The Skinny: Toronto 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 49

Toronto 5, Isles 2

William Nylander had a four point period as the Toronto Maple Leafs scored four times in the second period and defeated the Isles 5-2 before a crowd of 18,514 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. 

Anders Lee score twice to give the Isles leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but the Maple Leafs erased those goals and more in the middle session, which also included Ilya Sorokin stopping Michael Bunting on a penalty shot.

The Isles fall to 23-21-5 and remain tied with Florida, three points behind Pittsburgh for the second wild card spot. The Isles are 0-3-2 in their last five games and 2-7-3 since the calendar turned to 2023 as they head to Ottawa to face the Senators on Wednesday.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Anders Lee (16) Brock Nelson (25), Sebastian Aho (7) 19:37 NYI 1,TOR 0

2nd Period

William Nylander (25) John Tavares (26), Mark Giordano (14) 05:07 NYI 1,TOR 1

Anders Lee (17) Kyle Palmieri (4), Mathew Barzal (31) 06:18 NYI 2,TOR 1

John Tavares (21) William Nylander (29), Ilya Samsonov (1) 07:53 NYI 2,TOR 2 PPG

Calle Jarnkrok (11) William Nylander (30), Justin Holl (6) 09:33 NYI 2,TOR 3

William Nylander (26) 16:32 NYI 2,TOR 4

3rd Period

Auston Matthews (25) Justin Holl (7) 07:44 NYI 2,TOR 5

The Skinny   

The Isles went 0-2 on the power play; they are 3-31 in the last thirteen games and 3-56 in the last 21 games …The Isles killed 1 of 2 Leaf power plays; they have killed 21 of their last 23  ...The Isles scored the first goal for the sixth time in seven games … The Isles have scored fourteen goals in the last eight games (1-4-3); all but three have been scored in the first period…The Isles have not scored a third period goal in a franchise-record ten straight games (since scoring three in Vancouver) and have been outscored 12-0 in that stretch… The Isles' third period differential is now just +1; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -15 over the last 26 games…Noah Dobson (who did not play, ending his 114-game streak) and Scott Mayfield remained at 99 points. They are looking to become the 25th and 26th defenseman in club history to reach 100 points…Mathew Barzal had his first point in eight games… Kyle Palmieri returned to the line-up with nine attempts and a career-high seven hits…Adam Pelech also returned to the lineup…The Isles allowed four goals in a period for the second time this season (December 6th vs. St Louis)…John Tavares had eight shots on goal in the second period, tying a record both for the Leafs and against the Isles; Tavares is scheduled to play his 1000th NHL game on Sunday….The Isles are two games over NHL-.500 for the first time since they were 7-5-0 in early November….Anders Lee now has 399 career points; he is looking to be the 16th player in club history with 400 points…Ilya Samsonov recorded his second career assist as he improved to 13-0-1 at home this season…Samuel Bolduc played 14:28 in his NHL debut; he had one shot, three attempts, three hits, and was not on-ice for a goal.

The Penalty Shot

Ilya Sorokin stopped Michael Bunting on a Penalty Shot in the second period.   It was the fifth penalty shot of the season for Toronto and they have failed on all of them. This was the first penalty shot against the Islanders in nearly five years (March 8, 2018 in Edmonton, when Christopher Gibson stopped Conor McDavid in overtime) and the first in any Islander game since November 5, 2019, when Cole Bardreau scored his first NHL goal in a game against Ottawa.

 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  23-21-5 for 51 points in 49 games

• 2021-22  20-21-8 for 48 points in 49 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-1-1

• Season: 27-69-96

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 27 goals (Carolina leads with 30); they didn't score their 27th goal last season until April 19th.  

Sorokin's House

Ilya Sorokin is 22-13-6 all-time at UBS Arena.  His goals against average of 2.08 trails only Frederik Andersen (2.02) among goalies who have made multiple home starts over the last two seasons and his save percentage of .931 is the best in the NHL over that span.  Sorokin went 9-1-0 at the Coliseum; he is 31-14-6 in his career at home and his .929 career save percentage is the best on home ice in NHL history (minimum 40 home games).

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 421 career goals, good for 9th among actives, and tied with Stephane Richer, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Thomas for 86th place all-time.  Owen Nolan is 85th with 422 goals and Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 23-21-5 overall; they are 13-9-2 at home and 10-12-3 on the road.

Toronto is 29-11-8 overall; they are 18-3-4 at home and 11-8-4 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 13-11-3 against the East (9-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 4-6-2 vs. Atlantic) and 10-10-2 against the West (4-7-2 vs. Central and 6-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 65 games at UBS Arena and recorded 44 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,513

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,386

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 15-7-2 when scoring first and are 8-14-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles      13-10-10=33

Toronto 6-22-10=38

The Isles are 12-9-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-12-4 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves; he is 15-16-4 on the season and 1-3-0 vs Toronto. 

Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves; he is 15-4-2 on the season and 6-3-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play (2:37); Toronto was 1-2 on the power play (3:12).

The Isles are 11-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-13-4 when they do not. The Isles are 11-9-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 12-12-4 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-5-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-16-3 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 8-3-5 in games decided by a single goal including 5-3 in regulation. They are 3-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-7 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs  

The next set of back-to-backs will be on January 27th vs Detroit and on January 28th vs. Vegas – that will be the only time this season that the Isles will play home games on consecutive days. The Isles are 4-5-0 in the front end and 5-3-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Scott Mayfield (24:15);  Toronto: Mark Giordano (22:16)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 19:55 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-10-2), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-4-0), Scott Mayfield (6-1-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 29, Toronto 24 (55%)

Brock Nelson won 9 of 15 for the Isles; no Leaf who took multiple draws won more than he lost.

Hit Count

Isles 49 (Matt Martin -10)

Toronto 30 (Justin Holl -5)

Fights 

None. Season total: 13 (Martin-5, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 13 (Scott Mayfield -4)

Toronto 25 (Auston Matthews -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 76, Toronto 66

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 68, Toronto 50

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Anders Lee +27

Toronto:  Rasmus Sandin +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 27, Toronto 26

5-on-5: Isles 25, Toronto 20

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Hudson Fasching- upper body), (Cal Clutterbuck – upper body), (Noah Dobson -INJ), Ross Johnston, Parker Wotherspoon

Games Lost: 101

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 131st consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-longest active streak in the NHL.  

Challenges

Isles: 1 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3

Opponents: 1 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27

League reviews: 4 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – awarded)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute six times this season (five times at home and once on road):

• 0:17 10/29 vs. COL (Mayfield and Beauvillier)

• 0:59 11/7 vs. CGY (Lee and Palmieri)

• 0:22 11/26 vs PHI (Nelson and Beauvillier)

• 0:43 12/4 vs CHI (Parise and Nelson)

• 0:21 12/6 vs STL (Fasching and Pageau)

• 0:34 12/9 @ NJD (Cizikas and Wahlstrom)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win three times this season and have not allowed the opposition to do so.

For: Trailed 3-1, Won 5-3 vs. COL 10/29

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) vs CGY 11/7

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 at NYR 11/8

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored two goal and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(2): Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)

Josh Bailey @ TOR 11/21 (17:02; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (3): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

Anthony Beauvillier @ TOR 11/21 (1:56)

Vs. (2): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,038…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 733 *** 9. Brock Nelson 725*** 10. Patrick Flatley and Casey Cizikas 712… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 645 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 229 *** 11. Brock Nelson 222 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 392…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 251 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 207…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 170

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 574  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 429 ***  16. Anders Lee 399 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 353

+/-

1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +71 *** 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 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Mark Streit and  Ryan Pulock 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Vladimir Malakhov and Noah Dobson 27

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Roman Hamrlik 120 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 121…

18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Adam Pelech 92

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 161…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 114...

23. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 25. Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield 99

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 54

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 16 …

4. Tommy Salo 14 ***5. Ilya Sorokin 13 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 17-16-1 on the season heading into Wednesday's game in Hartford. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-6th in the AHL) with 19 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (26) and points (37).   William Dufour now has 14 goals, and is tied-4th among AHL rookies; Dufour has points in 10 of his last 12 games.

Season Series Stats

The season series is tied, 1 game to 1 (Toronto has earned 3 points to the Isles' 2). The teams will meet at UBS Arena on March 21st for Butch Goring Bobblehead Night.

The Isles are 2-3-0 in regular season play in Toronto since John Tavares joined the Leafs.  

UP NEXT

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25th  – ISLANDERS AT OTTAWA 7:00pm

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

The Isles will look to snap their five-game losing streak  (0-3-2) and complete the road trip as they head to Ottawa to face the Sens on Wednesday.  It is the second meeting of the season between the teams; the Isles beat Ottawa 4-2 back on November 22nd.

The Isles have won four straight against the Sens and are 10-1-0 in their last eleven meetings with Ottawa.  The Isles are also 6-1-0 in their last seven trips to Kanata, Ontario. 

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 48

Carolina 5, Isles 2 

Sebastian Aho completed a natural hat trick into an empty net as the Carolina Hurricanes scored the game's final three goals to earn a 5-2 victory over the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 17,255 on Alumni Weekend at UBS Arena. 

Carolina had grabbed a 2-0 lead before the game was even four minutes old, but Simon Holmstrom and Brock Nelson scored 100 seconds apart later in the session to end the first period tied, but Aho took over from there to earn his 6th career hat trick to give the Canes the victory. 

The Isles fall to 23-20-5 and are now tied with Florida, two points behind Pittsburgh for the second wild card spot. The Isles are 2-6-3 since the calendar turned to 2023 and head to Ontario to face the Leafs on Monday and the Senators on Wednesday.

The Scoring: 

1st Period

Jordan Staal (12) Jalen Chatfield (3), Brent Burns (24) 00:44 CAR 1,NYI 0

Jesper Fast (6) Jordan Staal (9) 03:52 CAR 2,NYI 0

Simon Holmstrom (2) Anders Lee (16) 14:02 CAR 2,NYI 1

Brock Nelson (17) 15:42 CAR 2,NYI 2 

2nd Period

Sebastian Aho (15) Teuvo Teravainen (16) 16:40 CAR 3,NYI 2

3rd Period

Sebastian Aho (16) 07:09 CAR 4,NYI 2

Sebastian Aho (17) Teuvo Teravainen (17) 19:38 CAR 5,NYI 2

The Skinny   

The Isles went 0-2 on the power play; they are 3-29 in the last twelve games and 3-54 in the last twenty games …The Isles did kill all three Hurricane power plays; they have killed 20 of their last 21 overall and their NHL-leading home penalty-killers are now 56/62 (90.3%)...The Isles allowed the first goal for the first time in six games … The Isles have scored twelve goals in the last seven games (1-3-3); all but two have been scored in the first period…The Isles have not scored a third period goal in a franchise-record nine straight games (since scoring three in Vancouver) and have been outscored 11-0 in that stretch… The Isles' third period differential is now just +2; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -14 over the last 25 games…Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield remained at 99 points. They are looking to become the 25th and 26th defenseman in club history to reach 100 points…Brock Nelson scored for the second straight game, after being held without a goal in fourteen games; he leads the team with 17 goals…It was the first time in 14 games this season that Nelson scored and the Isles lost in regulation (12-1-1)...Mathew Barzal was held without a point for the seventh straight game; he did have six shots on goal after being held to a combined total of two in the prior three games…It was only the 8th time this season that Carolina was out-shot…January 21st had historically been a very good day for the Isles; they had won ten consecutive games on this date since an overtime loss to Carolina in 2008…Brock Nelson and Anthony Beauvillier were on-ice for all five Carolina goals and went -4; Josh Bailey was on for all but the empty-netter and went -3…Simon Holmstrom's goal, his first ever at UBS, was his first goal since December 17th in Las Vegas…Sebastian Aho is the first Cane with a hat trick against the Isles since Jaccob Slavin (3/13/2017)

That First Period

Jordan Staal's goal at :48 was the earliest ever allowed by Ilya Sorokin.  When Jesper Fast scored at 3:52, the Isles had allowed two goals in the first four minutes for the first time since March 10, 2020 when Vancouver scored twice in the first 2:41 of the final game played before the COVID shutdown.   The Isles then rallied for a pair of goals on their own, marking the first time since January 25, 2022 (vs. Philadelphia) that the Isles both scored and allowed multiple goals in a first period.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  23-20-5 for 51 points in 48 games

• 2021-22  19-21-8 for 46 points in 48 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-0-0

• Season: 27-68-95

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 27 goals (Carolina leads with 30); they didn't score their 27th goal last season until April 19th.  

Sorokin's House

Ilya Sorokin is 22-13-6 all-time at UBS Arena.  His goals against average of 2.08 trails only Frederik Andersen (2.02) among goalies who have made multiple home starts over the last two seasons and his save percentage of .931 is the best in the NHL over that span.  Sorokin went 9-1-0 at the Coliseum; he is 31-14-6 in his career at home and his .929 career save percentage is the best on home ice in NHL history (minimum 40 home games).

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 421 career goals, good for 9th among actives, and tied with Stephane Richer, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Thomas for 86th place all-time.  Owen Nolan is 85th with 422 goals and Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 23-20-5 overall; they are 13-9-2 at home and 10-11-3 on the road.

Carolina is 29-9-8 overall; they are 14-5-2 at home and 15-4-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 13-10-3 against the East (9-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 4-5-2 vs. Atlantic) and 10-10-2 against the West (4-7-2 vs. Central and 6-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 65 games at UBS Arena and recorded 44 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,513

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,386

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 15-6-2 when scoring first and are 8-14-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles      8-7-12=27

Carolina 7-10-9=26

The Isles are 12-9-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-11-4 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 21 saves; he is 15-15-4 on the season and 2-2-1 vs Carolina. 

Frederik Andersen made 25 saves; he is 9-3-0 on the season and 9-4-1 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play (4:00); Carolina was 0-3 on the power play (6:00).

The Isles are 11-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-12-4 when they do not. The Isles are 11-8-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 12-12-4 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-5-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-15-3 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 8-3-5 in games decided by a single goal including 5-3 in regulation. They are 3-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-7 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs  

The next set of back-to-backs will be on January 27th vs Detroit and on January 28th vs. Vegas – that will be the only time this season that the Isles will play home games on consecutive days. The Isles are 4-5-0 in the front end and 5-3-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (season-high 25:02);  Carolina: Brent Burns (24:06)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 20:39 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-10-2), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-4-0), Scott Mayfield (6-0-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 31, Carolina 29 (52%)

Aatu Raty won 3 of 5 for the Isles; Paul Stastny won 8 of 12 for Carolina. 

Hit Count

Isles 24 (Matt Martin -6)

Carolina 16 (Jordan Staal -4)

Fights 

None. Season total: 13 (Martin-5, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 20 (Sebastian Aho and Ryan Dobson -4)

Carolina 15 (Jesper Fast -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 52, Carolina 67

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 42, Carolina 55

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Scott Mayfield +12

Carolina:  Dylan Coghlan +15

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 11, Carolina 13

5-on-5: Isles 9, Carolina 12

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), (Kyle Palmieri- upper body-IR), (Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Hudson Fasching- upper body), (Cal Clutterbuck – upper body), Dennis Cholowski

Games Lost: 97

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 130th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-longest active streak in the NHL.  

Noah Dobson played in his 113th consecutive Islander game.

Challenges

Isles: 1 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3

Opponents: 1 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27

League reviews: 4 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – awarded)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute six times this season (five times at home and once on road):

• 0:17 10/29 vs. COL (Mayfield and Beauvillier)

• 0:59 11/7 vs. CGY (Lee and Palmieri)

• 0:22 11/26 vs PHI (Nelson and Beauvillier)

• 0:43 12/4 vs CHI (Parise and Nelson)

• 0:21 12/6 vs STL (Fasching and Pageau)

• 0:34 12/9 @ NJD (Cizikas and Wahlstrom)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win three times this season and have not allowed the opposition to do so.

For: Trailed 3-1, Won 5-3 vs. COL 10/29

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) vs CGY 11/7

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 at NYR 11/8

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored two goal and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(2): Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)

Josh Bailey @ TOR 11/21 (17:02; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (3): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

Anthony Beauvillier @ TOR 11/21 (1:56)

Vs. (2): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,037…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 732 *** 9. Brock Nelson 724*** 10. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 710… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 644 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 227 *** 11. Brock Nelson 222 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 392…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 250 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 206…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 170

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 574  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 428 ***  16. Anders Lee 397 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 352

+/-

1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +74 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Ryan Pulock +55 *** 24. Greg Gilbert +54

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Mark Streit and  Ryan Pulock 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Vladimir Malakhov and Noah Dobson 27

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Roman Hamrlik 120 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 121…

18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Adam Pelech 92

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 161…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 114...

23. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 25. Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield 99

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 54

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 16 …

4. Tommy Salo 14 ***5. Ilya Sorokin 13 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 17-16-1 on the season after splitting a pair of games this weekend. On Friday, Cory Schneider made 40 saves for a 1-0 OT win over Rochester; William Dufour had the winner.  On Saturday, Samuel Bolduc scored twice but the Islanders fell 3-2 to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-6th in the AHL) with 19 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (26) and points (37).   William Dufour now has 14 goals, and is tied-4th among AHL rookies; Dufour has points in 10 of his last 12 games.

Bridgeport gets back into action Wednesday when they visit Hartford.

Season Series Stats

Carolina leads the season series, 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 2). The Isles will travel to Raleigh on April 3rd to conclude the season series.

Carolina has won five straight on Long Island, including one in overtime; the Isles are 2-6-2 in their last nine home games against the Canes.

UP NEXT

MONDAY, JANUARY 23rd – ISLANDERS AT TORONTO 7:00pm

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

The Isles head to Toronto to face the Leafs on Monday.  It is the second meeting of the season between the teams; the Isles beat Toronto 3-2 in overtime on November 21st; Anthony Beauvillier scored the winning goal.

The Isles are 2-2-0 in regular season play in Toronto since John Tavares joined the Leafs.  The Isles also won three playoff series in the Toronto Bubble.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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: Buffalo 3, Isles 2 (OT)

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 47

Buffalo 3, Isles 2 (OT)

Dylan Cozens scored twelve seconds into overtime as the Buffalo Sabres rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits for a 3-2 victory over the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 19,070 on Ryan Miller Night at KeyBank Center. 

Brock Nelson and Matt Martin had given the Isles leads heading into each intermission but it did not hold up as the Sabres earned the extra point.

The Isles are 23-19-5 and are tied with Pittsburgh for the second wild card spot; however, the Isles have played three more games. The Isles are 2-5-3 since the calendar turned to 2023 and return home to face Carolina on Alumni Weekend on Saturday night. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Brock Nelson (16) Anthony Beauvillier (10), Josh Bailey (13) 07:19 NYI 1,BUF 0

2nd Period

Alex Tuch (22) Rasmus Dahlin (36), Jeff Skinner (26) 08:26 NYI 1,BUF 1

Matt Martin (5) Casey Cizikas (9) 18:30 NYI 2,BUF 1

3rd Period

Victor Olofsson (19) Casey Mittelstadt (20), Tyson Jost (10) 09:32 NYI 2,BUF 2

OT

Dylan Cozens (15) Rasmus Dahlin (37), Tage Thompson (28) 00:12 NYI 2,BUF 3

The Skinny   

The Isles did not reach 23 wins last season until March 11th (23-24-8)... The Isles went 0-1 on the power play; they are 3-27 in the last eleven games and 3-52 in the last nineteen games …The Isles did kill all three Sabre power plays; they have killed 17 of their last 18...The Isles scored first for the fifth straight game, but they are 1-2-2 in those games … The Isles have scored ten goals in the last six games (1-2-3); all but two have been scored in the first period…Buffalo's third period goal reduced the Isles' differential in that period to +4; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -12 over the last 24 games. Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield remained at 99 points. They are looking to become the 25th and 26th defenseman in club history to reach 100 points…Dylan Cozens scored the 2nd-earliest overtime goal by a Sabre (Jason Dawe- 10 seconds)…Ilya Sorokin is 7-2-3 in 12 career games that he has faced over 40 shots…Matt Martin was credited with 10 hits for the second time in three games; he out-hit the entire Sabre team, 10-9, as he played a season-high 14:02…Martin now has 13 points on the season; in his entire career he has had more than 14 points in a season only once (19 in 2015-16)…Tage Thompson assisted on the overtime winner; it was his 60th point of the season, making him the fastest Sabre in 30 years to reach that mark… The Sabres improve to 5-3 in games decided by an overtime goal; the Isles are 3-2...Brock Nelson's goal was his first in 15 games; he regained the team lead with 16 goals...Mathew Barzal was held without a point for the sixth straight game.  The Isles were held under 30 shots for the 13th time in the last 15 road games; they have had 35 or fewer in every road game this season.

The Injury

Cal Clutterbuck left the game with an upper-body injury late in the second period; he did not return.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  23-19-5 for 51 points in 47 games

• 2021-22  19-20-8 for 46 points in 47 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-0-0

• Season: 27-68-95

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 27 goals (Florida leads with 28); they didn't score their 27th goal last season until April 19th.  

Sorokin's House

Ilya Sorokin is 22-13-5 all-time at UBS Arena.  His goals against average of 2.03 trails only Frederik Anderson (2.02) among goalies who have made multiple home starts over the last two seasons and his save percentage of .933 is the best in the NHL over that span.  Sorokin went 9-1-0 at the Coliseum; he is 31-14-5 in his career at home and his .930 career save percentage is the best on home ice in NHL history (minimum 40 home games).

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 421 career goals, good for 9th among actives, and tied with Stephane Richer, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Thomas for 86th place all-time.  Owen Nolan is 85th with 422 goals and Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 23-19-5 overall; they are 13-8-2 at home and 10-11-3 on the road.

Buffalo is 22-19-3 overall; they are 10-12-2 at home and 12-7-1 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 13-9-3 against the East (9-4-1 vs. Metropolitan and 4-5-2 vs. Atlantic) and 10-10-2 against the West (4-7-2 vs. Central and 6-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 64 games at UBS Arena and recorded 43 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,512

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,386

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 15-6-2 when scoring first and are 8-13-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles     5-11-10-0=26

Buffalo 19-12-13-1=45

The Isles are 12-8-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-11-4 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 42 saves; he is 15-14-4 on the season and 3-2-2 vs Buffalo. 

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 24 saves; he is 11-5-1 on the season and 1-0-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-1 on the power play (2:00); Buffalo was 0-3 on the power play (6:00).

The Isles are 11-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-11-4 when they do not. The Isles are 11-8-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 12-11-4 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-5-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-14-3 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 8-3-5 in games decided by a single goal including 5-3 in regulation. They are 3-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-7 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs  

The next set of back-to-backs will be on January 27th vs Detroit and on January 28th vs. Vegas – that will be the only time this season that the Isles will play home games on consecutive days. Including tonight, the Isles are 4-5-0 in the front end and 5-3-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Scott Mayfield (23:25);  Buffalo: Rasmus Dahlin (25:12)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 18:13 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-10-2), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-3-0), Scott Mayfield (6-0-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 33, Buffalo 26 (56%)

Brock Nelson and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each won 10 of 18 for the Isles; Tage Thompson  won 7 of 12 for Buffalo. 

Hit Count

Isles 24 (Matt Martin -10)

Buffalo 9 (Ilya Lyubishin-2)

Fights 

None. Season total: 13 (Martin-5, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 28 (Sebastian Aho -5)

Buffalo 10 (Henri Jokiharju-2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 49, Buffalo 89

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 44, Buffalo 78

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Mathew Barzal +3

Buffalo:  Tage Thompson +19

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 13, Buffalo 21

5-on-5: Isles 13, Buffalo 18

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), (Kyle Palmieri- upper body-IR), (Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Hudson Fasching- upper body), Parker Wotherspoon

Games Lost: 92

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 129th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-longest active streak in the NHL.  

Noah Dobson played in his 112th consecutive Islander game.

Challenges

Isles: 1 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3

Opponents: 1 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27

League reviews: 4 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – awarded)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute six times this season (five times at home and once on road):

• 0:17 10/29 vs. COL (Mayfield and Beauvillier)

• 0:59 11/7 vs. CGY (Lee and Palmieri)

• 0:22 11/26 vs PHI (Nelson and Beauvillier)

• 0:43 12/4 vs CHI (Parise and Nelson)

• 0:21 12/6 vs STL (Fasching and Pageau)

• 0:34 12/9 @ NJD (Cizikas and Wahlstrom)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win three times this season and have not allowed the opposition to do so.

For: Trailed 3-1, Won 5-3 vs. COL 10/29

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) vs CGY 11/7

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 at NYR 11/8

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored two goal and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(2): Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)

Josh Bailey @ TOR 11/21 (17:02; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (3): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

Anthony Beauvillier @ TOR 11/21 (1:56)

Vs. (2): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,036…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 731 *** 9. Brock Nelson 723*** 10. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 709… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 643 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 227 *** 11. Brock Nelson 221 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 392…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 250 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 206…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 169

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 574  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 427 ***  16. Anders Lee 396 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 352

+/-

1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +74 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Ryan Pulock +55 *** 24. Greg Gilbert +54

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Mark Streit and  Ryan Pulock 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Vladimir Malakhov and Noah Dobson 27

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Roman Hamrlik 120 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 121…

18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Adam Pelech 92

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 161…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 114...

23. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 25. Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield 99

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 54

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 16 …

4. Tommy Salo 14 ***5. Ilya Sorokin 13 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 16-15-6-1 on the season, heading into Friday's game in Rochester. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-4th in the AHL) with 19 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (26) and points (37).   William Dufour, who made his NHL debut against Boston, now has 13 goals, and is tied-4th among AHL rookies; Dufour has points in 9 of his last 10 games.

Season Series Stats

Buffalo leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 1).  

The home team has dominated this series in recent years, winning the last ten games; overall the Isles are 1-4-1 in their last six games against Buffalo.

The Sabres will visit Long Island on both March 7th and March 25 to complete the season series. The Isles have won ten straight at home from Buffalo (three in Brooklyn, six at the Coliseum and one at UBS Arena).

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, JANUARY 21st –CAROLINA AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

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

The Isles return home to face the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night.   It is the third meeting of the season between the teams, with the road team winning each of the first two games. 

January 21st has historically been a very good day for the Isles; they have earned 37 points on this day, and have won ten consecutive games on this date.

Carolina has won four straight on Long Island, including one in overtime; the Isles are 2-5-2 in their last nine home games against the Canes.

The Isles will travel to Raleigh on April 3rd to conclude the season series.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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: Boston 4, Isles 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 46

Boston 4, Isles 1

Charlie McAvoy and Derek Forbort scored 3:12 apart in the second period to erase a 1-0 lead and the Boston Bruins went on to a 4-1 victory over the Isles before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Zach Parise had given the Isles a 1-0 lead after one, but for the fourth time on this homestand the Isles could not score in the final forty minutes.

The Isles are 23-19-4 and drop one point behind Pittsburgh for the second wild card spot; the Isles have played two more games. The Isles are 2-5-2 since the calendar turned to 2023 and head to Buffalo to face the Sabres on the back-end of this back-to-back on Thursday.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Zach Parise (13) Sebastian Aho (6), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (17) 15:41 BOS 0,NYI 1

2nd Period

Charlie McAvoy (3) Matt Grzelcyk (13), Charlie Coyle (14) 07:48  BOS 1,NYI 1

Derek Forbort (3) David Krejci (24), Pavel Zacha (22) 11:00 BOS 2,NYI 1

3rd Period

Brad Marchand (15) David Pastrnak (28), Charlie McAvoy (24) 05:03 BOS 3,NYI 1 PPG

Trent Frederic (10) Charlie Coyle (15), Craig Smith (4) 15:38 BOS 4,NYI 1

The Skinny   

The Isles did not reach 23 wins last season until March 11th (23-24-8)... The Isles went 0-6 on the power play; they are 3-26 in the last ten games and 3-51 in the last eighteen games …The Isles did kill three of four Bruin power plays and are now 58/64 (90.6%) on the home PK – which is the best in the NHL; they are 23-24 in the last 11 home games ..The Isles scored first for the fourth straight game … The Isles have scored eight goals in the last five games (1-2-2); all but one (Hudson Fasching vs. Washington) have been scored in the first period…Boston's two third period goals reduced the Isles' differential in that period to +5; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -11 over the last 23 games. Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield remained at 99 points. They are looking to become the 25th and 26th defenseman in club history to reach 100 points…Jean-Gabriel Pageau recorded an assist for the 3rd straight game…Linus Ullmark won his 100th career game.

The New Guys

William Dufour made his NHL debut and Denis Cholowski made his Islander debut.  Both players went -2; Dufour played 6:48 and Cholowski played 13:58.  Dufour is the first Islander born in 2002; he'll celebrate his 21st birthday later this month.  Cholowski turns 25 in February; he has over 100 games of NHL experience, mainly with Detroit.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  23-19-4 for 50 points in 46 games

• 2021-22  19-20-7 for 45 points in 46 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-1-1

• Season: 27-68-95

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 27 goals (tied with Florida and Carolina for the NHL lead); they didn't score their 27th goal last season until April 19th.  

Sorokin's House

Ilya Sorokin is 22-13-5 all-time at UBS Arena.  His goals against average of 2.03 trails only Frederik Anderson (2.02) among goalies who have made multiple home starts over the last two seasons and his save percentage of .933 is the best in the NHL over that span.  Sorokin went 9-1-0 at the Coliseum; he is 31-14-5 in his career at home and his .930 career save percentage is the best on home ice in NHL history (minimum 40 home games).

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise's goal was the 421st of his career, good for 9th among actives.  With that goal he passed Bill Barber and tied Stephane Richer, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Thomas for 86th place with 421.

Home and Road

The Isles are 23-19-4 overall; they are 13-8-2 at home and 10-11-2 on the road.

Boston is 35-5-4 overall; they are 21-1-3 at home and 14-4-1on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 13-9-2 against the East (9-4-1 vs. Metropolitan and 4-5-1 vs. Atlantic) and 10-11-1 against the West (4-8-1 vs. Central and 6-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 64 games at UBS Arena and recorded 43 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,512

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,386

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 15-6-1 when scoring first and are 8-13-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    10-10-6=26

Boston 6-9-9=24

The Isles are 12-8-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-11-3 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 22 saves; he is 8-5-1 on the season and 12-8-1 vs Boston. 

Linus Ullmark made 23 saves; he is 24-2-1 on the season and 6-5-1 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-6 on the power play (9:46); Boston was 1-4 on the power play (5:07).

The Isles are 11-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-11-3 when they do not. The Isles are 11-8-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 12-11-3 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-5-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-14-2 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 8-3-4 in games decided by a single goal including 5-3 in regulation. They are 3-1 in games decided in overtime and are 0-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-7 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs  

This back-to-back set concludes on Thursday in Buffalo The next set of back-to-backs will be on January 27th vs Detroit and on January 28th vs. Vegas – that will be the only time this season that the Isles will play home games on consecutive days. Including tonight, the Isles are 4-5-0 in the front end and 5-3-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (23:21);  Boston: Derek Forfort (22:10)

Anthony Beauvillier led Isles forwards with 20:45 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-10-2), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-3-0), Scott Mayfield (6-0-1), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 19, Boston 32 (37%)

Mathew Barzal won both of his draws for the Isles;  Patrice Bergeron won 11 of 14 for Boston. 

Hit Count

Isles 21 (Ryan Pulock -4)

Boston 24 (Connor Clifton -5)

Fights 

None. Season total: 13 (Martin-5, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 10 (Jean-Gabriel Pageau -3)

Boston 25 (Derek Forbort -6)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 66, Boston 49

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 42, Boston 38

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Anthony Beauvillier and Josh Bailey +7

Boston:  Hampus Lindholm +13

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 11, Boston 8

5-on-5: Isles 7, Boston 5

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), (Kyle Palmieri- upper body-IR), (Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), Ross Johnston, Parker Wotherspoon, Simon Holmstrom

Games Lost: 88

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 128th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-longest active streak in the NHL.  

Noah Dobson played in his 111h consecutive Islander game.

Challenges

Isles: 1 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3

Opponents: 1 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27

League reviews: 4 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – awarded)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute six times this season (five times at home and once on road):

• 0:17 10/29 vs. COL (Mayfield and Beauvillier)

• 0:59 11/7 vs. CGY (Lee and Palmieri)

• 0:22 11/26 vs PHI (Nelson and Beauvillier)

• 0:43 12/4 vs CHI (Parise and Nelson)

• 0:21 12/6 vs STL (Fasching and Pageau)

• 0:34 12/9 @ NJD (Cizikas and Wahlstrom)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win three times this season and have not allowed the opposition to do so.

For: Trailed 3-1, Won 5-3 vs. COL 10/29

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) vs CGY 11/7

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 at NYR 11/8

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored two goal and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(2): Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)

Josh Bailey @ TOR 11/21 (17:02; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (3): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

Anthony Beauvillier @ TOR 11/21 (1:56)

Vs. (1): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,035…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 730 *** 9. Brock Nelson 722*** 10. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 708… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 642 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 620

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 227 *** 11. Brock Nelson 220 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 391…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 250 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 206…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 169

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 573  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 426 ***  16. Anders Lee 396 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 352

+/-

1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +74 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Ryan Pulock +55 *** 24. Greg Gilbert +54

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Mark Streit and  Ryan Pulock 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Vladimir Malakhov and Noah Dobson 27

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Roman Hamrlik 120 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 121…

18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Adam Pelech 92

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 161…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 114

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 54

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 16 …

4. Tommy Salo 14 ***5. Ilya Sorokin 13 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 16-15-6-1 on the season, heading into Friday's game in Rochester. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-4th in the AHL) with 19 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (26) and points (37).   William Dufour, who made his NHL debut against Boston, now has 13 goals, and is tied-4th among AHL rookies; Dufour has points in 9 of his last 10 games.

Season Series Stats

Boston leads the season series, 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 1). The teams will meet in Boston on February 18th to conclude the season series. 

The Isles had won six straight regular season home games from Boston, sweeping four games in the 2021 COVID season and then defeating the Bruins twice last season.  The Bruins had scored only seven goals in the six games, which mark the longest Islander home win streak vs. Boston in their history.  

UP NEXT

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19th –ISLANDERS AT BUFFALO 7:30pm

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

The Isles play the back-end of this back-to-back and provide the opposition for Ryan Miller's jersey retirement as they face the Sabres in Buffalo. 

It is the first meeting of the teams this season and the only one in Western NY.

The home team has dominated this series in recent years, winning the last nine games; overall the Isles are 1-4-0 in their last five games against Buffalo.

The Sabres will visit Long Island on both March 7th and March 25 to complete the season series. The Isles have won ten straight at home from Buffalo (three in Brooklyn, six at the Coliseum and one at UBS Arena).

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: Washington 4, Isles 3 (OT)

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 45

Washington 4, Isles 3 (OT)

Dimitry Orlov scored with 32.8 seconds remaining in overtime as the Washington Capitals completed a comeback from a 3-0 deficit for a 4-3 victory over the Isles before a crowd of 16,344 at UBS Arena. 

Sebastian Aho and Matt Martin scored first period goals and Hudson Fasching gave the Isles a 3-0 advantage 3:51 into the second period.  However, a hit by Alex Ovechkin chased Jean-Gabriel Pageau to the dressing room a few minutes later and the Caps scored twice in a 3:07 span before Pageau could rejoin the game.  TJ Oshie tied the contest early in the third period, setting the stage for Orlov's 5th career overtime goal. 

The Isles are 23-18-4 and drop behind Pittsburgh for the second wild card spot; both teams have 50 points, but the Isles have played two more games. The Isles are 2-4-2 since the calendar turned to 2023 and will look to make it a winning homestand when the Boston Bruins arrive on Wednesday for a nationally televised game on TNT. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Sebastian Aho (4) Josh Bailey (12), Noah Dobson (17) 04:24 WSH 0,NYI 1

Matt Martin (4) Cal Clutterbuck (4), Alexander Romanov (14) 13:19 WSH 0,NYI 2

2nd Period

Hudson Fasching (3) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (16), Anthony Beauvillier (9) 03:51 WSH 0,NYI 3

Garnet Hathaway (7) Alex Ovechkin (20), Marcus Johansson (11) 10:01 WSH 1,NYI 3

Tom Wilson (1) Nicklas Backstrom (2), Dmitry Orlov (11) 13:08 WSH 2,NYI 3

3rd Period

T.J. Oshie (9) Erik Gustafsson (19), Evgeny Kuznetsov (31) 05:54 WSH 3,NYI 3

OT

Dmitry Orlov (3) T.J. Oshie (7) 04:27 WSH 4,NYI 3

The Skinny   

The Isles did not reach 23 wins last season until March 11th (23-24-8)... The Isles went 0-1 on the power play; they are 3-20 in the last nine games and 3-45 in the last seventeen games …The Isles did kill the only Capital power play and are now 55/60 (91.7%) on the home PK – which is the best in the NHL; they are 20-20 in the last ten home games ..The Isles scored first for the third straight game and led by two goals after one period for the second straight game, and only for the third time this season...It was also the earliest three goals the Isles have scored this season at UBS Arena and their 2nd-earliest anywhere this season (23:31 at New Jersey on December 9th)… The Isles are 16-2-1 when leading through 40 minutes… The Isles have scored seven goals in the last four games (1-1-2); all but Fasching's have been scored in the first period…Washington's third period goal reduced the Isles' differential in that period to +7; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -9 over the last 22 games. Noah Dobson's assist was his 99th point, all with the Isles, and matches Scott Mayfield's total. They are looking to become the 25th and 26th defenseman in club history to reach 100 points…Hudson Fasching had a career-high five shots on goal…  The Isles suffered their first loss when leading by three goals since January 26, 2021, also vs. Washington…It is the third time in four seasons that the Caps have rallied from a three-goal deficit to beat the Isles; coincidentally, all three games were played in January…The Isles are the 31st NHL team to lose in overtime, leaving Tampa Bay as the only team not to allow an overtime goal…Scott Mayfield played 11:11 of the third period and the final 1:49 of overtime.  Each of his last eight shifts lasted over one minute…The Caps scored an overtime goal against the Isles for the 14th time (and first time since Justin Williams beat them on February 18, 2016);  the Isles are 9-14 vs. the Caps in games decided by an overtime goal…Matt Martin had at least ten hits for the eighth time as an Islander; since the stat was recorded officially in 2005, Martin has eight of the 17 occurrences in club history. 

The Injuries:

Nic Dowd left the game in the first period following a check from Cal Clutterbuck; he suffered a lower body injury and did not return.  Jean-Gabriel Pageau missed part of the second period after a hit from Alex Ovechkin.   

First Times in a Long Time

• The Isles saw their seven-game win streak on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day end.  It's their first loss on this holiday since January 13, 2012 (3-1 vs Nashville).

• Scott Mayfield played 28:10; it is the most ice-time for any Islander since Ryan Pulock played 29:00 vs. Montreal on November 5, 2018.  

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  23-18-4 for 50 points in 45 games

• 2021-22  18-20-7 for 43 points in 45 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  1-2-3

• Season: 27-67-94

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 27 goals (tied with Florida and Carolina for the NHL lead); they didn't score their 27th goal last season until April 19th.  

Sorokin's House

Ilya Sorokin is 22-13-5 all-time at UBS Arena.  His goals against average of 2.03 trails only Frederik Anderson (2.02) among goalies who have made multiple home starts over the last two seasons and his save percentage of .933 is the best in the NHL over that span.  Sorokin went 9-1-0 at the Coliseum; he is 31-14-5 in his career at home and his .930 career save percentage is the best on home ice in NHL history (minimum 40 home games).

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 420 career goals, good for 9th among actives.  He is tied with Bill Barber for 89th all-time; Stephane Richer, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Thomas are tied-86th with 421.

Home and Road

The Isles are 23-18-4 overall; they are 13-7-2 at home and 10-11-2 on the road.

Washington is 24-16-6 overall; they are 13-7-3 at home and 10-10-3 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 13-8-2 against the East (9-4-1 vs. Metropolitan and 4-4-1 vs. Atlantic) and 10-11-1 against the West (4-8-1 vs. Central and 6-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 63 games at UBS Arena and recorded 42 sellouts. The sellout crowds of 17,255 are the largest indoor crowds to ever see the Islanders play at home. 

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,511

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,386

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 15-5-1 when scoring first and are 8-13-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    11-6-11-2=30

Washington 5-14-12-4=35

The Isles are 12-7-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-11-3 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 31 saves; he is 15-14-3 on the season and 1-2-1 vs Washington. 

Darcy Kuemper made 27 saves; he is 13-11-4 on the season and 3-4-1 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

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

The Isles are 11-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-10-3 when they do not. The Isles are 11-7-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 12-11-3 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

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

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 8-3-4 in games decided by a single goal including 5-3 in regulation. They are 3-1 in games decided in overtime and are 0-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-7 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs  

The next set of back-to-backs will be on January 18th vs Boston and on January 19th in Buffalo. The Isles are 4-4-0 in the front end and 5-3-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Scott Mayfield (28:10);  Washington: Erik Gustafsson (26:00)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 19:07 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-9-2), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-3-0), Scott Mayfield (6-0-1), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 22, Washington 29 (43%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 10 of 16 for the Isles;  Nicklas Backstrom won 8 of 12 for Washington. 

Hit Count

Isles 37 (Matt Martin-10)

Washington 38 (Martin Fehervary- 9)

Fights 

None. Season total: 13 (Martin-5, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 18 (Ryan Pulock and Scott Mayfield -3)

Washington 13 (Nicklas Backstrom -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 54, Washington 69

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 47, Washington 53

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Parker Wotherspoon +7

Washington:  Two with +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 17, Washington 19

5-on-5: Isles 15, Washington 15

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), (Kyle Palmieri- upper body-IR), (Oliver Wahlstrom-INJ), Ross Johnston

Games Lost: 85

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 127th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-longest active streak in the NHL.  

Noah Dobson played in his 110h consecutive Islander game.

Challenges

Isles: 1 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3

Opponents: 1 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27

League reviews: 4 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – awarded)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute six times this season (five times at home and once on road):

• 0:17 10/29 vs. COL (Mayfield and Beauvillier)

• 0:59 11/7 vs. CGY (Lee and Palmieri)

• 0:22 11/26 vs PHI (Nelson and Beauvillier)

• 0:43 12/4 vs CHI (Parise and Nelson)

• 0:21 12/6 vs STL (Fasching and Pageau)

• 0:34 12/9 @ NJD (Cizikas and Wahlstrom)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win three times this season and have not allowed the opposition to do so.

For: Trailed 3-1, Won 5-3 vs. COL 10/29

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) vs CGY 11/7

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 at NYR 11/8

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored two goal and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(2): Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)

Josh Bailey @ TOR 11/21 (17:02; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (3): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

Anthony Beauvillier @ TOR 11/21 (1:56)

Vs. (1): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,034…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 729 *** 9. Brock Nelson 721*** 10. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 707… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 641 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 619

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 227 *** 11. Brock Nelson 220 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 391…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 250 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 206…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 169

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 573  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 426 ***  16. Anders Lee 396 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 352

+/-

1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +74 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Ryan Pulock +55 *** 24. Greg Gilbert +54 *** 25. Ryan Pulock +23

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Mark Streit and  Ryan Pulock 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Vladimir Malakhov and Noah Dobson 27

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Roman Hamrlik 120 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 121…

18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Adam Pelech 92

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 161…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 114

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 54

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 16 …

4. Tommy Salo 14 ***5. Ilya Sorokin 13 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport got goals from six different players, including William Dufour and Aatu Raty as they defeated Springfield 6-2 on Monday afternoon for their second win in three games. The Islanders are 16-15-6-1 on the season.

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-4th in the AHL) with 19 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (26) and points (37).   William Dufour now has 13 goals and is tied-4th among AHL rookies; Dufour has points in 9 of his last 10 games.

Bridgeport hosts Rochester on Friday. 

Season Series Stats

Washington leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 1). The teams will next meet in Washington on March 29th.

The Isles have points in four straight games vs. the Caps (2-0-2), matching their longest streak against Washington since 2012-13.

UP NEXT

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18th –BOSTON AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

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

The longest homestand of the season concludes on Wednesday as the Isles welcome the Boston Bruins to UBS Arena for the only time this season.  Kenny Albert, Ed Olczyk and Keith Jones will call the game for TNT.

The Isles rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to force a shootout in Boston on December 19th, but the Bruins won the shootout.

The Isles have won six straight regular season home games from Boston, sweeping four games in the 2021 COVID season and then defeating the Bruins twice last season.  The Bruins scored only seven goals in the six games, which mark the longest Islander home win streak vs. Boston in their history.  

The game will be played on the 50th anniversary of one of the most famous games from the Islanders' first season.  On January 18, 1973 the Isles went into Boston and defeated the Stanley Cup Champion Bruins 9-7. It was only the second road win in club history (2-20-1) and the fifth win overall (5-37-4).

Here's how I previously described it:

With the expansion Islanders in town, the Bruins started John Adams (yes that John Adams) in goal.  The roookie netminder would finish the season with a 9-3-1 record.  His night however would be finished in just 20 minutes as the Islanders jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first 17:46, bookended by a pair of goals by Don Blackburn.  Lorne Henning, Billy Harris, and Ed Westfall also tallied for the Isles, who allowed a late goal by John Bucyk to make it 5-1 after 1.

Westfall tallied again early in the second period to make it 6-1, but by midway through the period the B's had cut the margin to 6-4.  Bucyk had two of those three goals, giving him a hat trick-- he would later add a 4th goal.

Brian Lefley scored with 4 1/2 minutes left in the 2nd to take a bit of the pressure and make it 7-4, but Wayne Cashman and Terry O'Reilly responded early in the 3rd.  After Tom Miller and Johnny Bucyk traded goals to make it 8-7, the Bruins had a chance to tie late in the third.  Years later, Islander goaltender Bill Smith described to Sports Illustrated what happened next:  "Finally, when it was 8-7, Wayne Cashman took a shot from the blue line that hit me in the head. Harris picked the puck up and went down and scored, or we (surely) would have blown it."

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 2, Montreal 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 44

Isles 2, Montreal 1

Casey Cizikas and Anthony Beauvillier scored goals in the first 6:03 of the game and Ilya Sorokin made 22 saves as the Isles snapped a four-game losing streak (0-3-1) with a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Nick Suzuki got Montreal on the board with his first goal in 12 games, midway through the third period but the Canadiens could not find the equalizer before an enthusiastic crowd on Mike Bossy Bobblehead Night. 

The Isles improve to 23-18-3 and move back into the second wild card spot, one point ahead of Pittsburgh,  The Isles are 2-4-1 since the calendar turned to 2023 and will finally face division rival Washington, when the Ovechkins visit on Monday night. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Casey Cizikas (4) Noah Dobson (16), Cal Clutterbuck (3) 02:25 MTL 0,NYI 1

Anthony Beauvillier (9) Scott Mayfield (7), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (15) 06:03 MTL 0,NYI 2

2nd Period

No Goals

3rd Period

Nick Suzuki (16) Jonathan Drouin (12) 09:56 MTL 1,NYI 2

The Skinny   

The Isles did not reach 23 wins last season until March 11th (23-24-8)... The Isles went 0-2 on the power play; they are 3-19 in the last eight games and 3-44 in the last sixteen games …The Isles did kill both Canadiens power plays and are now 54/59 on the home PK – which is the best in the NHL; they are 19-19 in the last nine home games ..The Isles scored first for the second straight game and scored their earliest two goals of the season; it was only the second time this season (Anaheim – 10/15) that the Isles led by two goals at the end of the first period...It was also the earliest two goals the Isles have ever scored at UBS Arena and their earliest anywhere since last February 9th in Vancouver…Ilya Sorokin has allowed seven goals in the last six home games (4-1-1, 1.15, .953); both the goals against average and save percentage are the best in the NHL over that span. The Isles improve to 16-2-0 when leading through 40 minutes…Casey Cizikas has five points(2-3-5) in 2023, tying him with Mathew Barzal (3-2-5) for the club point lead…The Isles have scored four goals in the last three games (1-1-1); all four have been scored in the first period…Montreal's third period goal reduced the Isles' differential in that period to +8; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but -8 over the last 21 games… Cal Clutterbuck earned his 135th career assist, breaking a tie with his goal total,  on the Cizikas goal; he is now 134-135-269 in his career…Scott Mayfield's assist was his 99th point, all with the Isles.  He is looking to become the 25th defenseman in club history to reach 100 points…Josh Bailey had a season-high five shots on goal… Anthony Beauvillier was credited with the game-winner; 19 of 102 career goals and game-winners (18.6%).  Among Isles who scored at least 100 goals, only Mark Parrish has a higher percentage (25/118; 21.2%).

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  23-18-3 for 49 points in 44 games

• 2021-22  18-20-6 for 42 points in 44 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0--2

• Season: 26-64-90

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 26 goals (one behind Carolina for the NHL lead); they didn't score their 26th goal last season until April 15th.  

Sorokin's House

Ilya Sorokin is 22-12-5 all-time at UBS Arena.  His goals against average of 1.98 is the lowest of any goalie who has made multiple home starts in the last two seasons and his save percentage of .934 is the best in the NHL over that span. Sorokin went 9-1-0 at the Coliseum; he is 31-13-5 in his career at home; his .931 career save percentage is the best on home ice in NHL history (minimum 40 home games).

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 420 career goals, good for 9th among actives.  He is tied with Bill Barber for 89th all-time; Stephane Richer, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Thomas are tied-86th with 421.

Home and Road

The Isles are 23-18-3 overall; they are 13-7-1 at home and 10-11-2 on the road.

Montreal is 17-23-3 overall; they are 9-11-0 at home and 8-12-3 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 13-8-1 against the East (9-4-0 vs. Metropolitan and 4-4-1 vs. Atlantic) and 10-11-1 against the West (4-8-1 vs. Central and 6-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 62 games at UBS Arena and recorded 42 sellouts. The sellout crowds of 17,255 are the largest indoor crowds to ever see the Islanders play at home. 

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,510

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,386

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 15-5-0 when scoring first and are 8-13-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles      14-14-10=38

Montreal 9-9-5=23

The Isles are 12-7-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-11-2 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 22 saves; he is 15-14-2 on the season and 3-0-1 vs Montreal. 

Sam Montembault made 36 saves; he is 7-7-2 on the season and 0-1-2 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play (4:00); Montreal was 0-2 on the power play (4:00).

The Isles are 11-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-10-2 when they do not. The Isles are 11-7-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 12-11-2 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-5-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-13-2 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 8-3-3 in games decided by a single goal including 5-3 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-7 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs  

The next set of back-to-backs will be on January 18th vs Boston and on January 19th in Buffalo. The Isles are 4-4-0 in the front end and 5-3-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Scott Mayfield (23:38);  Montreal: David Savard (23:18)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 18:37 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-9-2), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-3-0), Scott Mayfield (6-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 27, Montreal 26 (51%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 14 of 22 for the Isles;  Sam Steel won 12 of 21 for Montreal. 

Hit Count

Isles 25 (Cal Clutterbuck -5)

Montreal 18 (Four with 2)

Fights 

None. Season total: 13 (Martin-5, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 14 (Noah Dobson -3)

Montreal 25 (Jordan Harris-4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 74, Montreal 46

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 65, Montreal 39

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Mathew Barzal +17

Montreal:  Evgenii Dadonov +1

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 14, Montreal 9

5-on-5: Isles 13, Montreal 9

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), (Kyle Palmieri- upper body-IR), (Oliver Wahlstrom-INJ), Ross Johnston

Games Lost: 82

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 126th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-longest active streak in the NHL.  

Noah Dobson played in his 109th consecutive Islander game.

Challenges

Isles: 1 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3

Opponents: 1 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27

League reviews: 4 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – awarded)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute six times this season (five times at home and once on road):

• 0:17 10/29 vs. COL (Mayfield and Beauvillier)

• 0:59 11/7 vs. CGY (Lee and Palmieri)

• 0:22 11/26 vs PHI (Nelson and Beauvillier)

• 0:43 12/4 vs CHI (Parise and Nelson)

• 0:21 12/6 vs STL (Fasching and Pageau)

• 0:34 12/9 @ NJD (Cizikas and Wahlstrom)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win three times this season and have not allowed the opposition to do so.

For: Trailed 3-1, Won 5-3 vs. COL 10/29

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) vs CGY 11/7

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 at NYR 11/8

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored two goal and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(2): Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)

Josh Bailey @ TOR 11/21 (17:02; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (3): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

Anthony Beauvillier @ TOR 11/21 (1:56)

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,033…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 728 *** 9. Brock Nelson 720*** 10. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 706… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 640 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 618

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 227 *** 11. Brock Nelson 220 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 390…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 250 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 206…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 169

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 572  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 426 ***  16. Anders Lee 396 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 352

+/-

1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +74 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Ryan Pulock +55 *** 24. Greg Gilbert +54

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Mark Streit and  Ryan Pulock 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Vladimir Malakhov and Noah Dobson 27

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Roman Hamrlik 120 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 121…

18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Adam Pelech 92

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 161…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 114

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 54

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 16 …

4. Tommy Salo 14 ***5. Ilya Sorokin 13 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport split a pair over the weekend as they got an overtime goal from Aatu Raty to snap their eleventh game winless streak (0-8-2-1) with a 4-3 victory over Lehigh Valley on Friday.  Otto Koivula has the only Islander goal in a 5-1 loss to Utica on Saturday. The Islanders are 15-15-14-6-1 on the season.

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-2nd in the AHL) with 19 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (24) and points (35).   

Bridgeport visits Springfield Monday in an MLK Day matinee. 

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0). The teams will meet in Montreal for a matinee on February 11th before Les Canadiens visit Long Island in the regular season finale on April 12th.

   

The Isles improved to 3-0-1 in their last four games with Montreal and earned only their third win in the last 13 home games  against the Habs.

UP NEXT

MONDAY, JANUARY 16th –WASHINGTON AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

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

After not meeting in the season's first three months the Isles will finally meet the Washington Capitals when Alex Ovechkin brings his 810 career goals to UBS Arena in the first of four meetings this season. 

The Isles went 2-1-1 last season against the Caps, sweeping Washington in a home-and-home series in the final week of the campaign. 

The Isles are three points behind the Caps and hold a game-in-hand. Washington was swept in a home-and home by Philadelphia in their last two games and are 1-3-0 in their last four games.

The game will be played on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  The Isles have won their last seven games on MLK Day (five at home and two on the road); this will be the 17th time since 1994 that the Isles have hosted an MLK Day game.

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