The Skinny: Boston 4, Isles 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 46

Boston 4, Isles 1

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

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

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

The Scoring:

1st Period

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

2nd Period

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

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

3rd Period

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

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

The Skinny   

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

The New Guys

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

Last Year vs. This Year

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

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

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-1-1

• Season: 27-68-95

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

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

Sorokin's House

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

Zach Attack 

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

Home and Road

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

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

East and West

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

Home is Where the Fans Are

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

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,512

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,386

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

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

The Shots

Isles    10-10-6=26

Boston 6-9-9=24

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

In the Nets

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

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

Special Teams

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

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

Three is a Magic Number

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

One-Goal Games

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

Back-to-Backs  

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

Ice-time Leaders

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

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

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

Face-offs

Isles 19, Boston 32 (37%)

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

Hit Count

Isles 21 (Ryan Pulock -4)

Boston 24 (Connor Clifton -5)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 10 (Jean-Gabriel Pageau -3)

Boston 25 (Derek Forbort -6)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 66, Boston 49

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

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Anthony Beauvillier and Josh Bailey +7

Boston:  Hampus Lindholm +13

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 11, Boston 8

5-on-5: Isles 7, Boston 5

Scratches

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

Games Lost: 88

The Ironmen

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

Noah Dobson played in his 111h consecutive Islander game.

Challenges

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

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

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

Quickies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

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

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

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

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

Last Minute Heroes:

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

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

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

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

Overtime Winners

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

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

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

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

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

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

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

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

Goals    

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

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

Assists

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

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

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

Points

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

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

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

+/-

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

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

Defense Goals

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

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

Defense Assists

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

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

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

Defense Points

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

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

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

Wins

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

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

Shutouts

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

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

On the Farm

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

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

Season Series Stats

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

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

UP NEXT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Skinny: Washington 4, Isles 3 (OT)

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 45

Washington 4, Isles 3 (OT)

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

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

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

The Scoring:

1st Period

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

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

2nd Period

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

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

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

3rd Period

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

OT

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

The Skinny   

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

The Injuries:

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

First Times in a Long Time

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

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

Last Year vs. This Year

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

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

Offense from Defense

• Today:  1-2-3

• Season: 27-67-94

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

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

Sorokin's House

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

Zach Attack 

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

Home and Road

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

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

East and West

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

Home is Where the Fans Are

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

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,511

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,386

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

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

The Shots

Isles    11-6-11-2=30

Washington 5-14-12-4=35

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

In the Nets

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

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

Special Teams

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

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

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

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

One-Goal Games

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

Back-to-Backs  

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

Ice-time Leaders

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

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

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

Face-offs

Isles 22, Washington 29 (43%)

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

Hit Count

Isles 37 (Matt Martin-10)

Washington 38 (Martin Fehervary- 9)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 18 (Ryan Pulock and Scott Mayfield -3)

Washington 13 (Nicklas Backstrom -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 54, Washington 69

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

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Parker Wotherspoon +7

Washington:  Two with +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 17, Washington 19

5-on-5: Isles 15, Washington 15

Scratches

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

Games Lost: 85

The Ironmen

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

Noah Dobson played in his 110h consecutive Islander game.

Challenges

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

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

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

Quickies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

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

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

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

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

Last Minute Heroes:

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

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

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

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

Overtime Winners

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

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

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

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

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

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

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

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

Goals    

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

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

Assists

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

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

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

Points

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

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

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

+/-

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

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

Defense Goals

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

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

Defense Assists

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

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

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

Defense Points

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

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

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

Wins

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

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

Shutouts

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

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

On the Farm

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

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

Bridgeport hosts Rochester on Friday. 

Season Series Stats

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

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

UP NEXT

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's how I previously described it:

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

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

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

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

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

The Skinny: Isles 2, Montreal 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 44

Isles 2, Montreal 1

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

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

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

The Scoring:

1st Period

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

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

2nd Period

No Goals

3rd Period

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

The Skinny   

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

Last Year vs. This Year

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

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

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0--2

• Season: 26-64-90

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

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

Sorokin's House

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

Zach Attack 

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

Home and Road

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

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

East and West

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

Home is Where the Fans Are

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

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,510

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,386

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

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

The Shots

Isles      14-14-10=38

Montreal 9-9-5=23

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

In the Nets

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

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

Special Teams

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

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

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

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

One-Goal Games

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

Back-to-Backs  

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

Ice-time Leaders

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

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

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

Face-offs

Isles 27, Montreal 26 (51%)

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

Hit Count

Isles 25 (Cal Clutterbuck -5)

Montreal 18 (Four with 2)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 14 (Noah Dobson -3)

Montreal 25 (Jordan Harris-4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 74, Montreal 46

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

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Mathew Barzal +17

Montreal:  Evgenii Dadonov +1

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 14, Montreal 9

5-on-5: Isles 13, Montreal 9

Scratches

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

Games Lost: 82

The Ironmen

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

Noah Dobson played in his 109th consecutive Islander game.

Challenges

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

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

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

Quickies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

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

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

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

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

Last Minute Heroes:

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

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

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

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

Overtime Winners

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

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

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

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

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

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

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

Goals    

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

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

Assists

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

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

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

Points

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

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

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

+/-

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

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

Defense Goals

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

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

Defense Assists

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

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

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

Defense Points

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

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

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

Wins

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

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

Shutouts

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

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

On the Farm

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

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

Bridgeport visits Springfield Monday in an MLK Day matinee. 

Season Series Stats

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

   

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

UP NEXT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Skinny: Minnesota 3, Isles 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 43

Minnesota 3, Isles 1

Frederick Gaudreau scored the tying goal on a shorthanded rush midway through the 3rd period and Sam Steel scored the winning goal 93 seconds later as the Minnesota Wild rallied for a 3-1 victory over the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Scott Mayfield scored a first period goal for the Isles and it stood up for nearly 34 minutes before the Gaudreau shorty turned the game around.  Kirill Kaprizov added his 25th goal into an empty net to finish the scoring.

The Isles fell to 22-18-3 and are 1-4-1 since the calendar turned to 2023.  The middle game of this five-game home stand is on Saturday against Montreal.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Scott Mayfield (5) Matt Martin (8), Alexander Romanov (13) 16:49 MIN 0,NYI 1

2nd Period

No Goals

3rd Period

Frederick Gaudreau (10) Joel Eriksson Ek (19) 10:55 MIN 1,NYI 1 SHG

Sam Steel (8) Mats Zuccarello (25), Kirill Kaprizov (26) 12:28 MIN 2,NYI 1

Kirill Kaprizov (25)EN Mats Zuccarello (26), Jon Merrill (8) 18:48 MIN 3,NYI 1

The Skinny   

The Isles did not reach 22 wins last season until March 10th (22-24-8)... The Isles went 0-3 on the power play; they are 3-17 in the last seven games; the Gaudreau goal was the fifth allowed by the Isles this season and the first at home …The Isles did kill all five Wild power play and are now over 90% on the home PK – which is the best in the NHL; they are 12-12 in the last five home games ..The Isles scored first for the first time in six games…Ilya Sorokin has allowed six goals in the last five home games (3-1-1, 1.18, .952) .. Sebastian Aho played his 100th NHL game…Kirill Kaprizov now has 99 goals in 177 career games; if he scores on Saturday vs. Arizona, he will be the second-fastest to 100 goals among active players (behind Alexander Ovechkin (167 games) and just ahead of Patrik Laine (179 games)…Scott Mayfield matched a career high with five goals while Alexander Romanov set a career high with 14 points...Minnesota improves to 4-12-2 when trailing after two periods while the Isles fall to 15-2-0 when leading through 40 minutes.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  22-18-3 for 47 points in 43 games

• 2021-22  17-20-6 for 40 points in 43 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  1-1-2

• Season: 26-62-88

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

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

Zach Attack 

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

Home and Road

The Isles are 22-18-3 overall; they are 12-7-1 at home and 10-11-2 on the road.

Minnesota is 23-14-4 overall; they are 12-8-1 at home and 11-6-3 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 12-8-1 against the East (9-4-0 vs. Metropolitan and 3-4-1 vs. Atlantic) and 10-11-1 against the West (4-8-1 vs. Central and 6-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 61 games at UBS Arena and recorded 41 sellouts. The sellout crowds of 17,255 are the largest indoor crowds to ever see the Islanders play at home. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,510

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,385

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 14-5-0 when scoring first and are 8-13-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles    4-10-6=20

Minnesota 7-17-12=36

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

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves; he is 14-14-2 on the season and 0-2-0 vs Minnesota. 

Filip Gustavsson made 19 saves; he is 10-6-1 on the season and 1-1-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (5:37), and allowed a shorthanded goal; Minnesota was 0-5 on the power play (9:37).

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

Three is a Magic Number

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

One-Goal Games

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

Back-to-Backs  

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

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson/Brock Nelson (21:38);  Minnesota: Jared Spurgeon (21:41)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 21:38 of ice-time. 

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

Face-offs

Isles 22, Minnesota 32 (41%)

No Islander won more than he lost;  Sam Steel won 8 of 11 for Minnesota. 

Hit Count

Isles 19 (Cal Clutterbuck -4)

Minnesota 19 (Brandon Duhaime -5)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 16 (Scott Mayfield -4)

Minnesota 18 (Matt Dumba -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 51, Minnesota 64

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 37, Minnesota 45

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Sebastian Aho and Anthony Beauvillier +4

Minnesota:  Mats Zuccarello +13

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 8, Minnesota 21  (8-0 Minnesota in the 3rd period)

5-on-5: Isles 5, Minnesota 14

Scratches

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

Games Lost: 79

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 125th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-longest active streak in the NHL.  

Noah Dobson played in his 108th consecutive Islander game.

Challenges

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

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

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

Quickies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

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

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

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

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

Last Minute Heroes:

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

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

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

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

Overtime Winners

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

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

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

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,032…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 727 *** 9. Brock Nelson 719*** 10. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 705… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 639 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 617

Goals    

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

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

Assists

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

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

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

Points

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

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

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

+/-

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

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

Defense Goals

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

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

Defense Assists

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

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

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

Defense Points

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

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

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

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 53

Shutouts

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

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

On the Farm

Bridgeport dropped their eleventh straight game (0-8-2-1) with a 3-1 defeat to Lehigh Valley on Wednesday. The Islanders have fallen to 14-14-6-1 on the season.

Andy Andreoff scored his team-leading 18th goal, while Chis Terry padded his team lead in assists (23) and points (34).   

Bridgeport visit Lehigh Valley Friday in the back-end of the home-and-home.

Season Series Stats

Minnesota leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0). The teams will meet in St. Paul on February 28th to complete the season series; it will be the Isles' final game before the trade deadline.

   

The Isles have lost three straight games to Minnesota and are 3-6-0 in their last nine meetings with the Wild. 

UP NEXT

SATURSDAY, JANUARY 14th –MONTREAL AT ISLANDERS 7:00pm

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

Montreal makes the first of their two visits this season to UBS Arena on Saturday night in the middle game of this five game homestand.

The Canadiens won their only previous visit to UBS, defeating the Isles in a shootout last February.  The Isles have only two wins over Les Habitants in their last 12 New York games (2-7-3) but the Isles did sweep a pair of games in Montreal last season. 

Note that this game is a 7:00 start.

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: Dallas 2, Isles 1 (SO)

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 42

Dallas 2, Isles 1 (SO)

Jason Robertson scored on Dallas' first shot of the game and then scored the only goal in the shootout as the Dallas Stars defeated the Islanders 4-1 before a crowd of 16,412 at UBS Arena. 

Anders Lee scored a first period goal for the Isles, tying him with Brock Nelson for the team lead in goals. 

The Isles are 22-17-3 and continue this home stand on Thursday against Dallas. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Jason Robertson (29) Joe Pavelski (28), Tyler Seguin (18) 03:42 DAL 1,NYI 0

Anders Lee (15) Brock Nelson (24), Noah Dobson (15) 13:39 DAL 1,NYI 1 PPG

2nd Period

No Goals

3rd Period

No Goals 

OT

No Goals

The Shootout

Jason Robertson (G/GDG) / Mathew Barzal (NG)

Joe Pavelski (NG) / Anthony Beauvillier (NG)

Denis Gurianov (NG) / Brock Nelson (NG)

The Isles have lost all three of their shootouts this season and nine of their last eleven shootouts dating back to last season… Ilya Sorokin falls to 4-7 in shootouts while Jake Oettinger improved to 4-5…The Isles are 1-9 in shootout attempts this season.

The Skinny   

The Isles did not reach 22 wins last season until March 10th (22-24-8)... The Isles have outscored the opposition 51-39 in the third period… The Isles went 1-3 on the power play; they are 3-14 in last six games …The Isles have allowed the opening goal in five straight games (1-3-1)… The Isles are now 3-0 in games decided in overtime but 0-3 in shootouts…Anthony Beauvillier had a season-high six shots on goal…Noah Dobson led the Isles with 11 attempts, but only two were on goal; Dobson played the final 3:18 of overtime…Ilya Sorokin has allowed one goal in each of his last four home games (3-0-1, 0.98, .957) ..Jake Oettinger made his 100th career start…Isles scored only their 7th first period goal at home this season; it was the first time that they scored in the opening period on the power play.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  22-17-3 for 47 points in 42 games

• 2021-22  17-19-6 for 40 points in 42 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-1-1

• Season: 25-61-86

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 25 goals (tied with Washington for NHL lead); they didn't score their 25th goal last season until April 14th.  

Zach Attack 

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

Home and Road

The Isles are 22-17-3 overall; they are 12-6-1 at home and 10-11-2 on the road.

Dallas is 25-11-6 overall; they are 12-4-3 at home and 13-7-3 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 12-8-1 against the East (9-4-0 vs. Metropolitan and 3-4-1 vs. Atlantic) and 10-10-1 against the West (4-7-1 vs. Central and 6-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 60 games at UBS Arena and recorded 40 sellouts. The sellout crowds of 17,255 are the largest indoor crowds to ever see the Islanders play at home. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,510

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,385

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 14-4-0 when scoring first and are 8-13-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles   10-6-10-2=28

Dallas 5-9-9-3=26

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

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves; he is 14-13-2 on the season and 0-0-1 vs Dallas. 

Jake Oettinger made 27 saves; he is 19-6-3 on the season and 3-1-0 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-3 on the power play (5:32); Dallas was 0-1 on the power play (2:00).

The Isles are 11-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 11-9-2 when they do not. The Isles are 11-7-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 11-10-2 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-5-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-12-2 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 7-3-3 in games decided by a single goal including 4-3 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-6 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs  

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

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (23:58);  Dallas: Miro Heiskanen (25:50)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 19:46 of ice-time. 

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

Face-offs

Isles 29, Dallas 27 (52%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 15 of 24 for the Isles;  Jamie Benn won 10 of 18 for Dallas. 

Hit Count

Isles 26 (Three with 4)

Dallas 15 (Three with 2)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 17 (Three with 3)

Dallas 22 (Esa Lindell -5)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 70, Dallas 52

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 61, Dallas 42

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Sebastian Aho +23

Dallas:  Tyler Seguin +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 17, Dallas 19

5-on-5: Isles 15, Dallas 16

Scratches

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

Games Lost: 76

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 124th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-longest active streak in the NHL.  

Noah Dobson played in his 107th consecutive Islander game.

Challenges

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

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

League reviews: 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 one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

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

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

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

Overtime Winners

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

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

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

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs Dal 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,031…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 726 *** 9. Brock Nelson 718*** 10. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 705… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Derek King and Anders Lee 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 616

Goals    

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

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

Assists

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

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

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

Points

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

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

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

+/-

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

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

Defense Goals

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

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

Defense Assists

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

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

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

Defense Points

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

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

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

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 53

Shutouts

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

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

On the Farm

Bridgeport got two goals from Cole Bardreau and one from Chris Terry but fell 6-3 to Providence on Saturday for their tenth straight loss (0-7-2-1). The Islanders have fallen to 14-13-6-1 on the season.

Andy Andreoff continues to lead the team with 17 goals, while Chis Terry leads the team in assists (22) and points (33).   

Bridgeport hosts Lehigh Valley in the front-end of a home-and-home on Wednesday.

Season Series Stats

Dallas wins the season series, 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 1). 

   

The Isles are 2-0-1 in their last three home games with the Stars, and 3-3-1 in their last seven games overall.

UP NEXT

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12th –MINNESOTA AT ISLANDERS 7:00pm

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

The next three opponents on this homestand are teams that the Islanders did not face in the first half of the season, beginning on Thursday when the Minnesota Wild visit UBS Arena.

The Wild swept the season series last year with Kaapo Kahkonen (now with San Jose) earning both wins. Overall, the Isles are 3-5-0 in their last eight games with the Wild.

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: Calgary 4, Isles 1

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 41

Calgary 4, Isles 1

Milan Lucic and Blake Coleman scored 1:29 apart to give the Flames a 2-0 lead 6:05 in, and Calgary defeated the Islanders 4-1 before a crowd of 18,837 at Scotiabank Saddledome.

Zach Parise scored the only goal for the Islanders but by then Calgary had built a 3-0 lead.  The Isles played without Mathew Barzal, who could not go after taking warmups.  His absence ended his goal-scoring streak at a career-best five games.

The Isles end the first half with a 22-17-2 record and now head home to begin a five-game homestand on Tuesday against Dallas. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Milan Lucic (3) Jonathan Huberdeau (19) 04:36 NYI 0,CGY 1

Blake Coleman (7) Andrew Mangiapane (10), Mikael Backlund (13) 06:05 NYI 0,CGY 2

Nikita Zadorov (6) Trevor Lewis (6) 14:21 NYI 0,CGY 3

Zach Parise (12) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (14), Scott Mayfield (6) 19:00 NYI 1,CGY 3

2nd Period

No Goals

3rd Period

Nazem Kadri (15) Tyler Toffoli (17) 06:59 NYI 1,CGY 4

The Skinny   

The Isles did not reach 22 wins last season until March 10th (22-24-8)... The Isles have outscored the opposition 51-39 in the third period… The Isles went 0-1 on the power play, dropping them to 2-36 over the past 13 games…The Isles fell below NHL-.500 on the road for the first time since opening 0-2-0….Alexander Romanov had four hits on his 23rd birthday; Noah Dobson turns 23 on Saturday…The Isles allowed the opening goal in all four games on the road trip and finished the trip with a 1-3-0 record….The Isles were outscored 7-2 in the first period of the four games…The Isles have scored first in only 7 of their 23 road games…It was only the second time this season that the Isles allowed three goals in the first period (also at Nashville on November 17th).

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  22-17-2 for 46 points in 41 games

• 2021-22  17-18-6 for 40 points in 41 games

Last Season                        This Season

• Goals For  99                              129

• Goals Against 108                      112

• Power Play  17.9%                      18.3%

• Penalty Kill  82.5%                      81.3%

Leaders

Games    3 with 41                 8 with 41   

Goals  Nelson 15                Nelson 15

Assists Barzal/Bailey 18       Barzal 30

Points    Barzal 29                 Barzal 41

Goalies

Sorokin   14-9-5 .924 2.37        14-13-1  .924  2.35

Varlamov  3-9-1 .916 2.57          8-4-1     .906  2.76

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-1-1

• Season: 25-60-85

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored an NHL-leading 25 goals; they didn't score their 25th goal last season until April 14th.  

Zach Attack 

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

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

• Denis Potvin (72-168-240) 

• Noah Dobson (27-68-95)

• Bryan Berard (26-83-109)

• Tomas Jonsson (22-60-82)

• Paul Boutilier (20-69-89) 

 Dobson turns 23 this Saturday, January 7th.

Home and Road

The Isles are 22-17-2 overall; they are 12-6-0 at home and 10-11-2 on the road.

Calgary is 19-14-7 overall; they are 12-7-2 at home and 7-7-5 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 12-8-1 against the East (9-4-0 vs. Metropolitan and 3-4-1 vs. Atlantic) and 10-9-1 against the West (4-6-1 vs. Central and 6-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 59 games at UBS Arena and recorded 40 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 1,509

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,385

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 14-4-0 when scoring first and are 8-13-2 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles     8-8-9=25

Calgary 6-9-6=21

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

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 17 saves; he is 8-4-1 on the season and 7-11-2 vs Calgary. 

Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves; he is 13-10-4 on the season and 6-5-1 vs. the Isles.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-1 on the power play (2:00); Calgary was 0-2 on the power play (4:00).

The Isles are 11-8-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 11-9-2 when they do not. The Isles are 11-7-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 11-10-1 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 21-5-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-12-1 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 7-3-2 in games decided by a single goal including 4-3 in regulation. They are 3-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-6 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs  

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

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (22:57);  Calgary: Rasmus Andersson (22:54)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 19:46 of ice-time. 

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

Face-offs

Isles 29, Calgary 21 (58%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 12 of 17 for the Isles;  Radim Zahorna won 4 of 7 for Calgary. 

Hit Count

Isles 31 (Cal Clutterbuck -5)

Calgary 19 (Trevor Lewis -3)

Fights 

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

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 19 (Three with 3)

Calgary 8 (Mackenzie Weegar -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 36, Calgary 56

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 33, Calgary 52

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Cal Clutterbuck +2

Calgary:  Mackenzie Weegar +19

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 5, Calgary 8

5-on-5: Isles 5, Calgary 7

Scratches

(Adam Pelech – upper body-IR), (Kyle Palmieri- upper body-IR),  (Simon Holmstrom-INJ), (Oliver Wahlstrom-INJ), Robin Salo, (Mathew Barzal-INJ)

Games Lost: 74

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 123rd 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.  

Noah Dobson played in his 106th consecutive Islander game.

Challenges

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

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

League reviews: 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 one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

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

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

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

Overtime Winners

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

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

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

Shootout Winners

Vs (2):  David Pastrnak vs BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @COL 12/19

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,030…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 725 *** 9. Brock Nelson 717*** 10. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 11. Casey Cizikas 704… 

14. Derek King 638 *** 15. Anders Lee 637 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 615

Goals    

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

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 226 *** 11. Brock Nelson 220 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182

Assists

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

15. Billy Harris 259*** 16. Mathew Barzal 250 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 205…

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

Points

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

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

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 425 ***  16. Anders Lee 395 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 352

+/-

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

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

Defense Goals

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

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

Defense Assists

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

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

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

Defense Points

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

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

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

Wins

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

10. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 56 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 53

Shutouts

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

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

On the Farm

Bridgeport got third period goals from William Dufour and Chris Terry to force overtime, but Martin Frk gave Springfield a 4-3 OT win on Friday night.  The Islanders have fallen to 14-12-6-1 on the season after having gone 1-9-2-1 in the last thirteen games.

Andy Andreoff is tied-5th in the AHL with a team-leading 17 goals, while Chis Terry leads the team in assists (22) and points (32).   

Bridgeport hosts Providence on Saturday.

Season Series Stats

The teams split the season series, 1 game to 1 (Calgary earned 3 points to the Isles' 2). 

   

The Isles failed to sweep the Flames for the first time since 2015-16 and are 2-7-0 in their last nine meetings.

UP NEXT

TUESDAY, JANUARY 10th –DALLAS AT ISLANDERS 7:00pm

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

The Islanders return home to start the second half of the season as they begin a season-long five-game homestand by hosting the Dallas Stars. 

The Isles dropped a 5-2 decision in Dallas on November 19th; Mathew Barzal had his first two goals of the season in that one.    The Isles have won their last two home games with Dallas (one in Brooklyn, one at UBS Arena) and are 3-3-0 in their last six games overall with the Stars.

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