The Skinny: Tampa Bay 4, Isles 1

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 74

Tampa Bay 4, Isles 1

Jake Guentzel and Victor Hedman scored 2:32 apart, midway through the second period, as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Isles 4-1, before a crowd of 14,827 at UBS Arena.

Oliver Bjorkstrand and Bo Horvat traded first period goals; Nick Paul cemented matters with an early (16:29) empty-netter. 

The Isles fall to 32-32-10 as they fall to NHL-.500 for the first time since February 25th; the Islanders are now 0-4-2 in their last six games. The Isles host Minnesota on Friday night and Washington on Sunday afternoon to conclude the homestand.

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Oliver Bjorkstrand (20) Darren Raddysh (30), Brayden Point (36) 08:46 TBL 1,NYI 0

Bo Horvat (25) Ryan Pulock (16) 10:57  TBL 1,NYI 1 SHG

2nd Period

Jake Guentzel (38) Nikita Kucherov (77), Brayden Point (37) 08:09 TBL 2,NYI 1

Victor Hedman (14) Nikita Kucherov (78), Jake Guentzel (36) 10:41 TBL 3,NYI 1

3rd Period

Nick Paul (22)EN Anthony Cirelli (27), Erik Cernak (18) 16:29 TBL 4,NYI 1

The Skinny

The Isles are 3-4-3 in the last ten games and 7-7-3 in the last seventeen games …The Isles are 4-2-3 in their last nine home games and 10-4-3 in their last seventeen home games (which started with a 6-0-0 stretch)… The Isles have been outscored 91-79 in the third period and overtime, although they have outscored their opponents 42-34 in those periods over the last 31 games…The Isles were outscored 3-0 at 5-on-5 today….The Isles have scored 146 goals and allowed 141 goals at 5-on-5 but have been outscored 86-55 in all other situations… The Isles went 0-4 on the power play; the Isles have been outscored 22-12 on the power play over the last 43 games… Ilya Sorokin has started nine of the last eleven and 22 of the last 26; he has appeared in 25 of the last 29 games…Sorokin is 7-5-2 in his last fourteen games, and his 27 wins are the second-highest total of his career… The Isles fall to 5-25-2 when trailing after two periods… The Isles allowed the first goal for an NHL-leading 47th time … The Isles scored their eighth shorthanded goal, matching the total that they have allowed; Tampa Bay has allowed twelve shorties this season…The Isles finish 11-12-1 vs. the Atlantic this season…Bo Horvat scored his 2nd shorthanded goal of the season, his 4th as an Islander, and the 15th of his career…Oliver Bjorkstrand's goal gave the Lightning an NHL-leading seven players with at least twenty goals…Nikita Kucherov's two assists gives him a one point lead over Nathan MacKinnon for the Art Ross Trophy (111-110).

Milestone Man

Anders Lee has 287 goals, tying Brent Sutter and Pat LaFontaine for 6th in club history.

The Playoff Chase (through Tuesday)

3rd  Metro  New Jersey 87 points (35 RW) in 76 games (SAT vs. Rangers)

1st  WC     Ottawa 84 points (30 RW) in 74 games (THU vs. Tampa Bay, SAT vs. Florida)

2nd  WC    Montreal 79 points (25 RW) in 74 games (THU vs. Boston, SAT vs. Philadelphia)

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3rd             Columbus 77 points (24 RW) in 73 games (THU vs. Colorado, SAT at Toronto)

4th            Rangers 77 points (32 RW) in 74 games (WED vs. Minnesota, SAT at New Jersey)

5th            Detroit 75 points (26 RW) in 74 games (FRI vs. Tampa Bay)

6th            ISLES 74 points (25 RW) in 74 games (FRI vs. Minnesota)

Maximum Points & Regulation Wins

•   New Jersey 99/41 (3rd Metro)

•   Ottawa 100/38      (WC 1)

•   Montreal 95/33     (WC 2)

     -------------

•   Columbus 95/33       

•   Rangers 93/40

•   Detroit 91/34

•   Isles 90/33

Wednesday's Game

Minnesota at Rangers

Third Periods

Goals:  Isles 74, Opponents 84

Tying Goals: Isles 10, Opponents 16 (in 15 games)

Go Ahead Goals: Isles 13 (in 12 games), Opponents 10

Empty Net Goals: Isles 13, Opponents 22

The Isles have either been ahead or tied after two periods in 42 of their 73 games. In the 31 games that they have trailed through 40 minutes (5-25-2), they have been within one goal at some point in all but eight of them.

Did Somebody Say Comeback?

The Isles have fifteen come-from behind wins this season, including five when they trailed in the third period. The opponents have come-from-behind to win sixteen times this season, including nine times in the third period.

Overtime

The Isles are 5-8 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 2-2 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 5-5 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts, Semyon Varlamov is 0-2 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts, and Marcus Hogberg is 0-1 in overtime and 0-0 in shootouts

Sorokin has 36 OT/SO losses, extending his club record (Rick DiPietro had 28). 

Bo Knows Overtime

Bo Horvat has three overtime goals this season, six as an Islander, and eleven in his NHL career. All six of his overtime goals have come in the last two seasons; John Tavares is the only other Islander with multiple seasons with at least three overtime goals.

Most Overtime Goals, Career (Islanders)

1. John Tavares 11 

2. Brock Nelson 9 

3. Bo Horvat, Kyle Okposo, and Josh Bailey 6

6. Mathew Barzal, Thomas Hickey, and Anthony Beauvillier 5

Most Overtime Goals, Season (Islanders)

1. John Tavares 4 (2014-15)

2. Bo Horvat 3 (2023-24)

    Bo Horvat 3 (2024-25)

    Brock Nelson 3 (2019-20)

    John Tavares 3 (2010-11)

Swede 17

Simon Holmstrom is the first Swedish-born Islander to record 17 goals since the 1981-82 season, when Bobby Nystrom had 22 goals and Anders Kallur had 18 goals. Nystrom (8x) and Kallur (3x) are the only Swedes with more goals in a season than Holmstrom.

Empty Netters 

The Isles have scored 13 empty-net goals and allowed 22.

Building on a Lead

The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 51 times this season:

• Score the next goal: 19 times

• Allowed the next goal: 24 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 8 times 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2024-25  32-32-10 for 74 points in 74 games

• 2023-24  32-27-15 for 79 points in 74 games 

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-1-1

• Season: 29-117-146

• Last Season (Final) 33-137-170

The Islander defense scored only four times in the first 26 games but have 25 goals in the last 48 games

Home and Road

The Isles are 32-32-10 overall; they are 17-15-5 at home and 15-17-5 on the road.

Tampa Bay is 44-25-5 overall; they are 27-8-2 at home and 17-17-3 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 20-20-4 against the East (9-8-3 vs. Metropolitan and 11-12-1 vs. Atlantic) and 12-12-6 against the West (7-5-2 vs. Central and 5-7-4 vs. Pacific).

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 1,476

3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack

Lou Lamoriello (1,476) and Patrick Roy (182) have combined for 1,658 career wins as general manager and coach. That is the highest in the NHL among active combinations by a wide margin.

First Things First

The Isles are 17-5-5 when scoring first and are 15-27-5 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles           10-9-10=29

Tampa Bay 11-6-7=24

The Isles are 16-23-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 15-8-6 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves; he is 27-23-6 this season and 3-7-0 vs. Tampa Bay.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves; he is 36-19-3 this season and 14-4-1 vs the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-4 (5:38, including a 0:13 5-on-3); Tampa Bay was 0-4 (5:51), but allowed a shorthanded goal.

The Isles are 13-5-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 19-27-9 when they do not. The Isles are 14-15-6 when they allow at least one power play goal and 18-17-4 when they do not.

The Isles are 9-5-0 when they outscore the opposition on special teams, 6-16-6 when they are outscored, and 17-11-4 when special team goals are equal.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 29-10-6 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-22-4 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 14-7-10 in games decided by a single goal including 7-7 in regulation. They are 5-8 in games decided in overtime and are 2-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 5-9 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     

The Isles are 6-4-1 on the front end and 4-7-0 on the back end this season. The final back-to-back will be April 12th-13th in Philadelphia and New Jersey.

The Isles are 9-6-1 when the opponent is on the back end, including 2-2-0 when the Isles also played the previous day.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (22:14); Tampa Bay: Victor Hedman (23:10)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards (18:37).

Face-offs

Isles 29, Tampa Bay 23 (56%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 10 of 17 for the Isles; no Lightning won more than he lost. 

Hit Count

Isles 25 (Kyle MacLean-5)

Tampa Bay 14 (Mitchell Chaffee -4)

Fights 

Casey Cizikas fought Yanni Gourde in the third period. Season total: 10 (Mayfield, Wahlstrom, Martin-2, Pageau, Tsyplakov, Gatcomb, Cizikas-2, Lee)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 13 (Casey Cizikas -3)

Tampa Bay 21 (Six with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 61, Tampa Bay 53

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 42, Tampa Bay 31

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Adam Pelech +14

Tampa Bay: Victor Hedman +7

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 14, Tampa Bay 11

5-on-5: Isles 10, Tampa Bay 5

Scratches

(Semyon Varlamov-LTIR), (Mathew Barzal – IR), Matt Martin, Scott Mayfield, Scott Perunovich, Mike Reilly)

Games Lost to injury: 284. (Last season's total: 181)

The Ironmen

Kyle Palmieri is the Islanders' ironman, having played 190 consecutive games. Casey Cizikas (100) and Anders Lee (74) are the only other Isles to have also played every game this season.

National TV Games 

Including tonight, the Isles are 2-4-0 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners, with three games remaining. The next national game will be on TNT on April 6th as the Isles host the Caps; three of the last eight games will be nationally-televised. 

Matinee Isles

The Isles are 1-5-2 in matinee games this season, with three games remaining. The next matinee will be April 6 vs. the Caps. The NHL considers games that start before 5:00 local time to be afternoon contests. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the Isles are 13-17-12 in matinees.

Challenges

Isles: 7 successful, 5 failures  (No offsides -PIT 11/5, No goalie interference – SEA 11/16, Goalie Interference- WAS 11/29, goalie interference – TOR 12/31, no goalie interference – BOS 1/5, offsides-VEG 1/9, goalie interference – OTT 1/14, goalie interference – COL 1/28, goalie interference – PHI 1/30, no goalie interference – PIT 3/18, offside -MTL 3/20, no goalie interference – MTL 3/20)

Opponents: 8 successful, 4 failures (No Goalie Interference -UTA 10/10, Offside-VAN 11/14, Goalie Interference-STL 11/23, Offside -BUF 11/30, No Goalie Interference-CHI 12/15, Goalie Interference – PIT 12/28. Offside 12/31, No goalie interference – NSH 3/1, goalie interference – NYR 3/3, goalie interference x2 – LA 3/11, No goalie interference – CBJ 3/24)

Hockey Opps: 0 favorable, 1 unfavorable (Goalie interference – CBJ 3/24)

Quickies (Two goals in under a minute)

For (3): CHI 12/12, PHI 1/24, FLA 3/16

Vs (3): CHI 12/15, MIN 2/8, CAR 3/30

Quick Responses (One team scoring within a minute of other team)

Isles responses (7): BUF 11/1, CAR 12/7, BOS 1/5, SJ 1/18, MIN 2/8, DAL 2/23, NAS 3/1

Opponent responses (9): UTA 10/10 (2), SEA 11/16, CHI 12/15, TOR 12/31, BOS 1/5, NAS 3/1, LA 3/11, CGY 3/22

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins 

For (3): PIT 11/5 (Trailed 3-1, won 4-3 (SO), FLA 3/16 (Trailed 2-0, won 4-2), PIT 3/18 (Trailed 2-0, won 4-2).

Vs (2):  NJ 11/9 (Led 3-1, Lost 4-3 (OT), WSH 11/29 Led 4-2, Lost 5-4 (SO))

Last Minute Heroes (Tying or go-ahead goals in the final three minutes of the third period):

For (4): Maxim Tsyplakov 10/10 vs. UTA (17:53, GAG but lost in OT); Anders Lee 11/12 @ EDM (17:20-GTG; EDM won in OT); Mathew Barzal 1/11 @ UTA (18:35-GAG), Kyle MacLean 3/22 vs. CGY (17:09, GAG, but lost in OT)

Vs (9): Josh Doan 10/10 vs. UTA (18:06- GTG; UTA won in OT); Cole Caufield 10/19 vs MTL (17:50-GTG; NYI won in SO); Jesper Bratt 10/25 at NJD (18:31-GTG; NYI won in OT); Stefan Noesen 11/9 vs NJ (19:10-GTG; NJD won in OT); Lucas Raymond 11/21 at DET (19:09-GAG); 12/15 Connor Bedard at CHI (19:06-GAG); Bobby McMann 1/2 vs. TOR (17:01- GAG); Nikita Kucherov 2/1 at TB (19:13-GTG; NYI won in OT); Jonathan Huberdeau 3/22 vs. CGY (17:38- GTG; CGY won in OT)

OT Winners

For (5): Bo Horvat 10/25 @ NJD (1:09), Bo Horvat 1/5 @ BOS (3:10), Brock Nelson 1/25 vs CAR (2:03), Tony DeAngelo 2/1 @ TB (0:32), Bo Horvat 3/20 vs MTL (3:37)

Vs (8): Dylan Guenther 10/10 vs. UTA (2:18); Jake Neighbours 10/17 @ STL (2:04); Jack Hughes 11/9 vs NJD (2:35); Leon Draisaitl 11/12 @ EDM (1:52); Jakub Chychrun 11/29 @ WAS (1:20); Nick Suzuki 12/3 @ MTL (2:39); Leon Draisaitl 3/14 vs. EDM (3:52); Nazem Kadri 3/22 vs CGY (3:51)

Shootout Winners

For (2): Noah Dobson 10/19 vs MTL, Bo Horvat 11/5 vs PIT

Vs (2): Andrei Kuzmenko 11/19 @ CGY, Adam Fantilli 3/24 vs CBJ

 

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 ***  3. Josh Bailey 1,057 ***

4. Brock Nelson 901 *** 5. Bobby Nystrom 900 *** 6. Casey Cizikas 889 *** 7. Clark Gillies 872 *** 8. Matt Martin 847 *** 9. Anders Lee 833 …

22. John Tonelli 594 *** 23. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock 553 *** 25. Ken Morrow 550 *** 26. Duane Sutter 547 *** 27. Lorne Henning 543 *** 28. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 29. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 30. Mathew Barzal and Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 32. Kyle Okposo 529 *** 33. Scott Mayfield 527

Goals    

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

5. Brock Nelson 295 *** 6. Pat LaFontaine, Brent Sutter, and Anders Lee 287 …

20. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 21. Mathew Barzal 134…

29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Casey Cizikas 113

Assists

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

7. John Tonelli 338 *** 8. Patrick Flatley and Mathew Barzal 328…

19. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 21. Anders Lee 216…

24. Ed Westfall 181 *** 25. Noah Dobson 178 *** 26. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 27. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 29. Jean Potvin 167 *** 30. Jeff Norton 166 *** 31. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 32. Ryan Pulock 159… 

34. Mariusz Czerkawski 150 *** 35. Casey Cizikas 146

Points

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

12. Bob Bourne 542 *** 13. Anders Lee 502… 

15. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 462…

27. Ed Westfall 286 *** 28. Casey Cizikas 259

+/-

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

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +81 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson +76  *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 ***  19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Ryan Pulock +60 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 23. Patrick Flatley +57 ***  24. Greg Gilbert +54  

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57 ***

4. Ryan Pulock 53 *** 5. Stefan Persson 52 *** 6. Noah Dobson 48…

13. Bryan Berard 31 *** 14. Vladimir Malakhov and Scott Mayfield 27 *** 16. Adam Pelech and four others 26  

Defense Assists

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

4. Nick Leddy 198 *** 5. Noah Dobson 178…

7. Jean Potvin 167 *** 8. Jeff Norton 166 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 159 ***10. Mark Streit 139 *** 11. Adam Pelech 133… 

17. Bryan Berard 100 *** 18. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 19. Johnny Boychuk and Scott Mayfield 96

Defense Points

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

5. Kenny Jonsson 232 *** 6. Noah Dobson 226 *** 7. Jean Potvin 213 *** 8. Ryan Pulock 212…

10. Mark Streit 179 *** 11. Adam Pelech 159…

18. Gerry Hart 128 *** 19. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 20. Scott Mayfield 123

Goalie Games

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 248 … 

8. Jaroslav Halak 177***  9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 173

Wins

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 122 …

7. Jaroslav Halak 88 ***  8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 76

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 21 *** 

4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16

On the Farm   

Bridgeport is 15-42-4-3  heading into their School Day Matinee at 10:30AM Wednesday against Lehigh Valley. 

Brian Pinho has a team-leading (and career-high) 23 goals, three ahead of Liam Foudy. Terry's 43 assists and 62 points both lead the team and are tied-2nd and fourth in the AHL, respectively.

The Baby Isles will host Charlotte on Saturday in game 2 of their five-game homestand.

Season Series Stats

Tampa Bay wins the season series,  2 games to 1 (and 5 points to 2). 

The Isles are 3-10-0 in their last 13 games against the Bolts.

UP NEXT

FRIDAY, APRIL 4th  – MINNESOTA AT ISLES 7:30pm 

[MSGSN (pre-game at 7:00), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]

The Isles host Minnesota on Friday night, as they look to end a seven-game losing streak (0-6-1) against the Wild. 

Minnesota beat the Isles 6-3 in St. Paul on February 8th in the final game before the Four Nations Cup break. The Wild have won all seven straight against the Isles, including all three games at UBS Arena. The last Islander victory came on December 29, 2019, in St. Paul, by a 3-1 score; the last Isles win over the Wild in New York was on February 10, 2019, at Barclays Center; Devon Toews had the winning goal in a 2-1 win.

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 6, Isles 4

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 73

Carolina 6, Isles 4

Seth Jarvis broke a 3-3 tie with a shorthanded goal with 2:31 to play in the middle period and later added the game's final goal as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Islanders, 6-4, before a sellout crowd of 18,700 at Lenovo Center.

Carolina scored twice in a 13 second span to take a 2-0 lead, but by the 1:37 mark of the second period the Isles had gained a 3-2 lead behind Pierre Engvall's first career multi-goal game. After Sebastian Aho tied the game and Jarvis' shorty gave Carolina the lead through 40 minutes, Anders Lee tied the game 4:05 into the third. However, it was for naught as Dimitri Orlov scored the game-winning goal just before the midpoint of the period. 

The Isles fall to 32-31-10 as they are now 0-3-2 in their last five games. The Isles head home to begin a three-game homestand on Tuesday against the Lightning.

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Mark Jankowski (11) Eric Robinson (18), Tyson Jost (3) 04:41 NYI 0,CAR 1

Logan Stankoven (11) Jordan Martinook (21) 04:54 NYI 0,CAR 2

Pierre Engvall (7) Adam Pelech (19) 06:10 NYI 1,CAR 2

Kyle Palmieri (23) Noah Dobson (27), Bo Horvat (26) 11:27 NYI 2,CAR 2 PPG

2nd Period

Pierre Engvall (8) 01:37 NYI 3,CAR 2

Sebastian Aho (28) Shayne Gostisbehere (34), Taylor Hall (21) 08:35 NYI 3,CAR 3 PPG

Seth Jarvis (28) Sebastian Aho (40), Jaccob Slavin (18) 17:29 NYI 3,CAR 4 SHG

3rd Period

Anders Lee (27) Bo Horvat (27), Kyle Palmieri (24) 04:05 NYI 4,CAR 4

Dmitry Orlov (6) Andrei Svechnikov (26), Tyson Jost (4) 09:19 NYI 4,CAR 5

Seth Jarvis (29) Sebastian Aho (41) 17:14 NYI 4,CAR 6

The Skinny

The Isles are 3-3-3 in the last nine games and 7-6-3 in the last sixteen games …The Isles are 4-1-3 in their last eight home games and 10-3-3 in their last sixteen home games (which started with a 6-0-0 stretch)… The Isles have been outscored 90-79 in the third period and overtime, although they have outscored their opponents 42-33 in those periods over the last 30 games…The Isles were outscored 4-3 at 5-on-5 today….The Isles have scored 146 goals and allowed 138 goals at 5-on-5 but have been outscored 85-54 in all other situations… The Isles went 1-5 on the power play as they scored on the power play for the second straight game; the Isles have been outscored 22-12 on the power play over the last 42 games… Ilya Sorokin has started eight of the last ten and 21 of the last 25; he has appeared in 24 of the last 28 games…Sorokin is 7-4-2 in his last thirteen games, and his 27 wins are the second-highest total of his career… The Isles fall to 5-24-2 when trailing after two periods… The Isles went 6-6-3 in March, including 4-1-3 at UBS Arena… Tony DeAngelo's point streak ended at five games… The Isles allowed the first goal for the 46th time, which passes Pittsburgh for the most in the NHL… With today's loss, the Isles are guaranteed to finish with fewer points than last season's 94…Anders Lee matched a career-high with ten shots on goal…The Canes lead the NHL with 29 home wins…Seth Jarvis is 7-6-13 in 17 games since the Four Nations Cup break; his 17 home-ice goals since New Year's Day are the most in the NHL… Mark Jankowski has seven goal in ten games with Carolina….The Canes have sold out 106 consecutive regular season/playoff games...Carolina is 14-0-0 when scoring at least five goals…The two Canes goals :13 apart in the first period were by far the fastest two allowed by the Isles this season.…The Isles allowed their eighth shorthanded goal; this is their most since 2017-18, when they yielded 11.

First Time in A Long Time

The Isles have allowed at least five goals in three straight games for the first time since April 21-24, 2022. 

A First For Pierre

Pierre Engvall scored twice; his prior 63 goals had come in 63 different games, which matched the third-highest total in NHL history before a multi-goal game (Aaron Ekblad-68, Sandy McCarthy -66). Engvall's four goals since the trade deadline are tied with Anders Lee and Bo Horvat for the club lead.

Milestone Men

• Anders Lee recorded his 286th goal, tying Brent Sutter and Pat LaFontaine for 6th in club history.

• Brent Burns played his 1,488th game, passing Wayne Gretzky for 25th place in NHL history; he has played 916 consecutive games (4th all-time).

The Playoff Chase (through Sunday)

3rd  Metro  New Jersey 85 points (35 RW) in 75 games (MON vs Minnesota, SAT vs. Rangers)

1st  WC     Ottawa 84 points (30 RW) in 73 games (TUE vs. Buffalo, THU vs. Tampa Bay, SAT vs. Florida)

2nd  WC    Montreal 77 points (25 RW) in 73 games (TUE vs. Florida, THU vs. Boston, SAT vs. Philadelphia)

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3rd             Rangers 77 points (32 RW) in 74 games (WED vs. Minnesota, SAT at New Jersey)

4th             Columbus 75 points (23 RW) in 72 games (TUE vs Nashville, THU vs. Colorado, SAT at Toronto)

5th            Detroit 74 points (26 RW) in 73 games (TUE at St. Louis, FRI vs. Carolina)

6th            ISLES 74 points (25 RW) in 73 games (TUE vs. Tampa Bay, FRI vs. Minnesota)

Maximum Points & Regulation Wins

•   New Jersey 99/42 (3rd Metro)

•   Ottawa 102/39      (WC 1)

•   Montreal 95/34     (WC 2)

     -------------

•   Columbus 95/33       

•   Rangers 93/40

•   Detroit 92/35

•   Isles 92/34

Monday's Game

Minnesota at New Jersey

Tuesday's Games

Tampa Bay at Isles

Florida at Montreal

Buffalo at Ottawa

Nashville at Columbus

Detroit at St. Louis

Third Periods

Goals:  Isles 74, Opponents 83

Tying Goals: Isles 10, Opponents 16 (in 15 games)

Go Ahead Goals: Isles 13 (in 12 games), Opponents 10

Empty Net Goals: Isles 13, Opponents 21

The Isles have either been ahead or tied after two periods in 42 of their 73 games. In the 31 games that they have trailed through 40 minutes (5-24-2), they have been within one goal at some point in all but seven of them.

Did Somebody Say Comeback?

The Isles have fifteen come-from behind wins this season, including five when they trailed in the third period. The opponents have come-from-behind to win sixteen times this season, including nine times in the third period.

Overtime

The Isles are 5-8 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 2-2 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 5-5 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts, Semyon Varlamov is 0-2 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts, and Marcus Hogberg is 0-1 in overtime and 0-0 in shootouts

Sorokin has 36 OT/SO losses, extending his club record (Rick DiPietro had 28). 

Bo Knows Overtime

Bo Horvat has three overtime goals this season, six as an Islander, and eleven in his NHL career. All six of his overtime goals have come in the last two seasons; John Tavares is the only other Islander with multiple seasons with at least three overtime goals.

Most Overtime Goals, Career (Islanders)

1. John Tavares 11 

2. Brock Nelson 9 

3. Bo Horvat, Kyle Okposo, and Josh Bailey 6

6. Mathew Barzal, Thomas Hickey, and Anthony Beauvillier 5

Most Overtime Goals, Season (Islanders)

1. John Tavares 4 (2014-15)

2. Bo Horvat 3 (2023-24)

    Bo Horvat 3 (2024-25)

    Brock Nelson 3 (2019-20)

    John Tavares 3 (2010-11)

Swede 17

Simon Holmstrom is the first Swedish-born Islander to record 17 goals since the 1981-82 season, when Bobby Nystrom had 22 goals and Anders Kallur had 18 goals. Nystrom (8x) and Kallur (3x) are the only Swedes with more goals in a season than Holmstrom.

Empty Netters 

The Isles have scored 13 empty-net goals and allowed 21.

Building on a Lead

The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 51 times this season:

• Score the next goal: 19 times

• Allowed the next goal: 24 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 8 times 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2024-25  32-31-10 for 74 points in 73 games

• 2023-24  31-27-15 for 77 points in 73 games 

Offense from Defense

• Today:   0-2-2

• Season: 29-116-145

• Last Season (Final) 33-137-170

The Islander defense scored only four times in the first 26 games but have 25 goals in the last 47 games

Home and Road

The Isles are 32-31-10 overall; they are 17-14-5 at home and 15-17-5 on the road.

Carolina is 45-24-4 overall; they are 29-8-1 at home and 16-16-3 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 20-19-4 against the East (9-8-3 vs. Metropolitan and 11-11-1 vs. Atlantic) and 12-12-6 against the West (7-5-2 vs. Central and 5-7-4 vs. Pacific).

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 1,476

3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack

Lou Lamoriello (1,476) and Patrick Roy (182) have combined for 1,658 career wins as general manager and coach. That is the highest in the NHL among active combinations by a wide margin.

First Things First

The Isles are 17-5-5 when scoring first and are 15-26-5 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles      9-9-13=31

Carolina 14-6-10=30

The Isles are 16-22-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 15-8-6 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets

Marcus Hogberg made 24 saves; he is 2-4-1 this season and 0-1-0 vs. Carolina.

Pyotr Kochetkov made 27 saves; he is 26-13-3 this season and 5-2-2 vs the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-5 (8:20) but allowed a shorthanded goal; Carolina was 1-4 (6:59).

The Isles are 13-5-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 19-26-9 when they do not. The Isles are 14-15-6 when they allow at least one power play goal and 18-16-4 when they do not.

The Isles are 9-4-0 when they outscore the opposition on special teams, 6-16-6 when they are outscored, and 17-11-4 when special team goals are equal.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 29-10-6 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-21-4 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 14-7-10 in games decided by a single goal including 7-7 in regulation. They are 5-8 in games decided in overtime and are 2-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 5-9 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     

Including today, the Isles are 6-4-1 on the front end and 4-7-0 on the back end this season. The final back-to-back will be April 12th-13th in Philadelphia and New Jersey.

The Isles are 9-6-1 when the opponent is on the back end, including 2-2-0 when the Isles also played the previous day.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Tony DeAngelo (23:59); Carolina: Jaccob Slavin (22:41)

Kyle Palmieri led Isles forwards (21:41).

Face-offs

Isles 35, Carolina 26 (57%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 12 of 17 for the Isles; Jesperi Kotkaniemi won 6 of 11 for Carolina. 

Hit Count

Isles 23 (Marc Gatcomb -5)

Carolina 8 (Jalen Chatfield -2)

Fights 

None. Season total: 9 (Mayfield, Wahlstrom, Martin-2, Pageau, Tsyplakov, Gatcomb, Cizikas, Lee)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 9 (Jean-Gabriel Pageau -2)

Carolina 11 (Two with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 56, Carolina 57

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 32, Carolina 41

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Adam Pelech +9

Carolina: Jackson Blake +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 16, Carolina 15

5-on-5: Isles 5, Carolina 13

Scratches

(Semyon Varlamov-LTIR), (Mathew Barzal – IR), Matt Martin, Scott Mayfield, Scott Perunovich, Mike Reilly)

Games Lost to injury: 282. (Last season's total: 181)

The Ironmen

Kyle Palmieri is the Islanders' ironman, having played 189 consecutive games. Casey Cizikas (99) and Anders Lee (73) are the only other Isles to have also played every game this season.

National TV Games 

The Isles are 2-3-0 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners, with four games remaining. The next national game will stream April 1st on ESPN+/Hulu as the Isles host the Lightning; four of the last nine games will be nationally-televised. 

Matinee Isles

The Isles are 1-5-2 in matinee games this season, with three games remaining. The next matinee will be April 6 vs. the Caps. The NHL considers games that start before 5:00 local time to be afternoon contests. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the Isles are 13-17-12 in matinees.

Challenges

Isles: 7 successful, 5 failures  (No offsides -PIT 11/5, No goalie interference – SEA 11/16, Goalie Interference- WAS 11/29, goalie interference – TOR 12/31, no goalie interference – BOS 1/5, offsides-VEG 1/9, goalie interference – OTT 1/14, goalie interference – COL 1/28, goalie interference – PHI 1/30, no goalie interference – PIT 3/18, offside -MTL 3/20, no goalie interference – MTL 3/20)

Opponents: 8 successful, 4 failures (No Goalie Interference -UTA 10/10, Offside-VAN 11/14, Goalie Interference-STL 11/23, Offside -BUF 11/30, No Goalie Interference-CHI 12/15, Goalie Interference – PIT 12/28. Offside 12/31, No goalie interference – NSH 3/1, goalie interference – NYR 3/3, goalie interference x2 – LA 3/11, No goalie interference – CBJ 3/24)

Hockey Opps: 0 favorable, 1 unfavorable (Goalie interference – CBJ 3/24)

Quickies (Two goals in under a minute)

For (3): CHI 12/12, PHI 1/24, FLA 3/16

Vs (3): CHI 12/15, MIN 2/8, CAR 3/30

Quick Responses (One team scoring within a minute of other team)

Isles responses (7): BUF 11/1, CAR 12/7, BOS 1/5, SJ 1/18, MIN 2/8, DAL 2/23, NAS 3/1

Opponent responses (9): UTA 10/10 (2), SEA 11/16, CHI 12/15, TOR 12/31, BOS 1/5, NAS 3/1, LA 3/11, CGY 3/22

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins 

For (3): PIT 11/5 (Trailed 3-1, won 4-3 (SO), FLA 3/16 (Trailed 2-0, won 4-2), PIT 3/18 (Trailed 2-0, won 4-2).

Vs (2):  NJ 11/9 (Led 3-1, Lost 4-3 (OT), WSH 11/29 Led 4-2, Lost 5-4 (SO))

Last Minute Heroes (Tying or go-ahead goals in the final three minutes of the third period):

For (4): Maxim Tsyplakov 10/10 vs. UTA (17:53, GAG but lost in OT); Anders Lee 11/12 @ EDM (17:20-GTG; EDM won in OT); Mathew Barzal 1/11 @ UTA (18:35-GAG), Kyle MacLean 3/22 vs. CGY (17:09, GAG, but lost in OT)

Vs (9): Josh Doan 10/10 vs. UTA (18:06- GTG; UTA won in OT); Cole Caufield 10/19 vs MTL (17:50-GTG; NYI won in SO); Jesper Bratt 10/25 at NJD (18:31-GTG; NYI won in OT); Stefan Noesen 11/9 vs NJ (19:10-GTG; NJD won in OT); Lucas Raymond 11/21 at DET (19:09-GAG); 12/15 Connor Bedard at CHI (19:06-GAG); Bobby McMann 1/2 vs. TOR (17:01- GAG); Nikita Kucherov 2/1 at TB (19:13-GTG; NYI won in OT); Jonathan Huberdeau 3/22 vs. CGY (17:38- GTG; CGY won in OT)

OT Winners

For (5): Bo Horvat 10/25 @ NJD (1:09), Bo Horvat 1/5 @ BOS (3:10), Brock Nelson 1/25 vs CAR (2:03), Tony DeAngelo 2/1 @ TB (0:32), Bo Horvat 3/20 vs MTL (3:37)

Vs (8): Dylan Guenther 10/10 vs. UTA (2:18); Jake Neighbours 10/17 @ STL (2:04); Jack Hughes 11/9 vs NJD (2:35); Leon Draisaitl 11/12 @ EDM (1:52); Jakub Chychrun 11/29 @ WAS (1:20); Nick Suzuki 12/3 @ MTL (2:39); Leon Draisaitl 3/14 vs. EDM (3:52); Nazem Kadri 3/22 vs CGY (3:51)

Shootout Winners

For (2): Noah Dobson 10/19 vs MTL, Bo Horvat 11/5 vs PIT

Vs (2): Andrei Kuzmenko 11/19 @ CGY, Adam Fantilli 3/24 vs CBJ

 

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 ***  3. Josh Bailey 1,057 ***

4. Brock Nelson 901 *** 5. Bobby Nystrom 900 *** 6. Casey Cizikas 888 *** 7. Clark Gillies 872 *** 8. Matt Martin 847 *** 9. Anders Lee 832 …

22. John Tonelli 594 *** 23. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock 552 *** 25. Ken Morrow 550 *** 26. Duane Sutter 547 *** 27. Lorne Henning 543 *** 28. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 29. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 30. Mathew Barzal and Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 32. Kyle Okposo 529 *** 33. Scott Mayfield 527

Goals    

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

5. Brock Nelson 295 *** 6. Pat LaFontaine, Brent Sutter, and Anders Lee 287 …

20. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 21. Mathew Barzal 134…

29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Casey Cizikas 113

Assists

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

7. John Tonelli 338 *** 8. Patrick Flatley and Mathew Barzal 328…

19. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 21. Anders Lee 216…

24. Ed Westfall 181 *** 25. Noah Dobson 178 *** 26. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 27. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 29. Jean Potvin 167 *** 30. Jeff Norton 166 *** 31. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 32. Ryan Pulock 158… 

34. Mariusz Czerkawski 150 *** 35. Casey Cizikas 146

Points

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

12. Bob Bourne 542 *** 13. Anders Lee 502… 

15. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 462…

27. Ed Westfall 286 *** 28. Casey Cizikas 259

+/-

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

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +82 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson +76  *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 ***  19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Ryan Pulock +60 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 23. Patrick Flatley +57 ***  24. Greg Gilbert +54  

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57 ***

4. Ryan Pulock 53 *** 5. Stefan Persson 52 *** 6. Noah Dobson 48…

13. Bryan Berard 31 *** 14. Vladimir Malakhov and Scott Mayfield 27 *** 16. Adam Pelech and four others 26  

Defense Assists

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

4. Nick Leddy 198 *** 5. Noah Dobson 178…

7. Jean Potvin 167 *** 8. Jeff Norton 166 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 158 ***10. Mark Streit 139 *** 11. Adam Pelech 133… 

17. Bryan Berard 100 *** 18. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 19. Johnny Boychuk and Scott Mayfield 96

Defense Points

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

5. Kenny Jonsson 232 *** 6. Noah Dobson 226 *** 7. Jean Potvin 213 *** 8. Ryan Pulock 211…

10. Mark Streit 179 *** 11. Adam Pelech 159…

18. Gerry Hart 128 *** 19. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 20. Scott Mayfield 123

Goalie Games

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 247 … 

8. Jaroslav Halak 177***  9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 173

Wins

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 122 …

7. Jaroslav Halak 88 ***  8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 76

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 21 *** 

4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16

On the Farm   

Bridgeport rallied from 3-0 and 4-1 deficits to improve to 15-42-4-3 with a 5-4 win on Sunday in Toronto. Liam Foudy had two goals and an assist, while Chris Terry added three helpers.

Brian Pinho has a team-leading (and career-high) 23 goals, three ahead of Liam Foudy. Terry's 43 assists and 62 points both lead the team and are tied-2nd and fourth in the AHL, respectively.

The Baby Isles head home for a School Day Matinee on Wednesday against Lehigh Valley. 

Season Series Stats

The season series finishes tied, 2 game to 2 (Carolina earned 5 points to the Isles' 4). 

The Isles are 4-3-1 in the last two regular seasons against the Canes.

UP NEXT

TUESDAY, APRIL 1st – TAMPA BAY AT ISLES 7:30pm 

[ESPN+/Hulu/Disney+, WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]

The Isles return home to open April with a nationally-streamed game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

It is the final meeting of the teams this season, with the teams splitting a pair of games in Tampa Bay; Tony DeAngelo's overtime goal made the Isles winners in early February, but the Bolts built a 4-0 lead and held on for a 5-3 win over the Isles on Saturday night at Amalie Arena. 

The Isles are 3-9-0 in their last 12 games against the Bolts.

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: Tampa Bay 5, Isles 3

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 72

Tampa Bay 5, Isles 3

Nikita Kucherov scored a goal and added three assists while Brayden Point had a pair of goals as the Tampa Bay Lightning held off the Islanders, 4-3, before a sellout crowd of 19,092 at Amalie Arena.

Tampa scored twice on their first three shots and led 3-0 after one period; Brayden Point's second goal with 17 seconds to play in the second seemingly put the game out of reach. But the Isles rallied for three goals in a 2:49 span of the third, capped by Tony DeAngelo extending his point streak to five games to get the Isles into the game, before a Jake Guentzel empty-netter cemented matters in the final seconds. 

The Isles fall to 32-30-10 as they are now 0-2-2 in their last four games. The Isles head to Carolina at 5:00pm on Sunday to wrap up the back-to-back set. 

The Scoring:  

1st Period

Nikita Kucherov (33) Victor Hedman (45), Jake Guentzel (35) 02:02 NYI 0,TBL 1

Nick Perbix (5) 07:31 NYI 0,TBL 2

Brayden Point (37) Ryan McDonagh (25), Nikita Kucherov (74) 17:57 NYI 0,TBL 3

2nd Period

Brayden Point (38) Nikita Kucherov (75), Brandon Hagel (48) 19:43 NYI 0,TBL 4

3rd Period

Ryan Pulock (5) Anders Lee (23), Adam Boqvist (10) 05:58 NYI 1,TBL 4 PPG

Marc Gatcomb (6) 07:47 NYI 2,TBL 4

Tony DeAngelo (4) Maxim Tsyplakov (23), Adam Pelech (18) 08:47 NYI 3,TBL 4

Jake Guentzel (37)EN Nikita Kucherov (76) 19:46 NYI 3,TBL 5

The Skinny

The Isles are 3-2-3 in the last eight games and 7-5-3 in the last fifteen games …The Isles are 4-1-3 in their last eight home games and 10-3-3 in their last sixteen home games (which started with a 6-0-0 stretch)… The Isles have been outscored 88-78 in the third period and overtime, although they have outscored their opponents 41-31 in those periods over the last 29 games…The Isles were outscored 3-2 at 5-on-5 today….The Isles have scored 143 goals and allowed 134 goals at 5-on-5 but have been outscored 83-53 in all other situations… The Isles went 1-2 on the power play and are 3-29 over the last ten games; the Isles have been outscored 21-11 on the power play over the last 41 games… Ilya Sorokin has started eight of the last nine and 21 of the last 24; he has appeared in 24 of the last 27 games…Sorokin is 7-4-2 in his last thirteen games, and his 27 wins are the second-highest total of his career… The Isles fall to 5-23-2 when trailing after two periods… The Isles are 6-5-3 in March, including 4-1-3 at UBS Arena… Tony DeAngelo extended his point streak to five games, matching Noah Dobson for the longest by an Islander defenseman this season…Tampa Bay had scored twelve straight goals, (an NHL season-high) and the Isles had allowed eight straight goals, prior to the Isles' three-goal third period; they outscored opponents 18-1 in the first eight periods of their homestand…The Isles are 1-5-2 in matinees this season…Nikita Kucherov has a four-game goal streak, an eight-game point streak, and is now tied for the NHL scoring lead; he has scored six goals in nine games against Ilya Sorokin…The Isles allowed the first goal for the 45th time, tied with Pittsburgh for the most in the NHL. 

First Time in A Long Time

Tony DeAngelo has matched the second-longest point streak of his career; he had five game streaks in November 2019 for the Rangers and January 2022 for the Canes. His career-best eight-game streak was in February 2019 for the Rangers.

0 for 31 (Years)

The last Islander comeback to win a game from four goals down was on March 22, 1994, against the Lightning at the Coliseum.

Milestone Men

Anders Lee has 286 goals, one behind Brent Sutter and Pat LaFontaine for 6th in club history.

The Playoff Chase (through Saturday)

3rd  Metro  New Jersey 85 points (35 RW) in 75 games (MON vs Minnesota, SAT vs. Rangers)

1st  WC     Ottawa 83 points (30 RW) in 72 games (SUN at Pittsburgh, TUE vs. Buffalo, THU vs. Tampa Bay, SAT vs. Florida)

2nd WC     Rangers 77 points (32 RW) in 74 games (WED vs. Minnesota, SAT at New Jersey)

--------

3rd          Montreal 75 points (24 RW) in 72 games (SUN at Florida, TUE vs. Florida, THU vs. Boston, SAT vs. Philadelphia)

4th          Columbus 75 points (23 RW) in 72 games (TUE vs Nashville, THU vs. Colorado, SAT at Toronto)

5th            ISLES 74 points (25 RW) in 72 games (SUN at Carolina, TUE vs. Tampa Bay, FRI vs. Minnesota)

6th            Detroit 74 points (26 RW) in 73 games (TUE at St. Louis, FRI vs. Carolina)

Maximum Points & Regulation Wins

•   New Jersey 99/42 (3rd Metro)

•   Ottawa 103/40      (WC 1)

•   Montreal 95/34     (WC 2)

     -------------

•   Columbus 95/33       

•   Isles 94/35

•   Rangers 93/40

•   Detroit 92/35

Sunday's Games

Isles at Carolina

Ottawa at Pittsburgh

Montreal at Florida

Monday's Games

Minnesota at New Jersey

Tuesday's Games

Tampa Bay at Isles

Florida at Montreal

Buffalo at Ottawa

Nashville at Columbus

Detroit at St. Louis

Quite the Numbers

Marcus Hogberg has now played 470 minutes for the Isles, allowing 15 goals on 218 shots for a 1.92 GAA and a .931 save percentage. Both the GAA and save percentage are the best in Islander history for any goalie who has played at least six games. He is the 44th goalie to win multiple games for the Isles.

Swede 17

Simon Holmstrom is the first Swedish-born Islander to record 17 goals since the 1981-82 season, when Bobby Nystrom had 22 goals and Anders Kallur had 18 goals. Nystrom (8x) and Kallur (3x) are the only Swedes with more goals in a season than Holmstrom.

Third Periods

Goals:  Isles 73, Opponents 81

Tying Goals: Isles 9, Opponents 16 (in 15 games)

Go Ahead Goals: Isles 13 (in 12 games), Opponents 9

Empty Net Goals: Isles 13, Opponents 21

The Isles have either been ahead or tied after two periods in 42 of their 72 games. In the 30 games that they have trailed through 40 minutes (5-23-2), they have been within one goal at some point in all but seven of them.

Did Somebody Say Comeback?

The Isles have fifteen come-from behind wins this season, including five when they trailed in the third period. The opponents have come-from-behind to win fifteen times this season, including nine times in the third period.

Overtime

The Isles are 5-8 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 2-2 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 5-5 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts, Semyon Varlamov is 0-2 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts, and Marcus Hogberg is 0-1 in overtime and 0-0 in shootouts

Sorokin has 36 OT/SO losses, extending his club record (Rick DiPietro had 28). 

Bo Knows Overtime

Bo Horvat has three overtime goals this season, six as an Islander, and eleven in his NHL career. All six of his overtime goals have come in the last two seasons; John Tavares is the only other Islander with multiple seasons with at least three overtime goals.

Most Overtime Goals, Career (Islanders)

1. John Tavares 11 

2. Brock Nelson 9 

3. Bo Horvat, Kyle Okposo, and Josh Bailey 6

6. Mathew Barzal, Thomas Hickey, and Anthony Beauvillier 5

Most Overtime Goals, Season (Islanders)

1. John Tavares 4 (2014-15)

2. Bo Horvat 3 (2023-24)

    Bo Horvat 3 (2024-25)

    Brock Nelson 3 (2019-20)

    John Tavares 3 (2010-11)

Empty Netters 

The Isles have scored 13 empty-net goals and allowed 21.

Building on a Lead

The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 51 times this season:

• Score the next goal: 19 times

• Allowed the next goal: 24 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 8 times 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2024-25  32-30-10 for 74 points in 72 games

• 2023-24  31-26-15 for 77 points in 72 games 

Offense from Defense

• Today:   2-2-4

• Season: 29-114-143

• Last Season (Final) 33-137-170

The Islander defense scored only four times in the first 26 games but have 25 goals in the last 46 games

Home and Road

The Isles are 32-30-10 overall; they are 17-14-5 at home and 15-16-5 on the road.

Tampa Bay is 43-25-5 overall; they are 27-8-2 at home and 16-17-3 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 20-18-4 against the East (9-7-3 vs. Metropolitan and 11-11-1 vs. Atlantic) and 12-12-6 against the West (7-5-2 vs. Central and 5-7-4 vs. Pacific).

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 1,476

3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack

Lou Lamoriello (1,476) and Patrick Roy (182) have combined for 1,658 career wins as general manager and coach. That is the highest in the NHL among active combinations by a wide margin.

First Things First

The Isles are 17-5-5 when scoring first and are 15-25-5 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles        12-15-11=38

Tampa Bay 7-11-6=24

The Isles are 16-21-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 15-8-6 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 19 saves; he is 27-22-6 this season and 3-6-0 vs. Tampa Bay.

Jonas Johansson made 35 saves; he is 8-5-2 this season and 1-3-0 vs the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 1-2 (3:18); Tampa Bay was 0-0 (0:00).

The Isles are 13-4-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 19-26-9 when they do not. The Isles are 14-14-6 when they allow at least one power play goal and 18-16-4 when they do not.

The Isles are 9-4-0 when they outscore the opposition on special teams, 6-15-6 when they are outscored, and 17-11-4 when special team goals are equal.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 29-9-6 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-21-4 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 14-7-10 in games decided by a single goal including 7-7 in regulation. They are 5-8 in games decided in overtime and are 2-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 5-9 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     

Including today, the Isles are 6-4-1 on the front end and 4-6-0 on the back end this season. This back-to-back concludes in Carolina on Sunday. The final back-to-back will be April 12th-13th in Philadelphia and New Jersey.

The Isles are 9-6-1 when the opponent is on the back end, including 2-2-0 when the Isles also played the previous day.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Tony DeAngelo (23:44); Tampa Bay: Victor Hedman (22:03)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards (19:04).

Face-offs

Isles 35, Tampa Bay 27 (56%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 16 of 21 for the Isles; Luke Glendenning won 11 of 17 for Tampa Bay. 

Hit Count

Isles 30 (Casey Cizikas -6)

Tampa Bay 14 (Gage Goncalves -4)

Fights 

None. Season total: 9 (Mayfield, Wahlstrom, Martin-2, Pageau, Tsyplakov, Gatcomb, Cizikas, Lee)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 12 (Ryan Pulock -4)

Tampa Bay 12 (Two with 2)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 72, Tampa Bay 52

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 57, Tampa Bay 50

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Adam Pelech +20

Tampa Bay: Yanni Gourde +7

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 23, Tampa Bay 8

5-on-5: Isles 16, Tampa Bay 7

Scratches

(Semyon Varlamov-LTIR),  (Mathew Barzal – IR), Matt Martin, Scott Mayfield, Scott Perunovich, Mike Reilly)

Games Lost to injury: 280. (Last season's total: 181)

The Ironmen

Kyle Palmieri is the Islanders' ironman, having played 188 consecutive games. Casey Cizikas (98) and Anders Lee (72) are the only other Isles to have also played every game this season.

National TV Games 

The Isles are 2-3-0 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners, with four games remaining. The next national game will stream April 1st on ESPN+/Hulu as the Isles host the Lightning; four of the last nine games will be nationally-televised. 

Matinee Isles

Including today, the Isles are 1-5-2 in matinee games this season, with three games remaining. The next matinee will be April 6 vs. the Caps. The NHL considers games that start before 5:00 local time to be afternoon contests. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the Isles are 13-17-12 in matinees.

Challenges

Isles: 7 successful, 5 failures  (No offsides -PIT 11/5, No goalie interference – SEA 11/16, Goalie Interference- WAS 11/29, goalie interference – TOR 12/31, no goalie interference – BOS 1/5, offsides-VEG 1/9, goalie interference – OTT 1/14, goalie interference – COL 1/28, goalie interference – PHI 1/30, no goalie interference – PIT 3/18, offside -MTL 3/20, no goalie interference – MTL 3/20)

Opponents: 8 successful, 4 failures (No Goalie Interference -UTA 10/10, Offside-VAN 11/14, Goalie Interference-STL 11/23, Offside -BUF 11/30, No Goalie Interference-CHI 12/15, Goalie Interference – PIT 12/28. Offside 12/31, No goalie interference – NSH 3/1, goalie interference – NYR 3/3, goalie interference x2 – LA 3/11, No goalie interference – CBJ 3/24)

Hockey Opps: 0 favorable, 1 unfavorable (Goalie interference – CBJ 3/24)

Quickies (Two goals in under a minute)

For (3): CHI 12/12, PHI 1/24, FLA 3/16

Vs (2): CHI 12/15, MIN 2/8

Quick Responses (One team scoring within a minute of other team)

Isles responses (7): BUF 11/1, CAR 12/7, BOS 1/5, SJ 1/18, MIN 2/8, DAL 2/23, NAS 3/1

Opponent responses (9): UTA 10/10 (2), SEA 11/16, CHI 12/15, TOR 12/31, BOS 1/5, NAS 3/1, LA 3/11, CGY 3/22

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins 

For (3): PIT 11/5 (Trailed 3-1, won 4-3 (SO), FLA 3/16 (Trailed 2-0, won 4-2), PIT 3/18 (Trailed 2-0, won 4-2).

Vs (2):  NJ 11/9 (Led 3-1, Lost 4-3 (OT), WSH 11/29 Led 4-2, Lost 5-4 (SO))

Last Minute Heroes (Tying or go-ahead goals in the final three minutes of the third period):

For (4): Maxim Tsyplakov 10/10 vs. UTA (17:53, GAG but lost in OT); Anders Lee 11/12 @ EDM (17:20-GTG; EDM won in OT); Mathew Barzal 1/11 @ UTA (18:35-GAG), Kyle MacLean 3/22 vs. CGY (17:09, GAG, but lost in OT)

Vs (9): Josh Doan 10/10 vs. UTA (18:06- GTG; UTA won in OT); Cole Caufield 10/19 vs MTL (17:50-GTG; NYI won in SO); Jesper Bratt 10/25 at NJD (18:31-GTG; NYI won in OT); Stefan Noesen 11/9 vs NJ (19:10-GTG; NJD won in OT); Lucas Raymond 11/21 at DET (19:09-GAG); 12/15 Connor Bedard at CHI (19:06-GAG); Bobby McMann 1/2 vs. TOR (17:01- GAG); Nikita Kucherov 2/1 at TB (19:13-GTG; NYI won in OT); Jonathan Huberdeau 3/22 vs. CGY (17:38- GTG; CGY won in OT)

OT Winners

For (5): Bo Horvat 10/25 @ NJD (1:09), Bo Horvat 1/5 @ BOS (3:10), Brock Nelson 1/25 vs CAR (2:03), Tony DeAngelo 2/1 @ TB (0:32), Bo Horvat 3/20 vs MTL (3:37)

Vs (8): Dylan Guenther 10/10 vs. UTA (2:18); Jake Neighbours 10/17 @ STL (2:04); Jack Hughes 11/9 vs NJD (2:35); Leon Draisaitl 11/12 @ EDM (1:52); Jakub Chychrun 11/29 @ WAS (1:20); Nick Suzuki 12/3 @ MTL (2:39); Leon Draisaitl 3/14 vs. EDM (3:52); Nazem Kadri 3/22 vs CGY (3:51)

Shootout Winners

For (2): Noah Dobson 10/19 vs MTL, Bo Horvat 11/5 vs PIT

Vs (2): Andrei Kuzmenko 11/19 @ CGY, Adam Fantilli 3/24 vs CBJ

 

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 ***  3. Josh Bailey 1,057 ***

4. Brock Nelson 901 *** 5. Bobby Nystrom 900 *** 6. Casey Cizikas 887 *** 7. Clark Gillies 872 *** 8. Matt Martin 848 *** 9. Anders Lee 831 …

23. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock 551 *** 25. Ken Morrow 550 *** 26. Duane Sutter 547 *** 27. Lorne Henning 543 *** 28. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 29. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 30. Mathew Barzal 531 *** 31. Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 32. Kyle Okposo 529 *** 33. Scott Mayfield 527

Goals    

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

5. Brock Nelson 295 *** 6. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287  *** 8. Anders Lee 286 …

20. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 21. Mathew Barzal 134…

29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Casey Cizikas 113

Assists

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

7. John Tonelli 338 *** 8. Patrick Flatley and Mathew Barzal 328…

19. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 21. Anders Lee 216…

24. Ed Westfall 181 *** 25. Noah Dobson 177 *** 26. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 27. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 29. Jean Potvin 167 *** 30. Jeff Norton 166 *** 31. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 32. Ryan Pulock 159… 

34. Mariusz Czerkawski 150 *** 35. Casey Cizikas 146

Points

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

12. Bob Bourne 542 *** 13. Anders Lee 502… 

15. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 462…

27. Ed Westfall 286 *** 28. Casey Cizikas 259

+/-

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

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +80 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson +76  *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 ***  19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Ryan Pulock +61 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 23. Patrick Flatley +57 ***  24. Greg Gilbert +54  

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57 ***

4. Ryan Pulock 53 *** 5. Stefan Persson 52 *** 6. Noah Dobson 48…

13. Bryan Berard 31 *** 14. Vladimir Malakhov and Scott Mayfield 27 *** 16. Adam Pelech and four others 26  

Defense Assists

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

4. Nick Leddy 198 *** 5. Noah Dobson 177…

7. Jean Potvin 167 *** 8. Jeff Norton 166 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 158 ***10. Mark Streit 139 *** 11. Adam Pelech 132… 

17. Bryan Berard 100 *** 18. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 19. Johnny Boychuk and Scott Mayfield 96

Defense Points

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

5. Kenny Jonsson 232 *** 6. Noah Dobson 225 *** 7. Jean Potvin 213 *** 8. Ryan Pulock 211…

10. Mark Streit 179 *** 11. Adam Pelech 158…

18. Gerry Hart 128 *** 19. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 20. Scott Mayfield 123

Goalie Games

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 247 … 

8. Jaroslav Halak 177***  9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 173

Wins

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 122 …

7. Jaroslav Halak 88 ***  8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 76

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 21 *** 

4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16

On the Farm   

Bridgeport fell to 14-42-4-3  with a 6-0 loss on Friday to Rochester.

Brian Pinho has a team-leading (and career-high) 22 goals, three ahead of Chris Terry. Terry's 40 assists and 59 points both lead the team.

The Baby Isles head to Toronto on Sunday.

Season Series Stats

The season series is tied, 1 game to 1 (Tampa Bay had 3 points to the Isles' 2). 

The Isles are 3-9-0 in their last 12 games against the Bolts.

UP NEXT

SUNDAY, MARCH 30th  -- ISLES AT CAROLINA 5:00pm 

[MSGSN (Pre-game at 4:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]

The Isles head to Carolina to wrap up this back-to-back set. 

It is the final meeting of the teams this season, with the home team winning all three games, including the January 25th meeting where Marcus Hogberg battled the Hurricanes through regulation and Ilya Sorokin earned the overtime win in relief on a Brock Nelson overtime goal.

The Isles are 4-2-1 in the last two regular seasons against the Canes.

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 on the Playoff Chase

Columbus rallied again to win in a shootout but the Rangers blew a late lead in Anaheim and the Habs got smooshed in Carolina.

Isles can move at least temporarily into a playoff berth with a win on Saturday afternoon.

The Playoff Chase (through Thursday's Games)

3^rd  Metro  New Jersey 83 points (34 RW) in 74 games  (SAT at Minnesota)

1^st  WC     Ottawa 81 points (29 RW) in 71 games  (SAT vs Columbus)

2^nd  WC    Columbus 75 points (23 RW) in 71 games (SAT at Ottawa)

3rd            Montreal 75 points (24 RW) in 72 games 

4^th            Rangers 75 points (31 RW) in 73 games (SAT at San Jose)

5^th            ISLES 74 points (25 RW) in 71 games (SAT at Vancouver)

6^th            Detroit 72 points (25 RW) in 72 games ( SAT vs. Boston)

 

Maximum Points & Regulation Wins

•   New Jersey 99/42  (3rd Metro)

•   Ottawa 103/40         (WC 1)

•   Columbus 97/34   (WC 2)

     -------------

•   Isles 96/36

•   Montreal 95/34       

•   Rangers 93/40

•   Detroit 92/35

 

Saturday's Games

Islanders at Tampa Bay

Columbus at Ottawa

New Jersey at Minnesota

Rangers at San Jose

Boston at Detroit

The Skinny on the Playoff Chase

It was another good night for the Isles in the Playoff Chase, as they did not play but Montreal and Detroit both lost in regulation.  Ottawa does move 6 points ahead of Montreal - who lead by three points or less over four teams, including the Islanders. 

The Playoff Chase (through Thursday's Games)

3^rd  Metro  New Jersey 83 points (34 RW) in 73 games  (FRI at Winnipeg, SAT at Minnesota)

1^st  WC     Ottawa 81 points (29 RW) in 71 games  (SAT vs Columbus)

2^nd  WC    Montreal 75 points (24 RW) in 71 games (FRI at Carolina)

3^rd            ISLES 74 points (25 RW) in 71 games (SAT at Vancouver)

4^th            Rangers 74 points (31 RW) in 72 games (FRI at Anaheim, SAT at San Jose)

5^th            Columbus 73 points (23 RW) in 70 games (FRI vs Vancouver, SAT at Ottawa)

6^th            Detroit 72 points (25 RW) in 72 games ( SAT vs. Boston)

 

Maximum Points & Regulation Wins

•   New Jersey 101/43  (3rd Metro)

•   Ottawa 103/40          (WC 1)

•   Montreal 97/35       (WC 2)

     -------------

•   Columbus 97/35

•   Isles 96/36

•   Rangers 94/41

•   Detroit 92/35

 

Friday’s Games

Montreal at Carolina

Vancouver at Columbus

New Jersey at Winnipeg

Rangers at Anaheim

Saturday's Games

Islanders at Tampa Bay

Columbus at Ottawa

New Jersey at Minnesota

Rangers at San Jose

Boston at Detroit

The Skinny: Vancouver 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny" 

By Eric Hornick

Game 71

Columbus 5, Isles 2

Derek Forbort scored with 23 seconds to play in the second period to break a 2-2 tie and the Vancouver Canucks snapped an Islander six-game point streak as they defeated the Isles 5-2, before a crowd of 15,254 at UBS Arena.

After a scoreless first period, Casey Cizikas and Tony DeAngelo scored to erase a Kiefer Sherwood goal and give the Isles the lead, but former Islander Aatu Raty tied the game with six minutes to play in the middle period. Teddy Blueger added a goal early in the third before Sherwood hit the empty net to complete the scoring. 

The Isles fall to 32-29-10 as they complete the homestand with a 1-1-2 record. The Isles head to Tampa Bay at 2:00pm on Saturday to begin a back-to-back set. 

The Scoring:  

1st Period

No Goals

2nd Period

Kiefer Sherwood (16) Quinn Hughes (52), Filip Hronek (24) 02:39 VAN 1,NYI 0

Casey Cizikas (6) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (25) 05:35 VAN 1,NYI 1 SHG

Tony DeAngelo (3) Casey Cizikas (8) 09:00 VAN 1,NYI 2

Aatu Raty (3) Marcus Pettersson (22), Kiefer Sherwood (15) 13:59 VAN 2,NYI 2

Derek Forbort (2) Jake DeBrusk (19), Pius Suter (16) 19:37 VAN 3,NYI 2

3rd Period

Teddy Blueger (8) Conor Garland (25), Drew O'Connor (13) 01:05 VAN 4,NYI 2

Kiefer Sherwood (17)EN Pius Suter (17), Drew O'Connor (14) 18:08 VAN 5,NYI 2

The Skinny

The Isles are 3-1-3 in the last seven games and 7-4-3 in the last fourteen games …The Isles are 4-1-3 in their last eight home games (second-longest point streak in UBS Arena history) and 10-3-3 in their last sixteen home games (which started with a 6-0-0 stretch)… The Isles have been outscored 87-75 in the third period and overtime, although they have outscored their opponents 38-30 in those periods over the last 28 games…The Isles were outscored 4-0 at 5-on-5 tonight….The Isles have scored 141 goals and allowed 131 goals at 5-on-5 but have been outscored 81-52 in all other situations… The Isles went 0-2 on the power play and are 2-27 over the last nine games; the Isles have been outscored 21-10 on the power play over the last 40 games… Ilya Sorokin has started seven of the last eight and 20 of the last 23; he has appeared in 23 of the last 25 games…Sorokin is 7-3-2 in his last twelve games, and his 27 wins are the second-highest total of his career… The Isles fall to 5-22-2 when trailing after two periods… The Isles scored a shorthanded goal for the seventh time this season; they have also allowed seven shorties; the Isles have netted only fourteen power play goals (21 for, 7 shorties allowed) through 71 games…The Isles are 6-4-3 in March, including 4-1-3 at UBS Arena…Casey Cizikas scored his 12th career shorthanded goal (most by any current Islander for the Isles); Jean-Gabriel Pageau earned his 40th shorthanded point (21-19-40) on the play, which is third among active NHLers (Brad Marchand 67 and Jordan Staal 43)… Anthony DeAngelo extended his point streak to four games….The Isles finish the season 5-7-4 in games against Pacific Division teams.

The Injury

Jean-Gabriel Pageau left the game with 11:11 to play with an upper body injury but returned for the final 4:41.

 

Milestone Men

Anders Lee has 286 goals, one behind Brent Sutter and Pat LaFontaine for 6th in club history.

The Playoff Chase (through Wednesday's Games)

3rd  Metro  New Jersey 83 points (34 RW) in 73 games  (FRI at Winnipeg, SAT at Minnesota)

1st  WC     Ottawa 79 points (28 RW) in 70 games  (THU at Detroit, SAT vs Columbus)

2nd  WC    Montreal 75 points (24 RW) in 70 games (THU at Philadelphia, FRI at Carolina)

3rd            ISLES 74 points (25 RW) in 71 games (SAT at Vancouver)

4th            Rangers 74 points (31 RW) in 72 games (FRI at Anaheim, SAT at San Jose)

5th            Columbus 73 points (23 RW) in 70 games (FRI vs Vancouver, SAT at Ottawa)

6th     Detroit 72 points (25 RW) in 71 games (THU vs. Ottawa,  SAT vs. Boston)

Maximum Points & Regulation Wins 

• New Jersey 101/43  (3rd Metro)

• Ottawa 103/40          (WC 1)

• Montreal 99/36       (WC 2)

-------------

• Isles 96/40

• Columbus 97/35

• Rangers 94/41

• Detroit 94/36

Thursday's Games

Ottawa at Detroit

Montreal at Philadelphia

Friday's Games

Vancouver at Columbus

New Jersey at Winnipeg

Rangers at Anaheim

Quite the Numbers

Marcus Hogberg has now played 470 minutes for the Isles, allowing 15 goals on 218 shots for a 1.92 GAA and a .931 save percentage. Both the GAA and save percentage are the best in Islander history for any goalie who has played at least six games. He is the 44th goalie to win multiple games for the Isles.

Swede 17

Simon Holmstrom is the first Swedish-born Islander to record 17 goals since the 1981-82 season, when Bobby Nystrom had 22 goals and Anders Kallur had 18 goals. Nystrom (8x) and Kallur (3x) are the only Swedes with more goals in a season than Holmstrom.

Third Periods

Goals:  Isles 70, Opponents 80

Tying Goals: Isles 9, Opponents 16 (in 15 games)

Go Ahead Goals: Isles 13 (in 12 games), Opponents 9

Empty Net Goals: Isles 13, Opponents 20

The Isles have either been ahead or tied after two periods in 42 of their 71 games. In the 29 games that they have trailed through 40 minutes (5-22-2), they have been within one goal at some point in all but seven of them.

Did Somebody Say Comeback?

The Isles have fifteen come-from behind wins this season, including five when they trailed in the third period. The opponents have come-from-behind to win fifteen times this season, including nine times in the third period.

Overtime

The Isles are 5-8 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 2-2 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 5-5 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts, Semyon Varlamov is 0-2 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts, and Marcus Hogberg is 0-1 in overtime and 0-0 in shootouts

Sorokin has 36 OT/SO losses, extending his club record (Rick DiPietro had 28). 

Bo Knows Overtime

Bo Horvat has three overtime goals this season, six as an Islander, and eleven in his NHL career. All six of his overtime goals have come in the last two seasons; John Tavares is the only other Islander with multiple seasons with at least three overtime goals.

Most Overtime Goals, Career (Islanders)

1. John Tavares 11 

2. Brock Nelson 9 

3. Bo Horvat, Kyle Okposo, and Josh Bailey 6

6. Mathew Barzal, Thomas Hickey, and Anthony Beauvillier 5

Most Overtime Goals, Season (Islanders)

1. John Tavares 4 (2014-15)

2. Bo Horvat 3 (2023-24)

    Bo Horvat 3 (2024-25)

    Brock Nelson 3 (2019-20)

    John Tavares 3 (2010-11)

Empty Netters 

The Isles have scored 13 empty-net goals and allowed 20.

Building on a Lead

The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 51 times this season:

• Score the next goal: 19 times

• Allowed the next goal: 24 times

• Game ended with 2-goal difference: 8 times 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2024-25  32-29-10 for 74 points in 71 games

• 2023-24  30-25-15 for 75 points in 70 games 

Offense from Defense

• Today:   1-0-1

• Season: 27-112-139

Home and Road

The Isles are 32-28-10 overall; they are 17-13-5 at home and 15-15-5 on the road.

Vancouver is 34-26-12 overall; they are 15-13-7 at home and 19-13-5 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 20-17-4 against the East (9-7-3 vs. Metropolitan and 11-10-1 vs. Atlantic) and 12-12-6 against the West (7-5-2 vs. Central and 5-7-4 vs. Pacific).

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 1,476

3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack

Lou Lamoriello (1,476) and Patrick Roy (182) have combined for 1,658 career wins as general manager and coach. That is the highest in the NHL among active combinations by a wide margin.

First Things First

The Isles are 17-5-5 when scoring first and are 15-24-5 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles        10-11-7=28

Vancouver 5-13-7=25

The Isles are 16-20-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 15-8-6 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 15 saves before replaced after Vancouver's fourth goal; he is 27-21-6 this season and 2-3-1 vs. Vancouver. Marcus Hogberg made five saves in relief.

Thatcher Demko made 26 saves; he is 8-6-3 this season and 4-0-0 vs the Isles. 

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 (4:00); Vancouver was 0-1 (2:00) and allowed a shorthanded goal.

The Isles are 13-3-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 19-26-9 when they do not. The Isles are 14-14-6 when they allow at least one power play goal and 18-15-4 when they do not.

The Isles are 9-3-0 when they outscore the opposition on special teams, 6-15-6 when they are outscored, and 17-11-4 when special team goals are equal.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 29-8-6 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-21-4 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 14-7-10 in games decided by a single goal including 7-7 in regulation. They are 5-8 in games decided in overtime and are 2-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 5-8 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     

The Isles are 6-3-1 on the front end and 4-6-0 on the back end this season. The next back-to-back will be March 29th-30th in Tampa Bay and Carolina.

The Isles are 9-6-1 when the opponent is on the back end, including 2-2-0 when the Isles also played the previous day.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (23:10); Vancouver: Filip Hronek(25:42)

Bo Horvat led Isles forwards (21:24).

Face-offs

Isles 30, Vancouver 25 (55%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 9 of 11 for the Isles; Teddy Blueger won 7 of 13 for Vancouver. 

Hit Count

Isles 28 (Three with 4)

Vancouver 21 (Dakota Joshua -7)

Fights 

None. Season total: 9 (Mayfield, Wahlstrom, Martin-2, Pageau, Tsyplakov, Gatcomb, Cizikas, Lee)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 18 (Alex Romanov -5)

Vancouver 12 (Quinn Hughes -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 66, Vancouver 64

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 55, Vancouver 5

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Mike Reilly +12

Vancouver: Tyler Myers +15

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 16, Vancouver 14

5-on-5: Isles 11, Vancouver 13

Scratches

(Semyon Varlamov-LTIR),  (Mathew Barzal – IR), Matt Martin, Scott Mayfield, Scott Perunovich, Adam Boqvist)

Games Lost to injury: 278. (Last season's total: 181)

The Ironmen

Kyle Palmieri is the Islanders' ironman, having played 187 consecutive games. Casey Cizikas (97) and Anders Lee (70) are the only other Isles to have also played every game this season.

National TV Games 

The Isles are 2-3-0 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners, with four games remaining. The next national game will stream April 1st on ESPN+/Hulu as the Isles host the Lightning; four of the last nine games will be nationally-televised. 

Matinee Isles

The Isles are 1-4-2 in matinee games this season, with four games remaining. The next matinee will be on March 29th in Tampa Bay. The NHL considers games that start before 5:00 local time to be afternoon contests. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the Isles are 13-16-12 in matinees.

Challenges

Isles: 7 successful, 5 failures  (No offsides -PIT 11/5, No goalie interference – SEA 11/16, Goalie Interference- WAS 11/29, goalie interference – TOR 12/31, no goalie interference – BOS 1/5, offsides-VEG 1/9, goalie interference – OTT 1/14, goalie interference – COL 1/28, goalie interference – PHI 1/30, no goalie interference – PIT 3/18, offside -MTL 3/20, no goalie interference – MTL 3/20)

Opponents: 8 successful, 4 failures (No Goalie Interference -UTA 10/10, Offside-VAN 11/14, Goalie Interference-STL 11/23, Offside -BUF 11/30, No Goalie Interference-CHI 12/15, Goalie Interference – PIT 12/28. Offside 12/31, No goalie interference – NSH 3/1, goalie interference – NYR 3/3, goalie interference x2 – LA 3/11, No goalie interference – CBJ 3/24)

Hockey Opps: 0 favorable, 1 unfavorable (Goalie interference – CBJ 3/24)

Quickies (Two goals in under a minute)

For (3): CHI 12/12, PHI 1/24, FLA 3/16

Vs (2): CHI 12/15, MIN 2/8

Quick Responses (One team scoring within a minute of other team)

Isles responses (7): BUF 11/1, CAR 12/7, BOS 1/5, SJ 1/18, MIN 2/8, DAL 2/23, NAS 3/1

Opponent responses (9): UTA 10/10 (2), SEA 11/16, CHI 12/15, TOR 12/31, BOS 1/5, NAS 3/1, LA 3/11, CGY 3/22

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins 

For (3): PIT 11/5 (Trailed 3-1, won 4-3 (SO), FLA 3/16 (Trailed 2-0, won 4-2), PIT 3/18 (Trailed 2-0, won 4-2).

Vs (2):  NJ 11/9 (Led 3-1, Lost 4-3 (OT), WSH 11/29 Led 4-2, Lost 5-4 (SO))

Last Minute Heroes (Tying or go-ahead goals in the final three minutes of the third period):

For (4): Maxim Tsyplakov 10/10 vs. UTA (17:53, GAG but lost in OT); Anders Lee 11/12 @ EDM (17:20-GTG; EDM won in OT); Mathew Barzal 1/11 @ UTA (18:35-GAG), Kyle MacLean 3/22 vs. CGY (17:09, GAG, but lost in OT)

Vs (9): Josh Doan 10/10 vs. UTA (18:06- GTG; UTA won in OT); Cole Caufield 10/19 vs MTL (17:50-GTG; NYI won in SO); Jesper Bratt 10/25 at NJD (18:31-GTG; NYI won in OT); Stefan Noesen 11/9 vs NJ (19:10-GTG; NJD won in OT); Lucas Raymond 11/21 at DET (19:09-GAG); 12/15 Connor Bedard at CHI (19:06-GAG); Bobby McMann 1/2 vs. TOR (17:01- GAG); Nikita Kucherov 2/1 at TB (19:13-GTG; NYI won in OT); Jonathan Huberdeau 3/22 vs. CGY (17:38- GTG; CGY won in OT)

OT Winners

For (5): Bo Horvat 10/25 @ NJD (1:09), Bo Horvat 1/5 @ BOS (3:10), Brock Nelson 1/25 vs CAR (2:03), Tony DeAngelo 2/1 @ TB (0:32), Bo Horvat 3/20 vs MTL (3:37)

Vs (8): Dylan Guenther 10/10 vs. UTA (2:18); Jake Neighbours 10/17 @ STL (2:04); Jack Hughes 11/9 vs NJD (2:35); Leon Draisaitl 11/12 @ EDM (1:52); Jakub Chychrun 11/29 @ WAS (1:20); Nick Suzuki 12/3 @ MTL (2:39); Leon Draisaitl 3/14 vs. EDM (3:52); Nazem Kadri 3/22 vs CGY (3:51)

Shootout Winners

For (2): Noah Dobson 10/19 vs MTL, Bo Horvat 11/5 vs PIT

Vs (2): Andrei Kuzmenko 11/19 @ CGY, Adam Fantilli 3/24 vs CBJ

 

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 ***  3. Josh Bailey 1,057 ***

4. Brock Nelson 901 *** 5. Bobby Nystrom 900 *** 6. Casey Cizikas 886 *** 7. Clark Gillies 872 *** 8. Matt Martin 848 *** 9. Anders Lee 830 …

23. Ken Morrow, Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock 550 *** 26. Duane Sutter 547 *** 27. Lorne Henning 543 *** 28. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 29. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 30. Mathew Barzal 531 *** 31. Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 32. Kyle Okposo 529 *** 33. Scott Mayfield 527

Goals    

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

5. Brock Nelson 295 *** 6. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287  *** 8. Anders Lee 286 …

20. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 21. Mathew Barzal 134…

29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Casey Cizikas 113

Assists

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

7. John Tonelli 338 *** 8. Patrick Flatley and Mathew Barzal 328…

19. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 21. Anders Lee 215…

24. Ed Westfall 181 *** 25. Noah Dobson 177 *** 26. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 27. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 29. Jean Potvin 167 *** 30. Jeff Norton 166 *** 31. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 32. Ryan Pulock 159… 

34. Mariusz Czerkawski 150 *** 35. Casey Cizikas 146

Points

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

12. Bob Bourne 542 *** 13. Anders Lee 501… 

15. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 462…

27. Ed Westfall 286 *** 28. Casey Cizikas 259

+/-

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

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +79 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson +76  *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 ***  19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Ryan Pulock +63 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 23. Patrick Flatley +57 ***  24. Greg Gilbert +54  

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57 ***

4. Stefan Persson and Ryan Pulock 52 *** 6. Noah Dobson 48…

13. Bryan Berard 31 *** 14. Vladimir Malakhov and Scott Mayfield 27 *** 16. Adam Pelech and four others 26  

Defense Assists

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

4. Nick Leddy 198 *** 5. Noah Dobson 177…

7. Jean Potvin 167 *** 8. Jeff Norton 166 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 158 ***10. Mark Streit 139 *** 11. Adam Pelech 131… 

17. Bryan Berard 100 *** 18. Vladimir Malakhov 98 *** 19. Johnny Boychuk and Scott Mayfield 96

Defense Points

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

5. Kenny Jonsson 232 *** 6. Noah Dobson 225 *** 7. Jean Potvin 213 *** 8. Ryan Pulock 210…

10. Mark Streit 179 *** 11. Adam Pelech 157…

18. Gerry Hart 128 *** 19. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 20. Scott Mayfield 123

Goalie Games

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 246 … 

8. Jaroslav Halak 177***  9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 173

Wins

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

4. Ilya Sorokin 122 …

7. Jaroslav Halak 88 ***  8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 76

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 21 *** 

4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16

On the Farm   

Bridgeport fell to 14-41-4-3  with a 4-1 loss on Wednesday to Hershey. Cole Bardreau scored for the Islanders.

Brian Pinho has a team-leading (and career-high) 22 goals, three ahead of Chris Terry. Terry's 40 assists and 59 points; both are tied- 4th in the AHL.

The Baby Isles head to Rochester on Friday and Toronto on Sunday

Season Series Stats

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

Vancouver has won all four meetings at UBS Arena in regulation and have not lost to the Isles in New York since a 5-2 Isles win at Barclays Center on November 13, 2018.

UP NEXT

SATURDAY, MARCH 29th  -- ISLES AT TAMPA BAY 2:00pm 

[MSGSN (Pre-game at 1:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, Isles + UBS Arena App]

The Isles begin a weekend road trip with a game in Tampa Bay, against the Lightning. 

It is the second meeting of the teams this season, who will conclude their season series on Tuesday at UBS Arena. The Isles are 3-8-0 in the last eleven regular season games against the Bolts, with their overtime win on February 1st snapping a five-game losing streak 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