The Skinny: Isles 5, Vegas 2

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 32

Isles 5, Vegas 2

Hudson Fasching and Simon Holmstrom scored second period goals to break a 1-1 tie and strong goaltending by Semyon Varlamov helped lead the Isles to a 5-2 victory over the Western Conference-leading Vegas Golden Knights before a sellout crowd of 18,007 at T-Mobile Arena.

Anders Lee scored late in the first period to give the Isles the lead while Brock Nelson and Zach Parise both hit the empty net to offset a pair of power play goals from Reilly Smith. 

The Isles are 18-13-1 and will continue their season-long five-game road trip in Colorado on Monday. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Anders Lee (10) Anthony Beauvillier (7), Robin Salo (2) 18:58 NYI 1,VGK 0

2nd Period

Reilly Smith (15) 01:11 NYI 1,VGK 1 PPG

Hudson Fasching (2) Sebastian Aho (5), Matt Martin (6) 04:30 NYI 2,VGK 1

Simon Holmstrom (1) Zach Parise (6), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (10) 17:36 NYI 3,VGK 1

3rd Period

Reilly Smith (16) Alex Pietrangelo (19), Chandler Stephenson (22) 03:29 NYI 3,VGK 2 PPG

Brock Nelson (15)EN 18:32 NYI 4,VGK 2

Zach Parise (10)EN Brock Nelson (18), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (11) 19:48 NYI 5,VGK 2

The Skinny  

The Isles ended a three game winless streak (0-2-1) and improved to 1-1-1 on the road trip with two games to play…The Isles did not reach 18 wins last season until February 17th (18-20-6)...Brock Nelson's helper on Zach Parise's empty-netter was his 200th career assist…Isles are 8-1-0 when leading after one period and are 11-0-0 when leading after two periods…The Isles are one of four teams to have won every game they led after two periods (Dallas and Winnipeg 13-0-0; Columbus 5-0-0)…Simon Holmstrom is the 389th player in club history (including Billy Smith) to score a goal for the Isles…The Isles have outscored their opponents 44-33 in the third period (there have been 17 empty-netters, 8 for the Isles and 9 allowed…The Isles have scored four goals in their last three 1st periods, bringing the season total to 20 first period goals…The Isles did not allow a first period tally; Vegas leads the NHL with 38 goals in the first period…Sebastian Aho extended his point streak to three games… Reilly Smith recorded his fourth multi-goal game (second consecutive); Smith, who had eight points vs the Isles in the 2016 playoffs, now has seven regular season goals vs the Isles as well…Scott Mayfield went +4 while Chandler Stephenson was -4; it was only the second time in his career that Mayfield was +4 or better.…The Isles (5-0-0) and Devils (7-0-0) are the only NHL teams with a perfect record against the Pacific Division.

The Injury

Semyon Varlamov left the game with 6:22 to play.  He did not return.

What's Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander

Earlier this season, Ilya Sorokin saw his four-game win streak end when he needed to relieve Semyon Varlamov; tonight, his five-game losing streak ended the same way.

First Time in a Long Time

Simon Holmstrom is the first Islander since Cole Bardreau (11-5-19 vs Ottawa) to have his first NHL goal also be a game-winning goal. It's the 27th time it has happened, including by Clark Gillies, Bryan Trottier and John Tonelli.

Mister Consistency

Brock Nelson had a goal and an assist; he has not gone pointless in consecutive games this season.

It Happened Again

Casey Cizikas had a goal waved off when the second period buzzer beat him by about 1/10th of a second.  He was involved in a similar play, with the same result, on December 2, 2014, vs. Ottawa at the Coliseum. (h/t @SorokinFanClub)

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2021-22  18-13-1 for 37 points in 32 games

• 2020-21  13-13-6 for 32 points in 32 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-2-2

• Season: 23-49-72

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored an NHL-leading 23 goals; they didn't score their 23rd goal last season until March 31st.  

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise now has 418 career goals, good for 9th among actives; tonight's goal passed Jason Arnott for 90th all-time. Bill Barber is 89th with 420 career goals.

Most Goals and Points by an Islander Defenseman before 23rd Birthday

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Noah Dobson (27-65-92)

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is now 2nd in goals and is 3rd in points. The Isles will play 41 games this season before Dobson turns 23 on January 7, 2023.

Home and Road

The Isles are 18-13-1 overall; they are 9-6-0 at home and 9-7-1 on the road.

Vegas is 22-10-1 overall; they are 8-8-0 at home and 14-2-1 on the road.

East and West

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

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 56 games at UBS Arena and recorded 37 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 1,504

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,380

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 12-3-0 when scoring first and are 6-10-1 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles     9-9-8=26

Vegas  9-17-12=38

The Isles are 7-6-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-7-1 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 35 saves before leaving with 6:22 to play; he is 8-3-1 on the season and 4-3-0 vs Vegas. Ilya Sorokin stopped the only shot he faced.

Logan Thompson made 21 saves; he is 14-8-0 on the season and 0-1-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play (2:42); Vegas was 2-3 on the power play (2:24).

The Isles are 9-7-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 8-7-0 when they do not. The Isles are 10-4-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 8-9-0 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 18-4-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-9-0 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 6-3-1 in games decided by a single goal including 3-3 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-1 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-5 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 at the Rangers on December 22nd and home against Florida on December 23rd.  Including tonight, the Isles are 4-2-0 in the front end and 4-2-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Scott Mayfield (23:03);  Vegas: Alex Pietrangelo (21:45)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau led Isles forwards with 18:13 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (2-7-0), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (4-2-0), Scott Mayfield (4-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0)

Face-offs

Isles 22, Vegas 32 (41%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 10 of 19 for the Isles; Chandler Stephenson won 15 of 19 for Vegas. 

Hit Count

Isles 25 (Matt Martin -6)

Vegas 14 (William Carrier -4)

Fights 

None.   Season total: 12 (Martin-4, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 18 (Five with 2)

Vegas 13 (Alec Martinez -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 48, Vegas 76 

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 44, Vegas 63

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Casey Cizikas +5

Vegas: Brayden McNabb +15

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 4, Vegas 11

5-on-5: Isles 4, Vegas 9

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), (Kyle Palmieri-INJ), (Cal Clutterbuck-INJ), Ross Johnston. 

Games Lost: 30

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 114th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021.  It is the 24th-longest active streak in the NHL.

Challenges

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

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

League reviews: 3 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-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 no goals 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)

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 (1):  David Pastrnak (BOS) 12/13

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,021…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 716 *** 9. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 10. Brock Nelson 708 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 696… 

14. Derek King 638 *** 15. Anders Lee 628 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 613

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 222 *** 11. Brock Nelson 220 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 181

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 386…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 247 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 200…

25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Jean Potvin and Anders Lee 167

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 567  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 420 ***  16. Anders Lee 389…

19. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 342

+/-

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. 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 40 *** 9.  Ryan Pulock 39 *** 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 119…

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 158…

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. Mark Fitzpatrick 51 *** 13. Chris Osgood and Ilya Sorokin 49

Shutouts

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

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

On the Farm

William Dufour had a goal and an assist, but Bridgeport fell 4-3 in Syracuse on Saturday.

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied for 5th in the AHL) in goals (14) while Chis Terry leads in both assists (18) and points (24). Cory Schneider is 10-3-2 on the season for Bridgeport; only two AHL goalies have more wins.

Bridgeport, now 14-8-5-0 on the season despite going 1-4-1-0 in the last six, plays Friday in Hartford in their final game before Christmas. 

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0). The teams will meet at UBS Arena on January 28th to complete the season series and send the Isles to their All-Star break.

All-time the Isles are 5-3-1 against the Golden Knights, including 3-2-0 in Las Vegas.

UP NEXT

MONDAY, DECEMBER 18th – ISLANDERS AT COLORADO 9:00pm

[MSGSN (pre-game at 8:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Islanders finish the western part of this five-game road trip as they face the Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche on Monday night at Ball Arena. 

The Isles will be looking to sweep the Champs, having defeated Colorado 5-4 at UBS Arena with a third period rally on October 29th .

The Isles are 1-5-1 in their last seven trips to Denver, winning only on December 17, 2018 (4-1 score).

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: Arizona 5, Isles 4

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 31

Arizona 5, Isles 4

Travis Boyd broke a 3-3 tie early in the third period and the Islanders could not catch the Coyotes, eventually dropping a 5-4 decision before a sellout crowd of 4,600 at Mullett Arena.

The Isles grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period but a late penalty to Anthony Beauvillier swung momentum as Arizona took 15 straight shots and scored three times, including the fastest pair of goals against the Isles in nine years (:14).  Noah Dobson tied the score before the second period was over but goals by Boyd and Clayton Keller gave the advantage back to Arizona.  Beauvillier's sixth-attacker goal brought the Isles close, but they could not find the equalizer. 

The Isles are 17-13-1 and will continue their season-long five-game road trip in Vegas on Saturday. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Sebastian Aho (3) Brock Nelson (17), Josh Bailey (7) 01:41 NYI 1,ARI 0

Mathew Barzal (4) Robin Salo (1), Oliver Wahlstrom (8) 13:33 NYI 2,ARI 0

Shayne Gostisbehere (7) 19:16 NYI 2,ARI 1

2nd Period

Clayton Keller (11) Nick Schmaltz (4), Barrett Hayton (4) 08:55 NYI 2,ARI 2

Nick Bjugstad (7) Josh Brown (2), Matias Maccelli (19) 09:09 NYI 2,ARI 3

Noah Dobson (10) 17:45 NYI 3,ARI 3

3rd Period

Travis Boyd (3) Jakob Chychrun (7), Nick Schmaltz (5) 02:08 NYI 3,ARI 4

Clayton Keller (12) Nick Schmaltz (6), Jakob Chychrun (8) 14:49 NYI 3,ARI 5

Anthony Beauvillier (6) Oliver Wahlstrom (9), Mathew Barzal (28) 18:21 NYI 4,ARI 5 

The Skinny  

The Isles are winless in three games (0-2-1) for the first time since three straight defeats left them at 2-4-0 in late October…The Isles did not reach 17 wins last season until February 9th (17-17-6)... Brock Nelson now has 199 assists as he looks to become the 20th player in club history to reach 200 helpers …Noah Dobson set a season-high in ice-time (24:30) and went +3; both Ryan Pulock and Alexander Romanov were -3…With his goal tonight, Dobson is now 2nd in Islander history for defenseman goals before the age of 23 with 27 goals; he is only three goals away from his career high of 13…Dobson is also the third Islander defender to reach the 10 goal mark in games or fewer, joining Denis Potvin (4x) and Bryan Berard(1997-98).... Isles had gone 7-0-0 when leading after one period before tonight; it was only the third time this season that the Isles scored multiple first period goals…Ilya Sorokin has lost five straight for the first time in his NHL career, dropping him to 10-10-0 on the season…Nick Schmaltz had three assists and went +4… Josh Bailey has five points in his last five games (1-4-5)…Ryan Pulock had two shots measured at least at 101 mph.  As of last week, Pulock had the hardest shot (101.6 mph) by an NHL defenseman this season.

The Injuries

Cal Clutterbuck left the game with about 6 minutes to play; he did not return. Kyle Palmieri was pulled off the bench by the concussion spotter but returned late in the third period.  Liam O'Brien left the game after his altercation with Scott Mayfield; he did not return. 

First Time in a Long Time

The Isles had 14 shots on goal on their power play; it was their highest power play shot total since December 15, 2018 (also 14) vs Detroit.  The Isles had not had 14 PP shots without scoring since January 13, 2017, vs. Florida.

Mister Consistency

Brock Nelson had an assist; he has not gone pointless in consecutive games this season.

Hey, Josh Bailey

Josh Bailey earned an assist on the early Sebastian Aho goal; it was his 567th point with the Islanders, passing Pat LaFontaine for 6th place on all-time point list.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2021-22  17-13-1 for 35 points in 31 games

• 2020-21  12-13-6 for 30 points in 31 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  2-1-3

• Season: 23-47-70

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored an NHL-leading 23 goals; they didn't score their 23rd goal last season until March 31st .  

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 417 career goals, good for 9th among actives, and is tied with Jason Arnott is 90th all-time. Bill Barber is 89th with 420 career goals.

Most Goals and Points by an Islander Defenseman before 23rd Birthday

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Noah Dobson (27-65-92)

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is now 2nd in goals and is 3rd in points. The Isles will play 41 games this season before Dobson turns 23 on January 7, 2023.

Home and Road

The Isles are 17-13-1 overall; they are 9-6-0 at home and 8-7-1 on the road.

Arizona is 10-14-4 overall; they are 4-2-1 at home and 6-12-3 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 9-7-1 against the East (7-3-0 vs. Metropolitan and 2-4-1 vs. Atlantic) and 8-6-0 against the West (4-6-0 vs. Central and 4-0-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 56 games at UBS Arena and recorded 37 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 1,503

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,380

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 11-3-0 when scoring first and are 6-10-1 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles     11-7-16=34

Arizona  11-13-5=29

The Isles are 7-6-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-7-1 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves; he is 10-10-0 on the season and 2-2-0 vs Arizona.

Karel Vejmelka made 30 saves; he is 9-8-3 on the season and 2-1-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-5 on the power play (10:00); Arizona was 0-5 on the power play (10:00).

The Isles are 9-7-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 8-6-0 when they do not. The Isles are 9-4-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 8-9-0 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 0-9-0 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 6-3-1 in games decided by a single goal including 3-3 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-1 in shootouts. The Isles are 3-5 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 concludes on Saturday in Vegas. The next set of back-to-backs will be at the Rangers on December 22nd and home against Florida on December 23rd.  Including tonight, the Isles are 4-2-0 in the front end and 3-2-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (season-high 24:47);  Arizona: Clayton Keller (22:52)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 22:06 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (2-7-0), Adam Pelech (3-2-0), Ryan Pulock (4-2-0), Scott Mayfield (3-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0)

Face-offs

Isles 33, Arizona 31 (52%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 19 of 30 for the Isles; no Coyote who took multiple face-offs won more than he lost. 

Hit Count

Isles 23 (Anders Lee and Oliver Wahlstrom-3)

Arizona 35 (Liam O'Brien -7)

Fights 

None.   Season total: 12 (Martin-4, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 17 (Scott Mayfield and Cal Clutterbuck -3)

Arizona 17 (JJ Moser -5)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 65, Arizona 56 (including 30-8 in the Isles' favor in the 3rd period)

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 34, Arizona 38

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Oliver Wahlstrom +10

Arizona: Nick Schmaltz +10  

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 14, Arizona 11

5-on-5: Isles 4, Arizona 8

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), Simon Holmstrom, Hudson Fasching, Ross Johnston. 

Games Lost: 25

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 113th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021.

Challenges

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

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

League reviews: 3 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-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 no goals 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)

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 (1):  David Pastrnak (BOS) 12/13

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,020…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 715 *** 9. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 10. Brock Nelson 707 *** 11. Brent Sutter 694 *** 12. Casey Cizikas 693… 

14. Derek King 638 *** 15. Anders Lee 626 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 612

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 221 *** 11. Brock Nelson 219 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 181

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 386…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 247 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 199…

25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Jean Potvin and Anders Lee 167

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 567  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 418 ***  16. Anders Lee 388…

19. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 342

+/-

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

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. 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 40 *** 9.  Ryan Pulock 39 *** 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 119…

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 158…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 126

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 55 *** 12. Mark Fitzpatrick 51 *** 13. Chris Osgood and Ilya Sorokin 49

Shutouts

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

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

On the Farm

Bridgeport fell 2-1 in overtime to Springfield on Wednesday and then opened a three-game road trip with a 5-2 loss in Utica on Friday. Cory Schneider made 32 saves to earn Bridgeport a point on Wednesday; Utica scored four in the third period to overcome a 2-1 Isles lead on Friday.

Bridgeport is 14-7-5-0 with games Saturday in Syracuse and next Friday in Hartford standing between the team and Christmas. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied for 6th in the AHL) in goals (13) while Chis Terry leads in both assists (17) and points (23). Cory Schneider is 10-3-2 on the season for Bridgeport; only two AHL goalies have more wins.

Season Series Stats

Arizona wins the season series, 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 0). 

It is the first time that the Coyote franchise, which dates to 1979-80 as the Original Winnipeg Jets, has beaten the Isles twice in regulation in a single season.  (The Jets beat the Isles twice in 1983-84 but one of the wins was in overtime.)

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16th – ISLANDERS AT VEGAS 10:00pm

[MSG2, MSG (after NYR) and MSGSN (after Devils), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Islanders head to Las Vegas to meet the Golden Knights for the first time this season.

The teams split a pair of games last season, with Ilya Sorokin earning a shutout on the Strip during the season-opening road trip, and Shea Theodore's shootout winner being the difference two months later at UBS Arena.

All-time the Isles are 4-3-1 against the Golden Knights, including 2-2-0 in Las Vegas.

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: Boston 4, Isles 3 (SO)

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 30

Boston 4, Isles 3 (SO)

The Islanders battled back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, but David Pastrnak scored the deciding goal in the shootout as Boston improved to 15-0-1 on home ice with a 4-3 win over the Islander before the customary sellout crowd of 17,850 at TD Garden.

After Jake DeBrusk scored a pair of goals 19 seconds apart, the Isles tied the game on goals by Noah Dobson and Josh Bailey; a Casey Cizikas third period goal forced overtime to earn the Isles a point. 

The Isles are 17-12-1 and will continue their season-long five-game road trip in Arizona on Friday. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Jake DeBrusk (10) David Pastrnak (20), Charlie McAvoy (13) 06:48 NYI 0,BOS 1 PPG

Jake DeBrusk (11) Taylor Hall (11), Pavel Zacha (15) 07:07 NYI 0,BOS 2

Josh Bailey (5) Noah Dobson (11), Brock Nelson (15) 11:00 NYI 1,BOS 2

2nd Period

Noah Dobson (9) Josh Bailey (6), Brock Nelson (16) 11:43 NYI 2,BOS 2

Derek Forbort (2) Pavel Zacha (16), Jake DeBrusk (12) 18:28 NYI 2,BOS 3 SHG

3rd Period

Casey Cizikas (2) Sebastian Aho (4) 04:40 NYI 3,BOS 3

OT

No Goals

The Shootout

Charlie Coyle (NG)/ Mathew Barzal (G)

Jake DeBrusk (G) / Brock Nelson (NG)

David Pastrnak (G/GDG)/ Josh Bailey (NG)

This was the first shootout of the season; the Isles went 2-5 in shootouts last season…Boston is 2-1 in shootouts this season…It was the third game-deciding goal for David Pastrnak, who is now 3 of 4 in career attempts against Semyon Varlamov…Linus Ullmark improved to 10-3 in shootouts, stopping 42 of 48 attempts.

The Skinny  

Since opening the season 2-4-0, the Isles are 15-8-1 in the last 24 games… The Isles did not reach 17 wins last season until February 9th (17-17-6)... Josh Bailey's goal ended a stretch in which the Isles were outscored 7-0 over the prior 90:00 …The Isles played the 2,900th regular season game in club history…Josh Bailey had his first multi-point game of the season, and in the process tie Pat Lafontaine for 7th in franchise history with 566 points…Brock Nelson now has 198 assists as he looks to become the 20th player in club history to reach 200 helpers…Mathew Barzal lost 10 of 11 draws, becoming the first Islander in over five years to win less than 10% of his face-offs…Sebastian Aho set a career-high in ice-time (25:15); Alexander Romanov set a season high with 25:15…With his goal tonight, Noah Dobson is now tied-2nd in Islander history for defenseman goals before the age of 23 with Bryan Berard; Dobson has 11 games left before his 23rd birthday…It was only the 19th time in Bruin history a player has scored two goals in 19 seconds or fewer; it was the fastest pair of goals the Isles allowed a player since Taylor Hall (then with Edmonton) scored twice in eight seconds on October 17, 2013… Boston scored 1st, and led after both periods; they remain perfect in all three situations so far this season....David Pastrnak extended his point streak to 6 games... It was the 7th time this season that the opening goal of the game was scored on the opponent's power play…Derek Forbort's goal was his first career shorthanded goal….The Isles outscored Boston 3-1 in 5-on-5 play; the Bruins came into the game +28 at 5-on-5. 

Mister Consistency

Brock Nelson had an assist; he has not gone pointless in consecutive games this season.  Mathew Barzal went pointless in the game (although he did score in the shootout); it is the first time this season he has been pointless in consecutive games.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2021-22  17-12-1 for 35 points in 30 games

• 2020-21  11-13-6 for 28 points in 30 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  1-2-3

• Season: 21-46-67

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored an NHL-leading 21 goals; they didn't score their 21st goal last season until March 22nd.  

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 417 career goals, good for 9th among actives, and is tied with Jason Arnott is 90th all-time. Bill Barber is 89th with 420 career goals.

Most Goals and Points by an Islander Defenseman before 23rd Birthday

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Noah Dobson (26-65-91)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is now tied for 2nd in goals and is 3rd in points. The Isles will play 41 games this season before Dobson turns 23 on January 7, 2023.

Home and Road

The Isles are 17-12-1 overall; they are 9-6-0 at home and 8-6-1 on the road.

Boston is 23-4-1 overall; they are 15-0-1 at home and 8-4-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 9-7-1 against the East (7-3-0 vs. Metropolitan and 2-4-1 vs. Atlantic) and 8-5-0 against the West (4-5-0 vs. Central and 4-0-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 56 games at UBS Arena and recorded 37 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 1,503

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,380

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 11-2-0 when scoring first and are 6-10-1 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles   9-8-8-1=26

Boston 8-10-9-6=33

The Isles are 7-5-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-7-1 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves; he is 7-3-1 on the season and 12-7-4 vs Boston.

Linus Ullmark made 23 saves; he is 17-1-0 on the season and 5-5-1 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play and allowed a shorthanded goal (4:00, including a :10 5-on-3); Boston was 1-2 on the power play (0:24).

The Isles are 9-7-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 8-5-0 when they do not. The Isles are 9-4-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 8-8-0 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 17-3-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-9-0 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 6-2-1 in games decided by a single goal including 3-2 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-1 in shootouts. The Isles are 3-5 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 in Arizona on December 16th and in Vegas on December 17th.  The Isles are 4-1-0 in the front end and 3-2-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Alexander Romanov (season-high 25:15);  Boston: Charlie McAvoy (24:12)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 21:34 of ice-time. 

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

Face-offs

Isles 26, Boston 37 (41%)

Brock Nelson won 8 of 14 for the Isles; Charlie Coyle won 15 of 20 for Boston. 

Hit Count

Isles 31 (Alexander Romanov and Matt Martin-5)

Boston 31 (Two with 4)

Fights 

Matt Martin fought AJ Greer in the second period.   Season total: 12 (Martin-4, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 14 (Alexander Romanov -5)

Boston 22 (Nick Foligno - 4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 60, Boston 58 

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 56, Boston 44

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Noah Dobson +14

Boston: David Pastrnak +9  

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 14, Boston 14

5-on-5: Isles 12, Boston 9

Scratches

(Kyle Palmieri-upper body-LTIR), (Adam Pelech – upper body), (Anthony Beauvillier – injured), Ross Johnston. 

Games Lost: 24

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 112th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021.

Challenges

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

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

League reviews: 3 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-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 no goals 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)

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 (1):  David Pastrnak (BOS) 12/13

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,019…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 714 *** 9. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 10. Brock Nelson 706 *** 11. Brent Sutter 694 *** 12. Casey Cizikas 692… 

14. Derek King 638 *** 15. Anders Lee 625 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 611

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 221 *** 11. Brock Nelson 219 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 181

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 385…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 247 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Nick Leddy and Brock Nelson 198…

25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Jean Potvin 167 *** 28. Jeff Norton and Anders Lee 166

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Pat LaFontaine and Josh Bailey 566  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 417 ***  16. Anders Lee 387…

19. Frans Nielsen 349 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 341

+/-

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

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. 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 40 *** 9.  Ryan Pulock 39

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 119…

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 158…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 126

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 55 *** 12. Mark Fitzpatrick 51 *** 13. Chris Osgood and Ilya Sorokin 49

Shutouts

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

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

On the Farm

William Dufour broke a 2-2 tie in the first period and Andy Andreoff added a pair of goals as the Isles improved to 14-6-4-0 with a 5-2 win on Sunday in Providence. Aatu Raty and Otto Koivula also scored for Bridgeport. The Islanders conclude the home-and-home in Providence on Sunday. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied for 5th in the AHL) in goals (13) while Chis Terry now leads in both assists (17) and points (23). Cory Schneider is 10-2-1 on the season for Bridgeport; only two AHL goalies have more wins.

Bridgeport hosts Springfield on Wednesday before three consecutive road games take them to the Christmas break. 

Season Series Stats

Boston leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 1). The teams will meet again at UBS Arena on January 18th before they complete the season series in Boston on February 18th.

The Isles are 0-3-2 in their last five regular season road games in Boston; they still hold a six-game home winning streak in regular season play against the Bs.

UP NEXT

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16th – ISLANDERS AT ARIZONA 9:30pm

[MSGSN (pre-game at 9:00), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Isles head west for three games in four days beginning at Mullett Arena in Tempe against the Arizona Coyotes. 

The Isles will be looking to earn a split of the season series after being blanked by Karel Vejmelka on November 10th at UBS Arena.  

These teams tend to play low-scoring games; the Isles have allowed only 20 goals (plus one shootout winner) in the last 15 games between the teams, going 10-3-2 in that span.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog www.nyiskinny.com

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

The Skinny: Carolina 3 Isles 0

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 29

Carolina 3, Isles 0

Paul Stastny broke a scoreless tie midway through the second period and Pyotr Kochetkov made 16 saves for his second career shutout as the Carolina Hurricanes spoiled the debut of the Reverse Retro Jerseys with a 3-0 victory over the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jordan Staal scored third period goals for the final margin of victory. 

The Isles fall to 17-12-0 and will begin a season-long five-game road trip in Boston on Tuesday. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

Paul Stastny (1) Andrei Svechnikov (11), Brady Skjei (6) 07:06 CAR 1,NYI 0

3rd Period

Jesperi Kotkaniemi (3) Brent Burns (16), Teuvo Teravainen (8) 04:05 CAR 2,NYI 0

Jordan Staal (7) Jordan Martinook (7), Stefan Noesen (9) 08:49 CAR 3,NYI 0

The Skinny 

The Isles went 0-3 on the power play; the power play is now 8-29 in the last nine games and 11-40 in the last thirteen games… Since opening the season 2-4-0, the Isles are 15-8-0 in the last 23 games… The Isles did not reach 17 wins last season until February 9th (17-17-6)... Brock Nelson saw his point streak end at a career-best seven straight games (5-3-8 … Matt Martin (713) passed Patrick Flatley (712) for 8th in games played, while Anders Lee (624) passed Billy Harris (623) for 15th… The Isles fell to 7-3 in the Metro Division…The Isles were shutout for the third time this season… After outshooting the opposition in 11 straight periods, the Isles have only 19 shots in the last four periods…Ilya Sorokin is 0-4-0 in his last four games; Sorokin also dropped to 5-6-0 at home but the Isles have scored only seven goals in his six losses (and four were in one game, against St. Louis)…The Isles have been outscored 5-0 since Cal Clutterbuck scored their final goal in New Jersey at 1:00 of the third period.

First Time in a Long Time

The Isles were held to 16 shots, fewest in any game since March 19, 2019, vs. Boston.

Misters Consistency

Both Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal were held pointless; they are now 29 games into the season without being held pointless in consecutive games.  Only thirteen other players in the NHL have done this and New Jersey, Toronto and Winnipeg are the only other teams with multiple players.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2021-22  17-12-0 for 34 points in 29 games

• 2020-21  11-12-6 for 28 points in 29 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-0-0

• Season: 20-44-64

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored an NHL-leading 20 goals; they didn't score their 20th goal last season until March 19th.  

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 417 career goals, good for 9th among actives, and is tied with Jason Arnott is 90th all-time. Bill Barber is 89th with 420 career goals.

Most Goals and Points by an Islander Defenseman before 23rd Birthday

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Noah Dobson (25-64-89)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is now 3rd in goals and tied for 3rd in points. The Isles will play 41 games this season before Dobson turns 23 on January 7, 2023.

Home and Road

The Isles are 17-12-0 overall; they are 9-6-0 at home and 8-6-0 on the road.

Carolina is 14-6-6 overall; they are 5-3-1 at home and 9-3-5 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 9-7-0 against the East (7-3-0 vs. Metropolitan and 2-4-0 vs. Atlantic) and 8-5-0 against the West (4-5-0 vs. Central and 4-0-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 56 games at UBS Arena and recorded 37 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 1,503

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,380

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 11-2-0 when scoring first and are 6-10-0 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles    7-3-6=16

Carolina 9-7-15=31

The Isles are 7-5-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-7-0 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves; he is 10-9-0 on the season and 2-2-0 vs Carolina.

Pyotr Kochetkov made 16; he is 6-1-4 on the season and 2-0-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (4:00, including a :29 5-on-3); Carolina was 0-2 on the power play (2:29).

The Isles are 9-7-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 8-5-0 when they do not. The Isles are 9-4-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 8-8-0 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 17-3-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-9-0 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 6-2-0 in games decided by a single goal including 3-2 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-0 in shootouts. The Isles are 3-5 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 in Arizona on December 16th and in Vegas on December 17th.  Including tonight, the Isles are 4-1-0 in the front end and 3-2-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (22:48);  Carolina: Jaccob Slavin(23:07)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 19:21 of ice-time. 

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

Face-offs

Isles 17, Carolina 23 (43%)

Casey Cizikas won 7 of 11 for the Isles; Jesperi Kotkaniemi won 6 of 9 for Carolina. 

Hit Count

Isles 26 (Zach Parise -5)

Carolina 19 (Jordan -5)

Fights 

None.   Season total: 11 (Martin-3, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 28 (Scott Mayfield -5)

Carolina 17 (Two with 4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 39, Carolina 77 

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 33, Carolina 68

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Mathew Barzal +1

Carolina: Brent Burns +22  

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 9, Carolina 9

5-on-5: Isles 6, Carolina 9

Scratches

(Kyle Palmieri-upper body-LTIR), (Adam Pelech – upper body), (Anthony Beauvillier – injured), Ross Johnston. 

Games Lost: 21

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 111th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021.

Challenges

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

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

League reviews: 3 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-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 no goals 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)

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)

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,018…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 713 *** 9. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 10. Brock Nelson 705 *** 11. Brent Sutter 694 *** 12. Casey Cizikas 691… 

14. Derek King 638 *** 15. Anders Lee 624 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 610

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 221 *** 11. Brock Nelson 219 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 180

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 384…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 2475 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Nick Leddy 198 *** 21. Brock Nelson 196…

25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Jean Potvin 167 *** 28. Jeff Norton and Anders Lee 166

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Pat LaFontaine 566 *** 8. Josh Bailey 564  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 413 ***  16. Anders Lee 386…

19. Fran Nielsen 349 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 341

+/-

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

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. 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 40 *** 9.  Ryan Pulock 39

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 119…

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 158…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 126

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 55 *** 12. Mark Fitzpatrick 51 *** 13. Chris Osgood and Ilya Sorokin 49

Shutouts

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

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

On the Farm

The Isles are 13-6-4-0 following a 3-2 loss on Saturday to Providence. Chris Terry and Paul Thompson scored for Bridgeport. The Islanders conclude the home-and-home in Providence on Sunday. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team in goals (11) and Samuel Bolduc leads the team in assists (16); Chris Terry has a team-leading 21 points.  Cory Schneider is 9-2-1 on the season for Bridgeport.

Season Series Stats

The season series is even, 1 game to 1 (and 2 points to 2). The teams will meet again at UBS Arena on April 2nd before they complete the season series at UBS Arena on April 2nd.

Carolina has won their last four games against the Isles in New York; the last Islander home win was on November 24, 2018, at Barclays Center.

UP NEXT

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13th – ISLANDERS AT BOSTON 7:00pm

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

The Isles begin a season-long road trip and play the 2,900th regular season game in club history as they visit the Bruins in Boston.  

While the Isles have won six straight (regular season) home games against Boston they are 0-3-1 in their last four regular season road games in Boston.  Of course, everybody has been having trouble in Boston this season as the Bruins won their first fourteen home games and are 14-0-1 at home. 

Following this game, the Islanders head west to facing Arizona, Vegas, and Colorado before ending the trip with their final game of the season against the Rangers on December 22nd.

And Finally…

Good luck Evan in Brisbane!

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 6, New Jersey 4

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 28

Isles 6, New Jersey 4

Brock Nelson and Anders Lee combined for three goals and 18 shots on goal and the Identity Line scored twice as the Isles built a 6-2 lead and then held off the Devils for a 6-4 victory over the New Jersey before a sellout crowd of 16,514 at Prudential Center.

New Jersey played 7:33 of the 3rd period with six attackers, scoring once, but the Islander defense held the Devils off to secure the victory.

The Isles improve to 17-11-0 and will host Carolina on Saturday. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Nico Hischier (12) Jesper Bratt (19), Dougie Hamilton (13) 05:32 NYI 0,NJD 1 PPG

Brock Nelson (13) Alexander Romanov (7) 15:37 NYI 1,NJD 1

Anders Lee (9) Alexander Romanov (8), Scott Mayfield (4) 19:51 NYI 2,NJD 1

2nd Period

Casey Cizikas (1) Matt Martin (5), Cal Clutterbuck (2) 03:31 NYI 3,NJD 1

Oliver Wahlstrom (7) Josh Bailey (5), Mathew Barzal (26) 04:05 NYI 4,NJD 1

Dawson Mercer (7) Jack Hughes (19), Ryan Graves (6) 06:03 NYI 4,NJD 2

Brock Nelson (14) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (9), Mathew Barzal (27) 16:47 NYI 5,NJD 2 PPG

3rd Period

Cal Clutterbuck (3) 01:00 NYI 6,NJD 2

Tomas Tatar (7) Jonas Siegenthaler (8), Jesper Bratt (20) 02:30 NYI 6,NJD 3

Jack Hughes (14) Dougie Hamilton (14), Jonas Siegenthaler (9) 13:39 NYI 6,NJD 4

The Skinny 

The Isles went 1-4 on the power play; the power play is now 8-26 in the last eight games and 11-37 in the last twelve games… Since opening the season 2-4-0, the Isles are 15-7-0 in the last 22 games… The Isles did not reach 17 wins last season until February 9th (17-17-6)... Brock Nelson has a point in a career-best seven straight games (5-3-8); all 14 of his goals have come in the last 21 games…Since October 28th, only four players in the NHL have more points than Brock Nelson.… Casey Cizikas and Oliver Wahlstrom scored 34 seconds apart in the second period; it was the 3rd straight game (and 6th time this season) that the Isles have scored two goals in under one minute… Mathew Barzal moved into the top 20 on the all-time Isles point list, passing Pierre Turgeon… Matt Martin tied Patrick Flatley (712) for 8th in games played, while Anders Lee, who scored for the first time in 14 games, passed Stefan Persson and tied Billy Harris (623)…Alexander Romanov had his first multi-point game as an Islander and his first fight with the team; he missed a Gordie Howe hat trick (and his first goal with the team) when Jack Hughes blocked his empty-net chance…It's the first time since October 24th that the Devils allowed four goals in regulation (or five goals at any time)…The Isles scored six goals in Newark for the first time ever; they last scored six goals in New Jersey on March 14, 2006…The Isles improved to 7-2 in the Metro Division…Anders Lee had a career-high ten shots on goal and finished with 16 attempts….The Isles scored at least six goals for the third time this season, matching last season's total...Jack Hughes played the final 6:02 for New Jersey; it is the longest recorded shift in NHL history.

The Injuries

Anthony Beauvillier left the game midway through the first period following a collision with the boards; he did not return.  Cal Clutterbuck missed about half of the first period following a collision with Brendan Smith. Miles Wood left the game midway through the second period following a collision with Alexander Romanov; he did not return.

First Time in a Ridiculously Long Time

Anders Lee (10) and Brock Nelson (8) are the first Islander teammates with at least eight shots on goal in the same game since Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy (8 each) did so on December 23, 1978.  Trottier had six points in the second period to set an NHL record (since tied by Mika Zibanejad).

It happened two other times prior to that, so this is only the 4th time in club history.

A Good Start

This was only the 2nd time all season that Isles have scored twice in first period (Anaheim on October 15th)  The Isles have won 26 straight games (dating back to January 2021) when scoring multiple goals in the first period  (Led after one period in 25 of the 26, tied in the other).

Lots of Shots

The Isles matched their club record for outshooting the opponent in each period (11 periods): by outshooting New Jersey in the first two periods.  The previous mark was set December 17 – 23, 2009.  

Misters Consistency

Both Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal had points tonight; they are now 28 games into the season without being held pointless in consecutive games.  Only thirteen other players in the NHL have done this and New Jersey, Toronto and Winnipeg are the only other teams with multiple players.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2021-22  17-11-0 for 34 points in 28 games

• 2020-21  10-12-6 for 26 points in 28 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-3-3

• Season: 20-44-64

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored an NHL-leading 20 goals; they didn't score their 20th goal last season until March 19th.  

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 417th career goal, good for 9th among actives, and tied with Jason Arnott is 90th all-time. Bill Barber is 89th with 420 career goals.

Most Goals and Points by an Islander Defenseman before 23rd Birthday

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Noah Dobson (25-64-89)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is now 3rd in goals and tied for 3rd in points. The Isles will play 41 games this season before Dobson turns 23 on January 7, 2023.

Home and Road

The Isles are 17-11-0 overall; they are 9-5-0 at home and 8-6-0 on the road.

New Jersey is 21-5-1 overall; they are 10-4-1 at home and 11-1-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 9-6-0 against the East (7-2-0 vs. Metropolitan and 2-4-0 vs. Atlantic) and 8-5-0 against the West (4-5-0 vs. Central and 4-0-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 55 games at UBS Arena and recorded 36 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 1,503

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,380

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 11-2-0 when scoring first and are 6-9-0 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles    12-17-3=32

New Jersey 9-9-11=29

The Isles are 7-5-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-6-0 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves; he is 7-3-0 on the season and 8-4-0 vs New Jersey.

Vitek Vanecek made 13 saves before being replaced by Akira Schmid.  Schmid also made 13 saves, but the 6-on-5 goal scored by NJ made him the losing goalie; he is 5-1-0 on the season and 0-2-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-4 on the power play (7:05); New Jersey was 1-3 on the power play (4:33).

The Isles are 9-7-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 8-4-0 when they do not. The Isles are 9-4-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 8-7-0 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 17-3-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-8-0 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 6-2-0 in games decided by a single goal including 3-2 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-0 in shootouts. The Isles are 3-5 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 will conclude on Saturday vs. Carolina. The next set of back-to-backs will be in Arizona on December 16th and in Vegas on December 17th.  Including tonight, the Isles are 4-1-0 in the front end and 3-1-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Scott Mayfield (career-high 25:17);  New Jersey: Jack Hughes (26:13, including the final 6:02)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau led Isles forwards with 23:22 of ice-time. 

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

Face-offs

Isles 37, New Jersey 27 (58%)

Casey Cizikas won 9 of 11 for the Isles; no Devils won more than he lost. 

Hit Count

Isles 21 (Cal Clutterbuck -4)

New Jersey 11 (Miles Wood -3)

Fights 

Alexander Romanov fought Michael McLeod in the second period.   Season total: 11 (Martin-3, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 25 (Scott Mayfield -5)

New Jersey 15 (Three with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 61, New Jersey 70  

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 38, New Jersey 44

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Anders Lee +10

New Jersey: Jesper Bratt +9  

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 20, New Jersey 7

5-on-5: Isles 12, New Jersey 5

Scratches

(Kyle Palmieri-upper body-LTIR), (Adam Pelech – upper body), Ross Johnston, Hudson Fasching 

Games Lost: 18

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 110th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021.

Challenges

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

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

League reviews: 3 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute six times this season (five time 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 no goals 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)

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)

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,017…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Patrick Flatley and Matt Martin 712 *** 10. Brock Nelson 704 *** 11. Brent Sutter 694 *** 12. Casey Cizikas 690… 

14. Derek King 638 *** 15. Billy Harris and Anders Lee 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 609

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 221 *** 11. Brock Nelson 219 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 180

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 384…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 2475 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Nick Leddy 198 *** 21. Brock Nelson 196…

25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Jean Potvin 167 *** 28. Jeff Norton and Anders Lee 166

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Pat LaFontaine 566 *** 8. Josh Bailey 564  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 413 ***  16. Anders Lee 386…

19. Fran Nielsen 349 *** 20. Mathew Barzal 341

+/-

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

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. 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 40 *** 9.  Ryan Pulock 39

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 119…

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 158…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 126

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 55 *** 12. Mark Fitzpatrick 51 *** 13. Chris Osgood and Ilya Sorokin 49

Shutouts

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

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

On the Farm

The Isles are 13-5-4-0 following a 4-2 loss on Friday to Hershey. Ruslan Ishakov and Cole Bardreau scored for Bridgeport. The Islanders play a home-and-home with Providence on Saturday and Sunday. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team in goals (11) and Samuel Bolduc leads the team in assists (15); Chris Terry now has 20 points to take over the team lead.  Cory Schneider is 9-2-1 on the season for Bridgeport.

Season Series Stats

The season series is even, 1 game to 1 (and 2 points to 2). The teams will complete the season series at UBS Arena on March 27th.

The Isles are 8-2-0 in their last ten trips to Newark. 

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10th – CAROLINA AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

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

The Isles return home for a game with the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.  It is the second meeting of the season; the Isles won 6-2 in Raleigh on October 28th. 

Carolina was the only Metropolitan Division opponent that visited UBS once last season; Carolina beat the Isles 5-2 in the final week of the regular season.  In fact, the Canes have won their last three games against the Isles in New York; the last Islander home win was on November 24, 2018, at Barclays Center.

The Islanders will wear their Reverse Retro jerseys for the first time.

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: St. Louis 7, Isles 4

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 27

St. Louis 7, Isles 4

Ivan Barbashev and Ryan O'Reilly scored second period goals to give the Blues a 3-1 advantage, which they built to 5-1 early in the third period, before an Islander 3-goal rally came up short in a 7-4 St. Louis victory over the Islanders before a crowd of 16,044 at UBS Arena.

Zach Parise, Hudson Fasching and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in the third period, the latter two 21 seconds apart to make it 5-4 before the Blues hit the empty net twice for the final margin of victory.

The Isles fall to 16-11-0 and will play in New Jersey on Friday. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Josh Leivo (1) Brayden Schenn (13) 17:13 STL 1,NYI 0

Noah Dobson (8) Mathew Barzal (25), Oliver Wahlstrom (7) 17:52 STL 1,NYI 1

2nd Period

Ivan Barbashev (4) William Bitten (1), Niko Mikkola (2) 03:51 STL 2,NYI 1

Ryan O'Reilly (9) Josh Leivo (7), Justin Faulk (13) 14:58 STL 3,NYI 1

3rd Period

Noel Acciari (7) Justin Faulk (14), Nathan Walker (1) 03:37 STL 4,NYI 1

Colton Parayko (1) Jordan Kyrou (12), Nick Leddy (9) 03:50 STL 5,NYI 1

Zach Parise (9) Josh Bailey (4), Noah Dobson (10) 05:36 STL 5,NYI 2 PPG

Hudson Fasching (1) Matt Martin (4), Brock Nelson (14) 14:43 STL 5,NYI 3

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (7) Zach Parise (5) 15:04 STL 5,NYI 4

Robert Thomas (5)EN Brandon Saad (2) 18:03 STL 6,NYI 4

Noel Acciari (8)EN 18:55 STL 7,NYI 4

The Skinny 

The Isles went 1-2 on the power play; the power play is now 10-33 in the last eleven games… Since opening the season 2-4-0, the Isles are 14-7-0 in the last 21 games… The Isles did not reach 16 wins last season until February 1st (16-16-6)... Brock Nelson has a point in six straight games (3-3-6)… The Isles had at least 40 shots for the third straight game, matching the club record set in February 2015 …Hudson Fasching scored his 2nd career goal in his 40th NHL game; his previous goal came 6 years, 8 months, and 10 days earlier in his NHL debut…It was the 5th time this season (all at home) that the Isles have scored two goals in under one minute…The Isles outshot the opponent in each period for the third straight game, matching the club record; this also happened in December 2009 and January 2015…The Isles dressed the same six defensemen for the 22nd straight game…Nick Leddy returned to the Island for the first time since the Isles dealt him to Detroit in 2021; the Isles acquired a draft pick used to select Aatu Raty in that deal…Leddy and Robert Thomas each extended their point streaks to four games…The Blues had scored only 20 third period goals (including three empty-netters) before tallying twice in :13 against Sorokin and twice into an empty-net…IT was only the 10th time in his career that Sorokin had allowed five goals (and only the 3rd time on home ice)…Colton Parayko scored for the first time in 54 games…The teams combined for seven goals in the third period; it was the second 7-goal period in UBS history (March 7, 2022 vs. Colorado, also in the 3rd period)…The Isles have now allowed 9 empty-net goals; they also scored a goal with a 6th attacker for the first time this season.

The Injury

Adam Pelech left the game with 15:55 to play following a collision with Robert Bortuzzo; he did not return.

Schedule Oddity

The opponent was on the back end of a back-to-back for all three games on this homestand.  Nashville played at New Jersey, while both Chicago and St. Louis visited UBS the day after playing at Madison Square Garden.  It is the first time in Islander history that a rested Islander team has hosted a team that has played at another metro-area opponent for three straight games, however the Isles went 1-2-0 in the three games.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2021-22  16-11-0 for 32 points in 27 games

• 2020-21  9-12-6 for 24 points in 27 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  1-1-2

• Season: 20-41-61

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored an NHL-leading nineteen goals; they didn't score their 20th goal last season until March 19th.  

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise scored his 417th career goal, good for 9th among actives; he passed Tony Amonte for 10th among American-born players and tied Jason Arnott is 90th all-time. Bill Barber is 89th with 420 career goals.

Most Goals and Points by an Islander Defenseman before 23rd Birthday

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Noah Dobson (25-64-89)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

Dobson is now 3rd in goals and tied for 3rd in points. The Isles will play 41 games this season before Dobson turns 23 on January 7, 2023.

Home and Road

The Isles are 16-11-0 overall; they are 9-5-0 at home and 7-6-0 on the road.

St. Louis is 12-14-0 overall; they are 5-6-0 at home and 7-8-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 8-6-0 against the East (6-2-0 vs. Metropolitan and 2-4-0 vs. Atlantic) and 8-5-0 against the West (4-5-0 vs. Central and 4-0-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 55 games at UBS Arena and recorded 36 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 1,503

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,379

3. Glen Sather 1,319

This was Lou's 2,700 game as an NHL GM, tying Glen Sather on the all-time list.

First Things First

The Isles are 11-2-0 when scoring first and are 5-9-0 when allowing the opening goal.  

The Shots

Isles   13-14-13=40

St. Louis 6-13-9=28

The Isles are 6-5-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-6-0 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 21 saves; he is 10-8-0 on the season and 2-1-0 vs St. Louis.

Thomas Greiss made 36 saves; he is 3-3-0 on the season and 2-2-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-2 on the power play (3:31); St. Louis was 0-2 on the power play (4:00).

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

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 16-3-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-8-0 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 6-2-0 in games decided by a single goal including 3-2 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-0 in shootouts. The Isles are 3-5 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 in New Jersey on December 9th and against Carolina on December 10th.  The Isles are 3-1-0 in the front end and 3-1-0 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (21:25);  St. Louis: Justin Faulk/Colton Parayko (22:41)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 18:59 of ice-time. 

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

Face-offs

Isles 36, St. Louis 25 (59%)

Casey Cizikas won 11 of 15 for the Isles; Ryan O'Reilly won 13 of 25 for St. Louis. 

Hit Count

Isles 21 (Matt Martin and Alexander Romanov-4)

St. Louis 18 (Tyler Pitlick -4)

Fights 

None.   Season total: 10 (Martin-3, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 10 (Adam Pelech -2)

St. Louis 17 (Robert Bortuzzo-3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 64, St. Louis 50  

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 58, St. Louis 40

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Sebastian Aho +14

St. Louis: Josh Leivo +8  

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 22, St. Louis 16

5-on-5: Isles 21, St. Louis 15

Scratches

(Kyle Palmieri-upper body-LTIR), (Cal Clutterbuck – upper body), Ross Johnston, Robin Salo 

Games Lost: 16

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 109th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021.

Challenges

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

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

League reviews: 3 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute five times this season (all at home):

• 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)

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 no goals 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)

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)

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,016…

8. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 9. Matt Martin 711 *** 10. Brock Nelson 703 *** 11. Brent Sutter 694 *** 12. Casey Cizikas 689… 

15. Billy Harris 623 *** 16. Stefan Persson and Anders Lee 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 609

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 220 *** 11. Brock Nelson 217 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 180

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 383…

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 245 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Nick Leddy 198 *** 21. Brock Nelson 196…

25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Jean Potvin 167 *** 28. Jeff Norton and Anders Lee 166

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Pat LaFontaine 566 *** 8. Josh Bailey 563  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 413 ***  16. Anders Lee 386…

19. Fran Nielsen 349 *** 20. Pierre Turgeon 340 *** 21. Mathew Barzal 339

+/-

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

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. 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 40 *** 9.  Ryan Pulock 39

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 119…

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 158…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 126

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 54 *** 12. Mark Fitzpatrick 51 *** 13. Chris Osgood and Ilya Sorokin 49

Shutouts

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

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

On the Farm

The Isles are 13-4-4-0 heading into this weekend's 3-on-3. The Islanders host Hershey Friday and then play a home-and-home with Providence next Saturday/Sunday. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team in goals (11) and Samuel Bolduc leads the team in assists (15); Andreoff, Bolduc and Chris Terry all have 19 points to share the team lead.  Cory Schneider is 9-1-1 on the season for Bridgeport; only two AHL goalies have more wins.

Season Series Stats

The teams split the season series, 1 game to 1 (and 2 points to 2).

It was only the second regulation loss in the Isles' last nine games to St. Louis (6-2-1) and their first on home-ice since 2014 (ending a 5-0-1 stretch).

UP NEXT

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9th - ISLANDERS AT NEW JERSEY 7:00pm

[MSGSN2 (pre-game at 6:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Isles look to end the season series with the Devils as they visit New Jersey for the only time this season.   

The Devils defeated the Isles 4-1 at UBS Arena on October 20th.   That was right before the Devils got red hot, and New Jersey now leads the Metropolitan Division with a 21-4-1 record.  The Devils, 18-1-1 in their last 20 games, also have the most points in the NHL (43), although Boston can tie them in one fewer game with a win Wednesday in Denver. 

The Isles are 7-2-0 in their last nine trips to Newark, splitting a pair of games there last season.

New Jersey is the only Metropolitan Division opponent that the Isles will visit only once this season.

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