The Skinny: Isles 1, Arizona 0

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 2

Isles 1, Arizona 0

Mathew Barzal scored the game's only goal on a second period power play and Ilya Sorokin made 14 saves for his 17th career shutout as the Isles improved to 2-0-0 with a 1-0 victory over the Arizona Coyotes before a crowd of 14,456 at UBS Arena.  

It's the first time since 2014-15 that the Isles have opened 2-0-0 and only the seventh time in franchise history that they have done so; it's the first time they have ever done so by winning both games at home. 

The Isles host  New Jersey on Friday to conclude the season-opening homestand. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

None

2nd Period

Mathew Barzal (1) Noah Dobson (1), Kyle Palmieri (1) 03:47 ARI 0,NYI 1 PPG

3rd Period

None

The Skinny    

Mathew Barzal recorded his 106th goal, passing Benoit Hogue and Ed Westfall for 29th in club history…It was Barzal's 17th game-winning goal… Ilya Sorokin now has 17 career shutouts, breaking a tie with Rick DiPietro for 3rd in club history; Sorokin has played 138 Islander games, which is less than half of DiPietro's 318…Sorokin, who has a shutout in an NHL-best 12.9% of his career starts, has earned three career wins vs. Arizona, all by shutout… Matt Martin played in his 900th NHL game (768 with the Isles)…The game was scoreless after one period; the Isles played 22 of those games last season, including 18 at home…Scott Mayfield saw his consecutive game streak end at 83.

First Times in a Long Time

• The Isles held an opponent under 15 shots for the first time since February 8, 2015, when they limited the Sabres to just ten shots on goal in a game in Buffalo.

• The Isles allowed only seven shots through two periods; the last time that happened was on November 10, 2010, in Anaheim.

• The Isles last won a 1-0 shutout on April 18th, 2021 (in Philadelphia); they last did so at home on April 6, 2021 (at the Coliseum vs. Washington)

Home is Where The Sorokin Is

Ilya Sorokin, who went 20-10-3 at UBS Arena with a 1.91 GAA and a 93.6% save percentage last season, is 2-0-0 in the new campaign.  He is only the third goalie in Islander history to win at least 20 games at home in a season (Halak 22 in 2014-15, Smith 20 in 1981-82). Among all active goalies, Sorokin has the best career home marks in both GAA (1.98) and save percentage (93.2%). 

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,764

2. Matt Martin 3,710

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. 

Simon Says "No Penalties"

Simon Holmstrom extended his club record for consecutive games at the start of his tenure with the team before taking a penalty:

Isles Games Played Before Taking First Penalty

• Simon Holmstrom 52 (CURRENT) *

• Billy MacMillian 42

• Brian Marchinko 42 (ENTIRE ISLES CAREER)

• Mike Bossy 39

• Frans Nielsen 39

Marchinko played five games with Toronto before joining the Isles in 1972; he took no penalties in his 47-game career.  Like Holmstrom, both Bossy and Nielsen represent games from the start of their career.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2023-24  2-0-0 for 4 points in 2 games

• 2022-23  1-1-0 for 2 points in 2 games

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-1-1

• Season: 0-3-3

• 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 17 shutouts in 132 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.9% of his starts, which is the highest in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.9%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Home and Road

The Isles are 2-0-0 overall; they are 2-0-0 at home and 0-0-0 on the road.

Arizona is 1-2-0 overall; they are 0-0-0 at home and 1-2-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 1-0-0 against the East (0-0-0 vs. Metropolitan and 1-0-0 vs. Atlantic) and 1-0-0 against the West (1-0-0 vs. Central and 0-0-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 84 games at UBS Arena and recorded 61 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 1,407

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

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

The Shots

Isles    11-14-7=32

Arizona 3-4-7=14

The Isles are 1-0-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 0-0-0 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 14 saves; he is 2-0-0 on the season and 3-2-0 vs. Arizona.   

Karel Vejmelka made 31 saves; he is 1-1-0 on the season and 2-2-0 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-3 on the power play (4:07); Arizona was 0-3 on the power play (6:00).

The Isles are1-0-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 1-0-0 when they do not. The Isles are 0-0-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 2-0-0 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 1-0-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-0-0 when they do not.  Under Lane Lambert the Isles are 36-6-4 when scoring at least three goals.

One-Goal Games

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

Back-to-Backs     

The Isles are 0-0-0 in the front end and 0-0-0 in the back end this season.  The first set of back-to-backs will be on Friday vs. New Jersey and Saturday in Buffalo.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (25:14);  Arizona: Sean Durzi (22:51)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 18:35 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-0)

Face-offs

Isles 33, Arizona 17 (66%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 11 of 14 for the Isles; Logan Cooley won 6 of 9 for Arizona. 

Hit Count

Isles 23 (Jean-Gabriel Pageau - 5)

Arizona 23 (Two with 3)

Fights 

None. Season total: 0

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 14 (Noah Dobson -4)

Arizona 13 (Sean Durzi-3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 64, Arizona 46

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 49, Arizona 35

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Brock Nelson +11

Arizona: Clayton Keller +7

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 11, Arizona 6

5-on-5: Isles 11, Arizona 4

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom. Julien Gauthier, (Scott Mayfield -INJ)

Games Lost: 1

The Ironmen

Anders Lee played in his 114th consecutive Islander game; it Is the longest active streak on the team.  (Ryan Pulock and Brock Nelson are the other current Islanders to appear in every game last season and this season.)

Challenges

Isles: 0 successful, 0 failures

Opponents: 0 successful, 1 failures – BUF no offside  

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute no times this season (no times at home and none on road):

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win no times this season and have not allowed the opposition to do so.

For (0):  

Vs (0):   

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored no goals and have allowed no goals in the final three minutes of the third period 

Shootout Winners

For (0):  

Vs (0):   

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. Matt Martin 768 *** 8.Brock Nelson 760 *** 9. Mike Bossy 752 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 747…

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. Anders Lee 680 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Derek King and Cal Clutterbuck 638

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 242 *** 9. Anders Lee 240 …

28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29 Mathew Barzal 106

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …

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 222…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Anders Lee 176

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 580  …

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 464 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 416 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 363

+/-

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

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +78 ***  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 ** 24. Ryan Pulock +53

Defense Goals

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

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik and Ryan Pulock 43 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 30

Defense Assists

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

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 131…

15. Bryan Berard and Adam Pelech 100 *** 17. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Noah Dobson 92 *** 21. Ken Morrow 88 *** 23. Bert Marshall 87 ***24. Radek Martinek and Scott Mayfield 85

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 173…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Adam Pelech 125 *** 19. Noah Dobson 122 *** 20. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 21. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 22. Scott Mayfield 111

Goalie Games

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

8. *** Glenn Healy 176 *** 9. Ilya Sorokin 138 *** 10. Roland Melanson 136 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 135

Wins

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

7. Roland Melanson 77 *** 8. Ilya Sorokin 72 *** 9. Glenn Healy 66 *** 10. Tommy Salo 62 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 59

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 17 *** 

4.Rick DiPietro 16 *** 5. Tommy Salo 14 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov 13 

On the Farm 

Bridgeport is 1-1-0-0 on the season after splitting a pair of games with Rochester and Syracuse. 

Bridgeport visits Providence on Wednesday before hosting Utica Saturday in their home opener.

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 1 game to  0 (and 2 points to 0).  The series concludes in Arizona on January 4th,

The Isles have won 9 of their last 10 home games against the Coyotes.

UP NEXT

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20TH — NEW JERSEY AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm,

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

The season-opening homestand concludes with the first of four meetings with the Devils.

The Isles took two out of three from New Jersey last season; splitting a pair of games at UBS Arena.  Over the last five seasons the Isles are 16-5-0 against the Devils.

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 3, Buffalo 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 1

Isles 3, Buffalo 2

Casey Cizikas deflected home an Adam Pelech shot with 6:20 to play to break a 2-2 tie and that turned out to be the winner as the Isles opened the 2023-24 season with a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.  

Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri scored first period goals to give the Isles a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes, but Buffalo scored early in both the second and third periods to knot the score, setting the stage for Cizikas' winning tally.

The Isles opened the season by winning their first game on home ice for the first time since January 21, 1995, vs. Florida (3-5-3 all-time).

The Isles host Arizona on Tuesday and New Jersey on Friday to conclude the season-opening homestand. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Brock Nelson (1) Pierre Engvall (1) 05:57 BUF 0,NYI 1

Kyle Palmieri (1) Brock Nelson (1), Ryan Pulock (1) 18:18 BUF 0,NYI 2

2nd Period

Jordan Greenway (1) Casey Mittelstadt (1), Zach Benson (1) 04:15 BUF 1,NYI 2

3rd Period

Casey Mittelstadt (1) Zach Benson (2), Rasmus Dahlin (1) 02:34 BUF 2,NYI 2

Casey Cizikas (1) Adam Pelech (1), Cal Clutterbuck (1) 13:40 BUF 2,NYI 3

The Skinny    

Brock Nelson now has six Opening Night goals, one shy of Mike Bossy's club record.  Nelson now has 242 goals, two ahead of Anders Lee for 8th place on the club's all-time goal list …Bo Horvat had eight shots on goal (one shy of his career high)… Ilya Sorokin played in his 137th Islander game, breaking a tie with Roland Melanson for 9th place in club history…Scott Mayfield played on his 31st birthday; both Julien Gauthier (26) and Brock Nelson (32) will celebrate a birthday on Sunday…Matt Martin played in his 899th NHL game…The shots finished tied, 29-29.  The Isles did not play a single game last season where the shots were even…Casey Cizikas did not score a game-winning goal last season….Adam Pelech's assist on the winning goal was the 100th of his career…. It was the sixth time that the Isles opened their season against the Sabres. The other five were all in Buffalo, with the Isles going 1-3-1, including a tie in 1978...The Isles led 2-0 after one period; they led by two goals after one period only four times last season.

Opening Night Leaders 

Goals:   Bossy 7, Nelson 6

Assists: Trottier 9, Gillies 7, Nelson 6

Points: Trottier 14, Nelson 12

Penalty Minutes: Rich Pilon 39, Ray Schultz 23 (in 1 game!), Duane Sutter 21

First Times in a Long Time

• The Isles won a season-opener on home ice for only the third time, and first time since January 21, 1995.

• The Isles dressed 20 players on Opening Night who all had previous experience with the team for the first time since 1987.

Home is Where The Sorokin Is

Ilya Sorokin, who went 20-10-3 at UBS Arena with a 1.91 GAA and a 93.6% save percentage last season, won his first home game of the new campaign.  He is only the third goalie in Islander history to win at least 20 games at home in a season (Halak 22 in 2014-15, Smith 20 in 1981-82). Among all active goalies, Sorokin has the best career home marks in both GAA (2.01) and save percentage (93.1%). 

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,760

2. Matt Martin 3,708

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  1-0-0 for 2 points in 1 game

• 2022-23  0-1-0 for 0 points in 1 game.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-2-2

• Season: 0-2-2

• 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 16 shutouts in 131 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.2% of his starts, which is the highest in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.2%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Home and Road

The Isles are 1-0-0 overall; they are 1-0-0 at home and 0-0-0 on the road.

Buffalo is 0-2-0 overall; they are 0-1-0 at home and 0-1-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 1-0-0 against the East (0-0-0 vs. Metropolitan and 1-0-0 vs. Atlantic) and 0-0-0 against the West (0-0-0 vs. Central and 0-0-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 83 games at UBS Arena and recorded 61 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 1,406

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 1-0-0 when scoring first and are 0-0-0 when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles    7-10-12=29

Buffalo 7-14-8=29

The Isles are 0-0-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 0-0-0 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 27 saves; he is 1-0-0 on the season and 5-2-2 vs. Buffalo.   

Devon Levi made 26 saves; he is 0-2-0 on the season and 0-1-0 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (4:38); Buffalo was 0-2 on the power play (1:02).

The Isles are 0-0-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 1-0-0 when they do not. The Isles are 0-0-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 1-0-0 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 1-0-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-0-0 when they do not.  Under Lane Lambert the Isles are 36-6-4 when scoring at least three goals.

One-Goal Games

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

Back-to-Backs     

The Isles are 0-0-0 in the front end and 0-0-0 in the back end this season.  The first set of back-to-backs will be on Friday in New Jersey and Saturday in Buffalo.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (22:52);  Buffalo: Owen Power (26:24)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 2034 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (1-0-0)

Face-offs

Isles 39, Buffalo 25 (61%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 10 of 12 for the Isles; Dylan Cozens won 10 of 14 for Buffalo. 

Hit Count

Isles 29 (Matt Martin - 5)

Buffalo 23 (Two with 4)

Fights 

None. Season total: 0

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 14 (Scott Mayfield -4)

Buffalo 16 (Two with 3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 58, Buffalo 53

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 50, Buffalo 49

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Simon Holmstrom +13

Buffalo: Jordan Greenway +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 8, Buffalo 5

5-on-5: Isles 8, Buffalo 5

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom. Julien Gauthier, Samuel Bolduc

Games Lost: 0

The Ironmen

Anders Lee played in his 113th consecutive Islander game; it Is the longest active streak on the team. (Scott Mayfield, Ryan Pulock and Brock Nelson are the other current Islanders to appear in every game last season.)

Challenges

Isles: 0 successful, 0 failures

Opponents: 0 successful, 1 failures – BUF no offside  

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute no times this season (no times at home and none on road):

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win no times this season and have not allowed the opposition to do so.

For (0):  

Vs (0):   

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored no goals and have allowed no goals in the final three minutes of the third period 

Shootout Winners

For (0):  

Vs (0):   

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. Matt Martin 767 *** 8.Brock Nelson 759 *** 9. Mike Bossy 752 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 746…

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. Anders Lee 679 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Cal Clutterbuck 637

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 242 *** 9. Anders Lee 240 …

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 …

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 222…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Anders Lee 176

Points

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

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 580  …

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 464 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 416 *** 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. Adam Pelech +78 ***  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 ** 24. Ryan Pulock +53

Defense Goals

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

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik and Ryan Pulock 43 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 30

Defense Assists

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

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 131…

15. Bryan Berard and Adam Pelech 100 *** 17. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Noah Dobson 91 *** 21. Ken Morrow 88 *** 23. Bert Marshall 87 ***24. Radek Martinek and Scott Mayfield 85

Defense Points

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

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 173…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Adam Pelech 125 *** 19. Noah Dobson 121 *** 20. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 21. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 22. Scott Mayfield 111

Goalie Games

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

8. *** Glenn Healy 176 *** 9. Ilya Sorokin 137 *** 10. Roland Melanson 136 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 135

Wins

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

7. Roland Melanson 77 *** 8. Ilya Sorokin 71 *** 9. Glenn Healy 66 *** 10. Tommy Salo 62 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 59

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro and Ilya Sorokin 16 *** 

5. Tommy Salo 14 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov 13 

On the Farm 

Bridgeport is 1-1-0-0 on the season after splitting a pair of games with Rochester and Syracuse. 

Bridgeport visit Providence on Wednesday.

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series, 1 game to  0 (and 2 points to 0).  The series continues in Buffalo on October 21st.

The Isles have won 12 of their last 13 home games against the Sabres.

UP NEXT

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17th— ARIZONA AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm,

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

The season-opening homestand continues with the only visit of the season from the Coyotes.

Arizona swept the series last season, winning 2-0 at UBS in November and winning 5-4 in Tempe in December.

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 on the Season Opener

"The Skinny" on the Opener

By Eric Hornick

It has been nearly 5 ½ months since the Carolina Hurricanes ended the Islanders' season in a six-game playoff series.  After watching 30 of the other 31 teams start their season between Tuesday and Friday, the Isles finally get their shot on Saturday.

UP FIRST

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14th— BUFFALO AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm,

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

The Islanders begin their 52nd season with a three-game homestand, beginning on Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres. it is the first of three meetings between the teams this season, with two of the three occurring in the next eight days.  The Isles went 1-1-1 against Buffalo last season, including a split of two games in March at UBS Arena; the Sabres' victory on March 25th ended an Islander 11-game home-winning streak against Buffalo. .

Opening Night Skinny Notes

The Isles are 2-5-0 on Opening Night over the last seven years and they are only 5-12-3 in their last 20 Openers. Overall, the Isles are 13-26-11 on Opening Night (11-20-8 on the road and 2-6-3 at home). Only four teams (all Original Six teams) have opened their season on the road more often than the Isles.

It is the sixth time that the Isles will open their season against the Sabres (Buffalo opened their season with a loss at home on Thursday).  The other five were all in Buffalo, with the Isles going 1-3-1, including a tie in 1978.

However, this season's opener is at home, and the Isles will be looking to start the season with a home-ice win on Opening Night for the first time since January 21, 1995. The Isles have opened at home eight times since (six times at the Coliseum, once in Brooklyn and once at UBS Arena), going 0-5-3 in the eight games. The only Islander home ice win in a season opener that occurred in October was in 1980, when the Isles beat Boston 5-2 in their first game as reigning Stanley Cup Champions. Overall, the Isles have gone 29-15-6 in their first home game of season. 

The Isles 13-26-11 (.370) Opening Night record is the second-worst among current teams who have played more than three openers (Seattle is 0-2-1, including their loss on Tuesday). Anaheim has the worst record on opening night of any other team: 10-19-0 (.345).

The Isles have been involved in five shutouts on Opening Night. Chico Resch blanked the Flyers in 1976 and Semyon Varlamov had a clean sheet against the Rangers in January 2021, while the Kings (Stephane Fiset in 1996), Panthers (Jose Theodore in 2011), and Blue Jackets (Sergei Bobrovsky in 2017) turned the trick on the Isles.

The Islander club record for the fastest goal on Opening Night is 1:01, set by Dave Scatchard on October 10, 2002, in Buffalo. The NHL record for the fastest Opening Night goal is 0:10, set by Kent Nilsson of Minnesota (10/11/86 @ Quebec).

No Islander has ever had an opening night hat trick; twelve Isles have scored twice in an Opener, with Brock Nelson (2014) and Anders Lee (January 2021) being the two players on the current roster to have done so.

Schedule Skinny:

Schedule Format

For the third straight season, the Isles will play only 26 games against the Metro this season. The Isles will host Columbus only once (December 7th) and visit Philadelphia only once (April 1st) while facing the other division foes four teams. The Isles will play each of the eight teams in the Atlantic Division three times and will play a home and home series with each Western Conference foe. Boston, Ottawa, Toronto, and Tampa Bay are the four Atlantic Division teams that will visit UBS Arena twice: the Isles will play twice in Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, and Montreal.

Back-to-Backs

The Isles will play only ten sets of back-to-backs including three sets on the and six home/road splits. The Isles will host Winnipeg and New Jersey on March 23-24 in their only home set of back-to-backs. 

Every Day's a Home Game

The Isles will play twelve home games on both Saturday and Tuesday, and five times on Thursday. They will play four times on Wednesday, three times on Sunday and Friday, and twice on Monday.  The Sundat, February 18th home game against the Rangers will be played at Met Life Stadium as part of the Stadium Series; the Isles also played a Stadium Series game against the Blueshirts in 2014 -that game was at Yankee Stadium.

Schedule by Month

October (8), November (14), December (14), January (13), February (10), March (14), April (9). The Isles will complete the regular season at UBS by hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday, April 17th.

The Isles will reach the midway point of their schedule on January 11th, when they host Toronto in game 41.

Schedule Streaks

The Isles will open the season with three home games and will also play nine of their first 13 games at UBS Arena; the Isles don't leave the Eastern Time Zone until they begin a four-game trip in Edmonton on November 13th. That will be the first of four four-game road trips this season. The longest homestand will be six straight home games in early-December.  The Isles will be the home team for four straight games in February, although the fourth is the Stadium Series game in New Jersey. 

The Isles will open the season with 22 of their 41 at home. They will then play 22 of 41 on the road in the second half of the season.

Matinee Isles

The Isles will play seven afternoon games this season, including four at UBS Arena (February 10th vs. Calgary at 1:00, February 24th vs. Tampa Bay at 2:00, March 16th vs Ottawa at 12:30 and March 23rd vs Winnipeg at 1:00). Their other three matinees will all be against the Rangers (February 18th at 3:00 at Met Life , March 17th at 1:00 at MSG, April 13th at 12:30, also at MSG). The  Isles will play one 5:00 home game (March 24th vs. New Jersey), four 7:00 home games, and two 8:00 home games,  with the other 29 home games scheduled for 7:30pm.   

Hello Again, Bye

The Bye Weeks are on the NHL schedule again this season and for each team will either lead into, or lead out of, the All-Star Game. After their game on January 27th, the Isles will not play again until February 5th in Toronto, right after Scotiabank Arena hosts All-Star weekend February 2nd-3rd.

The 2023-24 Islanders:

Coach Lambert

Lane Lambert begins his second season as the Islander head coach after leading the team to a playoff berth in 2022-23.

23-Man Roster

Here is the 23-man active roster, as submitted to the NHL on Monday:

 

FORWARDS (14)

Mathew Barzal

Cal Clutterbuck

Casey Cizikas

Pierre Engvall

Hudson Fasching 

Julien Gauthier

Bo Horvat

Ross Johnston (*)

Anders Lee

Matt Martin

Brock Nelson

Jean-Gabriel Pageau

Kyle Palmieri

Oliver Wahlstrom

DEFENSEMEN (7)

Sebastian Aho

Samuel Bolduc 

Noah Dobson

Scott Mayfield

Adam Pelech

Ryan Pulock

Alexander Romanov

GOALTENDERS (2)

Ilya Sorokin

Semyon Varlamov

 

There are six changes from last season's season opening roster.

Pierre Engvall, Hudson Fasching, Julien Gauthier, Bo Horvat and Samuel Bolduc are newcomers on the Isles roster from last October. Cal Clutterbuck started last season on IR and is active this season.

The newcomers replace Nikita Soshnikov, Robin Salo, Kieffer Bellows, Josh Bailey, Anthony Beauvillier, and Zach Parise.  Of those, only Beauvillier is on an Opening Night NHL roster.

(*) Note that Ross Johnston was on the 23-man roster submitted to the NHL on Monday but was claimed on waivers by Anaheim on Tuesday.  Simon Holmstrom was later recalled to join the active roster.

The twenty-three active players represent four nationalities: American (Fasching, Lee, Mayfield, Nelson, Palmieri,  and Wahlstrom), Canadian (eleven players), Swedish (Holmstrom, Engvall and Aho), Russian (Romanov, Sorokin, and Varlamov).

Old and Young

Cal Clutterbuck (11-18-1987) is now the oldest player on the roster; Semyon Varlamov and Matt Martin are the only other players born in the 1980s. Simon Holmstrom (5-24-2001) is the youngest Islander and the only one born in 2001; Alexander Romanov and Noah Dobson (who are born one day apart), Oliver Wahlstrom and Samuel Bolduc are the only other Isles born in the 2000s.

Of the twenty-three active players, Bo Horvat is "middle-age".  Horvat, who will turn 29 late in the regular season is older than eleven teammates and younger than eleven others. The average Islander is 28.9 years old, making the Isles (as of Thursday) the 8th-oldest team in the NHL. 

Big and Small

Scott Mayfield are Pierre Engvall are the tallest (6' 5") while Anders Lee is the heaviest (227 pounds). Sebastian Aho is both the shortest (5' 10") and the lightest (180 pounds). The average Isle is 6'2" and 207 pounds.

Brock-tober

Brock Nelson has been a fast starter during his NHL career, including on Opening Night. Nelson has five Opening Night goals, which is tied with Billy Harris (5) and Bryan Trottier (5) for second place in club history, behind Mike Bossy (7).

Isles Opening Night Leaders:

Goals:   Bossy 7, Trottier/Harris/Nelson 5

Assists: Trottier 9, Gillies 7, Bourne/Persson/Bailey/Nelson 5

Points: Trottier 14, Bossy 11, Nelson 10

Penalty Minutes: Rich Pilon 39, Ray Schultz 23 (in 1 game!), Duane Sutter 21

Captain, My Captain

Anders Lee will serve as the Isles' captain for the sixth straight season. He joins Denis Potvin as the only player to start six consecutive seasons as Captain. 

Sor-o-kin 

Ilya Sorokin returns for his fourth season. Ilya Sorokin has 16 shutouts in 130 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.4% of his starts, which is the highest in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.3%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

Sorokin went 20-10-3 at UBS Arena last season, with a 1.91 GAA and a 93.6% save percentage; he became only the third goalie in Islander history to win at least 20 games at home in a season (Halak 22 in 2014-15, Smith 20 in 1981-82). Among all active goalies, Sorokin has the best career home marks in both GAA (2.01) and save percentage (93.1%).

Var-ly, Var-ly

Semyon Varlamov was selected in the first round in 2006 (23rd overall) and has the most wins (272) and has played the most games (583) of any goaltender taken in that draft. Varlamov starts the season with more games played than any goaltender drafted since 2006; his 261 wins trail only Frederik Andersen (283) for most wins among the same group.

Win, Win, Win

Lou Lamoriello has won 1,405 games as a General Manager, more than any active General Manager; David Poile (1,533) is the only GM with more career wins. Lou has been a GM for 2,756 games, ranking second behind Poile (3,075).

A Look Back

The Isles finished the 2022-23 regular season with a 42-31-9 record, earning the top wild card seeding in the Eastern Conference.

The Isles went 25-13-3 on UBS ice and 17-18-6 on the road.

Isles Team Leaders

Goals:  Nelson 36, Lee 28, Parise 21 (Horvat had 38 combined)

Assists: Nelson 39, Barzal 37, Dobson 36

Points:  Nelson 75, Barzal 51, Lee 50 (Horvat had 70 combined)

• Nelson led the Isles in goals for the fourth straight season, after Lee did so in the prior three seasons and led the team in assists for the first time.

• Nelson earned the title as the club point leader after sharing it with Barzal the previous season. 

• Dobson had 49 points, giving him 100 points over the last two seasons. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 35-222 on the power play (15.8%- 30th) and 39-219 (82.2% – 9th) on the PK. The Isles scored six shorthanded goals and allowed seven shorties.

The Isles' home penalty kill led the NHL, finishing at 89.5%, as they killed 91-102 on the season.

The Isles were 17-10-4 when they scored at least one power play goal and 25-21-5 when they did not. The Isles were 15-13-3 when they allowed at least one power play goal and 27-17-6 when they did not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles were 35-6-4 when they scored at least three goals (including shootout winners) and were 7-25-5 when they did not .

One-Goal Games

The Isles were 15-6-9 in games decided by a single goal including 9-6 in regulation. They were 5-4 in games decided in overtime and are 1-5 in shootouts. The Isles were 4-8 in games in which an empty net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs

The Isles were 7-7-1 in the front end and 8-5-2 in the back end last season. 

Iron Men 

Five Islanders appeared in every game last season: Zach Parise, Anders Lee, Sott Mayfield, Ryan Pulock and Brock Nelson.  Like his father, Parise never missed a game in his islanders career.

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. Matt Martin 766 *** 8. Brock Nelson 758 *** 9. Mike Bossy 752 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 745…

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. Anders Lee 678 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Cal Clutterbuck 636

Goals    

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

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 241 *** 9. Anders Lee 240 *** 10. Bob Bourne 238  …

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…

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 221…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Anders Lee 176

Points

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

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 462 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 416 *** 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. Adam Pelech +77 ***  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 ** 24. Ryan Pulock +52

Goalie Games

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

8. *** Glenn Healy 176 *** 9. Roland Melanson and Ilya Sorokin 136 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 135

Wins

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

7. Roland Melanson 77 *** 8. Ilya Sorokin 70 *** 9. Glenn Healy 66 *** 10. Tommy Salo 62 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 59

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro and Ilya Sorokin 16 *** 

5. Tommy Salo 14 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov 13 

Same Voices, Same Places

MSG Networks will carry 70 of the Isles' 82 games this season (TNT will carry four games, ABC will air two games, ESPN will carry two games, while ESPN+/Hulu will exclusively stream four games). MSGSN will carry 60 games, while eight others will be on MSGSN2.  All MSG broadcasts will also stream on MSG+.

Brendan Burke and Butch Goring partner for the eighth season; Shannon Hogan hosts Isles telecasts for her tenth season and Thomas Hickey returns for his second year. It is Butch's 14th season in the Isles booth; he has broadcast  more than twice as many Isles games than he played and coached, combined.

On radio, Chris King and Greg Picker team up for the ninth straight season. All games will air on WRHU (88.7FM) and on WRCN (103.9FM), as well as the NHL App and on Satellite Radio. Most games this season will also air on ESPN Radio in New York City (either on 1050AM or 98.7FM).

And Finally…

We begin the 14th consecutive season of The Skinny as I begin my 43rd year on Islander telecasts. The Skinny streak stands at 927 consecutive games, including playoffs. Good weather and health-permitting, the 1,000th consecutive edition of The Skinny will appear after the March 30th game in Tampa Bay.

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: Carolina 2, Isles 1 (OT). Carolina wins series 4-2.

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Eastern Conference Round 1, Game 6

Carolina 2, Isles 1

Carolina Wins Series 4-2

School is out. Paul Stastny scored 6:00 into overtime as the Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the Islanders with a 2-1 victory before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Cal Clutterbuck scored midway through the first period and that goal held up for 40:03 until Sebastian Aho tied it midway through the third period. Carolina out-shot the Isles 19-5 in the third period, after the first two periods titled in the Islanders direction. 

It was the third career overtime goal for Stastny, matching his father's total. While Peter scored all three goals for the Nordiques, Paul has scored for Colorado, Winnipeg and now Carolina.

The Canes advance to Round 2, which they will open at home against either the Devils or Rangers. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Cal Clutterbuck (1) Ryan Pulock (3), Casey Cizikas (2) 09:21 CAR 0,NYI 1

2nd Period

No Goals

3rd Period

Sebastian Aho (4) Brett Pesce (2) 09:24 CAR 1,NYI 1

OT

Paul Stastny (3) Derek Stepan (1) 06:00 CAR 2,NYI 1

The Series 

Game 1: Carolina 2, ISLES 1

Game 2: Carolina 4, ISLES 3 (OT)

Game 3: ISLES 5, Carolina 1

Game 4: Carolina 5, ISLES 2

Game 5: ISLES 3, Carolina 2

Game 6: Carolina 2, ISLES 1 (OT)

The Skinny    

The Isles led 1-0 after the first period for the second straight game, after not leading after 20 minutes in their prior 24 playoff games….Sebastian Aho recorded his 22nd career playoff goal to extend his franchise record; Aho, who had five points on ten Carolina goals in the last three games also holds the record for both assists and points…Carolina outscored the Isles 16-15 in the series… Brock Nelson had six points in the series to lead the Isles; Sebastian Aho led Carolina with seven points…The Carolina Aho was sent to the penalty box for an infraction on the Isles' Aho in the second period….It was the first time in the series that the team who scored first lost the game…Brent Burns played in his 100th career playoff game…The Isles are 18-9 when scoring first in a game they faced elimination…Rod Brind 'Amour was behind the bench for his 54th game, breaking a tie with Paul Maurice for the club record…The Isles did not trail in either of their wins, or during play tonight…It is the third consecutive Islander playoff trip that ended in a one-goal loss, including twice in overtime…The Isles scored only one power play goal in the series, matching the 1986 team, who scored only one power play goal in a three-game sweep by Washington….Road teams are 9-3 in overtime in this year's playoffs.

Sudden Death

It is the fifth time in Islander history that they have been eliminated on an overtime goal:

• 04/29/78 Vs Lanny McDonald     L Tor 00:04:13 

• 04/16/04 @ Martin St. Louis L TB 00:04:07 

• 05/11/13 Vs Brooks Orpik L Pit 00:07:49

• 09/17/20 Vs Anthony Cirelli L TB 00:13:18 (in Edmonton

• 04/28/23 Vs Peter Stastny L Car 00:06:01

Pulock the Playoff Scorer

Ryan Pulock is 5th among Islander defensemen in career playoff goals:

1. Denis Potvin 56 

2. Ken Morrow 11

3. Mike McEwen 9 

        Tomas Jonsson 9

5. Ryan Pulock 8

The four players ahead of him share 14 Stanley Cup rings with the Islanders.

Pulock the Playoff Hitter

In regular season play, Ryan Pulock averages 1.6 hits (703 hits in 428 games). In the playoffs, Pulock has 176 hits in 61 games (2.9 per game), and he holds the Isles career record (real-time era) for playoff hits by a defenseman.

Most Hits by an Isles Defenseman (Playoffs, since 2007)

• Johnny Boychuk  10  4/23/2015 @ WSH

• Ryan Pulock 9 4/17/2023@ CAR 

• Ryan Pulock 8 5/16/2021@ PIT

• Ryan Pulock 8 5/20/2021vs PIT

Whoa Nellie (with Apologies to Chris King)

Brock Nelson is the fifth player in club history to score 25 career playoff goals in 75 games or fewer. The others have 16 Stanley Cups and four retired jerseys:

• Mike Bossy (41 GP), 

• Butch Goring (68 GP) 

• Bryan Trottier (70 GP)

• Brock Nelson (72 GP)

• Denis Potvin (75 GP) 

The Goals (Series)

Isles        2-6-7-0=15

Carolina  3-6-5-2=16

The Shots (Series)

Isles       50-66-54-4=174

Carolina 67-69-67-7=210

Led/Tied/Trailed

Game 1: Led: 0:00, Tied: 4:11, Trailed: 55:49

Game 2: Led: 3:01, Tied:28:12,  Trailed 33:50

Game 3: Led 7:58, Tied 52:02. Trailed 0:00

Game 4: Led: 0:00, Tied: 4:05, Trailed: 55:55

Game 5: Led: 49:33, Tied: 10:27, Trailed: 0:00

Game 6: Led 40:03, Tied 19:58, Trailed 0:00

Series:   Led: 100:35 Tied: 118:55, Trailed: 145:34

Playoffs All-Time

The Isles are 174-145 in 319 all-time playoff games. They are 97-55 at home (88-44 at the Coliseum, 2-5 at Barclays, 5-2 in Toronto, 1-2 in Edmonton and 1-2 at UBS Arena) and 77-90 on the road. In this year's playoffs, the Isles are 1-2 at home and 1-2 on the road.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  0-1-1

• Playoffs 3-9-12

The Islander defense had a point on every goal that they scored in the series, except for the three goals that they scored in Game 5.

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 82 regular season games at UBS Arena and recorded 60 sellouts of 17,255. The Isles have sold out 3 playoff games as well. 

Overtime is (Usually) Our Time

The Isles are 40-24 (.625) all-time in overtime, including 20-14 at home. The Isles are 0-2 in overtime in 2023 and have gone 11-11 in 22 overtime games since 2015. With tonight's loss the Isles fell behind the Canes as the best overtime team in Stanley Cup history: 

• Carolina 29-17 .630 (2-0 this year)

• Isles 40-24 .625 (0-2 this year)

• Carolina 28-17 .622 (1-0 this year)

• Anaheim 24-15 .615

• Colorado 46-34  .575 (0-1 this year)

• Tampa Bay 23-18 .561 (0-2 this year)

The Isles are tied for the best road percentage in Stanley Cup history:

• Isles 20-10 .667  (0-1 this year)

• Tampa Bay 14-7 .667

• Anaheim 15-8 .652

• Colorado 26-15 .634 (0-1 this year)

• Carolina 14-9 .609 (1-0 this year)

Overtime vs. Carolina

The Isles are 0-2 all-time in playoff overtime games vs. Carolina:

4/26/19 Vs Jordan Staal L (0-1) 04:04  (Brooklyn*)

4/19/23 @ Jesper Fast L (3-4)  05:03

4/28/23 Vs Paul Stastny L (1-2)  06:01

*It was the last overtime game and penultimate playoff game at Barclays Center.

Sweet Lou

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

1. Glen Sather 187-137

2. Lou Lamoriello 171-149

Sather (324) is also the only GM with more playoff games than Lamoriello (320).

First Things First

The Isles are 2-1 when scoring first and are 0-3 when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles 11-17-5-1=34

Carolina  8-11-19-3=41

Shots by Game

Game 1:  Isles 26, Carolina 37

Game 2:  Isles 26, Carolina 36

Game 3:  Isles 37, Carolina 31

Game 4: Isles 29, Carolina 29

Game 5: Isles 22, Carolina 36

Game 6: Isles 34, Carolina 41

Series:    Isles 174, Carolina 210

The Isles are 1-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1 when the shots are even and 1-3 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 39 saves; he is 2-4 this year and 6-5 in his playoff career. 

Frederik Andersen made 33 saves; he is 1-0 this year and2 8-23 in his playoff career.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (4:35); Carolina was 0-2 on the power play (2:35). 

Power Plays by Game

• Game 1: Isles 0-4 (8:00, 4 shots), Carolina 2-4 (4:52, 5 shots)

• Game 2: Isles 0-0 (0:00, 0 shots), Carolina 1-6 (9:18, 8 shots)

• Game 3: Isles 1-5 (9:59, 10 shots), Carolina 0-4 (6:02, 3 shots)

• Game 4: Isles 0-3 (5:40, 2 shots),Carolina 2-5 (7:44, 4 shots)

• Game 5: Isles 0-3 (3:38, 0 shots),Carolina 0-4 (5;38, 5 shots)

• Game 6: Isles 0-3 (4:35, 5 shots), Carolina 0-2 (2:35, 1 shot)

• Series: Isles 1-18 (32:02, 21 shots), Carolina 5-25 (36:09, 26 shots)

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

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 2-1 when they score at least three goals and are 0-3 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 1-3 in games decided by a single goal (1-1 in regulation and 0-2 in overtime). The Isles are 0-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (24:44);  Carolina: Brent Burns (26:52) 

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 23:02 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Noah Dobson (0-1), Scott Mayfield (0-1), Adam Pelech (1-1), Ryan Pulock (1-1)

The Face-offs

Isles 38, Carolina 29 (57%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 13 of 22 for the Isles; No Hurricane who took multiple draws won more than he lost.

Face-offs by Game

• Game 1: Isles 35, Carolina 37 (48%)

• Game 2: Isles 30, Carolina 26 (54%) 

• Game 3: Isles 31, Carolina 32 (49%)

• Game 4: Isles 32, Carolina 28 (53%)

• Game 5: Isles 32, Carolina 36 (47%)

• Game 6: Isles 38, Carolina 29 (57%)

• Series  : Isles 198, Carolina 188 (51%)

Hit Count

Isles 21 (Matt Martin and Jean-Gabriel Pageau -3)

Carolina 31 (Sebastian Aho -5)

Hits by Game

• Game 1: Isles 44, Carolina 39

• Game 2: Isles 54. Carolina 28

• Game 3: Isles 43, Carolina 28

• Game 4: Isles 32, Carolina 42

• Game 5: Isles 33, Carolina 27

• Game 6: Isles 21, Carolina 31

• Series   : Isles 227, Carolina 195

Fights 

None. Playoff total: 0

Blocked Shots

Isles 21 (Scott Mayfield -5)

Carolina 22 (Brent Burns -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 72, Carolina 76

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 64, Carolina 73

Corsi Game by Game:

Game 1: (All) Isles 57, Carolina 73; (5-on-5) Isles 42, Carolina 62

Game 2: (All) Isles 58, Carolina 73; (5-on-5) Isles 55, Carolina 53

Game 3; (All) Isles 66, Carolina 55; (5-on-5) Isles 46, Carolina 45

Game 4: (All) Isles 57, Carolina 57; (5-on-5) Isles 46, Carolina 52

Game 5: (All) Isles 41, Carolina 77; (5-on-5) Isles 34, Carolina 58

Game 6: (All) Isles 72, Carolina 76; (5-on-5) Isles 64, Carolina 73

Series: (All) Isles 351, Carolina 411; (5-on-5) Isles 287, Carolina 343

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Mathew Barzal +13

Carolina: Jordan Martinook +16

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 15, Carolina 19

5-on-5: Isles 12, Carolina 19

High-Danger Game by Game:

Game 1: (All) Isles 17, Carolina 13; (5-on-5) Isles 10, Carolina 11

Game 2: (All) Isles 14, Carolina 7; (5-on-5) Isles 14, Carolina 5

Game 3: (All) Isles 20, Carolina 15; (5-on-5) Isles 13, Carolina 11

Game 4: (All) Isles 12, Carolina 13; (5-on-5) Isles 9, Carolina 9

Game 5: (All) Isles 11, Carolina 16; (5-on-5) Isles 10, Carolina 10

Game 6: (All) Isles 15, Carolina 19; (5-on-5) Isles 12, Carolina 19

Series: (All) Isles 89, Carolina 83; (5-on-5) Isles 68, Carolina 65

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), Samuel Bolduc, Parker Wotherspoon, Ross Johnston, Simon Holmstrom, Jakub Skarek

Playoff Games Lost: 8

The Ironman (Playoffs)

Matt Martin played in his 79th consecutive Islander playoff game; he has played in every Islander playoff game since 2013.

Challenges

Isles: 1 successful, 0 failures  -  R1G4 – CAR offside.

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

League reviews: 0  

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute twice during this postseason. They did so seven times in the regular season. 

:44 – Game 3 vs. CAR  (Kyle Palmieri and Matt Martin)

:16 – Game 3 vs. CAR (Scott Mayfield (EN) and Anders Lee)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

There has not been a multi-goal third period comeback in this year's playoffs.

The Isles came from two goals behind after two periods to win four times and allowed the opposition to do so once in the regular season.

 

Last Minute Heroes:

There has not been a tying or winning goal in the final three minutes of the third period in the playoffs,

In the regular season, the Isles scored four goals and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

Overtime Winners

Playoffs:  For 0, Vs. 2   (Jesper Fast R1G2 vs CAR 5:03, Paul Stastny, R1G6 vs CAR 6:01)

Regular Season: For 5, Vs. 4

Active Islander Playoff Leaders: (As NYI)

Games: 

Matt Martin 79

Casey Cizikas 75

Brock Nelson 73

Josh Bailey 71

Cal Clutterbuck 71

Ryan Pulock 61

Scott Mayfield 57

Consecutive Games:

Matt Martin 79 (every game since start of 2013 playoffs)

Brock Nelson 68

Ryan Pulock 57

Mathew Barzal 55

Scott Mayfield 55

Goals:

Brock Nelson 25

Josh Bailey 16

Mathew Barzal 15

Jean-Gabriel Pageau 11

Cal Clutterbuck 11

Anders Lee 9

Kyle Palmieri 9

Ryan Pulock 8

Matt Martin 8

Casey Cizikas 6

Assists:

Josh Bailey 34

Mathew Barzal 25

Brock Nelson 22

Ryan Pulock 16

Jean-Gabriel Pageau 14

Scott Mayfield 12

Adam Pelech 11

Casey Cizikas 11

Noah Dobson 9

Points:

Josh Bailey 50

Brock Nelson 47

Mathew Barzal 40

Jean-Gabriel Pageau 25

Ryan Pulock 24

Cal Clutterbuck 18

Anders Lee 17

Casey Cizikas 17

Penalty Minutes:

Matt Martin 125

Cal Clutterbuck 86

Casey Cizikas 60

Scott Mayfield 47

Anders Lee 42

Mathew Barzal 39

+/-

Scott Mayfield +23

Jean-Gabriel Pageau +18

Kyle Palmieri +9

Adam Pelech +7

PP Goals

Mathew Barzal 4

Ryan Pulock 3

Josh Bailey 3

Anders Lee 3

Brock Nelson 3 

Kyle Palmieri 2

Oliver Wahlstrom 1

SH Goals

Josh Bailey 1

Bo Horvat 1

 

GW Goals

Brock Nelson 7

Mathew Barzal 3

Ryan Pulock 3

Josh Bailey 3

Kyle Palmieri 2

Scott Mayfield 1

Casey Cizikas 1

Matt Martin 1

OT Goals 

Josh Bailey 2

Mathew Barzal 1

Kyle Palmieri 1

Casey Cizikas 1

Goaltending

Ilya Sorokin 6-5, 2.70 GAA, .925 save percentage.

Semyon Varlamov 18-14,  2.30 GAA, .922 save percentage.

(Varlamov's 18 wins is second in club history to Billy Smith's 88. Among goalies who have played at least ten post-season games, Varlamov has the best goals against average while Sorokin has the best save percentage in club history.)

Series Stats

Carolina wins the series, 4 games to 2.

The Isles are 2-8 all-time in playoff games against Carolina, including 1-4 at home. The Isles fall to 31-24 when facing elimination .

UP NEXT

NHL Draft  June 28-29

AND FINALLY...

After missing the playoffs a year ago, the Isles qualified for the post-season and gave the division champion Hurricanes all that they could handle. The season, like most seasons, had its ups and its downs. With everything that went on, one thing was consistent. The Skinny appeared after all 88 regular season and playoff games, making yet another perfect season, at least in attendance. The Skinny streak is 927 consecutive games (including playoffs). With a little luck and good health, we will hit 1,000 games sometime in late March. 

In our beautiful new home, we have a fantastic spot to watch and bring you Islander hockey. It also gives us a chance to say hello to so many fans- thank you so much for your support and for reading and commenting on The Skinny all season long.

Finally, thanks to my very understanding family for their continuous support – I hope I make you as proud as you make me.

Have a great summer!

 

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"

 

By Eric Hornick

 

Eastern Conference Round 1, Game 6

Carolina 2, Isles 1

Carolina Wins Series 4-2

School is out. Paul Stastny scored 6:01 into overtime as the Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the Islanders with a 2-1 victory before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.

 

Cal Clutterbuck scored midway through the first period and that goal held up for 40:03 until Sebastian Aho tied it midway through the third period. Carolina out-shot the Isles 19-5 in the third period, after the first two periods titled in the Islanders direction.

 

It was the third career overtime goal for Stastny, matching his father's total. While Peter scored all three goals for the Nordiques, Paul has scored for Colorado, Winnipeg and now Carolina.

 

The Canes advance to Round 2, which they will open at home against either the Devils or Rangers.

 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Cal Clutterbuck (1) Ryan Pulock (3), Casey Cizikas (2) 09:21 CAR 0,NYI 1

 

2nd Period

No Goals

 

3rd Period

Sebastian Aho (4) Brett Pesce (2) 09:24 CAR 1,NYI 1

 

OT

Paul Stastny (3) Derek Stepan (1) 06:00 CAR 2,NYI 1

 

The Series

Game 1: Carolina 2, ISLES 1

Game 2: Carolina 4, ISLES 3 (OT)

Game 3: ISLES 5, Carolina 1

Game 4: Carolina 5, ISLES 2

Game 5: ISLES 3, Carolina 2

Game 6: Carolina 2, ISLES 1 (OT)

 

The Skinny    

The Isles led 1-0 after the first period for the second straight game, after not leading after 20 minutes in their prior 24 playoff games….Sebastian Aho recorded his 22nd career playoff goal to extend his franchise record; Aho, who had five points on ten Carolina goals in the last three games also holds the record for both assists and points…Carolina outscored the Isles 16-15 in the series… Brock Nelson had six points in the series to lead the Isles; Sebastian Aho led Carolina with seven points…The Carolina Aho was sent to the penalty box for an infraction on the Isles' Aho in the second period….It was the first time in the series that the team who scored first lost the game…Brent Burns played in his 100^th career playoff game…The Isles are 18-9 when scoring first in a game they faced elimination…Rod Brind 'Amour was behind the bench for his 54^th game, breaking a tie with Paul Maurice for the club record…The Isles did not trail in either of their wins, or during play tonight…It is the third consecutive Islander playoff trip that ended in a one-goal loss, including twice in overtime…The Isles scored only one power play goal in the series, matching the 1986 team, who scored only one power play goal in a three-game sweep by Washington….Road teams are 9-3 in overtime in this year's playoffs.

 

Sudden Death

It is the fifth time in Islander history that they have been eliminated on an overtime goal:

·        04/29/78           Vs        Lanny McDonald           L          Tor       00:04:13

·        04/16/04           @         Martin St. Louis             L          TB        00:04:07

·        05/11/13           Vs        Brooks Orpik                L          Pit        00:07:49

·        09/17/20           Vs        Anthony Cirelli              L          TB        00:13:18 (in Edmonton

·        04/28/23           Vs        Peter Stastny                L          Car       00:06:01

 

 

Pulock the Playoff Scorer

Ryan Pulock is 5^th among Islander defensemen in career playoff goals:

1.      Denis Potvin 56

2.      Ken Morrow 11

3.      Mike McEwen 9

Tomas Jonsson 9

5.      Ryan Pulock 8

The four players ahead of him share 14 Stanley Cup rings with the Islanders.

 

Pulock the Playoff Hitter

In regular season play, Ryan Pulock averages 1.6 hits (703 hits in 428 games). In the playoffs, Pulock has 176 hits in 61 games (2.9 per game), and he holds the Isles career record (real-time era) for playoff hits by a defenseman.

 

Most Hits by an Isles Defenseman (Playoffs, since 2007)

·        Johnny Boychuk  10  4/23/2015 @ WSH

·        Ryan Pulock 9 4/17/2023@ CAR

·        Ryan Pulock 8 5/16/2021@ PIT

·        Ryan Pulock 8 5/20/2021vs PIT

 

Whoa Nellie (with Apologies to Chris King)

Brock Nelson is the fifth player in club history to score 25 career playoff goals in 75 games or fewer. The others have 16 Stanley Cups and four retired jerseys:

·        Mike Bossy (41 GP),

·        Butch Goring (68 GP)

·        Bryan Trottier (70 GP)

·        Brock Nelson (72 GP)

·        Denis Potvin (75 GP)

 

The Goals (Series)

Isles        2-6-7-0=15

Carolina  3-6-5-2=16

 

The Shots (Series)

Isles       50-66-54-4=174

Carolina 67-69-67-7=210

 

Led/Tied/Trailed

Game 1: Led: 0:00, Tied: 4:11, Trailed: 55:49

Game 2: Led: 3:01, Tied:28:12,  Trailed 33:50

Game 3: Led 7:58, Tied 52:02. Trailed 0:00

Game 4: Led: 0:00, Tied: 4:05, Trailed: 55:55

Game 5: Led: 49:33, Tied: 10:27, Trailed: 0:00

Game 6: Led 40:03, Tied 19:58, Trailed 0:00

Series:   Led: 100:35 Tied: 118:55, Trailed: 145:34

 

Playoffs All-Time

The Isles are 174-145 in 319 all-time playoff games. They are 97-55 at home (88-44 at the Coliseum, 2-5 at Barclays, 5-2 in Toronto, 1-2 in Edmonton and 1-2 at UBS Arena) and 77-90 on the road. In this year's playoffs, the Isles are 1-2 at home and 1-2 on the road.

 

Offense from Defense

·        Today:  0-1-1

·        Playoffs 3-9-12

 

The Islander defense had a point on every goal that they scored in the series, except for the three goals that they scored in Game 5.

 

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 82 regular season games at UBS Arena and recorded 60 sellouts of 17,255. The Isles have sold out 3 playoff games as well.

 

Overtime is (Usually) Our Time

The Isles are 40-24 (.625) all-time in overtime, including 20-14 at home. The Isles are 0-2 in overtime in 2023 and have gone 11-11 in 22 overtime games since 2015. With tonight's loss the Isles fell behind the Canes as the best overtime team in Stanley Cup history:

·        Carolina 29-17 .630 (2-0 this year)

·        Isles 40-24 .625 (0-2 this year)

·        Carolina 28-17 .622 (1-0 this year)

·        Anaheim 24-15 .615

·        Colorado 46-34  .575 (0-1 this year)

·        Tampa Bay 23-18 .561 (0-2 this year)

 

The Isles are tied for the best road percentage in Stanley Cup history:

·        Isles 20-10 .667  (0-1 this year)

·        Tampa Bay 14-7 .667

·        Anaheim 15-8 .652

·        Colorado 26-15 .634 (0-1 this year)

·        Carolina 14-9 .609 (1-0 this year)

 

Overtime vs. Carolina

The Isles are 0-2 all-time in playoff overtime games vs. Carolina:

4/26/19             Vs        Jordan Staal     L (0-1) 04:04  (Brooklyn*)

4/19/23             @         Jesper Fast      L (3-4)  05:03

4/28/23             Vs        Paul Stastny     L (1-2)  06:01

*It was the last overtime game and penultimate playoff game at Barclays Center.

 

Sweet Lou

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

1.      Glen Sather 187-137

2.      Lou Lamoriello 171-149

 

Sather (324) is also the only GM with more playoff games than Lamoriello (320).

 

First Things First        

The Isles are 2-1 when scoring first and are 0-3 when allowing the opening goal.

 

The Shots

Isles     11-17-5-1=34

Carolina  8-11-19-3=41

 

Shots by Game

Game 1:  Isles 26, Carolina 37

Game 2:  Isles 26, Carolina 36

Game 3:  Isles 37, Carolina 31

Game 4: Isles 29, Carolina 29

Game 5: Isles 22, Carolina 36

Game 6: Isles 34, Carolina 41

Series:    Isles 174, Carolina 210

 

The Isles are 1-0 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1 when the shots are even and 1-3 when they are out-shot.

 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 39 saves; he is 2-4 this year and 6-5 in his playoff career.

Frederik Andersen made 33 saves; he is 1-0 this year and2 8-23 in his playoff career.

 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-3 on the power play (4:35); Carolina was 0-2 on the power play (2:35).

 

Power Plays by Game

·        Game 1: Isles 0-4 (8:00, 4 shots), Carolina 2-4 (4:52, 5 shots)

·        Game 2: Isles 0-0 (0:00, 0 shots), Carolina 1-6 (9:18, 8 shots)

·        Game 3: Isles 1-5 (9:59, 10 shots), Carolina 0-4 (6:02, 3 shots)

·        Game 4: Isles 0-3 (5:40, 2 shots),Carolina 2-5 (7:44, 4 shots)

·        Game 5: Isles 0-3 (3:38, 0 shots),Carolina 0-4 (5;38, 5 shots)

·        Game 6: Isles 0-3 (4:35, 5 shots), Carolina 0-2 (2:35, 1 shot)

·        Series: Isles 1-18 (32:02, 21 shots), Carolina 5-25 (36:09, 26 shots)

 

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

 

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 2-1 when they score at least three goals and are 0-3 when they do not.

 

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 1-3 in games decided by a single goal (1-1 in regulation and 0-2 in overtime). The Isles are 0-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Adam Pelech (24:44);  Carolina: Brent Burns (26:52)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards with 23:02 of ice-time.

 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Noah Dobson (0-1), Scott Mayfield (0-1), Adam Pelech (1-1), Ryan Pulock (1-1)

 

Face-offs

Isles 38, Carolina 29 (57%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 13 of 22 for the Isles; No Hurricane who took multiple draws won more than he lost.

 

Face-offs by Game

·        Game 1: Isles 35, Carolina 37 (48%)

·        Game 2: Isles 30, Carolina 26 (54%)

·        Game 3: Isles 31, Carolina 32 (49%)

·        Game 4: Isles 32, Carolina 28 (53%)

·        Game 5: Isles 32, Carolina 36 (47%)

·        Game 6: Isles 38, Carolina 29 (57%)

·        Series  : Isles 198, Carolina 188 (51%)

 

Hit Count

Isles 21 (Matt Martin and Jean-Gabriel Pageau -3)

Carolina 31 (Sebastian Aho -5)

 

Hits by Game

·        Game 1: Isles 44, Carolina 39

·        Game 2: Isles 54. Carolina 28

·        Game 3: Isles 43, Carolina 28

·        Game 4: Isles 32, Carolina 42

·        Game 5: Isles 33, Carolina 27

·        Game 6: Isles 21, Carolina 31

·        Series   : Isles 227, Carolina 195

 

Fights

None. Playoff total: 0

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 21 (Scott Mayfield -5)

Carolina 22 (Brent Burns -4)

 

For the Analytics Crowd

Corsi: All situations: Isles 72, Carolina 76

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 64, Carolina 73

 

Corsi Game by Game:

Game 1: (All) Isles 57, Carolina 73; (5-on-5) Isles 42, Carolina 62

Game 2: (All) Isles 58, Carolina 73; (5-on-5) Isles 55, Carolina 53

Game 3; (All) Isles 66, Carolina 55; (5-on-5) Isles 46, Carolina 45

Game 4: (All) Isles 57, Carolina 57; (5-on-5) Isles 46, Carolina 52

Game 5: (All) Isles 41, Carolina 77; (5-on-5) Isles 34, Carolina 58

Game 6: (All) Isles 72, Carolina 76; (5-on-5) Isles 64, Carolina 73

Series: (All) Isles 351, Carolina 411; (5-on-5) Isles 287, Carolina 343

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Mathew Barzal +13

Carolina: Jordan Martinook +16

 

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 15, Carolina 19

5-on-5: Isles 12, Carolina 19

 

High-Danger Game by Game:

Game 1: (All) Isles 17, Carolina 13; (5-on-5) Isles 10, Carolina 11

Game 2: (All) Isles 14, Carolina 7; (5-on-5) Isles 14, Carolina 5

Game 3: (All) Isles 20, Carolina 15; (5-on-5) Isles 13, Carolina 11

Game 4: (All) Isles 12, Carolina 13; (5-on-5) Isles 9, Carolina 9

Game 5: (All) Isles 11, Carolina 16; (5-on-5) Isles 10, Carolina 10

Game 6: (All) Isles 15, Carolina 19; (5-on-5) Isles 12, Carolina 19

Series: (All) Isles 89, Carolina 83; (5-on-5) Isles 68, Carolina 65

 

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), Samuel Bolduc, Parker Wotherspoon, Ross Johnston, Simon Holmstrom, Jakub Skarek

Playoff Games Lost: 8

 

The Ironman (Playoffs)

Matt Martin played in his 79^th consecutive Islander playoff game; he has played in every Islander playoff game since 2013.

 

Challenges

Isles: 1 successful, 0 failures  -  R1G4 – CAR offside.

 

Opponents: 0 successful, 0 failures

 

League reviews: 0  

 

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute twice during this postseason. They did so seven times in the regular season.

:44 – Game 3 vs. CAR  (Kyle Palmieri and Matt Martin)

:16 – Game 3 vs. CAR (Scott Mayfield (EN) and Anders Lee)

 

Multi-Goal 3^rd Period Comeback Wins

There has not been a multi-goal third period comeback in this year's playoffs.

The Isles came from two goals behind after two periods to win four times and allowed the opposition to do so once in the regular season.

 

Last Minute Heroes:

There has not been a tying or winning goal in the final three minutes of the third period in the playoffs,

In the regular season, the Isles scored four goals and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime.

 

Overtime Winners

Playoffs:  For 0, Vs. 2   (Jesper Fast R1G2 vs CAR 5:03, Paul Stastny, R1G6 vs CAR 6:01)

Regular Season: For 5, Vs. 4

 

Active Islander Playoff Leaders: (As NYI)

Games:

Matt Martin 79

Casey Cizikas 75

Brock Nelson 73

Josh Bailey 71

Cal Clutterbuck 71

Ryan Pulock 61

Scott Mayfield 57

 

Consecutive Games:

Matt Martin 79 (every game since start of 2013 playoffs)

Brock Nelson 68

Ryan Pulock 57

Mathew Barzal 55

Scott Mayfield 55

 

Goals:

Brock Nelson 25

Josh Bailey 16

Mathew Barzal 15

Jean-Gabriel Pageau 11

Cal Clutterbuck 11

Anders Lee 9

Kyle Palmieri 9

Ryan Pulock 8

Matt Martin 8

Casey Cizikas 6

 

Assists:

Josh Bailey 34

Mathew Barzal 25

Brock Nelson 22

Ryan Pulock 16

Jean-Gabriel Pageau 14

Scott Mayfield 12

Adam Pelech 11

Casey Cizikas 11

Noah Dobson 9

 

Points:

Josh Bailey 50

Brock Nelson 47

Mathew Barzal 40

Jean-Gabriel Pageau 25

Ryan Pulock 24

Cal Clutterbuck 18

Anders Lee 17

Casey Cizikas 17

 

Penalty Minutes:

Matt Martin 125

Cal Clutterbuck 86

Casey Cizikas 60

Scott Mayfield 47

Anders Lee 42

Mathew Barzal 39

 

+/-

Scott Mayfield +23

Jean-Gabriel Pageau +18

Kyle Palmieri +9

Adam Pelech +7

 

PP Goals

Mathew Barzal 4

Ryan Pulock 3

Josh Bailey 3

Anders Lee 3

Brock Nelson 3

Kyle Palmieri 2

Oliver Wahlstrom 1

 

SH Goals

Josh Bailey 1

Bo Horvat 1

 

GW Goals

Brock Nelson 7

Mathew Barzal 3

Ryan Pulock 3

Josh Bailey 3

Kyle Palmieri 2

Scott Mayfield 1

Casey Cizikas 1

Matt Martin 1

 

OT Goals

Josh Bailey 2

Mathew Barzal 1

Kyle Palmieri 1

Casey Cizikas 1

 

Goaltending

Ilya Sorokin 6-5, 2.70 GAA, .925 save percentage.

Semyon Varlamov 18-14,  2.30 GAA, .922 save percentage.

 

(Varlamov's 18 wins is second in club history to Billy Smith's 88. Among goalies who have played at least ten post-season games, Varlamov has the best goals against average while Sorokin has the best save percentage in club history.)

 

Series Stats

Carolina wins the series, 4 games to 2.

 

The Isles are 2-8 all-time in playoff games against Carolina, including 1-4 at home. The Isles fall to 31-24 when facing elimination .

 

UP NEXT

NHL Draft  June 28-29

 

AND FINALLY...

After missing the playoffs a year ago, the Isles qualified for the post-season and gave the division champion Hurricanes all that they could handle. The season, like most seasons, had its ups and its downs. With everything that went on, one thing was consistent. The Skinny appeared after all 88 regular season and playoff games, making yet another perfect season, at least in attendance. The Skinny streak is 927 consecutive games (including playoffs). With a little luck and good health, we will hit 1,000 games sometime in late March. 

 

In our beautiful new home, we have a fantastic spot to watch and bring you Islander hockey. It also gives us a chance to say hello to so many fans- thank you so much for your support and for reading and commenting on The Skinny all season long.

 

Finally, thanks to my very understanding family for their continuous support – I hope I make you as proud as you make me.

 

Have a great summer!

 

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

NYISkinny: Eric Hornick's Blog All the numbers on the New York Islanders from the team's long-time television statistician.