The Skinny: Anaheim 5, Isles 4 (OT)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 35

Anaheim 5, Isles 4 (OT)

Rickard Rakell scored the tying goal with 75 seconds remaining in regulation and Hampus Lindholm completed his hat trick with an overtime goal as the Anaheim Duckc defeated the Islanders 5-4 before a crowd of 10,092 at Barclays Center.

The Isles had rallied from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to take a 4-3 lead on an Andrew Ladd goals.  Both John Tavares and Josh Bailey each had three points for New York as each player recorded multiple points for the fifth straight game.

The Isles have won just one of their last five games and are 3-6-2 in December.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

08:09 Anaheim Hampus Lindholm (4) ASST: Andrew Cogliano (12), Ryan Getzlaf (10) 1-0

09:54 Anaheim Ondrej Kase (8) ASST: Josh Manson (14), Nick Ritchie (7) 2-0

2ND PERIOD

05:39 New York PPG - Mathew Barzal (9) ASST: Josh Bailey (33), John Tavares (24) 2-1

12:36 Anaheim Hampus Lindholm (5) ASST: Ryan Getzlaf (11) 3-1

16:59 New York PPG - John Tavares (20) ASST: Josh Bailey (34), Mathew Barzal (23) 3-2

3RD PERIOD

05:44 New York John Tavares (21) ASST: Josh Bailey (35), Nick Leddy (19) 3-3

07:52 New York Andrew Ladd (9) ASST: Jordan Eberle (12), Scott Mayfield (7) 3-4

18:45 Anaheim Rickard Rakell (9) ASST: Brandon Montour (11), Ryan Getzlaf (12) 4-4

OT PERIOD

04:03 Anaheim Hampus Lindholm (6) ASST: Ryan Getzlaf (13), Ondrej Kase (6) 5-4

 

The Skinny  

Josh Bailey is the first player in the NHL to reach 35 assists this season and the first NHL player to do so within a team's first 35 games since Sidney Crosby and Martin St. Louis did so in 2012-13…The Isles allowed the first goal for the 23nd time in 35 games (7-12-4); the Isles have scored the first goal fewer times than any other team in the NHL … Josh Bailey (10-35-45) and John Tavares (21-24-45) remain tied for the team scoring lead); the linemates have combined for 27 points on the last 18 Islander goals... Bailey now has a  seven-game point streak while John Tavares has a six-game streak… Anders Lee's streak ended at six games…Bailey now has 15 multi-point games (already a career-high) and Tavares has 14 …Tavares and Bailey are the first Islanders with five consecutive multi-point games since Pierre Turgeon (6 games) in 1993-94 ..Josh Bailey's 35 assists and 45 points  are already the second-highest totals of his career…For the sixth time in the last seven games, the score was 2-0 at some point …The Isles improve to 22.5% on the power play; the Isles haven't finished a season with a 20% power play efficiency since the 1993-94 season; at home they are even better: 27.8%...Including shootout winners, the Isles have scored 125 goals in the first 35 games (most since 1993-94, when they had scored 127) and allowed 125 goals (tying the highest since 2005-06, when they allowed 125)…The Isles outscored the Ducks 2-1 in the third period; they have outscored opponents 44-35 in the final session… Mathew Barzal had two points and continues to lead all rookies in assists with 23; it's the most assists for an Islander rookie since John Tavares had 30 in 2009-10…Andrew Cogliano played in his 822nd consecutive game; he has never missed a game since joining the NHL…Ryan Miller recorded 362nd career win (4th among actives)..The Ducks had lost all four previous games decided in overtime…Hampus Lindholm had scored 32 goals in 324 prior NHL games.  He is the first Duck defender to score a hat trick since Lubomir Visnovsky (3-4-11 vs Dallas).  Lubo also completed his hat trick in overtime…Lindholm is only the 7th defensemen in NHL History (regular season/playoffs) to complete a hat trick in overtime; Doug Crossman, then with Tampa Bay, also did it against the Isles...Ryan Getzlaf had four assists for his 17th career 4-point game.

Leading goal scorers in NHL

1. Alex Ovechkin 23

       Nikita Kucherov 23

3 Anders Lee 21

John Tavares 21

21 Club 

Anders Lee and John Tavares each have 21 goals; they are the first Islanders to score 21 goals in 25 years to score 21 goals before Christmas (Pierre Turgeon in 1992-93); the only previous time in club history that Islander teammates had 20 goals before Christmas was in 1977-78, when Mike Bossy (then a rookie) and Bryan Trottier did so.

Casey on the Draw

Casey Cizikas has won 58 of 84 draws over the last four games (68%), including 13 of 20 tonight.

Casey is a team-best 54.6% on draws.

Moving On Up

John Tavares recorded one assists leaving him just three assists behind Patrick Flatley for 6th place.

Josh Bailey had three assists, giving him 351 points.  With his second point, he passed Frans Nielsen for 16th place on the all-time list.  

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals eight times at home (7-1-0) and twelve times overall (11-1-0). The Isles have also scored one shootout winner for a five goal of the game (not included above). The Isles scored five goals (including shootout winners) in only 10 games all last season.

First Things First

The Isles have scored first twelve times this season (11-1-0). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season and had won a franchise-record 16 straight dating back to last season.

A Favorable Comparison

The Isles are 18-13-4 this season; they were 14-15-6 through 34 games last season and won only 18 of their first 43 games last season (18-17-8).  Their 18th win came in Doug Weight's first game as Islander head coach. 

Lots of Wins

Jaroslav Halak has 221 career wins; he is tied with Ilya Bryzgalov for 68th place on the all-time NHL win list.   

Greiss, Greiss, Baby

Thomas Greiss is 9-5-2 on the season, including 6-3-0 in his last nine decisions.

Fastest to 40

Doug Weight is now 42-24-8 as an NHL coach. On December 4 in Florida, he reached 40 wins faster than any coach in Islander history:

Fewest Games to 40 Wins by an Islander Coach:

66 – Doug Weight (40-20-6)

80– Peter Laviolette 2001-02 (40-28-8-4)

82 – Ted Nolan 2006-07 (40-30-12)

86—Steve Stirling 2003-04 (40-31-11-4)

The Shots

Isles    5-9-10-2=26

Anaheim 11-15-13-1=40

The Isles are 6-5-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 12-7-2 when they are outshot.

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged twice and been successful once.

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

10/12 @ Ana Ducks -- successful

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

Home for the Holidays

This was the second game of a five game homestand.  The Isles are 1-1-1 in this stretch:

12/16- Vs. Kings W 4-3 (OT)

12/19 – Vs. Red Wings L 3-6

12/21 -  Vs. Ducks L 5-4 (OT)

12/23 – Vs. Jets (1pm)

12/27 – Vs. Sabres

The Isles are playing 15 games this month, matching their record for most December games (done several other times).  

Home and Road

The Islanders are 18-13-4 overall; 10-3-3 at home and 8-10-1 on the road.  

Anaheim is 15-13-8 overall; 8-7-3 at home and 7-6-5 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 5-4-1 in Division games and 13-9-3 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 9-8-1 against the East and 9-5-3 against the West.

Our House

The Isles are 10-3-23 at home; they are 4-2-0 against the East and 6-1-3 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 27-5-6 all-time at Barclays against the West.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 35 saves; he is 9-8-2 on the season and 8-6-1 in his career against Anaheim.  

Ryan Miller made 22 saves to improve to 4-1-4 on the season and 19-10-3 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 2-3 on the power play in 2:28 of PP time; Anaheim was 0-2 in 3:33 of PP time. 

The Isles are 11-7-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 7-6-3 when they do not.  The Isles are 11-9-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 7-4-2 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 17-5-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-8-2 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

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

First Goal 

The Isles are 11-1-0 when they score first and are 7-12-4 when they allow the opening goal. 

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 4-3-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 3-4-0 on the back-end. 

The next back-to-back set is January 4th in Philadelphia and January 5th vs. Pittsburgh.

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 1-2-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 5-0-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

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

• The Isles are 9-9-4 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (24:19); Anaheim: Cam Fowler (26:47)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (3-1-1), Nick Leddy (11-11-2), John Tavares (2-1-0), Calvin deHaan (2-0-0).

John Tavares led the forwards in ice-time (19:40). Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (16-10-4), Josh Bailey (2-0-0), Brock Nelson (0-1-0), Mathew Barzal (0-2-0).

Face-offs

Isles 35, Anaheim 41 (46%). 

Casey Cizikas won 13 of 20 for the Isles; Antoine Vermette won 10 of 16 for Anaheim.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 7/20; 2nd period 10/27; 3rd period 15/24; Overtime 3/5.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 29/68; Power play 3/5; Penalty kill 3/3.

Hit Count

Isles 38 (Cal Clutterbuck -8)

Anaheim 29 (Nick Ritchie-5)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 4: (Boychuk 1, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 17 shots; Johnny Boychuk, Ryan Pulock and Casey Cizikas led the way with three.

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 53, Anaheim 71

5-on-5 Isles 44, Anaheim 51

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Jordan Eberle & Mathew Barzal +10

Anaheim: Brandon Montour +11

Night and Day 

The Isles are 17-13-3 in night games and 1-0-1 in matinees.  The Isles, who went 2-3-1 in matinees last season, will play six matinees this season; the next one is December 23rd vs. Winnipeg (1pm).

Ironmen

Jason Chimera – 223 (including 106 for the Capitals), Jordan Eberle 186 (including 151 for the Oilers), Josh Bailey 184, Nick Leddy 112.

Century Club

Calvin deHaan and Nick Leddy have joined a select group of defensemen in Islander history who have played at least 100 consecutive regular season games:

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. Janne Niinimaa 3/13/2004-1/7/2006 136 (**)

6. Ken Morrow 3/1/1980-12/29/1981 134 (*)

7. Mark Streit 10/8/2011-4/26/2013 130

8. Calvin deHaan 4/7/2016- 12/16/2017 118

9. Travis Hamonic 2/24/2012-1/12/2014 117

10. Travis Hamonic 11/24/2010– 2/4/2012 113 (*)

11. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 112

12. Jean Potvin 10/23/1975-1/2/1977 110

13. Kenny Jonsson 12/26/1996-2/4/1998 104

14. Thomas Hickey 4/26/2013- 11/22/2014 103

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), Dennis Seidenberg, Anthony Beauvillier, Alan Quine

Total games lost: 87

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored twice in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:

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

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal once 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

7-11

The Isles have used 7 defensemen twice this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ) and are 2-0-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-0-0 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. Brent Sutter 694 *** 9. Josh Bailey 674 *** 10. Derek King 638 *** 11. Billy Harris 623 *** 12. Stefan Persson 622 and John Tavares 622

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 256

…

22.  Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 25. Ray Ferraro and Josh Bailey 116 *** 27. Benoit Hogue, Ed Westfall and Anders Lee 105

Assists

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

5. John Tonelli 338 *** 6. Patrick Flatley 328 *** 7. John Tavares 326

…

15. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 16. Josh Bailey 235

Points

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

5. Brent Sutter 610 *** 6. John Tavares 582

…

14. Kyle Okposo & Stefan Persson 369 *** 16. Josh Bailey 351

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 143 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 109

Wins (Goalie)

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

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

9. Thomas Greiss 58

Season Series Stats

Anaheim wins the season series two games to none (and four points to one).  This game marked the Ducks' first win in Brooklyn.

This was the fourth straight game between the teams to be decided in overtime, including games each of the last two seasons in Brooklyn.

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 13-12-1-1 heading into Friday night's game in Springfield.

Tanner Fritz continues to lead Bridgeport with 28 points (8-21-29); Rookie Scott Eansor leads the team in goals with 12. Christopher Gibson is 9-6-1 in the nets while Krister Gudlevskis is 4-5-2.

Bridgeport is in Hartford at 3pm on Saturday in their final game before the Christmas break.

Up Next

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23rd –WINNIPEG AT ISLANDERS 1:00PM 

[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 12:30PM), WFAN 660/101.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM]

The Isles will play their second home matinee of the season on Saturday as they entertain the Winnipeg Jets.

This is the first meeting of the teams this season; they will meet six night later in Winnipeg to conclude the season series.

Overall the Islanders have won 4 of the last 5 games between the teams, although the Jets earned a 4-2 win in Brooklyn on March 16th in the most recent matchup between the teams.

And Finally… 

Congratulations to Tage Thompson, the son of Sound Tiger coach Brent Thompson, on his first NHL goal.

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: Detroit 6, Isles 3

“The Skinny”

By Eric Hornick

Game 34

Detroit 6, Isles 3 

Trevor Daley broke a 3-3 tie with 9:57 to play and both Dylan Larkin and Henrik Zetterberg had three assists as the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Islanders 6-3 before a crowd of 10,511 at Barclays Center.

The Islanders had taken a 3-2 lead late in a dominating 2nd period on power play goals from Ryan Pulock and Josh Bailey, but Anthony Mantha got the Red Wings even before the 2nd period ended.

The Isles have dropped three of their last four games and are 3-6-1 in December.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

06:32 New York Anders Lee (21) ASST: John Tavares (22), Josh Bailey (32) 1-0

09:33 Detroit Martin Frk (7) ASST: Jonathan Ericsson (7), Dylan Larkin (20) 1-1

16:49 Detroit PPG - Gustav Nyquist (9) ASST: Henrik Zetterberg (16), Tomas Tatar (6) 1-2

2ND PERIOD

02:03 New York PPG - Ryan Pulock (2) ASST: Jordan Eberle (11) 2-2

12:59 New York PPG - Josh Bailey (10) ASST: Mathew Barzal (22), John Tavares (23) 3-2

15:15 Detroit Anthony Mantha (13) ASST: Henrik Zetterberg (17) 3-3

3RD PERIOD

10:03 Detroit Trevor Daley (2) ASST: Henrik Zetterberg (18), Dylan Larkin (21)  3-4

14:12 Detroit Mike Green (3) ASST: Dylan Larkin (22), Andreas Athanasiou (6)  3-5

19:31 Detroit EN - Luke Glendening (7) ASST: Danny DeKeyser (1), Frans Nielsen (5) 3-5

The Skinny  

The Isles allowed the first goal for the 22nd time in 33 games (7-12-3); the Isles have scored the first goal fewer times than any other team in the NHL … Josh Bailey (10-32-42) and John Tavares remain tied for the team scoring lead with John Tavares (19-23-42); the linemates have combined for 21 points on the last 14 Islander goals... Both Bailey and Anders Lee now have six-game point streaks while John Tavares has a five-game streak… Bailey now has 14 multi-point games (already a career-high) and Tavares has 13 …John Tavares has four consecutive multi-assist games …Josh Bailey has four consecutive multi-point games; his 32 assists are already the second-highest total of his career…Bailey also has goals in three straight games… This was the first time in the last six Islander games that the score has been 1-1 at some point …The Isles improve to 21.4% on the power play; the Isles haven’t finished a season with a 20% power play efficiency since the 1993-94 season…The Isles PK drops to 72.3%, which is 31st in the NHL…Including shootout winners, the Isles have scored 121 goals in the first 34 games (most since 1993-94, when they had scored 124) and allowed 120 goals (highest since 2005-06, when they allowed 121)…The Isles were outscored 3-0 in the third period; the Isles have outscored opponents 42-34 in the final session… Mathew Barzal assisted on Bailey’s power play goal and continues to lead all rookies in assists with 22; it’s the most assists for an Islander rookie since John Tavares had 30 in 2009-10…The Isles had more shots on goal in the 2nd period (23) than Detroit had in the entire game (22); the 23 shots was a season-high.  The Isles did not have 23 shots in any period last season…Jonathan Ericsson had an assist and was +4…Mike Green’s goal was his 450th career point, including 19 in 34 games against the Isles.

The Discipline

Following the game, Detroit’s Justin Abdelkader was fined $5,000 for spearing Scott Mayfield.  The $5,000 fine is the maximum allowed by the CBA.  Abdelkader was given a minor penalty for slashing on the play.  Had the officials ruled it a spear on the ice, Adbelkader would (by rule) have received a major penalty and a game misconduct.

Seven of One, Half-Dozen of Another

The Isles’ defense combined for 20 shots on goal, including seven from Johnny Boychuk and a career-high six from Ryan Pulock.  Boychuk and Pulock are the first pair of Islander defensemen with at least six shots in a game in 24 years (12-17-1993 vs. Toronto; Vladimir Malakhov had 7 and Uwe Krupp added 6).

Filling the Statistical Categories

In addition to his seven shots on goal, Johnny Boychuk was credited with four hits and four blocks.  He is the first Islander in the Real-Time era to reach (or exceed) all those totals.  It has happened eleven times previously, including four times by Rob Blake.

Leading goal scorers in NHL

1. Alex Ovechkin 23

       Nikita Kucherov 23

3 Anders Lee 21

4 John Tavares 19

Christmas Club 

Anders Lee has 21 goals and John Tavares has 19 goals; Lee is the first Islander to score 21 goals in 25 years to score 21 goals before Christmas (Pierre Turgeon in 1992-93); the only time in club history that Islander teammates had 20 goals before Christmas was in 1977-78, when Mike Bossy (then a rookie) and Bryan Trottier did so.

Tavares and Lee are the first Islander teammates to score 19 goals before Christmas in 25 years (Derek King and Pierre Turgeon in 1992-93) and are the first teammates since Mike Bossy and Brent Sutter in 1984-85 to have scored 19 goals by December 16th.

Casey on the Draw

Casey Cizikas has won 45 of 64 draws over the last three games (70.3%), including 13 of 18 tonight.

Casey is a team-best 54.1% on draws.

While the Isles are 26th in draws this season, they are 12th since the start of December.

Moving On Up

John Tavares recorded two assists, with his first assist passing Brent Sutter for 7th place on the all-time Isles list.  He is now just three assists behind Patrick Flatley for 6th place.

Josh Bailey had two points, giving him 348 points.  He is one point behind Frans Nielsen for 16th place on the all-time list.  His goal was his 116th, tying him with Ray Ferraro for 25th place on the all-time list.

 Anders Lee’ goal was his 105th, tying Benoit Hogue and Ed Westfall for 27th on the all-time Isles list.

Five’s Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals eight times at home (7-1-0) and twelve times overall (11-1-0). The Isles have also scored one shootout winner for a five goal of the game (not included above). The Isles scored five goals (including shootout winners) in only 10 games all last season.

First Things First

The Isles have scored first twelve times this season (11-1-0). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season and had won a franchise-record 16 straight dating back to last season.

A Favorable Comparison

The Isles are 18-13-3 this season; they were 14-14-6 through 34 games last season and won only 18 of their first 43 games last season (18-17-8).  Their 18th win came in Doug Weight’s first game as Islander head coach. 

Lots of Wins

Jaroslav Halak has 221 career wins; he is tied with Ilya Bryzgalov for 68th place on the all-time NHL win list.   

Greiss, Greiss, Baby

Thomas Greiss is 9-5-2 on the season, including Greiss is 6-3-0 in his last nine decisions.

Fastest to 40

Doug Weight is now 42-24-7 as an NHL coach. On December 4 in Florida, he reached 40 wins faster than any coach in Islander history:

Fewest Games to 40 Wins by an Islander Coach:

66 – Doug Weight (40-20-6)

80– Peter Laviolette 2001-02 (40-28-8-4)

82 – Ted Nolan 2006-07 (40-30-12)

86—Steve Stirling 2003-04 (40-31-11-4)

The Shots

Isles    9-23-5=37

Detroit 6-4-12=22

The Isles are 6-5-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 12-7-1 when they are outshot.

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged twice and been successful once.

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

10/12 @ Ana Ducks -- successful

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

Home for the Holidays

This was the second game of a five game homestand.  The Isles are 1-1-0 in this stretch:

12/16- Vs. Kings W 4-3 (OT)

12/19 – Vs. Red Wings L 3-6

12/21 -  Vs. Ducks

12/23 – Vs. Jets (1pm)

12/27 – Vs. Sabres

The Isles are playing 15 games this month, matching their record for most December games (done several other times).  

Home and Road

The Islanders are 18-13-3 overall; 10-3-2 at home and 8-10-1 on the road.  

Detroit is 13-13-7 overall; 6-6-6 at home and 7-7-1 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 5-4-1 in Division games and 13-9-2 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 9-8-1 against the East and 9-5-2 against the West.

Our House

The Isles are 10-3-2 at home; they are 4-2-0 against the East and 6-1-2 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 27-5-5 all-time at Barclays against the West.

Most Points Through 15 Home Games (Post-Cup era)

24- 1984-85

22- 2017-18

22- 2014-15

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 16 saves but falls to 9-5-2 on the season and 2-2-1 in his career against Detroit.  

Petr Mrazek made 34 saves to improve to 3-4-1 on the season and 6-3-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 2-3 on the power play in 3:33 of PP time; Detroit was 1-1 in 0:57 of PP time. 

The Isles are 11-7-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 7-6-3 when they do not.  The Isles are 11-9-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 7-4-2 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 17-5-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-8-2 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

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

First Goal 

The Isles are 11-1-0 when they score first and are 7-12-3 when they allow the opening goal. 

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 4-3-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 3-4-0 on the back-end. 

The next back-to-back set is January 4th in Philadelphia and January 5th vs. Pittsburgh.

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 1-2-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 5-0-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

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

• The Isles are 9-9-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (22:56); Detroit: Jonathan Ericson (23:50)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (3-1-1), Nick Leddy (11-11-1), John Tavares (2-1-0), Calvin deHaan (2-0-0).

John Tavares led the forwards in ice-time (19:19). Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (16-10-3), Josh Bailey (2-0-0), Brock Nelson (0-1-0), Mathew Barzal (0-2-0).

Face-offs

Isles 31, Detroit 33 (48%). 

Casey Cizikas won 13 of 18 for the Isles; Henrik Zetterberg won 10 of 19 for Detroit.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 8/16; 2nd period 15/27; 3rd period 8/21.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 27/58; Power play 3/5; Penalty kill 1/1.

Hit Count

Isles 26 (Johnny Boychuk and Cal Clutterbuck -4)

Detroit 24 (Jonathan Ericson & Luke Glendening -4)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 4: (Boychuk 1, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 18 shots; Johnny Boychuk led the way with four.

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 51, Detroit 59

5-on-5 Isles 42, Detroit 54

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Cal Clutterbuck and Adam Pelech +4

Detroit:  Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha +8

Night and Day 

The Isles are 17-13-2 in night games and 1-0-1 in matinees.  The Isles, who went 2-3-1 in matinees last season, will play six matinees this season; the next one is December 23rd vs. Winnipeg (1pm).

Ironmen

Jason Chimera – 222 (including 106 for the Capitals), Jordan Eberle 185 (including 151 for the Oilers), Josh Bailey 183, Nick Leddy 111.

Century Club

Calvin deHaan and Nick Leddy have joined a select group of defensemen in Islander history who have played at least 100 consecutive regular season games:

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. Janne Niinimaa 3/13/2004-1/7/2006 136 (**)

6. Ken Morrow 3/1/1980-12/29/1981 134 (*)

7. Mark Streit 10/8/2011-4/26/2013 130

8. Calvin deHaan 4/7/2016- 12/16/2017 118

9. Travis Hamonic 2/24/2012-1/12/2014 117

10. Travis Hamonic 11/24/2010– 2/4/2012 113 (*)

11. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 111

12. Jean Potvin 10/23/1975-1/2/1977 110

13. Kenny Jonsson 12/26/1996-2/4/1998 104

14. Thomas Hickey 4/26/2013- 11/22/2014 103

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Thomas Hickey-Injured), (Shane Prince-conditioning), Alan Quine

Total games lost: 85

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored twice in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:

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

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal once 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

7-11

The Isles have used 7 defensemen twice this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ) and are 2-0-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-0-0 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. Brent Sutter 694 *** 9. Josh Bailey 673 *** 10. Derek King 638 *** 11. Billy Harris 623 *** 12. Stefan Persson 622 *** 13. John Tavares 621

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 254

…

22.  Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 25. Ray Ferraro and Josh Bailey 116 *** 27. Benoit Hogue, Ed Westfall and Anders Lee 105

Assists

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

5. John Tonelli 338 *** 6. Patrick Flatley 328 *** 7. John Tavares 325

…

15. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 16. Josh Bailey 232

Points

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

5. Brent Sutter 610 *** 6. John Tavares 579

…

14. Kyle Okposo & Stefan Persson 369 *** 16. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 17.  Josh Bailey 348

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 142 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 109

Wins (Goalie)

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

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

9. Thomas Greiss 58

Season Series Stats

Detroit leads the season series one game to none (and two points to none). The teams will meet again in Brooklyn on February 9th; the Isles will end the regular season at Little Caesars Arena on April 7th.

The Red Wings have taken 5-out-of-7 from the Isles over the last three seasons and Petr Mrazek owns six wins over the Isles in the past four seasons.

On the Farm

Bridgeport fell to 13-12-1-1 following a 3-2 overtime loss to Lehigh Valley on Sunday.  Casey Bailey had a goal and an assist for the Sound Tigers; Michael dal Colle also scored.

Tanner Fritz continues to lead Bridgeport with 28 points (8-21-29); Rookie Scott Eansor leads the team in goals with 12. Christopher Gibson is 9-6-1 in the nets while Krister Gudlevskis is 4-5-2.

Bridgeport visits Springfield on Friday night and travels to Hartford at 3pm on Saturday.  

Up Next

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21st –ANAHEIM AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 

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

The middle game of this 5-game homestand is on Thursday as the Isles host Anaheim.

This is the second meeting of the teams this season; the Isles outshot Anaheim 41-30 at the Pond in October but dropped a 3-2 decision.

Each of the last three games has ended by a 3-2 score and the home team has won all three, including last season’s Islander home opener.  Overall the Islanders have won 4 of the last 5 games between the teams.

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.

The Skinny: Detroit 6, Isles 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 34

Detroit 6, Isles 3 

Trevor Daley broke a 3-3 tie with 9:57 to play and both Dylan Larkin and Henrik Zetterberg had three assists as the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Islanders 6-3 before a crowd of 10,511 at Barclays Center.

The Islanders had taken a 3-2 lead late in a dominating 2nd period on power play goals from Ryan Pulock and Josh Bailey, but Anthony Mantha got the Red Wings even before the 2nd period ended.

The Isles have dropped three of their last four games and are 3-6-1 in December.

 

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

06:32 New York Anders Lee (21) ASST: John Tavares (22), Josh Bailey (32) 1-0

09:33 Detroit Martin Frk (7) ASST: Jonathan Ericsson (7), Dylan Larkin (20) 1-1

16:49 Detroit PPG - Gustav Nyquist (9) ASST: Henrik Zetterberg (16), Tomas Tatar (6) 1-2

2ND PERIOD

02:03 New York PPG - Ryan Pulock (2) ASST: Jordan Eberle (11) 2-2

12:59 New York PPG - Josh Bailey (10) ASST: Mathew Barzal (22), John Tavares (23) 3-2

15:15 Detroit Anthony Mantha (13) ASST: Henrik Zetterberg (17) 3-3

3RD PERIOD

10:03 Detroit Trevor Daley (2) ASST: Henrik Zetterberg (18), Dylan Larkin (21) 3-4

14:12 Detroit Mike Green (3) ASST: Dylan Larkin (22), Andreas Athanasiou (6) 3-5

19:31 Detroit EN - Luke Glendening (7) ASST: Danny DeKeyser (1), Frans Nielsen (5) 3-5

The Skinny  

The Isles allowed the first goal for the 22nd time in 33 games (7-12-3); the Isles have scored the first goal fewer times than any other team in the NHL … Josh Bailey (10-32-42) and John Tavares remain tied for the team scoring lead with John Tavares (19-23-42); the linemates have combined for 21 points on the last 14 Islander goals... Both Bailey and Anders Lee now have six-game point streaks while John Tavares has a five-game streak… Bailey now has 14 multi-point games (already a career-high) and Tavares has 13 …John Tavares has four consecutive multi-assist games …Josh Bailey has four consecutive multi-point games; his 32 assists are already the second-highest total of his career…Bailey also has goals in three straight games… This was the first time in the last six Islander games that the score has been 1-1 at some point …The Isles improve to 21.4% on the power play; the Isles haven't finished a season with a 20% power play efficiency since the 1993-94 season…The Isles PK drops to 72.3%, which is 31st in the NHL…Including shootout winners, the Isles have scored 121 goals in the first 34 games (most since 1993-94, when they had scored 124) and allowed 120 goals (highest since 2005-06, when they allowed 121)…The Isles were outscored 3-0 in the third period; the Isles have outscored opponents 42-34 in the final session… Mathew Barzal assisted on Bailey's power play goal and continues to lead all rookies in assists with 22; it's the most assists for an Islander rookie since John Tavares had 30 in 2009-10…The Isles had more shots on goal in the 2nd period (23) than Detroit had in the entire game (22); the 23 shots was a season-high.  The Isles did not have 23 shots in any period last season…Jonathan Ericsson had an assist and was +4…Mike Green's goal was his 450th career point, including 19 in 34 games against the Isles.

The Discipline

Following the game, Detroit's Justin Abdelkader was fined $5,000 for spearing Scott Mayfield.  The $5,000 fine is the maximum allowed by the CBA.  Abdelkader was given a minor penalty for slashing on the play.  Had the officials ruled it a spear on the ice, Adbelkader would (by rule) have received a major penalty and a game misconduct.

Seven of One, Half-Dozen of Another

The Isles' defense combined for 20 shots on goal, including seven from Johnny Boychuk and a career-high six from Ryan Pulock.  Boychuk and Pulock are the first pair of Islander defensemen with at least six shots in a game in 24 years (12-17-1993 vs. Toronto; Vladimir Malakhov had 7 and Uwe Krupp added 6).

Filling the Statistical Categories

In addition to his seven shots on goal, Johnny Boychuk was credited with four hits and four blocks.  He is the first Islander in the Real-Time era to reach (or exceed) all those totals.  It has happened eleven times previously, including four times by Rob Blake.

Leading goal scorers in NHL

1. Alex Ovechkin 23

       Nikita Kucherov 23

3 Anders Lee 21

4 John Tavares 19

Christmas Club 

Anders Lee has 21 goals and John Tavares has 19 goals; Lee is the first Islander to score 21 goals in 25 years to score 21 goals before Christmas (Pierre Turgeon in 1992-93); the only time in club history that Islander teammates had 20 goals before Christmas was in 1977-78, when Mike Bossy (then a rookie) and Bryan Trottier did so.

Tavares and Lee are the first Islander teammates to score 19 goals before Christmas in 25 years (Derek King and Pierre Turgeon in 1992-93) and are the first teammates since Mike Bossy and Brent Sutter in 1984-85 to have scored 19 goals by December 16th.

Casey on the Draw

Casey Cizikas has won 45 of 64 draws over the last three games (70.3%), including 13 of 18 tonight.

Casey is a team-best 54.1% on draws.

While the Isles are 26th in draws this season, they are 12th since the start of December.

Moving On Up

John Tavares recorded two assists, with his first assist passing Brent Sutter for 7th place on the all-time Isles list.  He is now just three assists behind Patrick Flatley for 6th place.

Josh Bailey had two points, giving him 348 points.  He is one point behind Frans Nielsen for 16th place on the all-time list.  His goal was his 116th, tying him with Ray Ferraro for 25th place on the all-time list.

 Anders Lee' goal was his 105th, tying Benoit Hogue and Ed Westfall for 27th on the all-time Isles list.

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals eight times at home (7-1-0) and twelve times overall (11-1-0). The Isles have also scored one shootout winner for a five goal of the game (not included above). The Isles scored five goals (including shootout winners) in only 10 games all last season.

First Things First

The Isles have scored first twelve times this season (11-1-0). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season and had won a franchise-record 16 straight dating back to last season.

A Favorable Comparison

The Isles are 18-13-3 this season; they were 14-14-6 through 34 games last season and won only 18 of their first 43 games last season (18-17-8).  Their 18th win came in Doug Weight's first game as Islander head coach. 

Lots of Wins

Jaroslav Halak has 221 career wins; he is tied with Ilya Bryzgalov for 68th place on the all-time NHL win list.   

Greiss, Greiss, Baby

Thomas Greiss is 9-5-2 on the season, including Greiss is 6-3-0 in his last nine decisions.

Fastest to 40

Doug Weight is now 42-24-7 as an NHL coach. On December 4 in Florida, he reached 40 wins faster than any coach in Islander history:

Fewest Games to 40 Wins by an Islander Coach:

66 – Doug Weight (40-20-6)

80– Peter Laviolette 2001-02 (40-28-8-4)

82 – Ted Nolan 2006-07 (40-30-12)

86—Steve Stirling 2003-04 (40-31-11-4)

The Shots

Isles    9-23-5=37

Detroit 6-4-12=22

The Isles are 6-5-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 12-7-1 when they are outshot.

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged twice and been successful once.

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

10/12 @ Ana Ducks -- successful

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

Home for the Holidays

This was the second game of a five game homestand.  The Isles are 1-1-0 in this stretch:

12/16- Vs. Kings W 4-3 (OT)

12/19 – Vs. Red Wings L 3-6

12/21 -  Vs. Ducks

12/23 – Vs. Jets (1pm)

12/27 – Vs. Sabres

The Isles are playing 15 games this month, matching their record for most December games (done several other times).  

Home and Road

The Islanders are 18-13-3 overall; 10-3-2 at home and 8-10-1 on the road.  

Detroit is 13-13-7 overall; 6-6-6 at home and 7-7-1 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 5-4-1 in Division games and 13-9-2 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 9-8-1 against the East and 9-5-2 against the West.

Our House

The Isles are 10-3-2 at home; they are 4-2-0 against the East and 6-1-2 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 27-5-5 all-time at Barclays against the West.

Most Points Through 15 Home Games (Post-Cup era)

24- 1984-85

22- 2017-18

22- 2014-15

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 16 saves but falls to 9-5-2 on the season and 2-2-1 in his career against Detroit.  

Petr Mrazek made 34 saves to improve to 3-4-1 on the season and 6-3-0 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 2-3 on the power play in 3:33 of PP time; Detroit was 1-1 in 0:57 of PP time. 

The Isles are 11-7-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 7-6-3 when they do not.  The Isles are 11-9-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 7-4-2 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 17-5-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-8-2 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

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

First Goal 

The Isles are 11-1-0 when they score first and are 7-12-3 when they allow the opening goal. 

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 4-3-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 3-4-0 on the back-end. 

The next back-to-back set is January 4th in Philadelphia and January 5th vs. Pittsburgh.

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 1-2-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 5-0-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

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

• The Isles are 9-9-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (22:56); Detroit: Jonathan Ericson (23:50)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (3-1-1), Nick Leddy (11-11-1), John Tavares (2-1-0), Calvin deHaan (2-0-0).

John Tavares led the forwards in ice-time (19:19). Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (16-10-3), Josh Bailey (2-0-0), Brock Nelson (0-1-0), Mathew Barzal (0-2-0).

Face-offs

Isles 31, Detroit 33 (48%). 

Casey Cizikas won 13 of 18 for the Isles; Henrik Zetterberg won 10 of 19 for Detroit.

 

Face-offs by period: 1st period 8/16; 2nd period 15/27; 3rd period 8/21.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 27/58; Power play 3/5; Penalty kill 1/1.

Hit Count

Isles 26 (Johnny Boychuk and Cal Clutterbuck -4)

Detroit 24 (Jonathan Ericson & Luke Glendening -4)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 4: (Boychuk 1, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 18 shots; Johnny Boychuk led the way with four.

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 51, Detroit 59

5-on-5 Isles 42, Detroit 54

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Cal Clutterbuck and Adam Pelech +4

Detroit:  Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha +8

Night and Day 

The Isles are 17-13-2 in night games and 1-0-1 in matinees.  The Isles, who went 2-3-1 in matinees last season, will play six matinees this season; the next one is December 23rd vs. Winnipeg (1pm).

Ironmen

Jason Chimera – 222 (including 106 for the Capitals), Jordan Eberle 185 (including 151 for the Oilers), Josh Bailey 183, Nick Leddy 111.

Century Club

Calvin deHaan and Nick Leddy have joined a select group of defensemen in Islander history who have played at least 100 consecutive regular season games:

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. Janne Niinimaa 3/13/2004-1/7/2006 136 (**)

6. Ken Morrow 3/1/1980-12/29/1981 134 (*)

7. Mark Streit 10/8/2011-4/26/2013 130

8. Calvin deHaan 4/7/2016- 12/16/2017 118

9. Travis Hamonic 2/24/2012-1/12/2014 117

10. Travis Hamonic 11/24/2010– 2/4/2012 113 (*)

11. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 111

12. Jean Potvin 10/23/1975-1/2/1977 110

13. Kenny Jonsson 12/26/1996-2/4/1998 104

14. Thomas Hickey 4/26/2013- 11/22/2014 103

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Thomas Hickey-Injured), (Shane Prince-conditioning), Alan Quine

Total games lost: 85

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored twice in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:

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

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal once 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

7-11

The Isles have used 7 defensemen twice this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ) and are 2-0-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-0-0 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. Brent Sutter 694 *** 9. Josh Bailey 673 *** 10. Derek King 638 *** 11. Billy Harris 623 *** 12. Stefan Persson 622 *** 13. John Tavares 621

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 254

…

22.  Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 25. Ray Ferraro and Josh Bailey 116 *** 27. Benoit Hogue, Ed Westfall and Anders Lee 105

Assists

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

5. John Tonelli 338 *** 6. Patrick Flatley 328 *** 7. John Tavares 325

…

15. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 16. Josh Bailey 232

Points

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

5. Brent Sutter 610 *** 6. John Tavares 579

…

14. Kyle Okposo & Stefan Persson 369 *** 16. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 17.  Josh Bailey 348

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 142 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 109

Wins (Goalie)

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

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

9. Thomas Greiss 58

Season Series Stats

Detroit leads the season series one game to none (and two points to none). The teams will meet again in Brooklyn on February 9th; the Isles will end the regular season at Little Caesars Arena on April 7th.

The Red Wings have taken 5-out-of-7 from the Isles over the last three seasons and Petr Mrazek owns six wins over the Isles in the past four seasons.

On the Farm

Bridgeport fell to 13-12-1-1 following a 3-2 overtime loss to Lehigh Valley on Sunday.  Casey Bailey had a goal and an assist for the Sound Tigers; Michael dal Colle also scored.

Tanner Fritz continues to lead Bridgeport with 28 points (8-21-29); Rookie Scott Eansor leads the team in goals with 12. Christopher Gibson is 9-6-1 in the nets while Krister Gudlevskis is 4-5-2.

Bridgeport visits Springfield on Friday night and travels to Hartford at 3pm on Saturday.  

Up Next

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21st –ANAHEIM AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 

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

The middle game of this 5-game homestand is on Thursday as the Isles host Anaheim.

This is the second meeting of the teams this season; the Isles outshot Anaheim 41-30 at the Pond in October but dropped a 3-2 decision.

Each of the last three games has ended by a 3-2 score and the home team has won all three, including last season's Islander home opener.  Overall the Islanders have won 4 of the last 5 games between the teams.

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

From Bossy to Bailey: The Skinny on Tavares, Bailey and The 40-40 Club

It was quite a week for Josh Bailey and John Tavares, as they combined for 17 points (8 for Bailey and 9 for Tavares) to both reach the 40 point mark in the Isles' 33rd game.

The linemates are the first Isles to reach 40 points in the team's first 33 games since Pierre Turgeon (in the building last night), who was 16-28-44 in the first 33 in 1993-94 (and 19-31-50 in 1992-93).

Pat LaFontaine was the last Islander before Turgeon to reach 40 in 33, going 20-22-42 in 1990-91.

Where does Mike Bossy fit in to this? Well, like Tavares, both Turgeon and LaFontaine were centers.  The last Islander winger before Josh Bailey to reach 40 points in the Isles' first 33 games was no other than the greatest goal scorer (goals/game) in NHL history.  Bossy did it numerous times, including 21-24-45 in the 1985-86 season.

Bossy was also part of the last set of Isles teammates to reach 40 points in the first 33 games before Bailey and Tavares did so last night. In 1984-85, Bossy went 31-31-62, Brent Sutter went 19-35-54 and John Tonelli went 21-26-47 in the Isles' first 33 games.

Maybe that's the reason that Barclays was playing this song last night:

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, Los Angeles 3 (OT)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 33

Isles 4, Los Angeles 3 (OT)

Jordan Eberle scored 1:54 into overtime and John Tavares recorded his second consecutive three-point game as the Islanders overcame a tying goal by Anze Kopitar with just 13 seconds to play in regulation and defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 before a Star Wars Night crowd of 13,087 at Barclays Center.

John Tavares and Anders Lee scored third period goals as the Isles rallied from a 2-1 second intermission deficit.  Eberle's 3rd career overtime goal (and first as an Islander) gave the Isles their third win of the season when trailing after two periods and snapped the first 2-game regulation losing streak of the season.

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

12:56 Los Angeles Oscar Fantenberg (2) ASST: Tanner Pearson (14), Tyler Toffoli (9) 0-1

17:11 Los Angeles PPG - Tyler Toffoli (15) ASST: Drew Doughty (20), Darcy Kuemper (1) 0-2

19:10 New York Josh Bailey (9) ASST: Calvin de Haan (11), John Tavares (20) 1-2

2ND PERIOD

No Scoring

3RD PERIOD

04:15 New York PPG - John Tavares (19) ASST: Anders Lee (15), Josh Bailey (31) 2-2

16:44 New York Anders Lee (20) ASST: Ryan Pulock (4), John Tavares (21) 3-2

19:47 Los Angeles Anze Kopitar (17) ASST: Dustin Brown (15), Alec Martinez (7) 3-3

OT PERIOD

01:54 New York Jordan Eberle (13) ASST: Mathew Barzal (21) 4-3

The Skinny  

The Isles allowed the first goal for the 22nd time in 33 games (7-12-3); the Isles have scored the first goal fewer times than any other team in the NHL … Josh Bailey (9-31-40) and John Tavares are now tied for the team scoring lead with John Tavares (19-21-40); the linemates have combined for 17 points on the last 11 Islander goals... Both Bailey and Anders Lee now have five-game point streaks while Bailey and Tavares are two of the six players in the NHL with 40 points… Bailey now has 13 multi-point games, Tavares has 12 and Lee has 11…John Tavares has three consecutive multi-assist games and two consecutive three point games…Josh Bailey has three consecutive multi-point games; his 31 assists are already the second-highest total of his career…The score has been 2-0 at some point of each of the last five Islander games…The Isles remain at 20.2% on the power play; the Isles haven't finished a season with a 20% power play efficiency since the 1993-94 season…Including shootout winners, the Isles have scored 118 goals in the first 33 games (most since 1993-94, when they had scored 124) and allowed 114 goals (tied-highest since 2013-14, when they allowed 117)…The Isles outscored LA 2-1 in the third period; the Isles have outscored opponents 42-31 in the final session…Jordan Eberle is the third Islander to score an overtime goal this season, joining Josh Bailey and Nick Leddy…The Isles rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win for the first time March 14, 2017 in Carolina (also in overtime)…Dustin Brown played in his 998th NHL game…It was only the second time this season that Darcy Kuemper allowed four goals, and in both cases the fourth goal was scored in overtime…The Isles improved to 3-10-1 when trailing after one period and 3-11-1 when trailing after two periods. Only Vegas (4-5-1) has more wins than the Isles when trailing after two periods. Mathew Barzal assisted on Eberle's overtime goal and continues to lead all rookies in assists with 21; Travis Hamonic had 21 as a rookie in 2010-11 but no Islander has had more since John Tavares had 30 in 2009-10.

Leading goal scorers in NHL

1. Alex Ovechkin 23

       Nikita Kucherov 23

3 Anders Lee 20

4 John Tavares 19

December Leaders

Anders Lee is one of two players with 7 goals this month (Nathan MacKinnon is the other).  Josh Bailey and John Tavares are two of the five players with 12 points this month (Artemi Panarin, Tyler Johnson and Alex Ovechkin).

Christmas Club 

Anders Lee has 20 goals and John Tavares has 19 goals; Lee is the first Islander to score 20 goals before Christmas since Ziggy Palffy in 1996-97; the only time in club history that Islander teammates had 20 goals before Christmas was in 1977-78, when Mike Bossy (then a rookie) and Bryan Trottier did so.

Tavares and Lee are the first Islander teammates to score 19 goals before Christmas in 25 years (Derek King and Pierre Turgeon in 1992-93) and are the first teammates since Mike Bossy and Brent Sutter in 1984-85 to have scored 19 goals by December 16th.

Casey on the Draw

Casey Cizikas has won 32 of 46 draws over the last three games (69.6%), including 11 of 14 tonight.  He won all four of his draws while shorthanded, becoming the first Islander in seven years (Zenon Konopka 11-3-2010 vs. Carolina) to take at least four face-offs shorthanded and win them all.  

Casey is a team-best 53.4% on draws and a team-best 46.2% while shorthanded.

While the Isles are 26th in draws this season, they are 13th since the start of December.

Good Bye, Old Friends

Josh Bailey's assist on John Tavares' goal was his 231st, breaking a tie with both Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen for 16th place on the all-time Isles list.

Moving On Up

John Tavares recorded two assists, tying Brent Sutter for 7th place on the all-time Isles list.  Thomas Greiss recorded his 58th win, breaking a tie with Evgeni Nabokov for 9th place on the Isles list.

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals eight times at home (7-1-0) and twelve times overall (11-1-0). The Isles have also scored one shootout winner for a five goal of the game (not included above). The Isles scored five goals (including shootout winners) in only 10 games all last season.

First Things First

The Isles have scored first eleven times this season (11-0-0).  It's the first time that the Isles have won at least eleven straight games (single season) that they scored first since December 16, 2010 – February 21, 2011 (11-0-0).

The Isles also won the last 5 games that they scored first last season, giving them a franchise-record 16 straight wins when the Isles score first.  The Isles won 14 straight games when scoring first between January 4 – February 25, 1982, including in 12 games of their 15-game winning streak.

A Favorable Comparison

The Isles are 18-12-3 this season; they were 13-14-6 through 33 games last season and won only 18 of their first 43 games last season (18-17-8).  Their 18th win came in Doug Weight's first game as Islander head coach. 

Lots of Wins

Jaroslav Halak has 221 career wins; he is tied with Ilya Bryzgalov for 68th place on the all-time NHL win list.   

Greiss, Greiss, Baby

Thomas Greiss is 9-4-2 on the season (9-3-2 in his last 14 decisions). Greiss is 6-2-0 in his last eight decisions and is 7-2-1 in his last 10 decisions.

Fastest to 40

Doug Weight is now 42-23-7 as an NHL coach. On December 4 in Florida, he reached 40 wins faster than any coach in Islander history:

Fewest Games to 40 Wins by an Islander Coach:

66 – Doug Weight (40-20-6)

80– Peter Laviolette 2001-02 (40-28-8-4)

82 – Ted Nolan 2006-07 (40-30-12)

86—Steve Stirling 2003-04 (40-31-11-4)

The Shots

Isles            14-10-8-1=33

Los Angeles 10-8-10-1=29

The Isles are 6-4-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 12-7-1 when they are outshot.

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged twice and been successful once.

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

10/12 @ Ana Ducks -- successful

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

Busy December

This was the final game of a stretch in which the Isles played eight games in 13 days.  The Isles went 3-4-1 in this stretch:

12/4 - @ Panthers W 5-4 (SO)

12/5 - @ Lightning L 2-6

12/7 - @ Penguins L 3-4 (OT)

12/9 - @ Bruins L 1-3

12/11- Vs. Caps W 3-1

12/13- Vs. Stars L 2-5

12/14 - @ Blue Jackets L 4-6

12/16- Vs. Kings W 4-3 (OT)

The Isles are playing 15 games this month, matching their record for most December games (done several other times).  

Home for the Holidays

This was the first game of a five game homestand.  The Isles are 1-0-0 in this stretch:

12/16- Vs. Kings W 4-3 (OT)

12/19 – Vs. Red Wings

12/21 -  Vs. Ducks

12/23 – Vs. Jets (1pm)

12/27 – Vs. Sabres

Home and Road

The Islanders are 18-12-3 overall; 10-2-2 at home and 8-10-1 on the road.  

Los Angeles is 20-10-4 overall; 10-5-2 at home and 10-5-2 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 5-4-1 in Division games and 13-8-2 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 9-7-1 against the East and 9-5-2 against the West.

Our House

The Isles are 10-2-2 at home; they are 4-1-0 against the East and 6-1-2 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 27-5-5 all-time at Barclays against the West.

Most Points Through 14 Home Games

24- 1978-79

23- 1974-75

22- 1977-78

22- 2017-18

22- 2014-15

22- 1984-85

22- 1981-82

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 26 saves and improves to 9-4-2 on the season and 4-3-0 in his career against Los Angeles.  

Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves; he remains unbeaten this season in regulation time (5-0-3) and is 1-1-1 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 1-5 on the power play in 8:01 of PP time; Los Angeles was 1-3 in 4:27 of PP time. 

The Isles are 11-6-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 7-6-3 when they do not.  The Isles are 11-8-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 7-4-2 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 17-4-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-8-2 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

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

First Goal 

The Isles are 11-0-0 when they score first and are 7-12-3 when they allow the opening goal. 

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 4-3-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 3-4-0 on the back-end. 

The next back-to-back set is January 4th in Philadelphia and January 5th vs. Pittsburgh.

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 1-2-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 5-0-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

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

• The Isles are 9-8-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (24:30); Los Angeles: Jake Muzzin (26:04)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (3-1-1), Nick Leddy (11-10-1), John Tavares (2-1-0), Calvin deHaan (2-0-0).

Josh Bailey led the forwards in ice-time (22:06). Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (16-9-3), Josh Bailey (2-0-0), Brock Nelson (0-1-0), Mathew Barzal (0-2-0).

Face-offs

Isles 40, Los Angeles 23 (63%). 

Casey Cizikas won 11 of 14 for the Isles; No King who took more than three draws won as many as he lost.

Face-offs by period: 1st period 13/21; 2nd period 9/18; 3rd period 17/23; Overtime 1/1.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 29/48; Power play 5/8; Penalty kill 6/7.

Hit Count

Isles 24 (Jason Chimera-5)

Los Angeles 31 (Jake Muzzin-5)

Fights

Jason Chimera fought Trevor Lewis in the second period. Season total – 4: (Boychuk 1, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 12 shots; Johnny Boychuk led the way with four.

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 63, Los Angeles 56

5-on-5 Isles 47, Los Angeles 41

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Jordan Eberle +11

Los Angeles:  Oscar Fantenberg +7

Night and Day 

The Isles are 17-12-2 in night games and 1-0-1 in matinees.  The Isles, who went 2-3-1 in matinees last season, will play six matinees this season; the next one is December 23rd vs. Winnipeg (1pm).

Ironmen

Jason Chimera – 221 (including 106 for the Capitals); Jordan Eberle 184 (including 151 for the Oilers), Josh Bailey 182, Calvin deHaan 118, Nick Leddy 110.

Century Club

Calvin deHaan and Nick Leddy have joined a select group of defensemen in Islander history who have played at least 100 consecutive regular season games:

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. Janne Niinimaa 3/13/2004-1/7/2006 136 (**)

6. Ken Morrow 3/1/1980-12/29/1981 134 (*)

7. Mark Streit 10/8/2011-4/26/2013 130

8. Calvin deHaan 4/7/2016- CURRENT 118

9. Travis Hamonic 2/24/2012-1/12/2014 117

10. Travis Hamonic 11/24/2010– 2/4/2012 113 (*)

11. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 110

     Jean Potvin 10/23/1975-1/2/1977 110

13.  Kenny Jonsson 12/26/1996-2/4/1998 104

14. Thomas Hickey 4/26/2013- 11/22/2014 103

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Thomas Hickey-IR), Shane Prince-conditioning, Alan Quine, Dennis Seidenberg

Total games lost: 77

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored twice in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:

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

Late Goals Allowed

The Isles have allowed a goal once 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

7-11

The Isles have used 7 defensemen twice this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ) and are 2-0-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-0-0 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. Brent Sutter 694 *** 9. Josh Bailey 672 *** 10. Derek King 638 *** 11. Billy Harris 623 *** 12. Stefan Persson 622 *** 13. John Tavares 620

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 254

…

22.  Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 25. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 26. Josh Bailey 115 *** 27. Benoit Hogue and Ed Westfall 105 *** 29. Anders Lee 104

Assists

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

5. John Tonelli 338 *** 6. Patrick Flatley 328 *** 7. Brent Sutter and John Tavares 323

…

15. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 16. Josh Bailey 231

Points

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

5. Brent Sutter 610 *** 6. John Tavares 577

…

14. Kyle Okposo & Stefan Persson 369 *** 16. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 17.  Josh Bailey 346

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 142 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 108

Wins (Goalie)

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

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

9. Thomas Greiss 58

Season Series Stats

The teams split the season series one game to one (Los Angeles earned three points to the Isles' two). 

This was the first Islander overtime win over Los Angeles since Mark Streit beat the Kings at the Coliseum on February 11th.

The home team has won all five meetings between the teams over the last three seasons.

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 13-11-1-1 following a 5-4 loss in Springfield on Friday and a 3-2 overtime win over Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Saturday.

Tanner Fritz continues to lead Bridgeport with 28 points (8-20-28); Rookie Scott Eansor leads the team in goals with 12. Christopher Gibson is 9-6-0 in the nets after earning the win in relief on Saturday, while Krister Gudlevskis is 4-5-2.

Bridgeport hosts Lehigh Valley at 3pm on Sunday  

Up Next

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19th –DETROIT AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 

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

The homestand continues as the Isles face the Detroit Red Wings for the first time this season.  The Red Wings have taken 2-out-of-3 from the Isles in each of the last two seasons and Petr Mrazek owns five wins over the Isles in the past three seasons.

This is the first of two meetings in Brooklyn this season; the Red Wings return on February 9th.  The Isles won't visit Little Caesars Arena until April 7th, which is the final day of the regular season.

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: Columbus 6, Isles 4

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 32

Columbus 6, Isles 4

Josh Bailey recorded his first career hat trick (all assisted by John Tavares) to help the Isles erase a 3-0 deficit, but Seth Jones and Nick Foligno scored 2:49 apart late in the second period as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Isles 6-4 before a crowd of 15,696 at Nationwide Arena..

The Isles pressed for the equalizer after Bailey's hat trick tally had cut the lead to 5-4 but Josh Anderson hit the empty net at 19:59 to seal matters, as the Isles suffered consecutive regulation losses for the first time this season.

The Scoring: 

1ST PERIOD

03:57 Columbus Zach Werenski (10) ASST: Artemi Panarin (20) 0-1

06:23 Columbus Markus Nutivaara (2) ASST: Alexander Wennberg (10), Oliver Bjorkstrand (13) 0-2

15:52 Columbus PPG - Pierre-Luc Dubois (6) ASST: Zach Werenski (8), Artemi Panarin (21) 0-3

2ND PERIOD

05:00 New York Josh Bailey (6) ASST: John Tavares (17) 1-3

07:49 New York Casey Cizikas (5) ASST: Scott Mayfield (6), Calvin de Haan (10) 2-3

13:52 New York Josh Bailey (7) ASST: John Tavares (18), Anders Lee (14) 3-3

15:03 Columbus Seth Jones (4) ASST: Cam Atkinson (4), Oliver Bjorkstrand (14) 3-4

17:52 Columbus Nick Foligno (7) ASST: Oliver Bjorkstrand (15), Alexander Wennberg (11) 3-5

3RD PERIOD

07:11 New York PPG - Josh Bailey (8) ASST: John Tavares (19) 4-5

19:59 Columbus EN - Josh Anderson (12) 4-6

The Skinny  

The Isles allowed the first goal for the 21st  time in 32 games (6-12-3); the Isles have scored the first goal fewer times than any other team in the NHL …Josh Bailey's hat trick goal came on the power play as the Isles connected with the extra man for the second straight game; he is the 11th Islander to record a hat trick in a losing effort.  John Tavares (10-23-10 in Florida) is the only other Islander to do so in the last 21 years… Josh Bailey (8-30-38) retained his one point lead over John Tavares (18-19-37); the linemates have each earned six points on the last seven Islander goals... Both Bailey and Anders Lee now have four-game point streaks while both Bailey and Tavares are now in the top 10 in the NHL in points…Columbus received goals from 3 different defensemen; that's the first time an Islander opponent has done that since March 25, 2016 (Tampa Bay).. Oliver Bjorkstrand had his first three assist/three point game…The Isles used only three lines for most of the third period; Josh Ho-Sang had one shift (1:10) while Alan Quine had none…Mathew Barzal and Jordan Eberle were both -3; however, Eberle drew two penalties and Barzal drew one.  Barzal has now drawn a team-leading 18 opposing penalties; starting play tonight, only Calgary's Matthew Tkachuk (20) had drawn more. Eberle has drawn 12, second on the team…The Isles were outshot 35-25, but the Isles had 42 other attempts that either went wide or were blocked… The score has been 3-0 at some point of each of the last three Islander games…The Isles improved to 20.2% on the power play; the Isles haven't finished a season with a 20% power play efficiency since the 1993-94 season…Including shootout winners, the Isles have scored 114 goals in the first 32 games (most since 1993-94, when they had scored 120)  and allowed 111 goals (tied-highest since 2008-09, when they allowed 119)…The Jackets had never won a game in their history when allowing an opposing hat trick (0-33-0)…The Jackets have scored five 1st period goals in two games against the Isles but only 18 first period goals in their other 30 games this season…The Isles allowed a goal on a delayed penalty for the second straight game and the third time this season…Jack Johnson went +3 in his Blue Jacket game, while Nick Foligno's winner was his 100th goal with Columbus.

Where Have I Heard That Time Before?

Josh Bailey's hat trick was completed at 7:11 of the third period.  As long-time readers know, I tweet a link to The Skinny every morning at exactly 7:11 in honor of Bob Nystrom's Stanley Cup winning goal.  Bailey's goal was the first that the Islanders had scored at 7:11 of any period since January 19, 2010, when Richard Park did so in the third period of a game vs. Pittsburgh.

Leading goal scorers in NHL

1. Alex Ovechkin 22

2. Nikita Kucherov 21

3. Anders Lee 19

4. John Tavares 18

5. Sean Monahan 17

Club 19-18

Anders Lee has 19 goals and John Tavares has 18 goals; no Islander had reached 19 goals before Christmas since 2006 when Jason Blake did so.

Tavares and Lee are the first Islander teammates to score 18 goals before Christmas in 25 years (Derek King and Pierre Turgeon in 1992-93) and are the first teammates since Mike Bossy and Brent Sutter in 1984-85 to have scored 18 goals by December 13th.

Lee needs one goal and Tavares needs two goals to reach 20.  The last Islander to score 20 goals before Christmas was Ziggy Palffy in 1996-97; the only time in club history that Islander teammates had 20 goals before Christmas was in 1977-78, when Mike Bossy (then a rookie) and Bryan Trottier did so.

Hello Old Friends

Josh Bailey has 230 career assists, remaining tied with both Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen for 16th place on the all-time Isles list.

Five's Alive

The Isles have scored at least five goals eight times at home (7-1-0) and twelve times overall (11-1-0). The Isles have also scored one shootout winner for a five goal of the game (not included above). The Isles scored five goals (including shootout winners) in only 10 games all last season.

First Things First

The Isles have scored first eleven times this season (11-0-0).  It's the first time that the Isles have won at least eleven straight games (single season) that they scored first since December 16, 2010 – February 21, 2011 (11-0-0).

The Isles also won the last 5 games that they scored first last season, giving them a franchise-record 16 straight wins when the Isles score first.  The Isles won 14 straight games when scoring first between January 4 – February 25, 1982, including in 12 games of their 15-game winning streak.

A Favorable Comparison

The Isles are 17-12-3 this season; they were 12-14-6 through 32 games last season and won only 17 of their first 42 games last season (17-17-8).  Their 17th win came in Jack Capuano's final game as Islander head coach. 

Lots of Wins

Jaroslav Halak has 221 career wins; he is tied with Ilya Bryzgalov for 68th place on the all-time NHL win list.   

Greiss, Greiss, Baby

Thomas Greiss is 8-4-2 on the season (8-3-2 in his last 13 decisions). Greiss is 5-2-0 in his last seven decisions and is 6-2-1 in his last 9 decisions.

Fastest to 40

Doug Weight is now 41-23-7 as an NHL coach. On December 4 in Florida, he reached 40 wins faster than any coach in Islander history:

Fewest Games to 40 Wins by an Islander Coach:

66 – Doug Weight (40-20-6)

80– Peter Laviolette 2001-02 (40-28-8-4)

82 – Ted Nolan 2006-07 (40-30-12)

86—Steve Stirling 2003-04 (40-31-11-4)

The Shots

Isles             4-12-9=25

Columbus    16-10-9=35

The Isles are 5-4-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 12-7-1 when they are outshot.

Offside Challenges

The Isles have challenged twice and been successful once.

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

10/12 @ Ana Ducks -- successful

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

Busy December

This was the seventh game of a stretch in which the Isles will play eight games in 13 days.  The Isles are 2-4-1 in this stretch:

12/4 - @ Panthers W 5-4 (SO)

12/5 - @ Lightning L 2-6

12/7 - @ Penguins L 3-4 (OT)

12/9 - @ Bruins L 1-3

12/11- Vs. Caps W 3-1

12/13- Vs. Stars L 2-5

12/14 - @ Blue Jackets L 4-6

12/16- Vs. Kings

The Isles are playing 15 games this month, matching their record for most December games (done several other times).  

Home for the Holidays

This was the third game of a stretch in which the Isles will play seven out of eight games on home-ice.  The Isles are 1-2-0 in this stretch:

12/11- Vs. Caps W 3-1

12/13- Vs. Stars L 2-5

12/14 - @ Blue Jackets L 4-6

12/16- Vs. Kings

12/19 – Vs. Red Wings

12/21 -  Vs. Ducks

12/23 – Vs. Jets (1pm)

12/27 – Vs. Sabres

Home and Road

The Islanders are 17-12-3 overall; 9-2-2 at home and 8-10-1 on the road.  

Columbus is 20-11-1 overall; 12-6-0 at home and 8-5-1 on the road.  

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 5-4-1 in Division games and 12-8-2 in games versus other divisions.   The Isles are 9-7-1 against the East and 8-5-2 against the West.

Our House

The Isles are 9-2-2 at home; they are 4-1-0 against the East and 5-1-2 against the West.  All-time the Isles are 26-5-5 all-time at Barclays against the West.

Most Points Through 13 Home Games

22- 1984-85

22- 1978-79

21- 1974-75

21- 1977-78

20- 2017-18

20- 2014-15

20- 1982-83

20- 1981-82

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 29 saves but falls to 8-4-2 on the season and 5-6-3 in his career against Columbus.  

Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves as he improved to 17-8-1 overall and 14-5-0 against the Isles. 

Power Plays

The Isles were 1-4 on the power play in 6:04 of PP time; Columbus was 1-2 in 3:03 of PP time. 

The Isles are 10-6-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 7-6-3 when they do not.  The Isles are 10-8-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 7-4-2 when they do not.    

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 16-4-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-8-2 when they do not.  

One Goal Games

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

First Goal 

The Isles are 11-0-0 when they score first and are 6-12-3 when they allow the opening goal. 

Back-to-Backs

Including tonight, the Isles are 4-3-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 3-4-0 on the back-end. 

The next back-to-back set is January 4th in Philadelphia and January 5th vs. Pittsburgh.

Tired vs. Rested

• The Isles are 1-2-0 when both teams played the night before. 

• The Isles are 4-0-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not. 

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

• The Isles are 9-8-3 when both teams are rested. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (23:35); Columbus: Zach Werenski (24:11)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (3-1-1), Nick Leddy (10-10-1), John Tavares (2-1-0), Calvin deHaan (2-0-0).

John Tavares led the forwards in ice-time (21:01). Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (16-9-3), Josh Bailey (1-0-0), Brock Nelson (0-1-0), Mathew Barzal (0-2-0).

Face-offs

Isles 35, Columbus 31 (53%). 

Casey Cizikas won 13 of 20 for the Isles; Boone Jenner won 15 of 26 for Columbus.

Face-offs by period: 1st period 10/23; 2nd period 13/23; 3rd period 12/20.

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 28/55; Power play 6/7; Penalty kill 1/4

Hit Count

Isles 20 (Calvin deHaan-3)

Columbus 21 (David Savard-4)

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 3: (Boychuk 1, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1).

Blocked Shots

The Isles blocked 17 shots; Ryan Pulock, Scott Mayfield and Adam Pelech each had 3.

For the Corsi Crowd 

All situations: Isles 67, Columbus 64 (including 52-33 in the Isles favor in the second and third periods)

5-on-5 Isles 55, Columbus 53

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Josh Bailey +12

Columbus: Pierre-Luc Dubois and Josh Anderson +7

Night and Day 

The Isles are 16-12-2 in night games and 1-0-1 in matinees.  The Isles, who went 2-3-1 in matinees last season, will play six matinees this season; the next one is December 23rd vs. Winnipeg (1pm).

Ironmen

Jason Chimera – 220 (including 106 for the Capitals); Jordan Eberle 183 (including 151 for the Oilers), Josh Bailey 181, Calvin deHaan 117, Nick Leddy 109.

Century Club

Calvin deHaan and Nick Leddy have joined a select group of defensemen in Islander history who have played at least 100 consecutive regular season games:

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. Janne Niinimaa 3/13/2004-1/7/2006 136 (**)

6. Ken Morrow 3/1/1980-12/29/1981 134 (*)

7. Mark Streit 10/8/2011-4/26/2013 130

8. Calvin deHaan 4/7/2016- CURRENT 117

  . Travis Hamonic 2/24/2012-1/12/2014 117

10. Travis Hamonic 11/24/2010– 2/4/2012 113 (*)

11. Jean Potvin 10/23/1975-1/2/1977 110

12. Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 109

13.  Kenny Jonsson 12/26/1996-2/4/1998 104

14. Thomas Hickey 4/26/2013- 11/22/2014 103

 (*) Start of NHL career.

(**) Entire career with Islanders

Scratches

(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Thomas Hickey-IR), Shane Prince-conditioning, Anthony Beauvillier, Dennis Seidenberg

Total games lost: 75

Late Heroes

The Isles have scored twice in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:

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

7-11

The Isles have used 7 defensemen twice this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ) and are 2-0-0 in those games.  Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-0-0 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. Brent Sutter 694 *** 9. Josh Bailey 671 *** 10. Derek King 638 *** 11. Billy Harris 623 *** 12. Stefan Persson 622 *** 13. John Tavares 619

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 253

…

22.  Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 25. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 26. Josh Bailey 114 *** 27. Benoit Hogue and Ed Westfall 105 *** 29. Anders Lee 103

Assists

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

5. John Tonelli 338 *** 6. Patrick Flatley 328 *** 7. Brent Sutter 323 *** 8. John Tavares 321

…

15. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 16. Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey 230

Points

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

5. Brent Sutter 610 *** 6. John Tavares 574

…

14. Kyle Okposo & Stefan Persson 369 *** 16. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 17.  Josh Bailey 344

Games Played (Goalies)

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

…

6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 142 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***

10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11.  Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 107

Wins (Goalie)

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

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

9. Evgeni Nabokov and Thomas Greiss 57

Season Series Stats

Columbus leads the season series two games to none (and four points to zero). The teams will conclude the season series with games in Brooklyn on February 3rd and February 13th.

The Isles are swept in Ohio for the second straight season; they have been outscored 24-6 in the four games. 

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 12-10-1-1 on the season heading into a 3-game in 3-day weekend as the Sound Tigers visit Springfield on Friday, host Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Saturday and host Lehigh Valley at 3pm on Sunday.

Tanner Fritz continues to lead Bridgeport with 24 points (8-17-25); Bernier and Rookie Scott Eansor lead the team in goals with 10. Christopher Gibson is 8-5-0 in the nets, while Krister Gudlevskis is 4-5-2.  

Up Next

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16th –LOS ANGELES AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM 

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

The Isles return home to begin a 5-game home stand as they face the Los Angeles Kings.

It's the second meeting of the season between the squads, and the Isles will be looking for a split of the season series after the Kings beat the Isles 3-2 back on October 15th in Los Angeles. The home team has won all five meetings between the teams over the last three seasons.

While the Isles will be rested, the Kings will be on the back-end of a back-to-back, as they face the Rangers on Friday night.

And Finally …

Congratulations to my son Evan, who was admitted to Vanderbilt University (Class of 2022) today.  I couldn't be prouder of him, or his older brother Adam, who graduates from Cornell this spring!

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