"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 31
Isles 3, Edmonton 1
Anders Lee and Bo Horvat scored second period power play goals and Simon Holmstrom scored a shorty later in the session as the Isles rallied from a 1-0 deficit for a 3-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers before a crowd of 16,523 at UBS Arena. Ilya Sorokin allowed an early goal to Leon Draisaitl but then stopped the next 30 Oilers shots as the Isles improved to 7-1-2 in their last ten games.
The Isles have points in fifteen of their last seventeen games (10-2-5); fourteen of those games have been one-goal games.
The Isles are 15-8-8 on the season and remain in 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division, seven points behind the first place Rangers. The Isles head to Washington on Wednesday in the back-end of another back-to-back.
The Scoring:
1st Period
Leon Draisaitl (13) Warren Foegele (7), Mattias Ekholm (7) 01:23 EDM 1,NYI 0
2nd Period
Anders Lee (8) Kyle Palmieri (10), Mathew Barzal (23) 02:39 EDM 1,NYI 1 PPG
Bo Horvat (13) Brock Nelson (13), Noah Dobson (28) 11:30 EDM 1,NYI 2 PPG
Simon Holmstrom (10) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (11) 14:10 EDM 1,NYI 3 SHG
3rd Period
No Goals
The Skinny
Bo Horvat extended his career-best point streak to eleven games (8-9-17); only Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon (16) has a longer active streak … Brock Nelson earned an assist to extend his point streak to five games (4-4-8)…Noah Dobson had an assist and played 27:16; it is the 13th straight game he has played at least 25 minutes (no Islander has averaged 25 minutes per game since 2013-14)…The Isles' defense now has 23 points in the last eight games.… The Isles have outscored their opponents 27-17 in the first period and 37-36 in the second period but have been outscored 45-32 in the third period and overtime this season … The Isles are now three points ahead of last season's pace (15-8-8 vs. 17-13-1)… The Isles have scored at least three goals in eleven straight and in 167of the last 16 games.…It was only the 3rd time in 31 games that the Isles trailed after one period… The Isles have not lost by more than three goals this season… The Isles scored their eighth shorthanded goal, matching St. Louis and Calgary for the NHL lead (8) …Leon Draisaitl had points on all five goals Edmonton scored against the Isles this season…Matthew Barzal earned his 280th assist, breaking a tie with Pat LaFontaine for 13th place on the club list…Noah Dobson moved into the top 10 in Islander history with his 154th point, breaking a tie with Roman Hamrlik…It was the 100th home game at UBS Arena for the Isles. Simon Holmstrom now leads the NHL in SHG (5) and SH points (6) while Jean-Gabriel Pageau leads in SH assists (5)... Pageau has earned assists on eight of Holmstrom's ten goals, including all five of his shorties…The Isles ended Connor McDavid's assist streak at 11 games and his point streak at 12 games (7-21-28); no Oiler since Gretzky has had a 12-game assist streak….The Isles are 6-0-3 in their last nine home games….Ilya Sorokin has earned a point in 10 straight home games (5-0-5) and is 7-1-6 (2.73, .922) at UBS Arena this season… In Sorokin's nine wins, he has allowed only 19 goals (2.09, .940)…The Isles have scored 23 PP goals this season; they had only 23 at the All-Star Break (52 games) last season…The Isles have scored two power play goals in a game five times this season and are 16-49 (32.7%) since November 14th- best in the NHL…This was also the second time that they scored three special team goals (also had 2 PP goals and 1 SH goal vs San Jose).
The Injury
Julien Gauthier left the game after a :21 shift early in the second period and did not return.
It's an SH SH (Simon Holmstrom Shorthanded) Goal
Only seven players in Isles history have scored more shorthanded goals in a season than Simon Holmstrom, who now has five:
1 Bob Bourne 1980-81 7
Frans Nielsen 2010-11 7
3 Shawn Bates 2002-03 6
Michael Grabner 2010-11 6
Lorne Henning 1976-77 6
Anders Kallur 1980-81 6
Michael Peca 2001-02 6
It's a JG SH Assist
Jean-Gabriel Pageau is the first Isle in 42 years with at least five shorthanded assists in a season:
1 Lorne Henning 1976-77 8
2. Bryan Trottier 1980-81 5
Denis Potvin 1980-81 5
Bryan Trottier 1981-82 5
Billy Carroll 1981-82 5
J-G Pageau 2023-24 5
First Time in a Long Time
The Isles scored shorthanded goals in consecutive games for the first time since November 5, 2019, vs. Ottawa and November 7, 2019, vs. Pittsburgh
.
Dobson played at least 25 minutes for the thirteenth straight game. It is the longest streak of its kind since Adrian Aucoin did so in fifteen straight games from February 10-March 9, 2004.
Woah, Noah!
Noah Dobson is 5-28-33 on the season, remaining tied with Mathew Barzal for the club lead in points. Dobson has seventeen assists in the last eleven games; he is the first Islander to do that since Tom Kurvers did so in 2002.
Dobson is also +12 in this stretch – he is the only Isles defenseman with 17 assists and a +12 rating in an 11-game stretch in franchise history. Three forwards have done so: Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy and Brent Sutter.
Dobson now has 28 assists through 31 games, tying Denis Potvin (1975-76 and 1983-84) for the most by a defenseman through 31 games.
Dobson also has 50 assists this calendar year, tying Jeff Norton (1989). Among Isles defensemen, only Denis Potvin (10x with a high 68 in 1978) and Stefan Persson (61 in 1978) have had more in a calendar year.
Fewest Regulation Losses Thru 31 Games (Post-Cup era)
• 7 (2019-20; 22-7-2)
• 8 (2021; 19-8-4)
• 8 (2023-24; 15-8-8)
• 8 (2001-02; 16-8-5-2)
• 8 (2015-16; 18-8-5)
Overtime Is Our Time
The Isles are 3-5 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-3 in shootouts. In games decided in overtime, Ilya Sorokin is 2-5, while Semyon Varlamov is 1-0; Sorokin is 1-2 in shootouts while Varlamov is 0-1.
The Isles have won 14 of the last 36 games decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).
Killing Their Own PP
The Isles have taken a penalty to interrupt their power play eleven times this season.
Power Play Up; Penalty Killing Down
The Isles have scored 23 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.
The Isles have allowed 26 power play goals; they allowed 39 all last season. Only 11 of those 39 were at home; the Isles have already allowed 14 home power play goals this season.
Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,833
2. Matt Martin 3,734
Martin (7) and Clutterbuck (3) have combined for the 10-biggest hits seasons in Isles history in the Real-Time era, which began in 2005-06.
Last Year vs. This Year
• 2023-24 15-8-8 for 38 points in 31 games
• 2022-23 17-13-1 for 35 points in 31 games
Offense from Defense
• Today: 0-1-1
• Season: 10-52-62
• Last Season (Final) 41-132-173
The Islander defense scored 41 goals last season, which was the most since they scored 42 in 2003-04. The 173 points were their most since 1993-94, when they had 174 points in an 84-game season.
Best of the Best
Ilya Sorokin has 18 shutouts in 150 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.0% of his starts, which is the second-highest in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:
• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%
• Ilya Sorokin 12.0%
• Ken Dryden 11.8%
• Dominik Hasek 11.3%
Lots of Work for Sorokin
Ilya Sorokin has faced 725 shots in his 20 games (an average of 36.3 per game). Only Jordan Binnington has faced more shots (739). No goalie has ever played the full season for the Islanders and led the NHL in this category; Kelly Hrudey did in the season he was traded at the deadline to Los Angeles (1988-89).
Varly, Varly
Semyon Varlamov has 40 career shutouts and 278 career wins. Among active NHL goalies (and excluding Carey Price, who is technically still active), Varlamov is 6th in wins (276) and tied-third in shutouts (40).
All-time Goalie Wins
50. Brian Elliott 279
51. Semyon Varlamov 278
52. Marty Turco 275
Home and Road
The Isles are 15-8-8 overall; they are 9-3-6 at home and 6-5-2 on the road.
Edmonton is 13-15-1 overall; they are 9-6-1 at home and 4-9-0 on the road.
East and West
The Isles are 10-5-5 against the East (5-2-3 vs. Metropolitan and 5-3-2 vs. Atlantic) and 5-3-3 against the West (1-2-0 vs. Central and 4-1-3 vs. Pacific).
Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 100 games at UBS Arena and recorded 68 sellouts of 17,255.
Sweet Lou
Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:
1. David Poile 1,531
2. Lou Lamoriello 1,421
3. Glen Sather 1,319
First Things First
The Isles are 9-2-7 when scoring first and are 6-6-0 when allowing the opening goal. They are 0-0-1 when the game heads to a shootout following a scoreless tie.
The Shots
Isles 9-9-2=20
Edmonton 7-9-15=31
The Isles are 4-2-3 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 10-6-5 when the opposition has more shots.
In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves; he is 9-4-7 on the season and 3-3-0 vs. Edmonton.
Stuart Skinner made 17 saves; he is 11-9-1 on the season and 1-1-0 vs. the Isles.
(Special) Special Teams
The Isles were 2-4 on the power play (6:03); Edmonton was 0-3 on the power play (7:02, including a :58 5-on-3) and allowed a shorthanded goal.
The Isles are 9-4-5 when they score at least one power play goal and 6-4-3 when they do not. The Isles are 5-5-5 when they allow at least one power play goal and 10-3-3 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 13-3-7 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-5-1 when they do not. Under Lane Lambert the Isles are 48-9-11 when scoring at least three goals.
One-Goal Games
The Isles are 10-1-8 in games decided by a single goal including 6-1 in regulation. They are 3-5 in games decided in overtime and are 1-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-2 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.
Back-to-Backs
Including tonight, the Isles are 2-0-3 in the front end and 0-2-2 in the back end this season. This back-to-back set concludes Wednesday in Washington. The next set of back-to-backs will be on January 15th in Minnesota and January 16th in Winnipeg; that is the only back-to-back set in either January or February.
Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Noah Dobson (27:16); Edmonton: Evan Bouchard (27:32)
Mathew Barzal led Islander forwards with a season high 20:33 of ice-time.
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (11-6-5), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-1).
Face-offs
Isles 21, Edmonton 23 (48%)
Brock Nelson won 5 of 7 for the Isles; Derek Ryan won 4 of 5 for Edmonton.
Hit Count
Isles 25 (Cal Clutterbuck -5)
Edmonton 9 (Mattias Ekholm-4)
Fights
None. Season total: 4 (Martin 1, Pelech 1, Lee 1, Mayfield 1)
Blocked Shots
Isles 22 (Three with 3)
Edmonton 8 (Two with 2)
For the Analytics Crowd
Corsi: All situations: Isles 38, Edmonton 83
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 26, Edmonton 60
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: No Isle was a +
Edmonton: Evander Kane +20
High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 9, Edmonton 17
5-on-5: Isles 5, Edmonton 12
Scratches
Matt Martin (IR), Adam Pelech (upper body – LTIR), (Scott Mayfield -IR), (Ryan Pulock-IR), Oliver Wahlstrom, Grant Hutton
Games Lost to injury: 53
The Ironmen
Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 143 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (115) is the only other Islander to have played at least 100 consecutive games:
Challenges
Isles:2 successful, 1 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2), OTT offside (11/24), LA no goalie interference (12/9)
Opponents: 1 successful, 2 failures – BUF no offside (10/21), CAR no high-stick (11/30); ANA goalie interference (12/13)
Quickies
The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute three times this season (twice at home – CBJ 12/7 x2 and once on road-11/24 @OTT) and allowed two in the same span four times (COL 10/25 x2, MIN 11/8, @MTL 12/16)
Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins
The Isles have come from at least two goals behind after two periods to win one time this season and have allowed the opposition to do so four times.
For (1): LA 12/9 (trailed 0-2, won 3-2 in OT)
Vs (4): DET 10/30 (trailed 0-2, won 4-3 in OT); CAR 11/4 (trailed 1-3, won 4-3 in OT) ; @ NJ 11/28 (trailed 2-4, won 5-4 in regulation); SJ 12/5 (trailed 1-4; won 5-3 in OT)
Last Minute Heroes:
The Isles have scored two goals and have allowed four goals in the final three minutes of the third period to tie or go-ahead:
For (2: Bo Horvat 10/20 vs NJ 18:49 (Isles lost in OT); Simon Holmstrom 12/13 vs ANA 18:27 (GWG)
Vs (4): Curtis Lazar 11/28 @ NJ 19:37 (GWG); Sebastian Aho 11/30 @ CAR 19:57 (Isles won in OT); Tomas Hertl vs SJ 18:30 (SJ won in OT); Morgan Rielly 12/11 vs TOR 19:53 (Isles won in OT)
OT Winners
For (3): Mathew Barzal (vs CAR) 11/30, Jean Gabriel Pageau (vs LA) 12/9, Bo Horvat (vs TOR) 12/11
Vs (5): Jack Hughes (NJ) 10/20, Lucas Raymond (DET) 10/30, Sebastian Aho (CAR) 11/4, Quinn Hughes (VAN) 11/15; William Eklund (SJ) 12/5
Shootout Winners
For (1): Oliver Wahlstrom (Vs CGY) 11/18
Vs (3): Kailer Yamamoto (SEA) 11/16, Tyson Foerster (PHI) 11/25, David Pastrnak (BOS) 12/15
All-time Islander Leader Boards:
Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,057…
6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Brock Nelson 789 *** 8. Matt Martin 780 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 776…
11. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 12. Anders Lee 709 *** 13. Brent Sutter 694 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Cal Clutterbuck 667
Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 256 *** 9. Anders Lee 248 …
23. Alexei Yashin and Frans Nielsen 119 *** 25. Steve Thomas, Matt Moulson and Mark Parrish 118 *** 28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29. Mathew Barzal 115 *** 30.Benoit Hogue and Ed Westfall 105 *** 32. Anthony Beauvillier and Casey Cizikas 102
Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …
11. Bob Bourne 304 *** 12. Derek King 288 *** 13. Mathew Barzal 280…
16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Brock Nelson 234…
22. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Anders Lee 179…
34. Steve Thomas 140 *** 35. Mark Streit 139 *** 36. Greg Gilbert 136 *** 37. Ryan Pulock 133
Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
11. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 12. Derek King 499 *** 13. Brock Nelson 490 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 *** 16. Anders Lee 427 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 395…
32. Ray Ferraro 238 *** 33. Travis Green 237 *** 34. Kenny Jonsson and Casey Cizikas 232
+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +83 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 *** 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 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57…
5. Jean Potvin 46 *** 6. Nick Leddy and Ryan Pulock 45 *** 8. Roman Hamrlik 43 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk and Noah Dobson 35
Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…
7. Jeff Norton 166 *** 8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 133 *** 10. Travis Hamonic 120 *** 11. Noah Dobson 119 *** 12. Dave Lewis 117 *** 13. Roman Hamrlik 110 *** 14. Tom Kurvers and Gerry Hart 109 *** 16. Adam Pelech 102…
20. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 22. Scott Mayfield 90
Defense Points
1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…
7. Jeff Norton 188 *** 8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 178… 10. Noah Dobson 154…
15. Johnny Boychuk and Bryan Berard 131 *** 17. Gerry Hart 128 *** 18. Adam Pelech 127…
20. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 21. Scott Mayfield 115
Goalie Games
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 …
8. Glenn Healy 176 *** 9. Ilya Sorokin 156 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 146
Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
6. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 7. Ilya Sorokin 79 *** 8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Glenn Healy 66 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 65
Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 18 ***
4. Rick DiPietro 16 *** 5. Semyon Varlamov 15
On the Farm
Bridgeport is 7-16-1-0 on the season after splitting a pair of games last weekend in Charlotte.
The Baby Isles will visit Hartford on Friday and Springfield next Saturday in their final games before the Christmas break.
Season Series Stats
This was the first season series the Isles completed this season. The teams split the season series 1 game to 1 (and 2 points to 2).
The Isles are 13-1-2 in their last 16 home games against the Oilers, who own only one win on Long Island since 1999 (October 8, 2019).
UP NEXT
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20th —ISLANDERS AT WASHINGTON– 7:30pm ET
[TNT, WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].
The Isles begin a two-game road trip that will take them to the Christmas break as they head to Washington to face the Capitals.
It is the third of four meetings between the teams, with each team holding a road victory. Semyon Varlamov blanked the Caps on November 2nd; the Caps earned a 4-1 win at UBS Arena nine days later. The Isles lost their next game (in Edmonton) but have gone 10-2-5 in the seventeen games since then.
The Isles are 3-1-1 in their last five trips to DC and 4-3-2 in their last nine games with Washington overall.
TNT will nationally televise the game; Brendan Burke, Darren Pang and Tarik El-Bashir will have the call.
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
