The Skinny: Isles 4, Winnipeg 0

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 63

Isles 4, Winnipeg 0

Bo Horvat scored a first period shorthanded goal as the Isles outshot Winnipeg 12-1 in the session and the Jets could never catch them.  Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves for his 38th career shutout as the Isles defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-0 before a crowd of 13,797 at Canada Life Centre.  

Alexander Romanov, Brock Nelson and Adam Pelech, the latter into an empty net, also scored for the Isles, who shut-out the Jets in Winnipeg for the second straight season and extended their road shutout streak against the Jets to 166:48.

The Isles improve to 31-25-7 and will head to Minnesota for a Tuesday game with the Wild. The Isles still hold the 1st Wild Card spot; they are two points ahead of Pittsburgh and three points ahead of Buffalo.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Bo Horvat (36) 07:56 NYI 1,WPG 0 SHG

2nd Period

Alexander Romanov (2) Casey Cizikas (10), Hudson Fasching (4) 04:22 NYI 2,WPG 0

Brock Nelson (27) Zach Parise (10) 18:41 NYI 3,WPG 0

3rd Period

Adam Pelech (5)EN Scott Mayfield (11) 17:59 NYI 4,WPG 0 

The Skinny    

The Isles improve to 8-3-2 in their last 13 games and 3-1-1 in their last five road games…Brock Nelson now has points in 16 of his last 17 games; his 60 points are a new career high and is the first Islander with at least 60 points since Mathew Barzal did so in 2019-20.… Adam Pelech recorded a goal in consecutive games for the first time in his career and matched his season high with four shots on goal… The Isles have won six straight third periods, outscoring the opposition 9-0… The Isles' third period differential improves to +8; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games, -17 over the next 34 games but are +9 over the last six games …  Alexander Romanov scored his second goal of the season and his first since December 22nd…Romanov and Ryan Pulock both went +3 while Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois both went -4…Semyon Varlamov recorded his 38th career shutout and his 2nd shutout of the season; Varlamov has recorded multiple shutouts in each of his four seasons with the Isles (only Chico Resch – 6 seasons- had a longer stretch as an Isle) and in six straight seasons overall…It was Varlamov's 17th win against Winnipeg, matching his most against any opponent (Dallas -17) and his 11th win of the season (one more than last year)…Varlamov tied Ilya Sorokin for 10th place in club history with 59 wins and broke a tie for shutouts with Jaroslav Halak for 6th place…It is the 7th shutout for the Isles this season and second on the road…Bo Horvat's goal was the 4th shorthanded goal for the Isles and their first since January 3rd in Vancouver…The Isles have now won eight straight games that they have scored shorthanded; ironically Ilya Sorokin had been in goal for the first seven.

Bo Knows Special Teams (sorry Kinger)

Bo Horvat recorded his 4th shorthanded goal of the season (3 for Vancouver), tying Sam Lafferty and Reilly Smith for the league lead.  He is the only player in the NHL with at least 12 power play goals and at least four shorthanded goals.  Alexander Barkov (12 and 4 last year) is the only other player to do this in the NHL in the last 12 seasons; Mike Bossy (14 and 4 in 1984-85) is the only player to reach those totals in a single season playing only for the Isles.

Horvat is one of 24 active players with at least 12 shorthanded goals (Jean-Gabriel Pageau has 18 and Cal Clutterbuck has 17); he has 44 power play goals and 6 shorthanded goals over the last four seasons – Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider are the only other NHL players to have reached those totals.

First Times in a Long Time

The Isles got multiple goals from defensemen for the second straight game.  It's the first time that's happened since October 21-23, 2016, when Dennis Seidenberg and Johnny Boychuk scored against Minnesota and Thomas Hickey, Calvin deHaan and Boychuk all scored against Arizona.

The Isles held an opponent to just one shot in a period for the first time this season.   However, it was the first time since November 10, 2010, in Anaheim, that the Isles held an opponent to one shot (or fewer) in the first period.

Heavy Hitters

Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are now 1-2 all-time in hits:

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,692

2. Matt Martin 3,645

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  31-25-7 for 69 points in 63 games

• 2021-22  28-26-9 for 65 points in 63 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  2-1-3

• Season: 35-94-129

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 35 goals, three more than they did last season and the most that they have scored since tallying 39 goals in 2017-18.  The Isles are fourth in the NHL in defense goals, and lead the NHL in percent of goals scored by their defense (19.1%).

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 115 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 13.0% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 13.0%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 423 career goals, good for 9th among actives and 85th all-time. Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 31-25-7 overall; they are 18-11-3 at home and 12-14-4 on the road.

Winnipeg is 35-24-1 overall; they are 20-10-0 at home and 15-14-1 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 17-13-5 against the East (12-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 5-8-5 vs. Atlantic) and 14-12-2 against the West (6-7-2 vs. Central and 8-5-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 73 games at UBS Arena and recorded 51 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,519

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,394

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 21-8-3 when scoring first and are 10-17-4 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles          12-8-4=24

Winnipeg   1-14-8=23

The Isles are 15-10-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 16-15-5 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves; he is 11-7-2 on the season and 17-10-2 vs Winnipeg. 

David Rittich made 20 saves; he is 9-6-0 on the season and 1-1-0 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

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

The Isles are 13-10-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 18-15-4 when they do not. The Isles are 13-12-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 18-13-5 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 25-6-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 6-19-4 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 13-6-7 in games decided by a single goal including 9-6 in regulation. They are 4-3 in games decided in overtime and are 0-4 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 March 14th in Los Angeles and on March 15th in Anaheim. The Isles are 7-5-0 in the front end and 7-4-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (24:16);  Winnipeg: Josh Morrissey (24:35)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 20:18 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-12-2), Adam Pelech (6-2-0), Ryan Pulock (6-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-1-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Bo Horvat (2-0-1), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 26, Winnipeg 23 (53%)

Bo Horvat won 11 of 17 for the Isles; Pierre-Luc Dubois won 7 of 13 for Winnipeg. 

Hit Count

Isles 22 (Four with 3)

Winnipeg 19 (Two with 3)

Fights 

Scott Mayfield fought Pierre-Luc Dubois in 2nd period. Season total: 15 (Martin-6, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov, Martin)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 25 (Scott Mayfield -5)

Winnipeg 9 (Three with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 43, Winnipeg 67

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 36, Winnipeg 55

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Casey Cizikas +3

Winnipeg:  Nikolaj Ehlers +16

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 10, Winnipeg 13

5-on-5: Isles 9, Winnipeg 10

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Cal Clutterbuck – IR), (Jean-Gabriel Pageau-IR), (Mathew Barzal-INJ), Parker Wotherspoon, Ross Johnston

Games Lost: 151

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 145th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 146 games, making it the 16th-longest active streak in the NHL. 

Challenges

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

Opponents: 2 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27, VAN goalie interference 2/9

League reviews: 5 (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), MTL goal (Matheson) 2/11-stood.

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 allowed the opposition to do so once.

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

Vs  Led 4-2, Lost 6-5 vs VAN 2/9

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)

Zach Parise Vs PIT 2/17 (17:17; GW)

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

Overtime Winners

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

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

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

Mathew Barzal vs VEG 1/28 (4:28)

Vs. (3): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

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

Mike Matheson @ MTL 2/11 (4:38)

Shootout Winners

Vs (4):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

Tim Stutzle Vs OTT 2/14

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,048…

6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 747 *** 9. Brock Nelson 739 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 726…

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 659 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

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

8. Bob Bourne 238 *** 9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 234 *** 11. Brock Nelson 232 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182…

28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29 Mathew Barzal, Benoit Hogue, and Ed Westfall 105

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 394…

13. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 14. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 15. Billy Harris 259 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 257 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 215…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Anders Lee 174

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 576  …

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 447 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 408 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 362

+/-

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. Ryan Pulock 41 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 29

Defense Assists

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

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 125…

15. Bryan Berard 100 *** 16. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 17. Johnny Boychuk 96 *** 18. Adam Pelech,  Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95…

24. Adrian Aucoin 80 ***25. Scott Lachance, Noah Dobson, and Scott Mayfield 79

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 166…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Adam Pelech 119 *** 19. Thomas Hickey 117...20. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 21. Radek Martinek 109 *** 22. Dave Langevin 109 ***23. Noah Dobson 108 *** 24. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 26. Scott Mayfield 103

Wins

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

8. Glenn Healy 66 *** 9. Tommy Salo 62 *** 10. Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov 59

Shutouts

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 15 *** 5. Tommy Salo 14 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov 13 

On the Farm

It was a lost weekend for Bridgeport as they lost 5-2 to Charlotte on Saturday and 4-3 to Lehigh Valley on Sunday, dropping the B-Isles to 23-21-7-1 on the season.  Chris Terry and Andy Andreoff scored on Saturday, with William Dufour earning assists on both goals;  goals by Cole Bardreau, Dufour, and Ruslan Iskhakov (on a penalty shot) helped build a 3-0 lead on Sunday.

Andreoff leads the team with 21 goals, while Terry continues to lead in assists (33) and points (50). William Dufour has 19 goals, which is tied-3rd among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is 3rd  among AHL rookies with 27 assists and is tied-4th among rookies with 40 points.

Bridgeport has three games remaining on their six-game homestand: Thursday vs. Providence, Saturday vs. Hartford, and Sunday vs. Springfield.

Season Series Stats

The Islanders sweep the season series, 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 0).  

The Isles have won 4 straight games in Winnipeg (the last two by shutout and are 11-1-1 in Winnipeg since the Jets relocated to Manitoba.

Overall, the Isles have won seven straight from Winnipeg, sweeping the season series in 2019-20, 2021-22, and 2022-23.  It is their longest active streak against any opponent.

UP NEXT

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28th –ISLANDERS AT MINNESOTA 8:00pm

[MSGSN (Pre-game at 7:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Isles have only one game remaining before Friday's 3pm trade deadline, and it is in St. Paul against the Wild on Tuesday.

The Wild rallied for their third straight win over the Isles back on January 12th, scoring three times in the third period.   

This has been a streaky series since the Wild entered the NHL:

• Minnesota won the first three, 

• Isles won the next three, 

• Minnesota won the next five,

• Isles won the next four, 

• Minnesota won the next three,

• Isles won the next three,

• Minnesota won the next three,

• Isles won the next three,

• Minnesota won the last three.

The Isles are 13-15-2 against the Wild all-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: Los Angeles 3, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 62

Los Angeles 3, Isles 2

The Kings scored three times in a 5:34 span of the second period to break open a scoreless game and Los Angeles held on for a 3-2 victory over the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.  

Noah Dobson scored a power play goal in the 2nd period and Adam Pelech deflected a goal home off a King but that was all the Isles could mount against Jonathan Quick, who recorded his 370th career victory.

The Isles fall to 30-25-7 and will head to Winnipeg for a Sunday afternoon game with the Jets. The Isles still hold the 1st Wild Card spot; they are three points ahead of Buffalo, Detroit, and Florida. However, those teams have played five, five, and one fewer game than the Isles, respectively.

The Scoring:

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period 

Phillip Danault (15)OWN 06:40 LAK 1,NYI 0

Arthur Kaliyev (11) Rasmus Kupari (7), Jaret Anderson-Dolan (5) 08:05 LAK 2,NYI 0

Gabriel Vilardi (18) Alex Iafallo (15), Alexander Edler (7) 12:14 LAK 3,NYI 0

Noah Dobson (12) Brock Nelson (33), Anders Lee (20) 16:34 LAK 3,NYI 1 PPG

3rd Period

Adam Pelech (4) Ryan Pulock (17), Matt Martin (12) 15:23 LAK 3,NYI 2 

The Skinny    

The Isles fall to 7-3-2 in their last 12 games and 5-2-1 in their last eight home games…Brock Nelson now has points in 15 of his last 16 games; his 59 points match his career high… Matt Martin extended his point streak to a career-best four games; he also matched his career high with 19 points…The Isles scored a power play goal for the first time in four games.… The Isles have won five straight third periods, outscoring the opposition 8-0… The Isles' third period differential improves to +7; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games, -17 over the next 34 games but are +8 over the last 5 games … Noah Dobson scored his 12th goal; he is only the third Islander defenseman to ever have consecutive seasons with at least 12 goals (Denis Potvin and Tomas Jonsson)…Jonathan Quick passed Tom Barrasso for 3rd place on the all-time win list among American-born goalies…The Isles snapped Anze Kopitar's four-game goal streak, matching the longest of his career…The Kings are 5-1-1 in February….The Isles won only 14 (of 36) face-offs, matching their 2nd fewest face-off wins in a home game since the statistic was first officially recorded in 1998.

20-20

Ilya Sorokin now has twenty wins in consecutive seasons.   The club record for consecutive 20-win series is five, held by Chico Resch.  Thomas Greiss was the last Islander with consecutive 20-win campaigns.

Heavy Hitters

Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are now 1-2 all-time in hits:

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,692

2. Matt Martin 3,643

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  30-25-7 for 67 points in 62 games

• 2021-22  28-25-9 for 65 points in 62 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  2-1-3

• Season: 33-93-126

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 33 goals, one more than they did last season and the most that they have scored since tallying 39 goals in 2017-18.  The Isles are fourth in the NHL in defense goals, and third in the NHL in percent of goals scored by their defense (18.4%).

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 115 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 13.0% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 13.0%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 423 career goals, good for 9th among actives and 85th all-time. Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 30-25-7 overall; they are 18-11-3 at home and 12-14-4 on the road.

Los Angeles is 33-19-8 overall; they are 18-9-2 at home and 15-10-6 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 17-13-5 against the East (12-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 5-8-5 vs. Atlantic) and 13-12-2 against the West (5-7-2 vs. Central and 8-5-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 73 games at UBS Arena and recorded 51 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,519

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,393

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 20-8-3 when scoring first and are 10-17-4 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles              5-8-5=18

Los Angeles 12-12-4=28

The Isles are 14-10-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 16-15-5 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves; he is 20-18-5 on the season and 0-1-0 vs Los Angeles. 

Jonathan Quick made 16 saves; he is 11-12-4 on the season and 7-4-2 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-3 on the power play (3:15); Los Angeles was 0-2 on the power play (2:41).

The Isles are 13-10-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 17-15-4 when they do not. The Isles are 13-12-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 17-13-5 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 24-6-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 6-19-4 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 13-6-7 in games decided by a single goal including 9-6 in regulation. They are 4-3 in games decided in overtime and are 0-4 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 March 14th in Los Angeles and on March 15th in Anaheim. The Isles are 7-5-0 in the front end and 7-4-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (22:32);  Los Angeles: Mikey Anderson (27:05)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 21:53 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-12-2), Adam Pelech (5-2-0), Ryan Pulock (6-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-1-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Bo Horvat (2-0-1), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 16, Los Angeles 22 (42%)

Bo Horvat won 8 of 14 for the Isles; Philip Danault won 5 of 6- for Los Angeles. 

Hit Count

Isles 18 (Scott Mayfield -5)

Los Angeles 11 (Mikey Anderson -3)

Fights 

None. Season total: 14 (Martin-6, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 11 (Hudson Fasching and Ryan Pulock -2)

Los Angeles 14 (Alexander Edler -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 44, Los Angeles 46

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 37, Los Angeles 40

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Bo Horvat +6

Los Angeles:  Arthur Kaliyev +7

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 7, Los Angeles 5

5-on-5: Isles 7, Los Angeles 3

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Cal Clutterbuck – IR), (Jean-Gabriel Pageau-IR), (Josh Bailey- INJ), (Mathew Barzal-INJ), Parker Wotherspoon

Games Lost: 147

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 144th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 145 games, making it the 19th-longest active streak in the NHL. 

Challenges

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

Opponents: 2 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27, VAN goalie interference 2/9

League reviews: 5 (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), MTL goal (Matheson) 2/11-stood.

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 allowed the opposition to do so once.

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

Vs  Led 4-2, Lost 6-5 vs VAN 2/9

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)

Zach Parise Vs PIT 2/17 (17:17; GW)

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

Overtime Winners

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

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

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

Mathew Barzal vs VEG 1/28 (4:28)

Vs. (3): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

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

Mike Matheson @ MTL 2/11 (4:38)

Shootout Winners

Vs (4):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

Tim Stutzle Vs OTT 2/14

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,047…

6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 746 *** 9. Brock Nelson 738 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 725…

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 658 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

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

8. Bob Bourne 238 *** 9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 234 *** 11. Brock Nelson 231 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182…

28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29 Mathew Barzal, Benoit Hogue, and Ed Westfall 105

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 394…

13. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 14. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 15. Billy Harris 259 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 257 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 215…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Anders Lee 174

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 576  …

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 446 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 408 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 362

+/-

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 +73 *** 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. Ryan Pulock 41 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 29

Defense Assists

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

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 125…

15. Bryan Berard 100 *** 16. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 17. Johnny Boychuk 96 *** 18. Adam Pelech,  Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95…

24. Adrian Aucoin 80 ***25. Scott Lachance and Noah Dobson 79 *** 27. Scott Mayfield 78

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 166…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Adam Pelech 118 *** 19. Thomas Hickey 117...20. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 21. Radek Martinek 109 *** 22. Dave Langevin 109 ***23. Noah Dobson 108 *** 24. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 26. Scott Mayfield 102

Wins

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

8. Glenn Healy 66 *** 9. Tommy Salo 62 *** 10. Ilya Sorokin 59 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 58

Shutouts

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 15 *** 5. Tommy Salo 14 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport got two goals from William Dufour and improved to 23-19-7-1 on the season with a 5-2 win over Belleville on Thursday. The B-Isles have won four straight games.

Andy Andreoff leads the team with 20 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (33) and points (49). William Dufour has 18 goals and 6th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is 3rd  among AHL rookies with 27 assists and is tied-4th among rookies with 39 points.

Bridgeport closes out February by hosting Charlotte on Saturday and Lehigh Valley on Sunday in the 2nd and 3rd games of their six-game homestand.

Season Series Stats

Los Angeles leads the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0). The Isles will visit Los Angeles on March 14th to complete the season series.

The Isles have lost three straight to the Kings.

UP NEXT

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26th –ISLANDERS AT WINNIPEG 3:30pm

[MSGSN (Pre-game at 3:00), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Isles have only two games remaining before Friday's trade deadline and the first one is in Winnipeg on Sunday afternoon.

The Isles have played 12 games in Manitoba since the franchise relocated from Atlanta; they are 10-1-1 in Winnipeg, having won their last three games there.

The Isles will play in Minnesota on Tuesday to close out February.

 

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, Winnipeg 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 61

Isles 2, Winnipeg 1

Simon Holmstrom's goal broke a 1-1 tie midway through the third period and Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves as the  Isles defeated the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.  

Sebastian Aho's first goal since January 16th had given the Isles a 1-0 lead after one period, but Nikolaj Ehlers, playing his 500th NHL game, tied the contest with a second period power play goal. 

The Isles improve to 30-24-7 and will host Los Angeles (the only team that they have not played) on Friday With the win, the Isles extend their lead for the 1st Wild Card spot; they are three points ahead of Florida; four ahead of Pittsburgh and five ahead of Washington.  

The Scoring:

1st Period

Sebastian Aho (5) Brock Nelson (32) 17:35 WPG 0,NYI 1

2nd Period

Nikolaj Ehlers (5) Josh Morrissey (48), Kyle Connor (40) 04:30 WPG 1,NYI 1 PPG

3rd Period

Simon Holmstrom (4) Bo Horvat (26), Matt Martin (11) 09:57 WPG 1,NYI 2 

The Skinny    

The Isles are 7-2-2 in their last 11 games; the 16 points in 11 games match their best 11-game stretch of the season…Their 16 points since January 27 match Carolina for the NHL lead; the Hurricanes have played two fewer games…The Isles are also 5-1-1 in their last seven home games…Brock Nelson now has points in 14 of his last 15 games; his 58 points are one shy of his career high. ..On Holmstrom's winning goal, Bo Horvat matched his career high in points (61) while Matt Martin recorded his career-best 11th assist…` Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves for his 59th career win, passing his net-mate, Semyon Varlamov for 10th in club history; he has allowed only one goal on 50 shots in two career appearances against Winnipeg….It was the 38th time in his career that Sorokin played at least a full period and allowed one goal or fewer…After scoring six power play goals in six games, the Isles are 0-9 on the power play in their last three games.… The Isles have scored 48 goals in the last twenty games (8-7-5); 19 of those goals have been scored in the first period…The Isles have won four straight third periods, outscoring the opposition 7-0… The Isles' third period differential improves to +6; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -10 over the last 38 games … Midway through the second period, the Isles hit the ¾ mark of their season…Mark Scheifele played his 700th NHL game…Josh Morrissey recorded his 48th assist and 59th point, extending his franchise records in both categories.

First Time in a Long Time

Arnaud Durandeau is the ninth player in club history to record at least seven shots in his first two NHL games, but the first forward to do so since Patrick Flatley had a club record nine on February 29-March 3, 1984. 

Brock-Even

Brock Nelson has four seasons with at least 20-plus even-strength goals in the last five years.  Five other familiar names are the only other players to do so: Connor McDavid (5x), Auston Matthews/Brad Marchand/Alex Ovechkin/David Pastrnak (4x each).

Brock Star

Since winning the Most Accurate Shot at the Skills Competition, Brock Nelson has gone 7-5-12 in nine games.  Only five players in the NHL have more points since the All-Star Game.

20-20

Ilya Sorokin now has twenty wins in consecutive seasons.  The club record for consecutive 20-win series is five, held by Chico Resch.  Thomas Greiss was the last Islander with consecutive 20-win campaigns.

Heavy Hitters

Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are now 1-2 all-time in hits:

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,692

2. Matt Martin 3,640

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  30-24-7 for 67 points in 61 games

• 2021-22  27-25-9 for 63 points in 61 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  1-0-1

• Season: 31-92-123

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 31 goals; they didn't score their 31st goal last season until game 80 on April 26th.   Zdeno Chara scored the final goal of the season and the final goal of his career in game 82.

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 114 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 13.3% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 13.2%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 423 career goals, good for 9th among actives and 85th all-time. Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 30-24-7 overall; they are 18-10-3 at home and 12-14-4 on the road.

Winnipeg is 35-22-1 overall; they are 20-8-0 at home and 15-14-1 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 17-13-5 against the East (12-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 5-8-5 vs. Atlantic) and 13-11-2 against the West (5-7-2 vs. Central and 8-4-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 72 games at UBS Arena and recorded 50 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,519

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,393

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 20-8-3 when scoring first and are 10-16-4 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles         11-4-7=22

Winnipeg 9-12-5=26

The Isles are 14-10-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 16-14-5 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves; he is 20-17-5 on the season and 2-0-0 vs Winnipeg. 

Connor Hellebuyck made 20 saves; he is 26-17-1 on the season and 3-5-0 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-4 on the power play (8:00); Winnipeg was 1-4 on the power play (7:06).

The Isles are 13-9-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 17-15-4 when they do not. The Isles are 13-12-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 17-12-5 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 24-6-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 6-18-4 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 13-5-7 in games decided by a single goal including 9-5 in regulation. They are 4-3 in games decided in overtime and are 0-4 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 March 14th in Los Angeles and on March 15th in Anaheim. The Isles are 7-5-0 in the front end and 7-4-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (21:56);  Winnipeg: Josh Morrissey (27:29)

Brock Nelson led Isles forwards with 21:17 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-11-2), Adam Pelech (5-2-0), Ryan Pulock (6-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-1-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Bo Horvat (2-0-1), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 22, Winnipeg 32 (41%)

Bo Horvat won 12 of 23 for the Isles; Pierre-Luc Dubois won 15 of 18 for Winnipeg. 

Hit Count

Isles 23 (Alexander Romanov -6)

Winnipeg 13 (Three with 2)

Fights 

None. Season total: 14 (Martin-6, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 17 (Scott Mayfield -4)

Winnipeg 10 (Two with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 38, Winnipeg 57

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 29, Winnipeg 36

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Hudson Fasching +8

Winnipeg:  Two with +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 8, Winnipeg 13

5-on-5: Isles 6, Winnipeg 9

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Cal Clutterbuck – IR), (Jean-Gabriel Pageau-IR), (Josh Bailey- INJ), (Mathew Barzal-INJ), Parker Wotherspoon

Games Lost: 142

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 143nd  consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 144 games, making it the 19th-longest active streak in the NHL. 

Challenges

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

Opponents: 2 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27, VAN goalie interference 2/9

League reviews: 5 (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), MTL goal (Matheson) 2/11-stood.

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 allowed the opposition to do so once.

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

Vs  Led 4-2, Lost 6-5 vs VAN 2/9

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)

Zach Parise Vs PIT 2/17 (17:17; GW)

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

Overtime Winners

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

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

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

Mathew Barzal vs VEG 1/28 (4:28)

Vs. (3): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

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

Mike Matheson @ MTL 2/11 (4:38)

Shootout Winners

Vs (4):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

Tim Stutzle Vs OTT 2/14

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,047…

6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 745 *** 9. Brock Nelson 737 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 724… 

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 657 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

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

8. Bob Bourne 238 *** 9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 234 *** 11. Brock Nelson 231 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182…

28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29 Mathew Barzal, Benoit Hogue, and Ed Westfall 105

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 394…

13. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 14. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 15. Billy Harris 259 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 257 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 214…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Anders Lee 173

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 576  …

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 445 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 407 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 362

+/-

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 +72 *** 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. Ryan Pulock 41 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 28

Defense Assists

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

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 124…

15. Bryan Berard 100 *** 16. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 17. Johnny Boychuk 96 *** 18. Adam Pelech,  Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95…

24. Adrian Aucoin 80 ***25. Scott Lachance and Noah Dobson 79 *** 27. Scott Mayfield 78

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 165…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey and Adam Pelech 117...20. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 21. Radek Martinek 109 *** 22. Dave Langevin 109 ***23. Noah Dobson 107 *** 24. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 26. Scott Mayfield 102

Wins

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

8. Glenn Healy 66 *** 9. Tommy Salo 62 *** 10. Ilya Sorokin 59 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 58

Shutouts

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 15 *** 5. Tommy Salo 14 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport is 22-19-7-1 on the season and hold the final playoff spot in the Northeast Division.

Andy Andreoff leads the team with 20 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (33) and points (49). William Dufour has 16 goals and is tied-7th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is 2nd among AHL rookies with 27 assists and is 6th among rookies with 38 points.

Bridgeport begins a six-game homestand on Thursday against Belleville.

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0). The Isles will face the Jets on Sunday to complete the season series.

The Isles have won six straight against Winnipeg for the first time ever and are 11-3-0 in their last fourteen games against the Jets..

UP NEXT

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24th –LOS ANGELES AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

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

The Isles finally get their first look at the Kings when they host Los Angeles on Friday night.

Los Angeles is the final opponent that the Isles have not faced; it will be the first meeting of the squads in 363 days.  Last season, the Kings won both games, with their UBS win ending an Islander five-game home winning streak against Los Angeles.

The teams will meet again in SoCal on March 14th to close out their season series.

And Finally…

You are reading the 900th consecutive edition of #TheSkinny.  It has appeared after every Islanders regular season and playoff game since February 2012.  Thank you to all the readers and those who comment on The Skinny and thanks to my VERY understanding family.  Here's to 1,000 – coming next season!

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog www.nyiskinny.com

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

The Skinny hits 900

Following tonight's game, I will issue the 900th consecutive edition of The Skinny.   

The Skinny was actually first published in the 2003-04 season and returned for the 2010-2011 campaign. The current streak began in February 2012.   It's appeared, win or lose, after every game since.

The Skinny grows longer as the season goes on, and yes it is typically longer (and more read by fans) after a victory.  Here's the very first edition... from October of 2003.  You probably have not seen Helmut Balderis' name, and his tie-in to a former Islander assistant coach,  in a Skinny since

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Long-time Islander fans may remember a post-game segment on Islander telecasts in the mid-90's called "The Skinny"… it was filled with information you might not find anywhere else.  A decade later, we've moved "The Skinny" to newyorkislanders.com

Game 1

Capitals 6, Islanders 1

For Openers:

The Isles drop to 8-16-8 on Opening Night, losing their 2nd straight opener and falling to 2-7-3 in their last dozen openers. The Isles are now 2-7-2 when they open on a Thursday. The six goals allowed are the most in an Opener in 14 years [10/5/89 Isles 5 @ Minnesota 6]. It's the most onesided Opening Night loss since a 7-2 defeat in New Jersey in 1984.

Never in Washington:

The Isles remain winless at the MCI Center, falling to 0-10-2-1 in 13 visits. They are 1-23-3-1 in their last 28 overall vs. Washington. 

Inauspicious Debut:

Steve Stirling lost his debut as an NHL coach.  Overall, Islander coaches are 5-7-2 in coaching debuts including 2-4-2 when the game is a season opener.

Results of First Game as Islander Coach

Phil Goyette 10/07/72 * L 3-2 Atlanta

Earl Ingarfeld 01/31/73 L 5-3 @ Toronto

Al Arbour     10/10/73 * T 1-1 @ Atlanta

Terry Simpson 10/09/86 * L 3-2 @ Chicago

Al Arbour II 12/09/89 L 6-5 @ New Jersey

Lorne Henning 01/21/94 * W 2-1 Florida

Mike Milbury 10/07/95 * T 4-4 @ Boston

Rick Bowness 01/24/97 W 5-2 @ Hartford

Mike Milbury II 03/12/98 L 2-1 Washington

Bill Stewart 01/21/99 W5-2 @ Pittsburgh

Butch Goring 10/02/99 * L 4-2 @ Tampa Bay

Lorne Henning II 03/04/01 W 5-2 @ New York Rangers

Peter Laviolette 10/05/01 * W 3-2 @ Tampa Bay

Steve Stirling 10/09/03 * L 6-1@Washington

* Season Opener

Jagr, for Openers

Jaromir Jagr had a goal and an assist, and now has 23 points in Season Openers, seven points shy of Ray Bourque's NHL record.  He now has 507 career goals, tying Jean Beliveau for 30th all-time.

1 + 2 = 3

Since 1993-94, Jaromir Jagr has scored more goals than anyone in the NHL: 414, including one in this game.  Peter Bondra, who scored twice, now 376, which ranks second in this span.

Super Bowl to NHL Goal:

John Gruden, the namesake of the Buccaneer coach, scored the 2nd goal for the Capitals – it was his first NHL point since 1999 and his first career NHL goal. He played for the Berlin [Germany] Polar Bears last season. Gruden debuted as a Bruin in the 1993-94 season; this was his 82nd  NHL game. Gruden, who turned 33 in June, is the oldest player to score his first NHL goal since Helmut Balderis did it in 1989 at age 37.

13.64?

Garth Snow allowed all six goals, and was pulled just 26:24 into the contest.  Snow's GAA is 13.64. 

Perfect in Relief

Rick DiPietro stopped all 11 shots he faced after replacing Snow. In last year's opener, Snow stopped the only shot he faced over the final 20 minutes after replacing Chris Osgood.

Mariusz' Back

Mariusz Czerkawski made his return to the Isles and scored his 121st Islander goal, tying Duane Sutter for 15th place on the Isles' all-time goal scoring list.

It's a Start

Two players, both drafted in the first round in 2002, made their NHL debuts:  Boyd Gordon for the Capitals and Sean Bergenheim for the Islanders.  Gordon, who was picked 17th in 2002 [five picks before Bergenheim] played for Brent Sutter at Red Deer. Alexander Semin, also a 2002 first rounder, was a scratch for Washington.

Somebody Has to Sit

Opening Night scratches for the Isles: Justin Papineau, Trent Hunter and Sven Butenschon.

Up Next

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11TH  -- ISLANDERS AT BUFFALO 7:00PM

[Metro (pre-game at 6:30pm); Disney-1560 (pre-game at 6:50pm)]

It's the Sabres' Home Opener, as they look to score their first goal under new owner Tom Golisano. Buffalo was blanked 2-0 by the Flyers in their opener.

It's the first of four meetings on the season with the Sabres.  The Isles, who defeated Buffalo twice in overtime last season, won the 2002-03 series six points to four.  The Isles won the final three games last season after dropping the season opener 5-1 and now own a three-game win streak over Buffalo for the first time since 1995-96.

Jason Blake scored two overtime goals for the Isles against Buffalo last season, marking the first time an Islander player has ever scored two overtime goals in one regular season against the same opponent.

The Isles are 4-7-2-1 in 14 all-time visits to the HSBC 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.

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

The Skinny: Isles 4, Pittsburgh 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 60

Isles 4, Pittsburgh 2

Bo Horvat and Anders Lee scored 1:41 apart in the third period as the Isles rallied to beat the Penguins 4-2.  Brock Nelson scored twice, the latter into an empty-net, as the Islanders overcame 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to earn the victory before 18,094 at PPG Paints Arena.  

Jake Guentzel and Jason Zucker had given Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead through 40 minutes; it is the first time Isles have ever trailed consecutive games to the Penguins after 2 periods and won them both.

The Isles improve to 29-24-7 and return home to face Winnipeg on Wednesday at 7pm. With the win, the Isles move into the 1st Wild Card spot; they are one point ahead of Florida; two ahead of Pittsburgh and three ahead of Washington.  

The Scoring:

1st Period

Jake Guentzel (24) Sidney Crosby (43), Rickard Rakell (19) 06:12 NYI 0,PIT 1

2nd Period

Brock Nelson (25) Zach Parise (8) 05:19 NYI 1,PIT 1

Jason Zucker (15) Jeff Petry (16), Kasperi Kapanen (13) 12:26 NYI 1,PIT 2 PPG

3rd Period

Bo Horvat (35) Hudson Fasching (3) 08:34 NYI 2,PIT 2

Anders Lee (22) Matt Martin (10), Bo Horvat (25) 10:15 NYI 3,PIT 2

Brock Nelson (26)EN Zach Parise (9) 19:35 NYI 4,PIT 2

The Skinny    

Brock Nelson now has seven goals in his last six games, and points in 13 of his last 14 games; Nelson's two points gave him 444, passing Billy Harris (443) for 14th all-time… Ilya Sorokin made 44 saves for his 58th career win, tying his net-mate, Semyon Varlamov for 10th in club history; he has beaten the Penguins three times this season, stopping 104 of 111 shots...Sorokin is now 5-0-1 when making at least 43 saves, losing only in a shootout to Colorado following a 0-0 score…The Isles went 0-3 on the power play and are 6-22 on the power play since the All-Star Break, after hitting the break having gone 3-prior 64… The Isles allowed the first goal for the third straight game… The Isles have scored 46 goals in the last nineteen games (7-7-5); 18 of those goals have been scored in the first period…The Isles outscored Pittsburgh and Boston 3-0 this weekend in the third period… The Isles' third period differential improves to +5; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -11 over the last 37 games …Pittsburgh is 0-6-3 in their last nine games against the Metropolitan Division (longest streak in Crosby era) and fall to 18-4-4 when leading after two periods; the eight losses when leading after 40 minutes lead the NHL... Sidney Crosby's assist was his 131st point against the Isles, matching Mario Lemieux for 2nd place all-time behind Jaromir Jagr's 155…Brock Nelson reached the 25-goal mark for the fifth time; he is the 8th player in club history to do so…Zach Parise is 23-25-48 in 60 career games with Pittsburgh… Noah Dobson saw his career-best five-game assist streak (1-6-7) come to an end...The Isles are 12-5-1 in divisional play; of the other Metro teams only Carolina (15-4-1 in division) has a better record in divisional games.  Eight of the Isles' remaining 22 games are against division foes (three vs. Washington and one against the other Metro teams except the Rangers).

First Times in a Long Time

• Arnaud Durandeau is the 6th Islander to make his NHL debut this season.  It's the first time since 2013-14 (9) that at least six players made their NHL debut.   The last time it happened before the trade deadline was in 2008-09, when eight players did so.

• Anders Lee has five goals against the Penguins this season; he is the first Islander to do so since Viktor Kozlov, who had five in 2006-07 (8 GP).  Excluding the 2020-21 56-game season, Lee is the first player since Tomas Hertl (five goals in two games) in 2018-19 to score five goals against Pittsburgh in one season.

Comeback Kids

This was the Isles' 7th third period comeback this season. Only Vegas (9), Tampa Bay (8) and Vancouver (8) have more.

Brock-Even

Brock Nelson now has four seasons with at least 20-plus even-strength goals in the last five years.  Five other familiar names are the only other players to do so: Connor McDavid (5x), Auston Matthews/Brad Marchand/Alex Ovechkin/David Pastrnak (4x each).

Heavy Hitters

Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are now 1-2 all-time in hits:

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,692

2. Matt Martin 3,637

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  29-24-7 for 65 points in 60 games

• 2021-22  26-25-9 for 61 points in 59 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-0-0

• Season: 30-92-122

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 30 goals; they didn't score their 30th  goal last season until game 80 on April 26th.   

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 113 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 13.3% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 13.3%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 423 career goals, good for 9th among actives and 85th all-time. Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 29-24-7 overall; they are 17-10-3 at home and 12-14-4 on the road.

Pittsburgh is 27-20-9 overall; they are 15-8-4 at home and 12-12-5 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 17-13-5 against the East (12-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 5-8-5 vs. Atlantic) and 12-11-2 against the West (4-7-2 vs. Central and 8-4-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 71 games at UBS Arena and recorded 49 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

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

1. David Poile 1,518

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,392

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 19-8-3 when scoring first and are 10-16-4 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles         7-17-8=32

Pittsburgh 19-18-9=46

The Isles are 14-10-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 15-14-5 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 44 saves; he is 19-17-5 on the season and 5-3-0 vs Pittsburgh. 

Tristan Jarry made 28 saves; he is 16-6-5 on the season and 10-3-0 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (6:00); Pittsburgh was 1-4 on the power play (7:48).

The Isles are 13-9-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 16-15-4 when they do not. The Isles are 12-12-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 17-12-5 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 24-6-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 5-18-4 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 12-5-7 in games decided by a single goal including 8-5 in regulation. They are 4-3 in games decided in overtime and are 0-4 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 March 14th in Los Angeles and on March 15th in Anaheim. The Isles are 7-5-0 in the front end and 7-4-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Bo Horvat (22:05);  Pittsburgh: Jeff Petry (24:17)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 22:05 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-11-2), Adam Pelech (5-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-1-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Bo Horvat (2-0-1), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 35, Pittsburgh 21 (62%)

Casey Cizikas won 12 of 17 for the Isles; no Penguin won more than he lost. 

Hit Count

Isles 29 (Alexander Romanov -4)

Pittsburgh 30 (Josh Archibald -5)

Fights 

None. Season total: 14 (Martin-6, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 15 (Sebastian Aho and Zach Parise -3)

Pittsburgh 23 (Brian Dumoulin -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 66, Pittsburgh 77

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 51, Pittsburgh 59

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Scott Mayfield +7

Pittsburgh:  Bryan Rust +8

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 16, Pittsburgh 19

5-on-5: Isles 12, Pittsburgh 12

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Cal Clutterbuck – IR), (Jean-Gabriel Pageau-IR), (Josh Bailey- INJ), (Mathew Barzal-INJ), Parker Wotherspoon

Games Lost: 137

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 142nd  consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 143 games, making it the 19th-longest active streak in the NHL. 

Challenges

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

Opponents: 2 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27, VAN goalie interference 2/9

League reviews: 5 (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), MTL goal (Matheson) 2/11-stood.

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 allowed the opposition to do so once.

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

Vs  Led 4-2, Lost 6-5 vs VAN 2/9

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)

Zach Parise Vs PIT 2/17 (17:17; GW)

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

Overtime Winners

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

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

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

Mathew Barzal vs VEG 1/28 (4:28)

Vs. (3): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

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

Mike Matheson @ MTL 2/11 (4:38)

Shootout Winners

Vs (4):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

Tim Stutzle Vs OTT 2/14

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,047…

6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 744 *** 9. Brock Nelson 736 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 723… 

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 656 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

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

8. Bob Bourne 238 *** 9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 234 *** 11. Brock Nelson 231 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182…

28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29 Mathew Barzal, Benoit Hogue, and Ed Westfall 105

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 394…

13. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 14. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 15. Billy Harris 259 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 257 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 213…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Anders Lee 173

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 576  …

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 444 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 407 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 362

+/-

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

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +71 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54

Defense Goals

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

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Ryan Pulock 41 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 28

Defense Assists

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

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 124…

15. Bryan Berard 100 *** 16. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 17. Johnny Boychuk 96 *** 18. Adam Pelech,  Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95…

24. Adrian Aucoin 80 ***25. Scott Lachance and Noah Dobson 79 *** 27. Scott Mayfield 78

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 165…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey and Adam Pelech 117...20. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 21. Radek Martinek 109 *** 22. Dave Langevin 109 ***23. Noah Dobson 107 *** 24. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 26. Scott Mayfield 102

Wins

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

8. Glenn Healy 66 *** 9. Tommy Salo 62 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov and Ilya Sorokin 58

Shutouts

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 15 *** 5. Tommy Salo 14 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Chris Terry and Ruslan Iskhakov scored first period goals and Jakub Skarek made 30 saves as Bridgeport defeated Lehigh Valley 2-1 to improve to 22-19-7-1 on the season and solidify their hold on the final playoff spot in the Northeast Division.

Andy Andreoff (on recall to the Isles) leads the team with 20 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (33) and points (49). William Dufour has 16 goals and is tied-7th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is 2nd among AHL rookies with 27 assists and is 6th among rookies with 38 points.

Bridgeport begins a six-game homestand on Thursday against Belleville.

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 3 games to 0 (and 6 points to 0). The Isles return to Pittsburgh on March 9th as they look to sweep the season series vs. the Penguins for the first time.

The win snapped an 0-5-0 streak in Pittsburgh, despite the Isles being held scoreless in the first period in Pittsburgh for the 7th straight game.

UP NEXT

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd  –WINNIPEG AT ISLANDERS 7:00pm

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

The Isles return home to face the Winnipeg Jets for the first time this season.  

Last season the Isles swept both games vs. the Jets as Anders Lee had the winning goal in both games.  Lee has 14 goals in 16 career games against the Jets.  Overall, the Isles have won five straight games against Winnipeg.

The teams will meet again in Manitoba on Sunday afternoon to close out their season series.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog www.nyiskinny.com

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

The Skinny: Boston 6, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 59

Boston 6, Isles 2

Trent Frederic scored twice, and three other Bruins had multi-point games as the 

Bruins scored three goals in both the first and second period to defeat the 

Islanders 6-2 before a sellout crowd of 17,850 at TD Garden.  

Kyle Palmieri briefly got the Isles back in the game at 6:46 of the 2nd but Patrice 

Bergeron scored 91 seconds to regain the three-goal lead for Boston.

The Isles fall to 28-24-7 and head to Pittsburgh for a game Monday at 7pm. 

The Isles currently hold the 2nd Wild Card spot and remain one point ahead 

of Washington and Florida; they are tied with Pittsburgh (the first WC), but the 

Penguins have played four fewer games.  All four of those teams lost on Saturday.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Jake DeBrusk (17) Brad Marchand (31), David Pastrnak (36) 02:19 NYI 0,BOS 1 PPG

Nick Foligno (9) Derek Forbort (6), A.J. Greer (5) 09:15 NYI 0,BOS 2

Trent Frederic (12) Charlie McAvoy (31), Nick Foligno (16) 17:19 NYI 0,BOS 3

2nd Period

Kyle Palmieri (9) Anders Lee (19), Noah Dobson (24) 06:46 NYI 1,BOS 3

Patrice Bergeron (20) Jake DeBrusk (15), Charlie McAvoy (32) 08:17 NYI 1,BOS 4

Trent Frederic (13) 11:30 NYI 1,BOS 5

Pavel Zacha (13) Charlie Coyle (18) 18:31 NYI 1,BOS 6

3rd Period

Matt Martin (7) Ryan Pulock (16), Andy Andreoff (1) 13:42  NYI 2, BOS 6

The Skinny    

Brock Nelson saw his career-high twelve game point streak end; it matches John 

Tavares (2012) and Mark Parrish (2001) for the longest Islander point streak in 

the 21st Century …Nelson also had a four-game goal streak end …  Noah Dobson 

has a career-best five-game assist streak (1-6-7) … Officially, the Isles went 0-2 

on the power play and are 6-19 on the power play since the All-Star Break, 

after hitting the break having gone 3-prior 64… The Isles allowed the first goal 

for only the 5th time in the last 17 games … The Isles have scored 42 goals in 

the last eighteen games (6-7-5); 18 of those goals have been scored in the first 

period…The Isles outscored Pittsburgh and Boston 3-0 this weekend in the third 

period… The Isles' third period differential improves to +2; the Isles were +16 

in the third period through 23 games but are -14 over the last 36 games… David 

Pastrnak recorded his 300th assist… Andy Andreoff earned his first assist as an 

Islander; it was Andreoff's 13th career assist but his first since 11/15/2019…

The Bergeron goal was the 8th scored by Boston in 4-on-4 play this season, 

allowing only 1; the Isles have been outscored 5-1 in 4-on-4 play…Anders Lee 

recorded his 7th 40-point season.

The Injury

Mathew Barzal played only 1:32 before leaving with an injury. He did not return.

First Time in a Long Time

The Isles allowed at least 3 goals in both the first and second period for the first 

time since November 1, 2016, against Tampa Bay (at Barclays).

The Streak Ends

For the first time this season, the Isles lost by more than three goals. It is the first

 time in club history that they had gone 58 games into a season without having

 that happen.  Boston and New Jersey are the only remaining teams that have 

not lost any game this season by at least four goals.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  28-24-7 for 63 points in 59 games

• 2021-22  26-24-9 for 61 points in 59 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-2-2

• Season: 30-92-122

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 30 goals; they didn't score their 30th goal 

last season until game 80 on April 26th.   

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 112 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 

13.4% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among 

goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 13.4%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has 423 career goals, good for 9th among actives and 85th all-time. 

Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 28-24-7 overall; they are 17-10-3 at home and 11-14-4 on the road.

Boston is 42-8-5 overall; they are 23-2-3 at home and 19-6-2 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 16-13-5 against the East (11-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 5-8-5 vs. 

Atlantic) and 12-11-2 against the West (4-7-2 vs. Central and 8-4-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 71 games at UBS Arena and recorded 49 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

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

history:

1. David Poile 1,517

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,391

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 19-8-3 when scoring first and are 9-16-4 when allowing the 

opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles       6-12-10=28

Boston  12-6-9=27

The Isles are 14-10-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots 

are even and 14-14-5 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 21 saves; he is 10-7-2 on the season and 12-9-4 vs Boston. 

Linus Ullmark made 26 saves; he is 28-4-1 on the season and 7-5-1 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play (2:04); Boston was 1-2 on the power play (2:43).

The Isles are 13-9-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 15-15-4 when 

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

17-12-5 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 23-6-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout 

winners) and are 5-18-4 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 11-5-7 in games decided by a single goal including 7-5 in regulation. 

They are 4-3 in games decided in overtime and are 0-4 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 March 14th in Los Angeles and on 

March 15th in Anaheim. Including tonight, the Isles are 7-5-0 in the front end 

and 7-4-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Alexander Romanov (20:23);  Boston: Hampus Lindholm (24:35)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 19:28 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-11-2), 

Adam Pelech (5-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-1-2), 

Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), 

Bo Horvat (1-0-1), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 19, Boston 23 (45%)

Casey Cizikas won 7 of 10 for the Isles; David Krejci won 6 of 8 for Boston. 

Hit Count

Isles 35 (Three with 5)

Boston 21 (Connor Clifton -4)

Fights 

None. Season total: 14 (Martin-6, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, 

Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 9 (Two with 2)

Boston 11 (Two with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 52, Boston 50

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 49, Boston 41

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Ryan Pulock +6

Boston:  Two with  +4

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 12, Boston 13

5-on-5: Isles 10, Boston 7

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Cal Clutterbuck – IR), (Jean-Gabriel Pageau-IR), 

(Josh Bailey- INJ), Parker Wotherspoon

Games Lost: 132

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 141st consecutive Islander game; he has played in every 

game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 142 games, 

making it the 19th-longest active streak in the NHL. 

Challenges

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

Opponents: 2 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27, VAN goalie interference 2/9

League reviews: 5 (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), MTL goal (Matheson) 2/11-stood.

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 allowed the opposition to do so once.

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

Vs   Led 4-2, Lost 6-5 vs VAN 2/9

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)

Zach Parise Vs PIT 2/17 (17:17; GW)

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

Overtime Winners

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

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

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

Mathew Barzal vs VEG 1/28 (4:28)

Vs. (3): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

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

Mike Matheson @ MTL 2/11 (4:38)

Shootout Winners

Vs (4):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

Tim Stutzle Vs OTT 2/14

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,047…

6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 743 *** 

9. Brock Nelson 735 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 722… 

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 655 *** 

15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 

18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

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

8. Bob Bourne 238 *** 9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 233 *** 

11. Brock Nelson 229 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 

14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182…

28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29 Mathew Barzal, Benoit Hogue, and Ed Westfall 105

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 394…

13. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 14. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 15. Billy Harris 259 *** 

16. Mathew Barzal 257 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and 

Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 213…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Anders Lee 173

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 576  …

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 442 ***  

16. Anders Lee 406 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369… 

19. Mathew Barzal 362

+/-

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 +70 *** 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. Ryan Pulock 41 *** 

9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 

12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 28

Defense Assists

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

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 124…

15. Bryan Berard 100 *** 16. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 17. Johnny Boychuk 96 *** 

18. Adam Pelech,  Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95…

24. Adrian Aucoin 80 ***25. Scott Lachance and Noah Dobson 79 *** 27. Scott Mayfield 78

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 165…

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

20. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 21. Radek Martinek 109 *** 22. Dave Langevin 109 ***

23. Noah Dobson 107 *** 24. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 26. Scott Mayfield 102

Wins

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

8. Glenn Healy 66 *** 9. Tommy Salo 62 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 58 *** 

11. Evgeni Nabokov and Ilya Sorokin 57

Shutouts

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 15 *** 5. Tommy Salo 14 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and 

Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Dennis Cholowski scored with 56 seconds to play in regulation and Otto Koivula 

scored 1:15 into overtime as Bridgeport rallied from a 4-1 deficit for a 5-4 win 

over Springfield on Saturday night. Bridgeport is now 21-19-7-1 on the season. 

Andy Andreoff (on recall to the Isles) leads the team with 20 goals, while Chris Terry 

continues to lead in assists (33) and points (48). William Dufour has 16 goals and is 

tied-6th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Ishakov is 2nd among AHL rookies with 25 assists.

The Baby Islanders play at 3pm Sunday in Wilkes Barre-Scranton.

Season Series Stats

Boston sweeps the season series, 3 games to 0 (and 6 points to 1).    

After forcing the Bruins to a shootout on December 13th, the Isles were out-scored 10-3 

in the last two games. 

The Isles are 0-4-2 in their last six games in Boston.

UP NEXT

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20th –ISLANDERS AT PITTSBURGH 7:00pm

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

The Isles head to Pittsburgh for their second meeting in four days with the Penguins.   

The Isles have won both of their games against Pittsburgh this season, but they 

were both at UBS Arena.  However, in Pittsburgh, the Isles have lost five straight, all in regulation.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 1982. 

Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. 

Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog www.nyiskinny.com