14 season with a 34-37-11 record … Ryan Pulock saw his five-game point streak end.  His 29 points rank second among Islander defensemen, behind Nick Leddy's 41…John Tavares extended his point streak to five games (1-8-9) and extended his team-leading point total to 78 (two more than Mathew Barzal…Barzal's point streak ended at five games… The Isles went 0-2 on the power play after scoring nine power play goals (in 18 attempts) in the prior four games.  The power play is still operating at 22.4%; the Isles haven't converted 20% of their power plays since the 1993-94 season (20.1%)… Anders Lee has a point in four straight games (5-1-6)…Brent Seabrook played his 998th game and Duncan Keith played his 989th game (all with Chicago)…The Blackhawks are 20-0-0 when allowing 1 goal or fewer but are only 11-36-9 when allowing two or more.

Pushed to the Brink

The Isles "tragic number" for playoff elimination has fallen to 1.  The Isles will be eliminated with their next loss (or shootout win) or by any point earned by New Jersey.

Lottery Update

In addition to their own picks, the Isles own Calgary's first two picks in the upcoming entry draft.  The Flames' tragic number is four, and Calgary could be eliminated as early as Monday.  At the end of play Saturday, the Isles held the 8th and 12th picks heading into the upcoming draft lottery.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with a team-leading 56 assists and 77 points in 75 games, he is on pace for 61 assists and 84 points: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. MATHEW BARZAL 56 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 76 2017-18 

Denis Potvin is the only rookie to ever lead the Isles in assists; Billy Harris, Potvin, Trent Hunter (tied) and John Tavares are the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in points.

Nice Company

Mathew Barzal is one of only six rookies since 1983-84 with at least 56 assists in a season.   

1. Joe Juneau BOS 1992-93 70

2. Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 63

3. Sergei Makarov CGY 1989-90 62

4. Mario Lemieux PIT 1984-85 57

5. Teemu Selanne WPG 1992-93 56

MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 56

He is also one of only six rookies since 2000-01 with at least 76 points.

More points by a rookie: last 18 seasons

1 Alex Ovechkin WSH2005-06 106

2 Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 102

3 Evgeni Malkin PIT 2006-07   85

4 Paul Stastny COL 2006-07   78

5 Artemi Panarin CHI 2015-16   77

6 MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18   76

33 Goal Club

Anders Lee has 38 goals and John Tavares has 33.  They are the first Islander teammates with at least 33 goals since Pierre Turgeon, Steve Thomas and Benoit Hogue all did so in 1993-94 and the first to combine for at least 71 goals since Ziggy Palffy (48) and Bryan Smolinski (28) had 76 in 1996-97.

38 Goal Club

Anders Lee is only the 3rd Islander in the last 20 years to score 38 goals in a season:

1. Jason Blake 40 2006-07

2. John Tavares 38 2014-15

      ANDERS LEE 38 2017-18

Lee is also the first Islander with multiple 34+ goal seasons since Ziggy Palffy (1995-76 to 1997-78). 

56 Helpers

Mathew Barzal has 56 assists; it's the most by an Islander since Pierre Turgeon also had 56 assists in 1993-94.  Turgeon had 74 helpers in 1992-93, which is the most by an Islander in the Post-Cup era.

Two Over 50

Barzal and Josh Bailey are the first Islander teammates with more than 50 assists since Mike Bossy (62) and Bryan Trottier (59) did so in 1985-86.

Pulock Moving up on Rookie Season Lists Too!

Pulock has 9 goals on the season; only two rookie defensemen (Denis Potvin-17 and Vladimir Malakhov-14) have scored more goals.  Ken Leiter, Chris Campoli and Tomas Jonsson also finished their rookie seasons with 9 goals.

Four of Pulock's goals have come on the power play.  Among Islander rookie defensemen, only Malakhov (7) and Potvin (6) have more.  Ken Leiter also scored four power play goals as a rookie.

Pulock is only the 8th Islander rookie defenseman to record 29 points in his rookie season. Ken Leiter also had 29 points.

Three's Company

Mathew Barzal has eight games of at least three points this season (five games with three points and three games with five points). Since 1993-94, only Sidney Crosby (11 times), Artemi Panarin (10 times) and Alex Ovechkin (8 times) have done so as often in their rookie seasons.

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals 11 times at home (9-2-0) and 19 times overall (17-2-0). The Isles have also scored two shootout winners for a fifth goal of the game (not included above). 

Five's Trouble

The Isles have allowed at least five goals 12 times at home (1-9-2) and 21 times overall (1-18-2).  

First Things First

The Isles have scored first 34 times this season (21-8-5). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season but are only 10-8-5 in the last 23 games that they scored first.

First Goal 

The Isles are 21-8-5 when they score first and are 10-26-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    10-8-14=32

Chicago 9-10-6=25

The Isles are 8-14-5 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 23-19-5 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Home and Road

The Islanders are 31-34-10 overall; 17-16-4 at home and 14-18-6 on the road.  

Chicago is 31-36-9 overall; 17-17-4 at home and 14-19-5 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 11-12-2 in Division games and 20-22-8 in games versus other divisions.  The Isles are 18-24-3 against the East and 13-10-7 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 17-16-4 at home; they are 10-12-0 against the East and 7-4-4 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 28-8-7 all-time at Barclays against the West.  However, after opening the season 9-0-2 on home ice, the Isles are 8-16-2 in their last 26 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves but falls to 18-26-6 on the season and 8-2-3 in his career against Chicago. Halak is 0-8-2 in his last 10 decisions.

Anton Forsberg made 31 saves and improves to 10-16-3 on the season and 1-3-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play in 4:00 of PP time; Chicago was 1-2 on the power play in 2:33 of PP time.

The Isles are 18-14-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-20-7 when they do not.  The Isles are 16-23-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 15-11-7 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 29-13-5 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-21-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 12-9-10 in games decided by a single goal including 3-9 in regulation. They are 6-7 in games decided in overtime and are 3-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-4 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 6-8-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-8-1 on the back-end. The next back-to-back set will be on March 26th vs. Florida and March 27th in Ottawa.

 

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 2-4-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 6-2-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 3-4-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 19-24-9 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Mathew Barzal (20:20); Chicago: Brent Seabrook (21:00)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:20 of ice-time.

Face-offs

Isles 23, Chicago 20 (53%).

Mathew Barzal won 9 of 10 for the Isles; David Kampf won 7 of 9 for Chicago.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 8/14; 2nd period 8/16; 3rd period 7/13.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 18/36, Power play 1/3, Penalty kill 4/4.

Hit Count

Isles 13 (Tanner Fritz -3)  

Chicago 7 (7 with 1)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 14: (Johnston 4, Boychuk 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1, Clutterbuck 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 19 shots (Thomas Hickey-5)

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 53, Chicago 49 (Including 25-12 in the Isles' favor in the 3rd period)

5-on-5 Isles 37, Chicago 44

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Three with +4

Chicago: Patrick Kane +10

Night and Day 

The Isles are 27-33-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.   All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen

Nick Leddy 152, Anders Lee 111, Brock Nelson 88, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 75.

Top 5 Club

Nick Leddy now holds the fifth longest consecutive game streak in Islander history for a defenseman: 

1. Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979 262

2. Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220 (*) (**)

3. Gerry Hart 3/1/1975-11/22/1977 198

4. Andrew MacDonald 12/19/2011- 3/2/2014 164 (**)

5. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 152

(*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Scott Mayfield - IR), (Thomas Greiss-IR), (Alan Quine-IR), Dennis Seidenberg, Chris Wagner 

Total games lost: 282

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored five times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:

10/9 – STL Blues – Anders Lee (19:00); tied game, but Isles lost in shootout

12/7 – PIT Penguins – Brock Nelson (18:50); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

12/27- BUF Sabres – Josh Bailey (18:51); tied game, and Isles won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime

3/5 – VAN Canucks – Jordan Eberle (18:56); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal six times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:

12/16 – LA Kings – Anze Kopitar (19:47); tied game, but Isles won in overtime

12/21—ANA Ducks – Rickard Rakell (18:45); tied game and Ducks won in overtime

2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime

2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game

3/9 – EDM Oilers – Connor McDavid (18:10); tied game and Oilers won in shootout

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.

• 10/10 vs STL Blues – unsuccessful; Isles killed ensuing power play.

• 10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful

• 1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 

• 2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

The opponents have not yet challenged an Islander goal due to an offside this season.

7-11

The Isles have used 7 defensemen four times this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ, 1/16 vs. NJ, 3/2 vs. MTL) and are 2-2-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-2-0 when they dress seven natural defensemen.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900 

…

7.  Patrick Flatley 712 *** 8. Josh Bailey 710*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 662

Goals

1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 *** 4. Clark Gillies 304***

5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. John Tavares 268

…

18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Josh Bailey 123 *** 20. Anders Lee 122 

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553*** 4. Clark Gillies 359***

5.  John Tavares 347

…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Josh Bailey 251

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052 *** 4. Clark Gillies 663 ***

5.  John Tavares 615

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 374 

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 175 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 115

Wins (Goalie)

1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130***4. Kelly Hrudey 106 ***

5. Jaroslav Halak 86 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 

9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats

The teams split the season series one game to one (and two points to two). 

Chicago has won all three games that they have played at Barclays Center, including an overtime win in the Isles' first home game in Brooklyn.

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 31-26-5-3 following a 4-1 loss on Friday in Syracuse.  Casey Bailey scored the only Sound Tiger goal – it was his 15th goal of the season.  Travis St. Denis assisted on the goal to wrest the team scoring lead from Tanner Fritz, who was recalled on New Year's Day.

St. Denis leads the team in both goals (20) and points (38). Christopher Gibson (on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

Bridgeport visits Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Sunday afternoon.

Up Next

MONDAY, MARCH 26th –FLORIDA AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 

[MSG+ (Islander pre-game at 6:30PM), WFAN 660/101.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM]

The Florida Panthers are trying to track down New Jersey in the Eastern Conference playoff race and the Panthers will visit Barclays Center on Monday in the final game of the Isles' 5-game homestand.

The Panthers control their own destiny even though they trail New Jersey by three points; Florida has nine games to play while New Jersey has only seven.

Florida has won three of the four regular season games in Brooklyn between the teams but the Isles won all three playoff games at Barclays Center in 2016.

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

The Skinny: Tampa Bay 7, Isles 6

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 74

Tampa Bay 7, Isles 6

Ryan Pulock, Anders Lee and Anthony Beauvillier each scored twice, but it wasn't enough as the Isles dropped a 7-6 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning before a crowd of 10,354 at Barclays Center.

The Isles scored three unanswered goals in a 3:01 span to cut into a 7-3 Lightning advantage but couldn't find the equalizer.

 

The Isles are 5-12-1 at home in 2018.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

02:09 Tampa Bay Anthony Cirelli (3) ASST: Braydon Coburn (11), Yanni Gourde (33) 0-1

02:35 Tampa Bay Tyler Johnson (21) ASST: Chris Kunitz (13), Mikhail Sergachev (28) 0-2

10:24 New York PPG - Ryan Pulock (8) ASST: Jordan Eberle (27), John Tavares (44) 1-2

14:17 Tampa Bay Victor Hedman (14) ASST: Brayden Point (32), Ondrej Palat (23) 1-3

2ND PERIOD

02:43 Tampa Bay SHG - Brayden Point (28) ASST: Anthony Cirelli (5), Ryan McDonagh (25)1-4

03:20 New York PPG - Ryan Pulock (9) ASST: Anthony Beauvillier (12), Jordan Eberle (28)2-4

05:15 New York Anders Lee (37) ASST: Josh Bailey (50) 3-4

08:27 Tampa Bay J.T. Miller (19) ASST: Steven Stamkos (59), Braydon Coburn (12) 3-5

11:22 Tampa Bay PPG - Mikhail Sergachev (9) ASST: Yanni Gourde (34), Brayden Point (33)3-6

18:20 Tampa Bay PPG - J.T. Miller (20) ASST: Nikita Kucherov (58), Victor Hedman (41) 3-7

3RD PERIOD

01:35 New York PPG - Anders Lee (38) ASST: Josh Bailey (51), John Tavares (45) 4-7

03:21 New York Anthony Beauvillier (15) ASST: Jordan Eberle (29) 5-7

04:36 New York Anthony Beauvillier (16) ASST: Johnny Boychuk (11), Mathew Barzal (56)6-7

The Skinny  

Isles are 16-26-8 since December 1st and fall two games below NHL-.500 (31-33-10) … Ryan Pulock's 29 points rank second among Islander defensemen, behind Nick Leddy's 41; Pulock, who is 4th in scoring among NHL rookie defensemen, now has a point in five straight games.  Pulock is the first rookie defenseman in Islander history to score two power play goals in a game… Pulock is the first Islander rookie defenseman with at least 29 points since Chris Campoli …Mathew Barzal assisted on the final goal to extend his point streak to five games.,, The Isles scored three more times on the power play, giving them nine power play goals (in 18 attempts) in the last four games.  The power play is now operating at 22.6%; the Isles haven't converted 20% of their power plays since the 1993-94 season (20.1%)… Tampa Bay's Yanni Gourde is the only rookie in the NHL that has more points (58) than Barzal has assists (56) ..John Tavares has seven assists in the last three games; he now leads the team in scoring with 77 points, one ahead of Barzal…Josh Bailey recorded two assists, giving him 51 on the season and 251 in his Islander career. He is the 15th Islander to record at least 250 assists…The Isles allowed at least six goals for the 12th time this season; it's the first time that's happened since they allowed a half-dozen goals 16 times in 1995-96…Anders Lee has five goals in the last three games and has an NHL-best 19 goals in the third period…Tampa scored four goals in the second period, giving them an NHL-high 102 in the middle session this year; the Isles have allowed 98 goals in 2nd period… It was the first time the Isles have allowed seven goals in the first two periods of a home game since March 21, 2000…Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded his 83rd win, tying Nikolay Khabibulin for 2nd on the Lightning list…Anthony Beauvillier recorded his 4th two-goal game of the season…Jon Cooper recorded his 239th win, tying John Tortorella's club record…JT Miller's first goal was the 263rd of the season for the Lightning, establishing a new club record…The Lightning are 12-2-1 in their last 15 games, and established a club record with their 51st win... It's only the second time this season the Isles have allowed 7 goals in a game (3/15 – Washington).

What a Night for Ryan Pulock

Ryan Pulock rewrote the Islander rookie record book tonight as he became the first rookie defenseman in Islander history to score two power play goals.  Pulock, who played a career-high 23:57, also finished with nine shots on goal.  The nine shots on goal matched Bryan Berard's record for an Islander rookie defenseman (1-10-1997 at Pittsburgh).  Pulock's 2 goals tied the Islander rookie record for defensemen set by Denis Potvin and matched once by Vladimir Malakhov and twice by Scott Lachance.

Pulock Moving up on Rookie Season Lists Too!

Pulock now has 9 goals on the season; only two rookie defensemen (Denis Potvin-17 and Vladimir Malakhov-14) have scored more goals.  Ken Leiter, Chris Campoli and Tomas Jonsson also finished their rookie seasons with 9 goals.

Four of Pulock's goals have come on the power play.  Among Islander rookie defensemen, only Malakhov (7) and Potvin (6) have more.  Ken Leiter also scored four power play goals as a rookie.

Pulock is only the 8th Islander rookie defenseman to record 29 points in his rookie season. Ken Leiter also had 29 points.

Three x Two

Ryan Pulock, Anders Lee and Anthony Beauvillier are the first trio of Islanders to ever score twice each in a loss.  The last time the Isles had three players score two goals in a game was on January 12, 1993 against Calgary when Vladimir Malakhov, Scott Lachance and Iain Fraser all did so in an 8-2 victory. (Those were the two goals Fraser ever scored as an Islander)

22 x Two

Anders Lee recorded his 22nd career two-goal game (he has never had a hat trick).  Nine of the 22 have occurred this season, making Lee the first Islander since Ziggy Palffy in 1997-98 to have as many as nine multi-goal games.

Continuing to Climb the List

Anders Lee scored two more goals to move into 20th place on the all-time Isles goal scoring list.  He has scored five goals in the last three games, passing six former Islanders in the process.

Isles Goal List:

19. Josh Bailey 123

20. Anders Lee 122

21 Diane Sutter 120

22 Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 

24. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with a team-leading 56 assists and 77 points in 74 games, he is on pace for 62 assists and 85 points: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. MATHEW BARZAL 56 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 76 2017-18 

Denis Potvin is the only rookie to ever lead the Isles in assists; Billy Harris, Potvin, Trent Hunter (tied) and John Tavares are the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in points.

Nice Company

Mathew Barzal is one of only six rookies since 1983-84 with at least 56 assists in a season.   

1. Joe Juneau BOS 1992-93 70

2. Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 63

3. Sergei Makarov CGY 1989-90 62

4. Mario Lemieux PIT 1984-85 57

5. Teemu Selanne WPG 1992-93 56

MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 56

(With his assist tonight, he passed Chris Chelios and Nicklas Backstrom, both of whom had 55)

He is also one of only six rookies since 2000-01 with at least 76 points.

More points by a rookie: last 18 seasons

1 Alex Ovechkin WSH 2005-06 106

2 Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 102

3 Evgeni Malkin PIT 2006-07   85

4 Paul Stastny COL 2006-07   78

5 Artemi Panarin CHI 2015-16   77

6 MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18   76

32 Goal Club

Anders Lee has 38 goals and John Tavares has 32.  They are the first Islander teammates with at least 32 goals since Pierre Turgeon, Steve Thomas and Benoit Hogue all did so in 1993-94 and the first to combine for at least 70 goals since Ziggy Palffy (45) and Robert Reichel (25) did so in 1997-98.

38 Goal Club

Anders Lee is only the 3rd Islander in the last 20 years to score 38 goals in a season:

1. Jason Blake 40 2006-07

2. John Tavares 38 2014-15

      ANDERS LEE 38 2017-18

Lee is also the first Islander with multiple 34+ goal seasons since Ziggy Palffy (1995-76 to 1997-78). 

56 Helpers

Mathew Barzal has 56 assists; it's the most by an Islander since Pierre Turgeon also had 56 assists in 1993-94.  Turgeon had 74 helpers in 1992-93, which is the most by an Islander in the Post-Cup era.

Two Over 50

Barzal and Josh Bailey are the first Islander teammates with more than 50 assists since Mike Bossy (62) and Bryan Trottier (59) did so in 1985-86.

Three's Company

Mathew Barzal has eight games of at least three points this season (five games with three points and three games with five points). Since 1993-94, only Sidney Crosby (11 times), Artemi Panarin (10 times) and Alex Ovechkin (8 times) have done so as often in their rookie seasons.

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals 11 times at home (9-2-0) and 19 times overall (17-2-0). The Isles have also scored two shootout winners for a fifth goal of the game (not included above). 

Chili

The Isles have scored at least six goals nine times this season.  Prior to tonight, the Isles had won 45 straight games, dating back to 2005, when they score at least six times.  This is only the second regulation loss AT HOME in Isles history when they scored at least six goals (10-20-1981, 9-6 loss to Los Angeles).

Five's Trouble

The Isles have allowed at least five goals 12 times at home (1-9-2) and 21 times overall (1-18-2).  

First Things First

The Isles have scored first 34 times this season (21-8-5). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season but are only 10-8-5 in the last 23 games that they scored first.

First Goal 

The Isles are 21-8-5 when they score first and are 10-25-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles            11-16-14=41

Tampa Bay 16-10-10=36

The Isles are 8-13-5 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 23-19-5 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Home and Road

The Islanders are 31-33-10 overall; 17-15-4 at home and 14-18-6 on the road.  

Tampa Bay is 51-19-4 overall; 27-8-2 at home and 24-11-2 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 11-12-2 in Division games and 20-21-8 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 18-24-3 against the East and 13-9-7 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 17-15-4 at home; they are 10-12-0 against the East and 7-3-4 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 28-7-7 all-time at Barclays against the West.  However, after opening the season 9-0-2 on home ice, the Isles are 8-15-2 in their last 25 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets

Christopher Gibson made 18 saves before being pulled after Tampa Bay's 6th goal.  Jaroslav Halak stopped 11 of 12 in relief but is charged with the loss. He is now 18-25-6 on the season and 4-5-0 in his career against Tampa Bay. 

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves and improves to 42-14-3 on the season and 4-2-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 3-5 on the power play in 6:32 of PP time; Tampa Bay was 2-4 on the power play in 4:17 of PP time.

The Isles are 18-14-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-19-7 when they do not.  The Isles are 16-22-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 15-11-7 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 29-13-5 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-20-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 12-9-10 in games decided by a single goal including 3-9 in regulation. They are 6-7 in games decided in overtime and are 3-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-3 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 6-8-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-8-1 on the back-end. The next back-to-back set will be on March 26th vs. Florida and March 27th in Ottawa.

 

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 2-4-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 6-2-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 3-4-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 19-23-9 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (23:57); Tampa Bay: Victor Hedman (23:23)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:03 of ice-time.

Face-offs

Isles 40, Tampa Bay 27 (60%).

John Tavares won 17 of 24 for the Isles; Steven Stamkos won 10 of 15 for Tampa Bay.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 16/25; 2nd period 15/24; 3rd period 9/18.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 32/52, Power play 3/7, Penalty kill 5/8.

Hit Count

Isles 19 (Casey Cizikas -3)  

Tampa Bay 10 (JT Miller -3)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 14: (Johnston 4, Boychuk 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1, Clutterbuck 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 12 shots (Ryan Pulock-2)

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 68, Tampa Bay 58 

5-on-5 Isles 49, Tampa Bay 45

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Josh Bailey and Thomas Hickey +10

Tampa Bay: Anton Stralman +8

Night and Day 

The Isles are 27-32-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.   All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen

Nick Leddy 151, Anders Lee 110, Brock Nelson 87, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 74.

Top 5 Club

Nick Leddy now holds the fifth longest consecutive game streak in Islander history for a defenseman: 

1. Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979 262

2. Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220 (*) (**)

3. Gerry Hart 3/1/1975-11/22/1977 198

4. Andrew MacDonald 12/19/2011- 3/2/2014 164 (**)

5. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 151

(*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Scott Mayfield - IR), (Thomas Greiss-IR), (Alan Quine-IR), Brandon Davidson -INJ, Ross Johnston 

Total games lost: 276

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored five times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:

10/9 – STL Blues – Anders Lee (19:00); tied game, but Isles lost in shootout

12/7 – PIT Penguins – Brock Nelson (18:50); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

12/27- BUF Sabres – Josh Bailey (18:51); tied game, and Isles won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime

3/5 – VAN Canucks – Jordan Eberle (18:56); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal six times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:

12/16 – LA Kings – Anze Kopitar (19:47); tied game, but Isles won in overtime

12/21—ANA Ducks – Rickard Rakell (18:45); tied game and Ducks won in overtime

2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime

2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game

3/9 – EDM Oilers – Connor McDavid (18:10); tied game and Oilers won in shootout

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.

• 10/10 vs STL Blues – unsuccessful; Isles killed ensuing power play.

• 10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful

• 1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 

• 2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

The opponents have not yet challenged an Islander goal due to an offside this season.

7-11

The Isles have used 7 defensemen four times this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ, 1/16 vs. NJ, 3/2 vs. MTL) and are 2-2-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-2-0 when they dress seven natural defensemen.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900 

…

7.  Patrick Flatley 712 *** 8. Josh Bailey 709*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 661

Goals

1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 *** 4. Clark Gillies 304***

5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. John Tavares 267

…

18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Josh Bailey 123 *** 20. Anders Lee 122 

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553*** 4. Clark Gillies 359***

5.  John Tavares 347

…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Josh Bailey 251

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052 *** 4. Clark Gillies 663 ***

5.  John Tavares 614

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 374 

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 174 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 115

Wins (Goalie)

1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130***4. Kelly Hrudey 106 ***

5. Jaroslav Halak 86 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 

9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats

Tampa Bay wins the season series two games to one (and four points to two). 

Tampa Bay has won 5 out of six from the Isles over the last two seasons, including all three games at Barclays Center.

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 31-25-5-3 heading into Friday's game in Syracuse.

Tanner Fritz (on recall to the Isles) leads Bridgeport with 37 points (10-27-37); Travis St. Denis lead the team in goals (20) and is now tied with Fritz for the club point lead. Christopher Gibson (also on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

The Sound Tigers are seven points behind Charlotte for the final playoff spot, although Bridgeport has 12 games to play and Charlotte only 10.  Bridgeport visits Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Sunday afternoon.

Up Next

SATURDAY, MARCH 24th –CHICAGO AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 

[MSG+ (Islander pre-game at 6:30PM), WNYM 970AM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

Western Conference teams have generally had trouble winning at Barclays Center, but the Chicago Blackhawks have been victorious in each of their two prior trips to Brooklyn.

The Blackhawks earned an overtime win in the first game in Barclays Center history and the Hawks also won 5-4 in Brooklyn last season.

The Isles used a 5-point game from Ryan Pulock to defeat the Hawks 7-3 at United Center on January 20th in the only previous meeting this season.  That is the only Isles win in the last six games between the teams (1-3-2).  

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

The Skinny: Isles 4, Pittsburgh 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 73

Isles 4, Pittsburgh 1

Mathew Barzal reached the 20 goal and 75 point marks while Christopher made 36 saves for his 2nd win of the season as the Islanders defeated the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins before a crowd of 10,442 at Barclays Center.

Anders Lee added a third period power play goal, extending his career-high total to 36 and Jordan Eberle potted his 25th goal into an empty net.

 

The Isles recorded only their 5th home-ice win of 2018 (5-11-1).

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

05:10 New York Mathew Barzal (20) ASST: Johnny Boychuk (10), Nick Leddy (31) 1-0

10:33 New York Adam Pelech (3) ASST: Tanner Fritz (3), Andrew Ladd (14) 2-0

2ND PERIOD

17:14 Pittsburgh Conor Sheary (15) ASST: Phil Kessel (51), Derick Brassard (24) 2-1

3RD PERIOD

05:41 New York PPG - Anders Lee (36) ASST: Mathew Barzal (55), John Tavares (42) 3-1

17:31 New York EN - Jordan Eberle (25) ASST: John Tavares (43), Ryan Pulock (20) 4-1

The Skinny  

Isles are 16-25-8 since December 1st and climb within one game of NHL-.500 (31-32-10) … The Isles scored a fourth goal for only the 2nd time in 17 games... Ryan Pulock's 27 points rank second among Islander defensemen, behind Nick Leddy's 41; Pulock, who is 4th in scoring among NHL rookie defensemen, now has an assist in four straight games as does Mathew Barzal … Pulock is the first Islander rookie defenseman with at least 27 points since Chris Campoli ...The Isles scored on the power play, giving them six power play goals (in 13 attempts) in the last three games.  The power play is now operating at 21.8%; the Isles haven't converted 20% of their power plays since the 1993-94 season (20.1%)…The Isles held Sidney Crosby without a point, stopped Crosby's 14-game point streak against the Isles…Thomas Hickey played in his 400th NHL game, all with the Isles…Adam Pelech scored his third goal of the season; Pelech finished with a career-best six shots on goal…Christopher Gibson stopped 83 of 87 Penguin shots this season…The Isles are 22-2-2 when they lead after two periods…Mathew Barzal drew two more penalties, making his total 38.  The NHL has tracked this stat since 2009-10; John Tavares (42 in 2011-12) is the only Isle to have drawn more penalties than Barzal…Tampa Bay's Yanni Gourde is the only rookie in the NHL that has more points (56) than Barzal has assists (55) …The Isles have three players with 25+ goals for the first time since 2011-12.

Continuing to climb the list

Anders Lee scored again to move into a tie for 20th place on the all-time Isles goal scoring list.  He has passed five former Islanders (and tied a sixth) in the last two games.

Isles Goal List:

20. Anders Lee and Diane Sutter 120

22 Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 

24. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 

Other Milestone Men

John Tavares' two assists give him 612 points, breaking a tie with Brent Sutter for 5th place on the all-time Isles list. Tavares has five assists in the last two games.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with a team-leading 55 assists and a co-team-leading 75 points in 73 games, he is on pace for 62 assists and 84 points: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. MATHEW BARZAL 55 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 75 2017-18 

Denis Potvin is the only rookie to ever lead the Isles in assists; Billy Harris, Potvin, Trent Hunter (tied) and John Tavares are the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in points.

Nice Company

Mathew Barzal is one of only eight rookies since 1983-84 with at least 55 assists in a season.   

1. Joe Juneau BOS 1992-93 70

2. Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 63

3. Sergei Makarov CGY 1989-90 62

4. Mario Lemieux PIT 1984-85 57

5. Teemu Selanne WPG 1992-93 56

6. Chris Chelios MTL 1984-85 55

Nicklas Backstrom WSH 2007-08 55

MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 55

He is also one of only six rookies since 2000-01 with at least 75 points.

More points by a rookie: last 18 seasons

1 Alex Ovechkin WSH2005-06 106

2 Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 102

3 Evgeni Malkin PIT 2006-07   85

4 Paul Stastny COL 2006-07   78

5 Artemi Panarin CHI 2015-16   77

6 MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18   75

32 Goal Club

Anders Lee has 36 goals and John Tavares has 32.  They are the first Islander teammates with at least 32 goals since Pierre Turgeon, Steve Thomas and Benoit Hogue all did so in 1993-94.

36 Goal Club

Anders Lee is only the 4th Islander in the last 20 years to score 35 goals in a season:

1. Jason Blake 40 2006-07

2. John Tavares 38 2014-15

3. Matt Moulson 36 2011-12

      ANDERS LEE 35 2017-18

Lee is also the first Islander with multiple 34+ goal seasons since Ziggy Palffy (1995-76 to 1997-78).

55 Helpers

Mathew Barzal has 55 assists and Josh Bailey has 49. Barzal is the first Islander with over 50 assists since Pierre Turgeon had 56 assists in 1993-94.

When Bailey reaches 50, the Isles will have teammates with 50 assists for the first time since Mike Bossy (62) and Bryan Trottier (59) did so in 1985-86.

Three's Company

Mathew Barzal has eight games of at least three points this season (five games with three points and three games with five points). Since 1993-94, only Sidney Crosby (11 times), Artemi Panarin (10 times) and Alex Ovechkin (8 times) have done so as often in their rookie seasons.

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals ten times at home (9-1-0) and eighteen times overall (17-1-0). The Isles have also scored two shootout winners for a fifth goal of the game (not included above). The Isles scored five goals (including shootout winners) in only 10 games all last season.

Five's Trouble

The Isles have allowed at least five goals eleven times at home (1-8-2) and 20 times overall (1-17-2).  

First Things First

The Isles have scored first 34 times this season (21-8-5). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season but are only 10-8-5 in the last 23 games that they scored first.

First Goal 

The Isles are 21-8-5 when they score first and are 10-24-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles          13-17-10=40

Pittsburgh 15-12-10=37

The Isles are 8-12-5 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 23-19-5 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Home and Road

The Islanders are 31-32-10 overall; 17-14-4 at home and 14-18-6 on the road.  

Pittsburgh is 41-27-5 overall; 26-8-1 at home and 15-19-4 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 11-12-2 in Division games and 20-20-8 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 18-23-3 against the East and 13-9-7 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 17-14-4 at home; they are 10-11-0 against the East and 7-3-4 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 28-7-7 all-time at Barclays against the West.  However, after opening the season 9-0-2 on home ice, the Isles are 8-14-2 in their last 24 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets

Christopher Gibson made 36 saves and improves to 2-1-2 on the season and 1-0-1 in his career against Pittsburgh. 

Matt Murray made 36 saves but falls to 23-14-2 on the season and 2-2-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 1-5 on the power play in 8:11 of PP time; Pittsburgh was 0-1 on the power play in 1:10 of PP time.

The Isles are 18-13-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-19-7 when they do not.  The Isles are 16-21-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 15-11-7 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 29-12-5 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-20-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 12-8-10 in games decided by a single goal including 3-8 in regulation. They are 6-7 in games decided in overtime and are 3-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-3 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 6-8-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-8-1 on the back-end. The next back-to-back set will be on March 26th vs. Florida and March 27th in Ottawa.

 

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 2-4-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 6-2-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 3-4-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 19-22-9 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (23:57); Pittsburgh: Kris Letang (23:25)

John Tavares led Isles forwards with 20:04 of ice-time.

Face-offs

Isles 30, Pittsburgh 33 (48%).

John Tavares won 10 of 20 for the Isles; Sidney Crosby won 12 of 19 for Pittsburgh.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 11/24; 2nd period 11/21; 3rd period 8/18.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 25/53, Power play 5/8, Penalty kill 0/2.

Hit Count

Isles 25 (Chris Wagner-5).  

Pittsburgh 17 (Brian Dumoulin and Bryan Rust -3)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 14: (Johnston 4, Boychuk 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1, Clutterbuck 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 13 shots (Adam Pelech-3)

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 64, Pittsburgh 64 

5-on-5 Isles 43, Pittsburgh 56

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Brock Nelson +12

Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby and Chad Ruhwedel +7

Night and Day 

The Isles are 27-31-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees.   All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen

Nick Leddy 150, Anders Lee 109, Brock Nelson 86, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 73.

Top 5 Club

Nick Leddy now holds the fifth longest consecutive game streak in Islander history for a defenseman: 

1. Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979 262

2. Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220 (*) (**)

3. Gerry Hart 3/1/1975-11/22/1977 198

4. Andrew MacDonald 12/19/2011- 3/2/2014 164 (**)

5. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 150

(*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Scott Mayfield - IR), (Thomas Greiss-IR), (Alan Quine-IR), Brandon Davidson, Sebastian Aho, (Cal Clutterbuck – INJ) 

Total games lost: 271

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored five times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:

10/9 – STL Blues – Anders Lee (19:00); tied game, but Isles lost in shootout

12/7 – PIT Penguins – Brock Nelson (18:50); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

12/27- BUF Sabres – Josh Bailey (18:51); tied game, and Isles won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime

3/5 – VAN Canucks – Jordan Eberle (18:56); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal six times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:

12/16 – LA Kings – Anze Kopitar (19:47); tied game, but Isles won in overtime

12/21—ANA Ducks – Rickard Rakell (18:45); tied game and Ducks won in overtime

2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime

2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game

3/9 – EDM Oilers – Connor McDavid (18:10); tied game and Oilers won in shootout

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.

• 10/10 vs STL Blues – unsuccessful; Isles killed ensuing power play.

• 10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful

• 1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 

• 2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

The opponents have not yet challenged an Islander goal due to an offside this season.

7-11

The Isles have used 7 defensemen four times this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ, 1/16 vs. NJ, 3/2 vs. MTL) and are 2-2-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-2-0 when they dress seven natural defensemen.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900 

…

7.  Patrick Flatley 712 *** 8. Josh Bailey 708*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 660

Goals

1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 *** 4. Clark Gillies 304***

5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. John Tavares 267

…

18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Josh Bailey 123 *** 20. Anders Lee and Duane Sutter 120 

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553*** 4. Clark Gillies 359***

5.  John Tavares 345

…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Tomas Jonsson and Josh Bailey 249

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052 *** 4. Clark Gillies 663 ***

5.  John Tavares 612

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 372 

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 173 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 115

Wins (Goalie)

1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130***4. Kelly Hrudey 106 ***

5. Jaroslav Halak 86 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 

9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats

Pittsburgh wins the season series three games to one (and six points to four). 

The Isles are 8-4-4 in their last 16 games vs. Pittsburgh.

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 31-25-5-3 heading into Friday's game in Syracuse.

Tanner Fritz (on recall to the Isles) leads Bridgeport with 37 points (10-27-37); Travis St. Denis lead the team in goals (20) and is now tied with Fritz for the club point lead. Christopher Gibson (also on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

The Sound Tigers are seven points behind Charlotte for the final playoff spot, although Bridgeport does hold two games-in-hand.  Bridgeport visits Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Sunday afternoon.

Up Next

THURSDAY, MARCH 20th –TAMPA BAY AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 

[MSG+ (Islander pre-game at 6:30PM), WFAN 660AM/101.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM]

It has been over 16 months since the Islanders have welcomed the Tampa Bay Lightning to Brooklyn.  That will end on Thursday when the Atlantic Division leaders visit Barclays Center for the only time this season.

It is the first meeting in over 15 weeks between the teams, who last faced-off on December 5th in Tampa Bay.  The teams split a pair of games at Amalie Arena, with both teams earning regulation wins.

The Lightning won both games in Brooklyn last season by a combined score of 10-1.  Overall, the Lightning have won four of the last five meetings.

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

The Skinny: Carolina 4, Isles 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 72

Carolina 4, Isles 3

Trevor Van Riemsdyk scored the winning goal with 6:49 to play as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Islanders 4-3 before a crowd of 10,688 at Barclays Center.

The Isles had rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits as John Bailey scored his 18th goal and then Anders Lee scored twice, giving him a career-high 35.  John Tavares assisted on all three goals.

The Isles have lost three straight (0-3-0) and are 1-7-4 in their last 12 games.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

02:50 Carolina Jaccob Slavin (8) ASST: Joakim Nordstrom (3), Victor Rask (17) 1-0

04:44 Carolina Lee Stempniak (3) 2-0

2ND PERIOD

10:29 New York Josh Bailey (18) ASST: Ryan Pulock (19), John Tavares (39) 2-1

12:22 New York PPG - Anders Lee (34) ASST: John Tavares (40), Mathew Barzal (54) 2-2

14:04 Carolina Victor Rask (14) ASST: Joakim Nordstrom (4), Jaccob Slavin (17) 3-2

3RD PERIOD

08:05 New York PPG - Anders Lee (35) ASST: Josh Bailey (49), John Tavares (41) 3-3

13:11 Carolina      Trevor van Riemsdyk (2) ASST: Teuvo Teravainen (37), Sebastian Aho (32) 4-3

The Skinny  

Isles are 15-25-8 since December 1st and fall two games below NHL-.500 (30-32-10) for the first time since December 20, 2016 (12-14-6); it's the first time since they ended the 2013-14 season with 79 points that the Isles have been below .500 this late in the season … The Isles have scored three goals or fewer in 15 of the last 16 games... Ryan Pulock's 26 points rank second among Islander defensemen, behind Nick Leddy's 40; Pulock is now 4th in the NHL in scoring among rookie defensemen …Jaroslav Halak is 0-6-2 in his last eight decisions… The Isles scored twice on the power play, giving them five power play goals in the last two games.  The power play is now operating at 21.8%; the Isles haven't converted 20% of their power plays since the 1993-94 season (20.1%)… Lee's 2nd goal was his 200th NHL point…Lee Stempniak scored a goal in his 900th NHL game; Teuvo Teravainen recorded his 100th point as a Hurricane…

Fist-bumping Ahead of Parrish

Anders Lee scored twice to move from 26th place to a tie for 21st place on the all-time Isles goal scoring list.  Along the way he passed Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas, all of whom had 118 goals as an Islander.  Lee fist-bumped Parrish, who was working for MSG Network "Between the Benches" after passing him. 

Isles Goal List:

20. Diane Sutter 120

21 Anders Lee, Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 

24. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 

Other Milestone Men

John Tavares' three assists give him 610 points, tying him with Brent Sutter for 5th place on the all-time Isles list.

Josh Bailey recorded his 249th assist, tying Tomas Jonsson for 15th place on that Isles list.

Barzal Is Highest Scoring Isles Rookie in 40 Years

Mathew Barzal is the third highest-scoring rookie in Islander history; with a team-leading 54 assists and a co-team-leading 73 points in 72 games, he is on pace for 62 assists and 83 points: 

Most Assists by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 63 1975-76

2. MATHEW BARZAL 54 2017-18 

Most Points by an Islander Rookie

1. Bryan Trottier 95 1975-76

2. Mike Bossy 91 1977-78

3. MATHEW BARZAL 73 2017-18 

Denis Potvin is the only rookie to ever lead the Isles in assists; Billy Harris, Potvin, Trent Hunter (tied) and John Tavares are the only rookies to ever lead the Isles in points.

Nice Company

Mathew Barzal is one of only four rookies since 1995 with at least 54 assists in a season.   

1. Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 63

2. Nicklas Backstrom WSH 2007-08 55

3. Alex Ovechkin WSH 2005-06 54

MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18 54

He is also one of only six rookies since 2000-01 with at least 73 points.

More points by a rookie: last 18 seasons

1 Alex Ovechkin WSH2005-06 106

2 Sidney Crosby PIT 2005-06 102

3 Evgeni Malkin PIT 2006-07   85

4 Paul Stastny COL 2006-07   78

5 Artemi Panarin CHI 2015-16   77

6 MATHEW BARZAL NYI 2017-18   73

32 Goal Club

Anders Lee has 35 goals and John Tavares has 32.  They are the first Islander teammates with at least 32 goals since Pierre Turgeon, Steve Thomas and Benoit Hogue all did so in 1993-94.

35 Goal Club

Anders Lee is only the 6th Islander in the last 20 years to score 35 goals in a season:

1. Jason Blake 40 2006-07

2. John Tavares 38 2014-15

3. Matt Moulson 36 2011-12

4. ANDERS LEE 35 2017-18

        Mariusz Czerkawski 35 1999-2000

        Miroslav Satan 35 2005-06

Lee is also the first Islander with multiple 34-goal seasons since Ziggy Palffy (1995-76 to 1997-78).

54 Helpers

Mathew Barzal has 54 assists and Josh Bailey has 49. Barzal is the first Islander with over 50 assists since Pierre Turgeon had 56 assists in 1993-94.

When Bailey reaches 50, the Isles will have teammates with 50 assists for the first time since Mike Bossy (62) and Bryan Trottier (59) did so in 1985-86.

Three's Company

Mathew Barzal has eight games of at least three points this season (five games with three points and three games with five points). Since 1993-94, only Sidney Crosby (11 times), Artemi Panarin (10 times) and Alex Ovechkin (8 times) have done so as often in their rookie seasons.

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals ten times at home (9-1-0) and eighteen times overall (17-1-0). The Isles have also scored two shootout winners for a fifth goal of the game (not included above). The Isles scored five goals (including shootout winners) in only 10 games all last season.

Five's Trouble

The Isles have allowed at least five goals eleven times at home (1-8-2) and 20 times overall (1-17-2).  

First Things First

The Isles have scored first 33 times this season (20-8-5). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season but are only 9-8-5 in the last 22 games that they scored first.

First Goal 

The Isles are 20-8-5 when they score first and are 10-24-5 when they allow the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles        6-11-12=29

Carolina 13-17-9=39

The Isles are 7-12-5 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 23-19-5 when they are outshot.  (The club record for wins while being outshot in one season is 25, set by the 1983-84 team)

Home and Road

The Islanders are 30-32-10 overall; 16-14-4 at home and 14-18-6 on the road.  

Carolina is 31-30-11 overall; 16-14-6 at home and 15-16-5 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 10-12-2 in Division games and 20-20-8 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 17-23-3 against the East and 13-9-7 against the West.  

Our House

The Isles are 16-14-4 at home; they are 9-11-0 against the East and 7-3-4 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 28-7-7 all-time at Barclays against the West.  However, after opening the season 9-0-2 on home ice, the Isles are 7-14-2 in their last 23 games in Brooklyn.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 35 saves but falls to 18-24-6 on the season and 3-6-1 in his career against Carolina. 

Scott Darling made 26 saves to improve to 12-17-7 on the season and 3-2-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 2-3 on the power play in 3:51 of PP time; Carolina was 0-3 on the power play in 6:00 of PP time.

The Isles are 17-13-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-19-7 when they do not.  The Isles are 16-21-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 14-11-7 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 28-12-5 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-20-5 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

The Isles are 12-8-10 in games decided by a single goal including 3-8 in regulation. They are 6-7 in games decided in overtime and are 3-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-3 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 6-8-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-8-1 on the back-end. The next back-to-back set will be on March 26th vs. Florida and March 27th in Ottawa.

 

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 2-4-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 6-2-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

• The Isles are 3-4-1 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.

• The Isles are 18-22-9 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (22:59); Carolina: Justin Faulk (22:10)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 21:52 of ice-time.

Face-offs

Isles 28, Carolina 32 (47%).

Casey Cizikas won 7 of 11 for the Isles; Elias Lindhom won 9 of 14 for Carolina.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 5/14; 2nd period 12/23; 3rd period 11/23.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 23/52, Power play 2/3, Penalty kill 3/5.

Hit Count

Isles 22 (Johnny Boychuk -7).  

Carolina 15 (Klas Dahlbeck-6)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 14: (Johnston 4, Boychuk 2, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1, Prince 1, Bailey 1, Eberle 1, Nelson 1, Clutterbuck 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 13 shots (Thomas Hickey and Adam Pelech-3)

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 50, Carolina 62 

5-on-5 Isles 41, Carolina 48

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Chris Wagner +8

Carolina: Jeff Skinner +8

Night and Day 

The Isles are 26-31-9 in night games and 4-1-1 in matinees. (The NHL considers 5:00 starts to be night games.)   All remaining games this season will be played at night.

Ironmen

Nick Leddy 149, Anders Lee 108, Brock Nelson 85, Mathew Barzal/John Tavares 72.

Top 5 Club

Nick Leddy now holds the fifth longest consecutive game streak in Islander history for a defenseman: 

1. Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979 262

2. Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220 (*) (**)

3. Gerry Hart 3/1/1975-11/22/1977 198

4. Andrew MacDonald 12/19/2011- 3/2/2014 164 (**)

5. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 149

(*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Shane Prince- IR), (Scott Mayfield - IR), (Thomas Greiss-IR), (Alan Quine-IR), Brandon Davidson, Ross Johnston, Dennis Seidenberg  

Total games lost: 265

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored five times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:

10/9 – STL Blues – Anders Lee (19:00); tied game, but Isles lost in shootout

12/7 – PIT Penguins – Brock Nelson (18:50); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

12/27- BUF Sabres – Josh Bailey (18:51); tied game, and Isles won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Josh Bailey (18:11); took lead, Isles allowed tying goal but then won in overtime

3/5 – VAN Canucks – Jordan Eberle (18:56); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal six times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:

12/16 – LA Kings – Anze Kopitar (19:47); tied game, but Isles won in overtime

12/21—ANA Ducks – Rickard Rakell (18:45); tied game and Ducks won in overtime

2/6 – NAS Predators – Ryan Johansen (19:17); tied game and Predators won in overtime

2/9 – DET Red Wings – Mike Green (19:31); tied game but Isles won in overtime

2/11- CLG Flames – Mathew Tkachuk (18:55); won game

3/9 – EDM Oilers – Connor McDavid (18:10); tied game and Oilers won in shootout

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged four times and been successful three times.  The Isles are 2-1-0 in games they win the challenge and are 0-0-1 in games they lose the challenge.

• 10/10 vs STL Blues – unsuccessful; Isles killed ensuing power play.

• 10/12 @ Ana Ducks – successful

• 1/15 @ Mtl Canadiens – successful 

• 2/16 @ Car Hurricanes - successful

The opponents have not yet challenged an Islander goal due to an offside this season.

7-11

The Isles have used 7 defensemen four times this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ, 1/16 vs. NJ, 3/2 vs. MTL) and are 2-2-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-2-0 when they dress seven natural defensemen.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900 

…

7.  Patrick Flatley 712 *** 8. Josh Bailey 707*** 9. Brent Sutter 694 *** 10. John Tavares 659

Goals

1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 *** 4. Clark Gillies 304***

5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. John Tavares 267

…

18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Josh Bailey 123 *** 20. Diane Sutter 120 *** 21 Anders Lee, Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 *** 24. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553*** 4. Clark Gillies 359***

5.  John Tavares 343

…

13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Tomas Jonsson and Josh Bailey 249

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052 *** 4. Clark Gillies 663 ***

5. Brent Sutter and John Tavares 610

…

13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Josh Bailey 372 

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 173 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 115

Wins (Goalie)

1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130***4. Kelly Hrudey 106 ***

5. Jaroslav Halak 86 *** 6.  Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8.  Tommy Salo 62 *** 

9. Thomas Greiss 60

Season Series Stats

The teams split the season series two games to two (and four points to four). 

The Isles are 6-4-1 in their last 11 games vs. Carolina.

On the Farm

Bridgeport fell to 31-25-5-3 with a 4-1 defeat in Providence on Sunday. John Stevens scored the only goal for the Sound Tigers.

Tanner Fritz (on recall to the Isles) leads Bridgeport with 37 points (10-27-37); Travis St. Denis lead the team in goals (20) and is now tied with Fritz for the club point lead. Christopher Gibson (also on recall to the Isles) is 18-11-3 in the nets with 4 shutouts.

The Sound Tigers are seven points behind Charlotte for the final playoff spot, although Bridgeport does hold two games-in-hand.  Bridgeport visits Syracuse on Friday and Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Sunday afternoon.

Up Next

TUESDAY, MARCH 20th –PITTSBURGH AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 

[MSG+ (Islander pre-game at 6:30PM), WFAN 660AM/101.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM]

The Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins will be looking to sweep the season series as they visit the Isles on Tuesday.

The Penguins have won the first three meetings, needing overtime goals from Matt Hunwick and Sidney Crosby to record two of the victories.

Christopher Gibson stopped 47 of 50 Penguin shots in the most recent meeting, on March 3rd in the Steel City.  Tristan Jarry has earned the victory in all three meetings this season.

Overall, the Isles are 7-4-4 in their last 15 games against the Penguins.

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