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The Skinny: Isles 5, Pittsburgh 4

"The Skinny" By Eric Hornick Game 82 Isles 5, Pittsburgh 4    On to the Playoffs! Simon Holmstrom scored the winning goal with 5:3...

Thursday, April 18, 2024

The Skinny: Isles 5, Pittsburgh 4

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 82
Isles 5, Pittsburgh 4   
On to the Playoffs!

Simon Holmstrom scored the winning goal with 5:33 to play to break a 4-4 tie as the Isles defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 in the season finale, before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Brock Nelson scored his 34th goal of the season to take the team goal scoring lead for the fifth straight season while Kyle Palmieri tied a career-high with his 30th goal of the season.

After weeks of playoff style hockey, the Isles rested several players, allowing Ruslan Iskhakov to make his NHL debut. Ilya Sorokin made 40 saves, including a last-minute (19:30 of the 3rd period) penalty shot by Sidney Crosby. Jeff Carter scored a power play goal for the Penguins in his final NHL game.

The Isles are 20-12-5 under Patrick Roy and 39-27-16 overall. 

The Isles will open the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday at 5:00 in Carolina. 

The Scoring:  
1st Period
Brock Nelson (34) Simon Holmstrom (10) 04:56 PIT 0,NYI 1
Rickard Rakell (15) Michael Bunting (35), Evgeni Malkin (40) 18:29 PIT 1,NYI 1

2nd Period
Evgeni Malkin (27) Sidney Crosby (51), Erik Karlsson (45) 06:14 PIT 2,NYI 1 PPG
Casey Cizikas (10) Alexander Romanov (15), Samuel Bolduc (3) 13:19 PIT 2,NYI 2
Valtteri Puustinen (5) 14:37 PIT 3,NYI 2
Kyle Palmieri (30) Brock Nelson (35), Mike Reilly (18) 19:44 PIT 3,NYI 3 PPG

3rd Period
Samuel Bolduc (2) Ryan Pulock (14), Ruslan Iskhakov (1) 01:36 PIT 3,NYI 4 PPG
Jeff Carter (11) Sidney Crosby (52), Michael Bunting (36) 10:56 PIT 4,NYI 4 PPG
Simon Holmstrom (15)  Kyle MacLean (5) 14:27 PIT 4,NYI 5

The Skinny     
The Isles are 19-10-4 since the All-Star Break … Since Christmas, the Isles are 12-7-4 at home and 11-12-3 on the road… The Isles' defense has 78 points under Patrick Roy (16-67-83) and have 68 points in the last 32 games (15-58-73)…The Isles have outscored their opponents 74-51 in the first period (2nd-fewest allowed in NHL), but have been outscored 107-83 in the second period (2nd-most allowed in NHL); the 56 goal difference matches the highest between any two periods in club history (56 in 1984-85)…The Isles have been outscored 99-88 in the third period and overtime this season, but that reflects a 20-5 difference in empty-net goals…The Isles have been outscored 69-43 in the second period since the Christmas break and have allowed at least two goals in 22 of the 48 games; however the Isles had a clean sheet in five of the last eight second periods…The Isles are 8-0-1 in their last nine games, 10-2-1 in their last 13, and 16-7-1 in their last 23; they finish the season at a season-high twelve games over NHL-.500… The Isles are 8-0-1 in April, leading the NHL in both wins and standings points; they won eight games in December, which is the only month that they earned as many wins;…Kyle Palmieri extended his point streak to seven games, setting a new career high….The Isles went 2-3 on the power play; they went 3-4 in their final two games after going 2-prior 32 (6.3%)… Semyon Varlamov went 5-0-0 in April; he has allowed just eight goals this month (.946, 1.59 – best in NHL for goalies playing more than 125 minutes)… Anders Lee did not play, ending his club-leading consecutive games streak at 193 games; Brock Nelson is once again the Isles iron-man, having played 166 consecutive games….Sidney Crosby is now 0-5 in career penalty shots; it was the only penalty shot against the Isles this season….Crosby had two points, giving him 134 points against the Isles in his career (most of any opponent)…Patrick Roy is the first Islander coach to earn a playoff berth after starting his position mid-season.

First Times in a Long Time 
The Isles end the season on a 9-game point streak for the first time since a 12-game streak in 1980 (8-0-4). That spring ended well!
The Isles also won their last five home games; it is their longest single-season streak since March 2022.
Kyle Palmieri is the first Islander since Ziggy Palffy (1995-96 and 1996-97) to score at least 15 goals in the last 23 games. (Mike Bossy -5 times, Steve Thomas, Pierre Turgeon-twice are the only others)
Palmieri gives the Isles three 30-goal scorers for the first team since 1993-94, when they had four.
Ruslan Iskhakov is the first Islander since Kieffer Bellows to earn an assist in his NHL debut.
Cal Clutterbuck is the first NHL player since Chris Pronger (2008-09) to play all 82 games for the first time in his career after appearing in his 1,000th NHL game.

Isles Team Leaders
Goals:  Nelson 34, Horvat 33, Palmieri 30
Assists: Dobson 60, Barzal 57, Horvat/Nelson 35
Points:  Barzal 80, Dobson 70, Nelson 69
+/-:  Romanov +23, Dobson +12, Martin +7

Nelson led the Isles in goals for the fifth straight season, after Lee did so in the prior three seasons.
Dobson is the first defenseman to lead the team in assists since Nick Leddy in 2020-21.
Barzal has led or shared the team point lead in six of his seven NHL seasons. 
Over the last 20 years, only Dennis Seidenberg (+25 in 2016-17) had a higher +/- than Romanov.

Other Team Leaders
Games: Nelson, Palmieri, Clutterbuck and Pageau 82
PIM: Lee 63, Martin 43, Horvat 39
PP Goals: Palmieri/Horvat 10, Nelson 9, Barzal/Lee 5
PP Points: Barzal 25, Dobson 24, Palmieri 20
SH Goals: Holmstrom 5, 5 with  1
SH Points: Holmstrom 7, Pageau 6, Horvat/Nelson 2
OT Goals: Horvat 3, Barzal 2 
GW Goals: Palmieri 8, Horvat 6, Barzal/Dobson 4
Shots: Nelson 250, Horvat 248, Barzal 240
Shoot %:(minimum 40 games): Holmstrom 20.8%, Palmieri 13.8%, Nelson 13.6%
Ice Time: Dobson 24:31, Pulock 22:33, Romanov 20:50
Face-off Win %: Pageau 55.4%, Horvat 53.9%, Cizikas 53.4%
Shootout Goals:  Wahlstrom 2, Horvat 2, Holmstrom 1
Hits: Clutterbuck 273, Jean-Gabriel Pageau 196, Lee 176
Blocks: Dobson 180, Romanov 171,  Pulock 149

Career Years (Rookies and Players with Limited Experience Excluded)
Dobson – 60 assists, 80 points,  +12 rating.
Horvat – 35 assists, 6 GW goals 
Clutterbuck – 82 games played
Romanov- 7 goals, +23, (22 points- tied)
Nelson- 82 games for 5th time
Fasching -10 assists
Holmstrom 15-10-25
Palmieri 30 goals (tied); 82 games for 2nd game
Pageau 82 games for 3rd time

The Goals (Season)
Isles            74-83-79-9=245 (3.0/game)
Opponents  51-107-90-11=259 (3.2/game)

The Shots (Season)
Isles            819-869-747-35=2470 (30.1/game)
Opponents  817-922-904-42=2685 (32.7game)

Special Teams (Season)
Power Play 47-231 20.4%  (3 shorthanded goals allowed)
Penalty Kill 63-221 71.5% (10 shorthanded goals scored)

The 71.5% penalty kill is the lowest in franchise history (previously 73.2% in 2017-18); the 10 shorthanded goals scored matches 2014-15 as the most since 2010-11 (10). The Isles were the only NHL team not to allow a shorthanded goal at home, and their 3 shorties allowed overall are the fewest in the NHL.

The Finales 
The Isles are 6-2-4 in their last twelve season finales and are 27-15-9 all-time in their final game of the year.

Milestone Men     
Brock Nelson scored his 275th goal, passing Pat LaFontaine (274) for most goals in the post-Cup era.
Adam Pelech played his 500th NHL game.
Mike Reilly played his 400th NHL game.

Tale of Three Seasons
Isles were 14-7-7 in their first 28 games, 9-13-7 in their next 29 games, and 16-7-2 in their final 25 games.

Woah Noah
Noah Dobson is the first Islander defenseman with at least 70 points since 1983-84 when Denis Potvin had 85, and the first with at least 60 assists since 1983-84, when Potvin recorded 63.

Dobson has recorded only the fifth season in club history with at least 60 assists by a defenseman:  
1. Denis Potvin 70 (1978-79)
2. Denis Potvin 67 (1975-76)
3. Denis Potvin 64 (1977-78)
4. Denis Potvin 63 (1983-84)
5. Noah Dobson 60 (2023-24)

Dobson has recorded the 19th 60-assist season by an Islander.

Most Assists (Islanders, last 35 years)
1. Pierre Turgeon 74 in 1992-93
2. Mathew Barzal 63 in 2017-18
3. Noah Dobson 60 in 2023-24
4. Mathew Barzal 57 in 2023-24

Most Points (Islanders in the 2000s)
1. John Tavares   86 (2014-15)
2. Mathew Barzal 85 (2017-18)
3. John Tavares   84 (2017-18)
4. John Tavares   81 (2011-12)
5. Mathew Barzal 80 (2023-24) 

Career Year?
Bo Horvat went 33-35-68 on the season. His 33 goals are the second-highest total of his career and trail only 2022-23 (38), while his 68 points are his 2nd- highest total behind last season's 70. Horvat has set a career-high with 35 assists.

Career Year?
Kyle Palmieri now has 30 goals, matching his career high of 30 that was set in 2015-16. His 54 points are the 2nd-highest of his career (2016-17). Palmieri scored his 15 goals in the final 23 games, matching the best single season 23-game span of his career.

Most Game-Winning Goals, First 223 Games with Isles
Pierre Turgeon 22
Mike Bossy 21
Kyle Palmieri 17
Bryan Trotter 17

Most Game-Winning Goals in a Season (since 1993-94)
Kyle Palmieri 8 (2023-24)
Brock Nelson 8 (2022-23)
John Tavares 8 (2011-12 and 2014-16)

Most Career Single Goal Games Before First Multi-Goal Game (Forwards)
Sandy McCarthy 66
Jim Dowd 63
Henrik Sedin 62
Craig Berube 57
Pierre Engvall 56

Coach Roy
The Isles are 20-12-5 under Patrick Roy and have allowed only two goals or fewer in 15 of their 20 wins. Ilya Sorokin is 11-8-3 under Roy while Semyon Varlamov is 9-4-2.

Scoring Leaders Under Patrick Roy
1. Mathew Barzal 11-23-34
2. Brock Nelson 14-19-33
3. Kyle Palmieri 19-10-29 (6 GWG)
4. Bo Horvat 15-11-26 (4 GWG)
5. Noah Dobson 4-21-25

Since the Break
The Isles are 19-10-4 since the all-star break. While they were outshot 34.9-30.0 per game (-4.9) prior to the break, the Isles have out-shot their opponents 30.8-30.0 (+0.8 since the break.

Overtime is Our Time
The Isles played 26 overtime games, tied with Boston and Montreal for the NHL lead. They are 9-11 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-5 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 6-7 in overtime and 1-4 in shootouts, while Semyon Varlamov is 3-4 in overtime and 0-1 in shootouts. 

The Isles were 2nd in the NHL with their nine overtime goals  (Detroit -11)

Most Islander OT/SO Losses 
16 (2023-24)
13 (2010-11)

Most OT/SO Losses in a Season (Isles Goalie)
1. Ilya Sorokin 12 (2023-24)
2. Rick DiPietro 9 (2006-07)
3. Ilya Sorokin 8 (2022-23)
Evgeni Nabokov 8 (2013-14)

Most Career OT/SO Losses (Isles Goalie)
Ilya Sorokin 30 (CURRENT)
Rick DiPietro 28 

Empty Netters 
The Isles have scored 5 empty-net goals and allowed 20.

Most Empty-Net Goals Allowed (Isles):
1. 20  2023-24 
2. 18  2021-22
3. 17  2022-23
4. 14  2011-12

Killing Their Own PP
The Isles have taken a penalty to interrupt their power play 21 times this season.

Power Play Up; Penalty Killing Down
The Isles have scored 47 power play goals (most since they scored 58 in 2017-18); they scored 35 all last season.
The Isles have allowed 63 power play goals (most since they also allowed 63 in 2017-18); they allowed 39 all last season. 

Under Patrick Roy, the Isles Power Play is 19-108 (17.6%) and the Penalty Kill is 26-84 (69.1%). 
 
Building on a Lead
The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 56 times this season:
Score the next goal: 16 times
Allowed the next goal: 33 times
Game ended with 2-goal difference: 7 times 

Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 4,029
2. Matt Martin 3,854

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. 

The 25-Goal Club
Brock Nelson is the 8th player in club history to have at least six seasons of at least 25 goals:
Bryan Trottier 12
Mike Bossy 10
John Tavares/ Clark Gillies 7
Pat LaFontaine/ Brent Sutter/ Anders Lee/ Brock Nelson 6

Last Year vs. This Year
2023-24  39-27-16 for 94 points in 82 games
2022-23  41-32-9 for 93 points in 82 games

Offense from Defense
Today:   1-4-5
Season: 33-137-170
Last Season (Final) 41-132-173

The 137 assists are the most since 2006-07, when they also had 137.

Lots of Work for Sorokin
Most shots against 
Juuse Saros 1,845
Ilya Sorokin 1,821
Connor Hellebuyck 1,798
Jordan Binnington 1,786
Alexandar Georgiev 1,770 

No goalie has ever played the full season for the Islanders and led the NHL in this category; Kelly Hrudey led the NHL in 1988-89; he was traded at the deadline to Los Angeles.

Facing 40
Ilya Sorokin has faced at least forty shots twelve times this season and 29 times in his career. 

Most Games, 40+ Shots in a Season vs Isles Goalie
1. Ilya Sorokin 12 2023-24
2. Jaroslav Halak 11  2017-18
3. Gerry Desjardins 10 1972-73
No other NHL goalie has faced 40+ shots more than eight times this season.

Most games, 40+ Shots (Since 2021-22)
1. John Gibson 34
2. Ilya Sorokin 28
3. Darcy Kuemper 24
4. Sam Montembault 22
    Karel Vejmelka 22

Most Games, 40+ Shots (Islander History)
1. Billy Smith 46   (674 games)
2. Ilya Sorokin 29 (192 games)
3. Kelly Hrudey 27(241 games)

Sorokin has made at least 40 saves eight times this season and 18 times in his career. Both are franchise records.

Varly, Varly
Semyon Varlamov has 41 career shutouts and 286 career wins. Among active NHL goalies (and excluding Carey Price, who is technically still active), Varlamov is seventh in wins and fourth in shutouts.

All-time Goalie Wins
47. Ed Giacomin 290
48. Jose Theodore 286
      Dan Bouchard 286
      Semyon Varlamov 286

Good Company 
Semyon Varlamov is 3rd among qualified goalies in save percentage:

1. Anthony Stolarz FLA   .926 
2. Connor Hellebuyck WPG.922 
3. Semyon Varlamov NYI .918
4. Thatcher Demko VAN  .917

Home and Road
The Isles are 39-27-16 overall; they are 10-10-10 at home and 18-17-6 on the road.
Pittsburgh is 38-32-12 overall; they are 23-14-4 at home and 15-18-8 on the road.

East and West
The Isles are 25-15-10 against the East (13-7-6 vs. Metropolitan and 12-8-4 vs. Atlantic) and 14-12-6 against the West (8-6-2 vs. Central and 6-6-4 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 122 games at UBS Arena and recorded 89 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 1,444
3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack
Lou Lamoriello (1,444) and Patrick Roy (150) have combined for 1,594 career wins as general manager and coach. That is the highest in the NHL among active combos by a wide margin.

First Things First
The Isles are 27-5-10 when scoring first and are 12-22-6 when allowing the opening goal. Under Patrick Roy, the Isles are 14-2-1 when they score first and are 6-10-4 when they do not.

The Shots
Isles         12-11-9=32
Pittsburgh 15-13-16=44
The Isles are 15-10-6 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 23-16-10 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 40 saves; he is 25-19-12 on the season and 8-5-0 vs. Pittsburgh.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 27 saves; he is 18-7-7 on the season and 3-1-1 vs the Isles.

Special Teams
The Isles were 2-3 on the power play (5:06); Pittsburgh was 2-2 on the power play (2"11).

The Isles are 20-8-9 when they score at least one power play goal and 19-19-7 when they do not. The Isles are 14-18-10 when they allow at least one power play goal and 25-9-6 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 35-5-11 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 4-22-5 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 21-3-16 in games decided by a single goal including 11-3 in regulation. They are 9-11 in games decided in overtime and are 1-5 in shootouts. The Isles are 5-6 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Most One-Goal Wins
26 2014-15 
23 2007-08 
21 2023-24 
21 2015-16 
21 2005-06 

Back-to-Backs     
The Isles went 5-1-4 in the front end and 1-6-3 in the back end this season. 

Fewest Wins on Back-end
0 1972-73 (0-22-3)
1 2023-24 (1-6-3)
2 2012-13 (1-5-1; 48-game schedule)
3 1994-95 (2-3-3; 48-game schedule)

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Ryan Pulock (21:54); Pittsburgh: Kris Letang (25:34)
Brock Nelson led Islander forwards with 20:59 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (12-2-2), Noah Dobson (22-22-9), Alex Romanov (3-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-2), Matthew Barzal (1-1-2), Bo Horvat (1-0-0).

Face-offs
Isles 30, Pittsburgh 41 (42%)
Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 3 of 4 for the Isles; Jeff Carter won 17 of 21 for Pittsburgh.

Hit Count
Isles 8 (Two with 2)
Pittsburgh 12 (Sidney Crosby-3)

Fights 
None. Season total: 13 (Martin 5, Lee 3, Pelech 1, Mayfield 1, Horvat 1, MacLean 1, Pageau 1)
 
Blocked Shots
Isles 28 (Robert Bortuzzo -5)
Pittsburgh 12 (Three with 3)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 59, Pittsburgh 88
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 50, Pittsburgh 70
 
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Ryan Pulock +9
Pittsburgh: Erik Karlsson +30

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 13, Pittsburgh 19
5-on-5: Isles 11, Pittsburgh 12

Scratches
(Scott Mayfield – LTIR), (Noah Dobson – INJ), Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal, Pierre Engvall, Hudson Fasching
Games Lost to injury: 181

The Ironmen
Brock Nelson is the Islanders' ironman, having played 166 consecutive games. Kyle Palmieri (116), Cal Clutterbuck (97) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (96) also played every game this season.

Most Overtime Goals, Season (Islanders)
1. John Tavares 4 (2014-15)
2. Bo Horvat 3 (2023-24)
    Brock Nelson 3 (2019-20)
    John Tavares 3 (2010-11)

Most Overtime Assists, Career (Islanders)
1. Mathew Barzal 15
2. John Tavares 12

Most Overtime Points, Career (Islanders)
1. John Tavares 23
2. Mathew Barzal 20
3. Brock Nelson 18
Barzal has a point on 20 of the 39 overtime goals that the Isles have scored since he became a regular in 2016-17.

National TV Games 
The Isles are 5-2-4 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners. 

Matinee Isles
The Isles went 1-4-2 in matinee games this season (1-3-1 at home, including an OT loss at Met Life). 
The NHL considers games that start before 5:00 local time to be afternoon games. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the Isles are 13-13-10 in matinees.

Challenges
Isles: 3 successful, 4 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2), OTT offside (11/24), LA no goalie interference (12/9), VGK no goalie interference (1/6), PIT no hand pass (2/20) , BUF no goalie interference (3/14), PIT offside (4/17)

Opponents: 5 successful, 3 failures – BUF no offsides (10/21), CAR no high-stick (11/30); ANA goalie interference (12/13), CGY offside (2/10), TB offside (2/24), FLA goalie interference (3/28); FLA no goalie interference (3/28), NYR offside (4/13)

Quickies
The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute eight times this season (four times at home – CBJ 12/7 x2, WSH 12/29, NYR 2/18-MetLife and four times on road-@OTT 11/24, @ARI 1/4, @SJ 3/7, @PHL 4/1) and allowed two in the same span nine times (COL 10/25 x2, MIN 11/8, @MTL 12/16, PIT 12/27, @NAS 1/13, @PIT 2/20, @STL 2/22 (3 in :32), @ TB 3/30)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins
The Isles have come from at least two goals behind in the third period to win one time this season and have allowed the opposition to do so five times.
For (1): LA 12/9 (trailed 0-2, won 3-2 in OT)
Vs (5): DET 10/30 (trailed 0-2, won 4-3 in OT); CAR 11/4 (trailed 1-3, won 4-3 in OT) ; @ NJ 11/28 (trailed 2-4, won 5-4 in regulation); SJ 12/5 (trailed 1-4; won 5-3 in OT); NYR 2/18 (trailed 3-5, won 6-5 in OT)

Last Minute Heroes:
The Isles have scored four goals and have allowed six goals in the final three minutes of the third period to tie or go-ahead:
For (5): Bo Horvat 10/20 vs NJ 18:49 (Isles lost in OT); Simon Holmstrom 12/13 vs ANA 18:27 (GWG); Kyle Palmieri 1/27 vs FLA 18:31 (Isles lost in OT); Pierre Engvall 2/5 @ TOR 17:58 (GWG); Bo Horvat 3/16 vs OTT 19:22 (Isles lost in OT).
Vs (8): Curtis Lazar 11/28 @ NJ 19:37 (GWG); Sebastian Aho 11/30 @ CAR 19:57 (Isles won in OT); Tomas Hertl vs SJ 18:30 (SJ won in OT); Morgan Rielly 12/11 vs TOR 19:53 (Isles won in OT); Alexandre Carrier 1/13 @ NAS 19:52 (GWG); Sean Monahan 1/25 @ MTL 17:48 (GWG); Mika Zibanejad vs NYR – Met Life 18:31 (NYR won in OT); Morgan Frost 4/1 @ PHI 19:50 (Isles won in OT)

OT Winners
For (9): Mathew Barzal (vs CAR) 11/30, Jean Gabriel Pageau (vs LA) 12/9, Bo Horvat (vs TOR) 12/11, Mathew Barzal (vs TOR) 1/11, Bo Horvat (vs DAL) 1/21, Adam Pelech (vs PIT) 2/20, Bo Horvat (vs DAL) 2/26, Brock Nelson (@ PHI) 4/1; Kyle Palmieri (vs MTL) 4/11
Vs (11): Jack Hughes (NJ) 10/20, Lucas Raymond (DET) 10/30, Sebastian Aho (CAR) 11/4, Quinn Hughes (VAN) 11/15; William Eklund (SJ) 12/5; Dylan Strome (WAS) 12/20; Nathan MacKinnon (COL) 1/2; Seth Jones (CHI) 1/19, Oliver Ekman-Larsson (FLA) 1/27; Artemi Panarin (NYR) 2/18; Brady Tkachuk 3/16

Shootout Winners
For (1): Oliver Wahlstrom (Vs CGY) 11/18
Vs (5): Kailer Yamamoto (SEA) 11/16, Tyson Foerster (PHI) 11/25, David Pastrnak (BOS) 12/15, Tomas Tatar (SEA) 2/13, Artemi Panarin (NYR) 4/13.
 
All-time Islander Leader Boards:
Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,057…
5. Clark Gillies 872 *** 6. Brock Nelson 840 *** 7. Matt Martin 823 *** 8. Casey Cizikas 815 *** 9. Bob Bourne 814 *** 10. Anders Lee 759 *** 11. Mike Bossy 752 *** 12. Cal Clutterbuck 718…
32. Rich Pilon and Mick Vukota 509 *** 34. Mathew Barzal and Adam Pelech 500  *** 36. Ed Westfall 493 *** 37. Ryan Pulock 486 *** 38. Radek Martinek 479 *** 39. Gerry Hart 476 *** 40. Mariusz Czerkawski 472 *** 41. Scott Mayfield 469 

Goals    
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. Brock Nelson 275 *** John Tavares 272 *** 9. Anders Lee 260 …
20. Kyle Okposo 139 ***21. Mathew Barzal 128…
29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Casey Cizikas 107

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …
9. Brent Sutter 323 *** 10. Stefan Persson 317 *** 11. Mathew Barzal 314…
16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Brock Nelson 256…
21. Nick Leddy 198 *** 22. Pierre Turgeon and Anders Lee 193…
31. David Volek 154 *** 32. Noah Dobson 151 *** 33. Mariusz Czerkawski 150 *** 34. Travis Green 145 *** 35. Ryan Pulock 143 *** 36. Steve Thomas 140 *** 37. Mark Streit 139 *** 38. Casey Cizikas and Greg Gilbert 138

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
10. Bob Bourne 542 *** 11. Brock Nelson 531 *** 12. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 13. Derek King 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Anders Lee 453 *** 16. Billy Harris 443 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 442…
30. David Volek 249 *** 31. Casey Cizikas 245

+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105  *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Adam Pelech +75  ***17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67  

Defense Goals
1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57…
4. Stefan Persson 52 *** 5. Ryan Pulock 48 *** 6. Jean Potvin 46 *** 7. Nick Leddy 45 *** 8. Roman Hamrlik 43 *** 9. Mark Streit and Noah Dobson 40

Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…
7. Jeff Norton 166 *** 8. Noah Dobson 151 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 143…
12. Dave Lewis 117 *** 13. Adam Pelech 114… 
20. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 22. Scott Mayfield 91

Defense Points
1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…
6. Jean Potvin 213 *** 7. Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock 191…
13. Dave Lewis 141 *** 14. Adam Pelech 140 *** 15. Tom Kurvers 134 …
19. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 20. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 21. Scott Mayfield 116

Goalie Games
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 …
5. Thomas Greiss 193 *** 6. Ilya Sorokin 192 *** 7. Tommy Salo 187 *** 8. Jaroslav Halak 177 *** 9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 163

Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
5. Thomas Greiss 101 *** 6. Ilya Sorokin 95 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 73

Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 18 *** 
4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16

On the Farm   
Bridgeport is 24-37-7-2 heading into season-ending home games Friday against Lehigh Valley and Saturday against Providence.

Ruslan Iskhakov continues to lead the team in goals (18), assists (32) and points (50).

Season Series Stats
The teams split the season series 2 games to 2 (Pittsburgh earned 5 points to the Isles' 4). 
 
UP NEXT
THE STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS!
SATURDAY, APRIL 20th  –ISLANDERS AT CAROLINA – GAME 1– 5:00pm
[MSGSN (Pre-game at 4:30), TBS (Pre-game at 4:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].
The Isles are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fifth time in the last six years. The Isles will head to Carolina to face the Canes for the second straight season and the third time in six years. Carolina swept the Isles in Round 2 in 2019 and then eliminated the Isles in six games last spring.

The teams split four games in the regular season, with the road team winning all four. Only one of those games (March 19th at UBS Arena) was played after Christmas. 

MSG Networks will continue to have game coverage in the first round of the playoffs. All Stanley Cup playoff games also air on either TNT/TBS or ESPN/ABC.

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

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

The Skinny: Isles 4, New Jersey 1 - Isles clinch a Playoff Spot!

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 81
Isles 4, New Jersey 1   

They're in!

Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Kyle Palmieri scored goals 4:30 apart in the first period to give the Isles a lead they would never relinquish, as they defeated the New Jersey Devils 4-1 before a sellout crowd of 16,514 at Prudential Center. 

With the victory the Islanders clinched third place in the Metropolitan Division, and they will be heading back to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons. The Isles will face the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight season.

The Isles are 19-12-5 under Patrick Roy and 38-27-16 overall. 

The Isles close the regular season at home on Wednesday against Pittsburgh.

The Scoring:  
1st Period
Jean-Gabriel Pageau (11) Pierre Engvall (17), Anders Lee (16) 12:22 NYI 1,NJD 0
Kyle Palmieri (29) Mike Reilly (17), Brock Nelson (34) 16:52 NYI 2,NJD 0 PPG

2nd Period
Timo Meier (28) Jesper Bratt (56), Nico Hischier (40) 03:25 NYI 2,NJD 1
Brock Nelson (33) Hudson Fasching (10), Kyle Palmieri (24) 11:48 NYI 3,NJD 1

3rd Period
Kyle MacLean (4) Anders Lee (17), Pierre Engvall (18) 06:17 NYI 4,NJD 1

The Skinny     
The Isles are 18-10-4 since the All-Star Break … Since Christmas, the Isles are 11-7-4 at home and 11-12-3 on the road… The Isles' defense has 78 points under Patrick Roy (15-63-78) and have 68 points in the last 31 games (14-54-68)…The Isles have outscored their opponents 73-50 in the first period (tied-fewest allowed in NHL), but have been outscored 105-81 in the second period (2nd-most allowed in NHL); the 55 goal difference would be the second-highest between any two periods in club history (56 in 1984-85, 41 in 1995-96)…The Isles have been outscored 98-86 in the third period and overtime this season, but that reflects a 20-5 difference in empty-net goals…The Isles have been outscored 67-41 in the second period since the Christmas break and have allowed at least two goals in 21 of the 47 games; however the Isles have had a clean sheet in five of the last seven second periods…The Isles are 7-0-1 in their last eight games, 9-2-1 in their last twelve, and 15-7-1 in their last 23; they improve to a season-high eleven games over NHL-.500… The Isles are 29-1-8 when leading after two periods... The Isles are 7-0-1 in April; they won eight games in December, which is the only month that they earned more wins…Kyle Palmieri extended his point streak to six games, matching his career high; he was credited with his 8th game-winning goal (Tied-10th in NHL) with three of them happening in April….The Isles scored on their only power play to improve to 3-last 33 (9.1%)… Semyon Varlamov is 5-0-0 in April; he has allowed just eight goals this month (.946, 1.59 – best in NHL for goalies playing more than 125 minutes)…Brock Nelson, who has led the Isles in goals each of the last four seasons, tied Bo Horvat for the team lead in goals…Pierre Engvall tied his career highs with two assists/points; a third assist/point was erased by video review of an apparent late goal by Alex Romanov.

First Time in a Long Time
The Isles have made the playoffs five times in a six-year span for the first time since 1975-90, when they qualified 15 times in 16 years.

Milestone Men     
Brock Nelson scored his 274th goal, tying Pat LaFontaine (274) for most goals in the post-Cup era.
Semyon Varlamov won his 286th NHL game, tying Dan Bouchard and Jose Theodore.
Mathew Barzal played his 500th NHL game.
Adam Pelech played his 499th NHL game.
Mike Reilly played his 399th NHL game.

Tale of Three Seasons
Isles were 14-7-7 in their first 28 games, 9-13-7 in their next 29 games, and have gone 15-7-2 in their last 24 games.

Woah Noah
Noah Dobson is the first Islander defenseman with at least 70 points since 1983-84 when Denis Potvin had 85, and the first with at least 60 assists since 1983-84, when Potvin recorded 63.

Dobson has recorded only the fifth season in club history with at least 60 assists by a defenseman:  
1. Denis Potvin 70 (1978-79)
2. Denis Potvin 67 (1975-76)
3. Denis Potvin 64 (1977-78)
4. Denis Potvin 63 (1983-84)
5. Noah Dobson 60 (2023-24)

Dobson has recorded the 19th 60-assist season by an Islander.

Most Assists (Islanders, last 35 years)
1. Pierre Turgeon 74 in 1992-93
2. Mathew Barzal 63 in 2017-18
3. Noah Dobson 60 in 2023-24
4. Mathew Barzal 57 in 2023-24

Most Points (Islanders in the 2000s)
1. John Tavares   86 (2014-15)
2. Mathew Barzal 85 (2017-18)
3. John Tavares   84 (2017-18)
4. John Tavares   81 (2011-12)
5. Mathew Barzal 80 (2023-24) CURRENT

Career Year?
Bo Horvat is 33-35-68 on the season. His 33 goals are the second-highest total of his career and trail only 2022-23 (38), while his 68 points are his 2nd- highest total behind last season's 70. Horvat has set a career-high with 35 assists.

Career Year?
Kyle Palmieri now has 29 goals, one shy of his career high of 30 that was set in 2015-16. His 53 points are tied for the 2nd-highest of his career (2016-17). 

Most Game-Winning Goals, First 222 Games with Isles
Pierre Turgeon 22
Mike Bossy 21
Kyle Palmieri 17
Bryan Trotter 17

Most Game-Winning Goals in a Season (since 1993-94)
Kyle Palmieri 8 (2023-24 CURRENT)
Brock Nelson 8 (2022-23)
John Tavares 8 (2011-12 and 2014-16)


Most Career Single Goal Games Before First Multi-Goal Game (Forwards)
Sandy McCarthy 66
Jim Dowd 63
Henrik Sedin 62
Craig Berube 57
Pierre Engvall 56

Coach Roy
The Isles are 19-12-5 under Patrick Roy and have allowed only two goals or fewer in 15 of their 19 wins. Ilya Sorokin is 11-8-3 under Roy while Semyon Varlamov is 8-4-2.

Scoring Leaders Under Patrick Roy
1. Mathew Barzal 11-13-34
2. Brock Nelson 13-18-31
3. Kyle Palmieri 18-8-26 (6 GWG)
4. Bo Horvat 15-11-26 (4 GWG)
5. Noah Dobson 4-21-25

Since the Break
The Isles are 18-10-4 since the all-star break. While they were outshot 34.9-30.0 per game (-4.9) prior to the break, the Isles have out-shot their opponents 30.3-29.2 (+1.1) since the break.

Overtime is Our Time
The Isles have played 26 overtime games, tied with Boston for the NHL lead. They are 9-11 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-5 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 6-7 in overtime and 1-4 in shootouts, while Semyon Varlamov is 3-4 in overtime and 0-1 in shootouts. 

The Isles share the NHL lead with Detroit with their nine overtime goals.

Most Islander OT/SO Losses 
16 (2023-24; CURRENT)
13 (2010-11)

Most OT/SO Losses in a Season (Isles Goalie)
1. Ilya Sorokin 12 (2023-24; CURRENT)
2. Rick DiPietro 9 (2006-07)
3. Ilya Sorokin 8 (2022-23)
Evgeni Nabokov 8 (2013-14)

Most Career OT/SO Losses (Isles Goalie)
Ilya Sorokin 30 (CURRENT)
Rick DiPietro 28 

Empty Netters 
The Isles have scored 5 empty-net goals and allowed 20.

Most Empty-Net Goals Allowed (Isles):
1. 20  2023-24 (CURRENT)
2. 18  2021-22
3. 17  2022-23
4. 14  2011-12

Killing Their Own PP
The Isles have taken a penalty to interrupt their power play 21 times this season.

Power Play Up; Penalty Killing Down
The Isles have scored 45 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.
The Isles have allowed 61 power play goals (most since they allowed 63 in 2017-18); they allowed 39 all last season. 

Under Patrick Roy, the Isles Power Play is 17-105 (16.1%) and the Penalty Kill is 24-82 (70.7%). 
 
Building on a Lead
The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 56 times this season:
Score the next goal: 16 times
Allowed the next goal: 33 times
Game ended with 2-goal difference: 7 times 

Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 4,023
2. Matt Martin 3,850

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. 

The 25-Goal Club
Brock Nelson is the 8th player in club history to have at least six seasons of at least 25 goals:
Bryan Trottier 12
Mike Bossy 10
John Tavares/ Clark Gillies 7
Pat LaFontaine/ Brent Sutter/ Anders Lee/ Brock Nelson 6

Last Year vs. This Year
2023-24  37-27-16 for 92 points in 81 games
2022-23  41-31-9 for 91 points in 81 games

Offense from Defense
Today:   0-1-1
Season: 32-133-165
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.

Lots of Work for Sorokin

Most shots against 
Juuse Saros 1,845
Ilya Sorokin 1,777
Connor Hellebuyck 1,775
Alexandar Georgiev 1,770 
Jordan Binnington 1,749

No goalie has ever played the full season for the Islanders and led the NHL in this category; Kelly Hrudey led the NHL in 1988-89; he was traded at the deadline to Los Angeles.

Facing 40
Ilya Sorokin has faced at least forty shots eleven times this season and 28 times in his career. 

Most Games, 40+ Shots in a Season vs Isles Goalie
1. Ilya Sorokin 11 2023-24
    Jaroslav Halak 11  2017-18
2. Gerry Desjardins 10 1972-73
No other NHL goalie has faced 40+ shots more than eight times this season.

Most games, 40+ Shots (Since 2021-22)
1. John Gibson 34
2. Ilya Sorokin 28
3. Darcy Kuemper 24
4. Sam Montembault 22
    Karel Vejmelka 22

Most Games, 40+ Shots (Islander History)
1. Billy Smith 46   (674 games)
2. Ilya Sorokin 28 (191 games)
3. Kelly Hrudey 27(241 games)

Sorokin has made at least 40 saves seven times this season and a franchise-record 17 times in his career. 

Varly, Varly
Semyon Varlamov has 41 career shutouts and 286 career wins. Among active NHL goalies (and excluding Carey Price, who is technically still active), Varlamov is seventh in wins and fourth in shutouts.

All-time Goalie Wins
47. Ed Giacomin 290
48. Jose Theodore 286
      Dan Bouchard 286
      Semyon Varlamov 286

Good Company 
Semyon Varlamov is 3rd among qualified goalies in save percentage:
1. Anthony Stolarz FLA   .926 
2. Connor Hellebuyck WPG.922 
3. Semyon Varlamov NYI .918
4. Thatcher Demko VAN  .917

Home and Road
The Isles are 38-27-16 overall; they are 20-10-10 at home and 18-17-6 on the road.
New Jersey is 38-39-5 overall; they are 17-21-3 at home and 21-18-2 on the road.

East and West
The Isles are 24-15-10 against the East (12-7-6 vs. Metropolitan and 12-8-4 vs. Atlantic) and 14-12-6 against the West (8-6-2 vs. Central and 6-6-4 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 121 games at UBS Arena and recorded 88 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 1,443
3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack
Lou Lamoriello (1,443) and Patrick Roy (149) have combined for 1,592 career wins as general manager and coach. That is the highest in the NHL among active combos by a wide margin.

First Things First
The Isles are 26-5-10 when scoring first and are 12-22-6 when allowing the opening goal. Under Patrick Roy, the Isles are 13-2-1 when they score first and are 6-10-4 when they do not.

The Shots
Isles        5-4-9=18
New Jersey 8-9-7=24
The Isles are 15-10-6 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 22-16-10 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets
Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves; he is 14-8-4 on the season and 9-4-0 vs. New Jersey.
Jake Allen made 14 saves; he is 12-18-4 on the season and 2-5-0 vs the Isles.

Special Teams
The Isles were 1-1 on the power play (1:26); the New Jersey were 0-3 on the power play (6:00).

The Isles are 19-8-9 when they score at least one power play goal and 19-19-7 when they do not. The Isles are 13-18-10 when they allow at least one power play goal and 25-9-6 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 34-5-11 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 4-22-5 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 20-3-16 in games decided by a single goal including 10-3 in regulation. They are 9-11 in games decided in overtime and are 1-5 in shootouts. The Isles are 5-6 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Most One-Goal Wins
26 2014-15 
23 2007-08 
21 2015-16 
21 2005-06 
20 2023-24 CURRENT

Back-to-Backs     
The Isles went 5-1-4 in the front end and 1-6-3 in the back end this season. 

Fewest Wins on Back-end
0 1972-73 (0-22-3)
1 2023-24 (1-6-3)
2 2012-13 (1-5-1; 48-game schedule)
3 1994-95 (2-3-3; 48-game schedule)

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Alex Romanov (22:57); New Jersey: Luke Hughes (24:35)
Bo Horvat led Islander forwards with 19:34 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (11-2-2), Noah Dobson (22-22-9), Alex Romanov (3-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-2), Matthew Barzal (1-1-2), Bo Horvat (1-0-0).

Face-offs
Isles 24, New Jersey 26 (48%)
Bo Horvat won 9 of 13 for the Isles; Chris Tierney 4 of 4 for New Jersey.

Hit Count
Isles 18 (Alexander Romanov -6)
New Jersey 11 (Three with 2)

Fights 
None. Season total: 13 (Martin 5, Lee 3, Pelech 1, Mayfield 1, Horvat 1, MacLean 1, Pageau 1)
 
Blocked Shots
Isles 21 (Alexander Romanov -6)
New Jersey 11 (Brendan Smith -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 43, New Jersey 54
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 37, New Jersey 46
 
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Mathew Barzal +9
New Jersey: Alex Holtz +11

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 11, New Jersey 9
5-on-5: Isles 9, New Jersey 8

Scratches
(Scott Mayfield – LTIR), (Noah Dobson – INJ), Simon Holmstrom, Oliver Wahlstrom, Samuel Bolduc
Games Lost to injury: 179

The Ironmen
Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 193 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (165) and Kyle Palmieri (115) are the only other Islanders to have played at least 100 consecutive games. Two other Islanders: Cal Clutterbuck (96) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (95) have played every game this season.

Most Overtime Goals, Season (Islanders)
1. John Tavares 4 (2014-15)
2. Bo Horvat 3 (2023-24)
Brock Nelson 3 (2019-20)
John Tavares 3 (2010-11)

Most Overtime Assists, Career (Islanders)
1. Mathew Barzal 15
2. John Tavares 12

Most Overtime Points, Career (Islanders)
1. John Tavares 23
2. Mathew Barzal 20
3. Brock Nelson 18
Barzal has a point on 20 of the 39 overtime goals that the Isles have scored since he became a regular in 2016-17.

National TV Games 
The Isles are 5-2-4 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners. 

Matinee Isles
The Isles went 1-4-2 in matinee games this season (1-3-1 at home, including an OT loss at Met Life). 
The NHL considers games that start before 5:00 local time to be afternoon games. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the Isles are 13-13-10 in matinees.

Challenges
Isles: 2 successful, 4 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2), OTT offside (11/24), LA no goalie interference (12/9), VGK no goalie interference (1/6), PIT no hand pass (2/20) , BUF no goalie interference (3/14)

Opponents: 5 successful, 3 failures – BUF no offsides (10/21), CAR no high-stick (11/30); ANA goalie interference (12/13), CGY offside (2/10), TB offside (2/24), FLA goalie interference (3/28); FLA no goalie interference (3/28), NYR offside (4/13)

Quickies
The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute eight times this season (four times at home – CBJ 12/7 x2, WSH 12/29, NYR 2/18-MetLife and four times on road-@OTT 11/24, @ARI 1/4, @SJ 3/7, @PHL 4/1) and allowed two in the same span nine times (COL 10/25 x2, MIN 11/8, @MTL 12/16, PIT 12/27, @NAS 1/13, @PIT 2/20, @STL 2/22 (3 in :32), @ TB 3/30)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins
The Isles have come from at least two goals behind in the third period to win one time this season and have allowed the opposition to do so five times.
For (1): LA 12/9 (trailed 0-2, won 3-2 in OT)
Vs (5): DET 10/30 (trailed 0-2, won 4-3 in OT); CAR 11/4 (trailed 1-3, won 4-3 in OT) ; @ NJ 11/28 (trailed 2-4, won 5-4 in regulation); SJ 12/5 (trailed 1-4; won 5-3 in OT); NYR 2/18 (trailed 3-5, won 6-5 in OT)

Last Minute Heroes:
The Isles have scored four goals and have allowed six goals in the final three minutes of the third period to tie or go-ahead:
For (5): Bo Horvat 10/20 vs NJ 18:49 (Isles lost in OT); Simon Holmstrom 12/13 vs ANA 18:27 (GWG); Kyle Palmieri 1/27 vs FLA 18:31 (Isles lost in OT); Pierre Engvall 2/5 @ TOR 17:58 (GWG); Bo Horvat 3/16 vs OTT 19:22 (Isles lost in OT).
Vs (8): Curtis Lazar 11/28 @ NJ 19:37 (GWG); Sebastian Aho 11/30 @ CAR 19:57 (Isles won in OT); Tomas Hertl vs SJ 18:30 (SJ won in OT); Morgan Rielly 12/11 vs TOR 19:53 (Isles won in OT); Alexandre Carrier 1/13 @ NAS 19:52 (GWG); Sean Monahan 1/25 @ MTL 17:48 (GWG); Mika Zibanejad vs NYR – Met Life 18:31 (NYR won in OT); Morgan Frost 4/1 @ PHI 19:50 (Isles won in OT)

OT Winners
For (9): Mathew Barzal (vs CAR) 11/30, Jean Gabriel Pageau (vs LA) 12/9, Bo Horvat (vs TOR) 12/11, Mathew Barzal (vs TOR) 1/11, Bo Horvat (vs DAL) 1/21, Adam Pelech (vs PIT) 2/20, Bo Horvat (vs DAL) 2/26, Brock Nelson (@ PHI) 4/1; Kyle Palmieri (vs MTL) 4/11
Vs (11): Jack Hughes (NJ) 10/20, Lucas Raymond (DET) 10/30, Sebastian Aho (CAR) 11/4, Quinn Hughes (VAN) 11/15; William Eklund (SJ) 12/5; Dylan Strome (WAS) 12/20; Nathan MacKinnon (COL) 1/2; Seth Jones (CHI) 1/19, Oliver Ekman-Larsson (FLA) 1/27; Artemi Panarin (NYR) 2/18; Brady Tkachuk 3/16

Shootout Winners
For (1): Oliver Wahlstrom (Vs CGY) 11/18
Vs (5): Kailer Yamamoto (SEA) 11/16, Tyson Foerster (PHI) 11/25, David Pastrnak (BOS) 12/15, Tomas Tatar (SEA) 2/13, Artemi Panarin (NYR) 4/13.
 
All-time Islander Leader Boards:
Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,057…
5. Clark Gillies 872 *** 6. Brock Nelson 839 *** 7. Matt Martin 822 *** 8. Bob Bourne and Casey Cizikas 814 *** 10. Anders Lee 759 *** 11. Mike Bossy 752 *** 12. Cal Clutterbuck 717…
32. Rich Pilon and Mick Vukota 509 *** 34. Mathew Barzal 500 *** 35. Adam Pelech 499  *** 36. Ed Westfall 493 *** 37. Ryan Pulock 484 *** 38. Radek Martinek 479 *** 39. Gerry Hart 476 *** 40. Mariusz Czerkawski 472 *** 41. Scott Mayfield 469 

Goals    
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. Brock Nelson 274 *** John Tavares 272 *** 9. Anders Lee 260 …
20. Kyle Okposo 139 ***21. Mathew Barzal 129…
29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Casey Cizikas 106

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …
9. Brent Sutter 323 *** 10. Stefan Persson 317 *** 11. Mathew Barzal 314…
16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Brock Nelson 255…
21. Nick Leddy 198 *** 22. Pierre Turgeon and Anders Lee 193…
31. David Volek 154 *** 32. Mariusz Czerkawski and Noah Dobson 150 *** 34. Travis Green 145 *** 35. Ryan Pulock 142

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
10. Bob Bourne 542 *** 11. Brock Nelson 529 *** 12. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 13. Derek King 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Anders Lee 453 *** 16. Billy Harris 443 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 442…
31. Nick Leddy and Casey Cizikas 243

+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105  *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Adam Pelech +75  ***17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67  

Defense Goals
1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57…
4. Stefan Persson 52 *** 5. Ryan Pulock 48 *** 6. Jean Potvin 46 *** 7. Nick Leddy 45 *** 8. Roman Hamrlik 43 *** 9. Mark Streit and Noah Dobson 40

Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…
7. Jeff Norton 166 *** 8. Noah Dobson 151 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 142…
12. Dave Lewis 117 *** 13. Adam Pelech 114… 
20. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 22. Scott Mayfield 91

Defense Points
1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…
6. Jean Potvin 213 *** 7. Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock 191…
13. Dave Lewis 141 *** 14. Adam Pelech 140 *** 15. Tom Kurvers 134 …
19. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 20. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 21. Scott Mayfield 116

Goalie Games
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 …
5. Thomas Greiss 193 *** 6. Ilya Sorokin 191 *** 7. Tommy Salo 187 *** 8. Jaroslav Halak 177 *** 9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 163

Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
5. Thomas Greiss 101 *** 6. Ilya Sorokin 94 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 73

Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 18 *** 
4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16

On the Farm   
Bridgeport is 24-37-7-2 following a 5-4 overtime loss to Lehigh Valley on Saturday in their final road game of the season. Brian Pinho and Karson Kuhlman each scored twice, with Pinho's first goal coming on a penalty shot. Ruslan Iskhakov continues to lead the team in goals (18), assists (32) and points (50).

Bridgeport ends their season with home games Friday against Lehigh Valley and Saturday against Providence.

Season Series Stats
New Jersey wins the season series 3 games to 1 (and 6 points to 3). 
 
UP NEXT
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17th – PITTSBURGH AT ISLANDERS– 7:00pm
[MSGSN (Pre-game at 6:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].
The Isles return to UBS Arena to conclude the regular season as they face the Penguins. Pittsburgh's playoff fate could be sealed by the time the teams play as a win by either Washington or Detroit on Tuesday will eliminate the Pens. 

The Isles are 1-2-0 against the Penguins this season, losing twice in a five-day period to close 2023, and winning 5-4 in overtime in Pittsburgh on an Adam Pelech overtime goal on February 20th.

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

Saturday, April 13, 2024

The Skinny on the Playoff Race

Updating for all of Saturday's results:


Saturday's Games
Rangers 3, Isles 2 (SO)
Philadelphia 1, New Jersey 0
Washington 4, Tampa Bay 2
Detroit 5, Toronto 4 (OT)
Boston 6, Pittsburgh 4

Playoff Chase 
3rd Metro Isles         90 points (27 RW) in 80 games  (MON at New Jersey, WED vs. Pittsburgh)
2nd WC  Washington  87 points (30 RW) in 80 games  (MON vs. Boston, TUE at Philadelphia)
3rd  WC  Detroit         87 points (27 RW) in 80 games  (MON vs. Montreal, TUE at Montreal)
4th  WC Philadelphia 87 points (30 RW) in 81 games  (TUE vs. Washington)
5th WC Pittsburgh     86 points (31 RW) in 80 games  (MON vs. Nashville, WED at Isles)

Maximum Points & Regulation Wins (two teams qualify)
Isles 94/29
Washington 91/32
Detroit 91/29
Pittsburgh 90/33
Philadelphia 89/31

Magic Number Time
The Isles are guaranteed to finish ahead of Columbus, Montreal, Ottawa, New Jersey, Buffalo, and Philadelphia. They need to finish ahead of (at least) two of these teams to make playoffs (Magic number in parenthesis): Detroit (2), Washington (2), Pittsburgh (1). Thus, their magic number is two to clinch 3rd place in the Metro and is two to clinch a wild card. 

Sunday's Games
None

Monday's Games (all at 7pm)
Isles at New Jersey
Nashville at Pittsburgh
Boston at Washington
Montreal at Detroit 

The Isles will be third in the Metro after Monday's games regardless of any results.

Monday's Clinching Scenarios:
IF Isles win – Isles clinch 3rd in Metro

IF Isles lose in OT/SO AND Washington loses in any fashion – Isles clinch 3rd in Metro
IF Isles lose in OT/SO AND Washington wins AND Detroit loses in any fashion – Isles clinch 2nd WC

If Isles lose in regulation, they would still clinch a playoff spot if AT LEAST two of these things happen:
Washington loses in regulation
Detroit loses in regulation
Pittsburgh loses in any fashion
 (If Washington loses in regulation and Pittsburgh loses in any fashion, Isles would clinch 3rd in Metro; otherwise the Isles would clinch 2nd wild card with this combination.)



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: Rangers 3, Isles 2 (SO)

“The Skinny”

By Eric Hornick

Game 80
Rangers 3, Isles 2 (SO)   
(Updated to reflect Saturday night's results)

Artemi Panarin scored the tying goal with 4:17 to play and then had the deciding goal in the shootout as the Rangers rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the Isles 3-2 before a sellout crowd of 18,006 at Madison Square Garden. 

Brock Nelson scored twice for the Isles to move into 7th place in club history in goals as the Isles lowered their magic number to two points to clinch a playoff spot. It was a franchise-record 54th win for the Rangers.

After Saturday’s game were complete, the Isles remained in third place in the Metro Division, three points ahead of Washington and four points ahead of Pittsburgh. Their magic number to clinch a playoff spot and to clinch a wild card berth is down to 2. The Isles are 18-12-5 under Patrick Roy and 37-27-16 overall. 

The Isles head to Prudential Center on Monday before closing the regular season at home on Wednesday against Pittsburgh.

The Scoring:  
1st Period
No Goals

2nd Period
Braden Schneider (5) Mika Zibanejad (45), Chris Kreider (34) 04:33 NYI 0,NYR 1 SHG
Brock Nelson (31) Kyle Palmieri (22), Hudson Fasching (8) 11:42 NYI 1,NYR 1
Brock Nelson (32) Hudson Fasching (9), Kyle Palmieri (23) 19:32 NYI 2,NYR 1

3rd Period
Artemi Panarin (48) Vincent Trocheck (52) 15:43 NYI 2,NYR 2

OT
No Goals

The Shootout
Artemi Panarin (G/GDG)/Kyle Palmieri (NG)
Mika Zibanejad (NG)/Brock Nelson (NG)
Vincent Trocheck (G)

The Isles are 1-5 in the shootout while the Rangers are 4-3… Ilya Sorokin falls to 6-13 in his career in shootouts while Igor Shesterkin improves to 10-8…The Isles are 4-17 in their last 21 shootouts...The Isles have scored on 5 of 24 shootout attempts, with Bo Horvat and Oliver Wahlstrom each scoring twice and Simon Holmstrom scoring once…Islander goalies have stopped 14 of 23 opponent shootout attempts…It was Artemi Panarin's 11th career game deciding goal as he improves to 27 of 45 in his career (60%)...It was the first time the teams had faced each other in a shootout since October 19, 2017, and the first time that the Rangers won a shootout from the Isles since March 5, 2007….The Isles are 8-2 all-time in shootouts against the Rangers.

The Skinny     
The Isles are 17-10-4 since the All-Star Break … Since Christmas, the Isles are 11-7-4 at home and 10-12-3 on the road… The Isles’ defense has 77 points under Patrick Roy (15-62-77) and have 67 points in the last 30 games (14-53-67)…The Isles have outscored their opponents 71-50 in the first period (2nd-fewest allowed in NHL), but have been outscored 104-80 in the second period (most allowed in NHL); the 54 goal difference would be the second-highest between any two periods in club history (56 in 1984-85, 41 in 1995-96)…The Isles have been outscored 98-85 in the third period and overtime this season, but that reflects a 20-5 difference in empty-net goals…The Isles have been outscored 66-40 in the second period since the Christmas break and have allowed at least two goals in 21 of the 46 games; however the Isles have had a clean sheet in five of the last second periods…The Isles are 6-0-1 in their last seven games, 8-2-1 in their last eleven, and 14-7-1 in their last 22; they remain a season-high ten games over NHL-.500… The Isles are 28-1-8 when leading after two periods... The Isles are 6-0-1 in April; they won eight games in December, which is the only month that they earned more wins.…Noah Dobson (upper body) missed his first game of the season, ending his streak at 109 consecutive games…Kyle Palmieri extended his point streak to five games but saw his goal streak end at four games…Ilya Sorokin is now 2-2-2 against Igor Shesterkin….The Isles power play is 2-last 32 (6.3%)… Mika Zibanejad extended his assist streak to five games while Artemi Panarin extended his point streak to 12 games (10-14-24), matching the 3rd-longest streak of his career…The Rangers have outscored their opponents 104-80 in the third period…Brock Nelson is now 18-17-35 in 48 games against the Rangers while Artemi Panarin is 13-27-40 in 34 games against the Isles.

Saturday’s Games
Rangers 3, Isles 2 (SO)
Philadelphia 1, New Jersey 0
Washington 4, Tampa Bay 2
Detroit 5, Toronto 4 (OT)
Boston 6, Pittsburgh 4

Playoff Chase 
3rd Metro Isles         90 points (27 RW) in 80 games  (MON at New Jersey, WED vs. Pittsburgh)
2nd WC  Washington  87 points (30 RW) in 80 games  (MON vs. Boston, TUE at Philadelphia)
------------------------------
3rd  WC  Detroit         87 points (27 RW) in 80 games  (MON vs. Montreal, TUE at Montreal)
4th  WC Philadelphia 87 points (30 RW) in 81 games  (TUE vs. Washington)
5th WC Pittsburgh     86 points (31 RW) in 80 games  (MON vs. Nashville, WED at Isles)

Maximum Points & Regulation Wins (two teams qualify)
Isles 94/29
Washington 91/32
Detroit 91/29
Pittsburgh 90/33
Philadelphia 89/31

Magic Number Time
The Isles are guaranteed to finish ahead of Columbus, Montreal, Ottawa, New Jersey, Buffalo, and Philadelphia. They need to finish ahead of (at least) two of these teams to make playoffs (Magic number in parenthesis): Detroit (2), Washington (2), Pittsburgh (1). Thus, their magic number is two to clinch 3rd place in the Metro and is two to clinch a wild card. 

Sunday’s Games
None

Monday’s Games (all at 7pm)
Isles at New Jersey
Nashville at Pittsburgh
Boston at Washington
Montreal at Detroit 

The Isles will be third in the Metro after Monday’s games regardless of any results.

Monday’s Clinching Scenarios:
IF Isles win – Isles clinch 3rd in Metro

IF Isles lose in OT/SO AND Washington loses in any fashion – Isles clinch 3rd in Metro
IF Isles lose in OT/SO AND Washington wins AND Detroit loses in any fashion – Isles clinch 2nd WC

IF Isles lose in regulation, they would still clinch a playoff spot if AT LEAST two of these things happen:
Washington loses in regulation
Detroit loses in regulation
Pittsburgh loses in any fashion
 (If Washington loses in regulation and Pittsburgh loses in any fashion, Isles would clinch 3rd in Metro; otherwise the Isles would clinch 2nd wild card with this combination.)

First Times in a Long Time
The Isles allowed a shorthanded goal for the first time since January 15th in Minnesota (and for the first time under Patrick Roy).
The Isles lost a shootout to the Rangers for the first time since March 5, 2007.
The Rangers had 20 shots in the third period; it is the most that they have had against the Isles since February 15, 2018, at Barclays when Jaroslav Halak completed his 50-save shutout with 21 saves in the third period.

Milestone Men     
Brock Nelson scored his 272nd and 273rd goals, passing John Tavares for 7th in club history.
Nelson is now one goal behind Pat LaFontaine (274) for most goals in the post-Cup era.
Mathew Barzal played his 499th NHL game.
Adam Pelech played his 498th NHL game.
Ilya Sorokin faced 40 shots for the 11th time this season, tying the team record. It was the 28th time in his career that he has faced 40 breaking a tie with Kelly Hrudey for 2nd place.

The Penalty Shot
Adam Pelech was awarded a third period penalty shot but was stopped by Igor Shesterkin. It was the second unsuccessful Islander penalty shot (Mathew Barzal) in as many games against the Rangers.
 
It was the first time since February 14-18, 2017 (Jason Chimera and John Tavares) had penalty shots in games played four days apart; that matches the shortest span between Islander penalty shots since Brad Isbister (scored vs. Phoenix) and Claude Lapointe (stopped by Florida) had attempts on January 10-12, 2000.

It is only the second time that the Isles have had two penalty shots against one opponent in the same season; prior to this week the last two penalty shots were on October 25 and November 5, 2019, with both being scored on Ottawa (Nick Leddy and Cole Bardreau).

Woah Noah
Noah Dobson is the first Islander defenseman with at least 70 points since 1983-84 when Denis Potvin had 85, and the first with at least 60 assists since 1983-84, when Potvin recorded 63.

Dobson has recorded only the fifth season in club history with at least 60 assists by a defenseman:  
1. Denis Potvin 70 (1978-79)
2. Denis Potvin 67 (1975-76)
3. Denis Potvin 64 (1977-78)
4. Denis Potvin 63 (1983-84)
5. Noah Dobson 60 (2023-24)

Dobson has recorded the 19th 60-assist season by an Islander.

Most Assists (Islanders, last 35 years)
1. Pierre Turgeon 74 in 1992-93
2. Mathew Barzal 63 in 2017-18
3. Noah Dobson 60 in 2023-24
4. Mathew Barzal 57 in 2023-24

Streaking Barzal
Mathew Barzal has 41 points at home and 39 points on the road; he needs one more road point for his second career "40/40" season.

Most Points (Islanders in the 2000s)
1. John Tavares   86 (2014-15)
2. Mathew Barzal 85 (2017-18)
3. John Tavares   84 (2017-18)
4. John Tavares   81 (2011-12)
5. Mathew Barzal 80 (2023-24) CURRENT

Career Year?
Bo Horvat is 33-35-68 on the season. His 33 goals are the second-highest total of his career and trail only 2022-23 (38), while his 68 points are his 2nd- highest total behind last season's 70. Horvat has set a career-high with 35 assists.

Career Year?
Kyle Palmieri now has 28 goals, marking his second-highest total. His career high of 30 was set in 2015-16. His 51 points are the 3rd-highest of his career and most since 2016-17 (53). 

Most Game-Winning Goals, First 221 Games with Isles
Pierre Turgeon 22
Mike Bossy 21
Bryan Trotter 17
Kyle Palmieri 16

Most Career Single Goal Games Before First Multi-Goal Game (Forwards)
Sandy McCarthy 66
Jim Dowd 63
Henrik Sedin 62
Craig Berube 57
Pierre Engvall 56

Coach Roy
The Isles are 18-12-5 under Patrick Roy and have allowed only two goals or fewer in 14 of their 18 wins. Ilya Sorokin is 11-8-3 under Roy while Semyon Varlamov is 7-4-2.

Scoring Leaders Under Patrick Roy
1. Mathew Barzal 11-13-34
2. Brock Nelson 12-17-29
3. Bo Horvat 15-11-26 (4 GWG)
4. Noah Dobson 4-21-25
5. Kyle Palmieri 17-7-24 (5 GWG)

Since the Break
The Isles are 17-10-4 since the all-star break. While they were outshot 34.9-30.0 per game (-4.9) prior to the break, the Isles have out-shot their opponents 30.7-29.3 (+1.4) since the break.

Overtime is Our Time
The Isles have played 26 overtime games, tying Boston for the NHL lead. They are 9-11 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-5 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 6-7 in overtime and 1-4 in shootouts, while Semyon Varlamov is 3-4 in overtime and 0-1 in shootouts. 

The Isles share the NHL lead with Detroit with their nine overtime goals.

Most Islander OT/SO Losses 
16 (2023-24; CURRENT)
13 (2010-11)

Most OT/SO Losses in a Season (Isles Goalie)
1. Ilya Sorokin 12 (2023-24; CURRENT)
2. Rick DiPietro 9 (2006-07)
3. Ilya Sorokin 8 (2022-23)
Evgeni Nabokov 8 (2013-14)

Most Career OT/SO Losses (Isles Goalie)
Ilya Sorokin 30 (CURRENT)
Rick DiPietro 28 

Empty Netters 
The Isles have scored 5 empty-net goals and allowed 20.

Most Empty-Net Goals Allowed (Isles):
1. 20  2023-24 (CURRENT)
2. 18  2021-22
3. 17  2022-23
4. 14  2011-12

Killing Their Own PP
The Isles have taken a penalty to interrupt their power play 21 times this season.

Power Play Up; Penalty Killing Down
The Isles have scored 44 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.
The Isles have allowed 61 power play goals (most since they allowed 63 in 2017-18); they allowed 39 all last season. 

Under Patrick Roy, the Isles Power Play is 16-104 (15.4%) and the Penalty Kill is 24-79 (69.6%). 
 
Building on a Lead
The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 54 times this season:
Score the next goal: 15 times
Allowed the next goal: 32 times
Game ended with 2-goal difference: 7 times 

Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 4,022
2. Matt Martin 3,848

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. 

The 25-Goal Club
Brock Nelson is the 8th player in club history to have at least six seasons of at least 25 goals:
Bryan Trottier 12
Mike Bossy 10
John Tavares/ Clark Gillies 7
Pat LaFontaine/ Brent Sutter/ Anders Lee/ Brock Nelson 6

Last Year vs. This Year
2023-24  37-27-16 for 90 points in 80 games
2022-23  41-30-9 for 91 points in 80 games

Offense from Defense
Today:   0-0-0
Season: 32-132-164
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.

Lots of Work for Sorokin
Most shots against (through Isles' game on Saturday)
Ilya Sorokin 1,777
Juuse Saros 1,772
Jordan Binnington 1,749
Connor Hellebuyck 1,745
Alexandar Georgiev 1,725 

No goalie has ever played the full season for the Islanders and led the NHL in this category; Kelly Hrudey led the NHL in 1988-89; he was traded at the deadline to Los Angeles.

Facing 40
Ilya Sorokin has faced at least forty shots eleven times this season and 28 times in his career. 

Most Games, 40+ Shots in a Season vs Isles Goalie
1. Ilya Sorokin 11 2023-24
Jaroslav Halak 11  2017-18
2. Gerry Desjardins 10 1972-73
No other NHL goalie has faced 40+ shots more than eight times this season.

Most games, 40+ Shots (Since 2021-22)
1. John Gibson 34
2. Ilya Sorokin 28
3. Darcy Kuemper 24
4. Sam Montembault 22
    Karel Vejmelka 22

Most Games, 40+ Shots (Islander History)
1. Billy Smith 46   (674 games)
2. Ilya Sorokin 28 (191 games)
3. Kelly Hrudey 27(241 games)

Sorokin has made at least 40 saves seven times this season and a franchise-record 17 times in his career. 

Varly, Varly
Semyon Varlamov has 41 career shutouts and 284 career wins. Among active NHL goalies (and excluding Carey Price, who is technically still active), Varlamov is seventh in wins and fourth in shutouts.

All-time Goalie Wins
48. Jose Theodore 286
      Dan Bouchard 286
50. Semyon Varlamov 285

Joining the Leaderboard
Semyon Varlamov is in 6th place among qualified goalies in save percentage:

1. Anthony Stolarz FLA   .926 
2. Connor Hellebuyck WPG.920 
3. Joey Daccord SEA      .917 
4. Linus Ullmark BOS      .917
5. Thatcher Demko VAN  .917
6. Semyon Varlamov NYI .916
7. Cam Talbot LAK           .916  

Home and Road
The Isles are 37-27-16 overall; they are 20-10-10 at home and 17-17-6 on the road.
The Rangers are 54-23-4 overall; they are 29-11-0 at home and 25-12-4 on the road.

East and West
The Isles are 23-15-10 against the East (11-7-6 vs. Metropolitan and 12-8-4 vs. Atlantic) and 14-12-6 against the West (8-6-2 vs. Central and 6-6-4 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 121 games at UBS Arena and recorded 88 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 1,442
3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack
Lou Lamoriello (1,442) and Patrick Roy (148) have combined for 1,590 career wins as general manager and coach. That is the highest in the NHL among active combos by a wide margin.

First Things First
The Isles are 25-5-10 when scoring first and are 12-22-6 when allowing the opening goal. Under Patrick Roy, the Isles are 12-2-1 when they score first and are 6-10-4 when they do not.

The Shots
Isles    11-9-11-4=35
Rangers  13-10-20-0=43
The Isles are 15-10-6 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 21-16-10 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 41 saves; he is 24-19-12 on the season and 3-3-2 vs. the Rangers.
Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves; he is 35-17-2 on the season and 5-8-1 vs the Isles.

Special Teams
The Isles were 0-5 on the power play (9:47, including a :13 5-on-5) and allowed a shorthanded goal; the Rangers were 0-1 on the power play (2:00).

The Isles are 18-8-9 when they score at least one power play goal and 19-19-7 when they do not. The Isles are 13-18-10 when they allow at least one power play goal and 24-9-6 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 33-5-11 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 4-22-5 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 20-3-16 in games decided by a single goal including 10-3 in regulation. They are 9-11 in games decided in overtime and are 1-5 in shootouts. The Isles are 5-6 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Most One-Goal Wins
26 2014-15 
23 2007-08 
21 2015-16 
21 2005-06 
20 2023-24 CURRENT

Back-to-Backs     
The Isles went 5-1-4 in the front end and 1-6-3 in the back end this season. 

Fewest Wins on Back-end
0 1972-73 (0-22-3)
1 2023-24 (1-6-3)
2 2012-13 (1-5-1; 48-game schedule)
3 1994-95 (2-3-3; 48-game schedule)

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Mathew Barzal (25:42); Rangers: Vincent Trocheck (24:33)
Mathew Barzal led Islander forwards with 25:42 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (11-2-2), Noah Dobson (22-22-9), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-2), Matthew Barzal (1-1-2), Bo Horvat (1-0-0).

Face-offs
Isles 26, Rangers 32 (55%)
Kyle MacLean won 5 of 8 for the Isles; Barclay Goodrow won 6 of 8 for the Rangers.

Hit Count
Isles 18 (Alexander Romanov -4)
Rangers 25 (Matt Rempe -4)

Fights 
None. Season total: 13 (Martin 5, Lee 3, Pelech 1, Mayfield 1, Horvat 1, MacLean 1, Pageau 1)
 
Blocked Shots
Isles 25 (Robert Bortuzzo -7)
Rangers 14 (Adam Fox -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 67, Rangers 93
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 54, Rangers 73
 
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Bo Horvat +3
Rangers: Chris Kreider +16

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 15, Rangers 20
5-on-5: Isles 13, Rangers 14

Scratches
(Scott Mayfield – LTIR), (Noah Dobson – INJ), Simon Holmstrom, Oliver Wahlstrom, Samuel Bolduc
Games Lost to injury: 177

The Ironmen
Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 192 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (164) and Kyle Palmieri (114) are the only other Islanders to have played at least 100 consecutive games. Two other Islanders: Cal Clutterbuck (95) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (94) have played every game this season.

Most Overtime Goals, Season (Islanders)
1. John Tavares 4 (2014-15)
2. Bo Horvat 3 (2023-24)
    Brock Nelson 3 (2019-20)
    John Tavares 3 (2010-11)

Most Overtime Assists, Career (Islanders)
1. Mathew Barzal 15
2. John Tavares 12

Most Overtime Points, Career (Islanders)
1. John Tavares 23
2. Mathew Barzal 20
3. Brock Nelson 18
Barzal has a point on 20 of the 39 overtime goals that the Isles have scored since he became a regular in 2016-17.

National TV Games 
The Isles are 5-2-4 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners. The final nationally televised game will be on April 13 (ABC) at the Rangers.

Matinee Isles
The Isles went 1-4-2 in matinee games this season (1-3-1 at home, including an OT loss at Met Life). 
The NHL considers games that start before 5:00 local time to be afternoon games. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the Isles are 13-13-10 in matinees.

Challenges
Isles: 2 successful, 4 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2), OTT offside (11/24), LA no goalie interference (12/9), VGK no goalie interference (1/6), PIT no hand pass (2/20) , BUF no goalie interference (3/14)

Opponents: 5 successful, 3 failures – BUF no offsides (10/21), CAR no high-stick (11/30); ANA goalie interference (12/13), CGY offside (2/10), TB offside (2/24), FLA goalie interference (3/28); FLA no goalie interference (3/28), NYR offside (4/13)

Quickies
The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute eight times this season (four times at home – CBJ 12/7 x2, WSH 12/29, NYR 2/18-MetLife and four times on road-@OTT 11/24, @ARI 1/4, @SJ 3/7, @PHL 4/1) and allowed two in the same span nine times (COL 10/25 x2, MIN 11/8, @MTL 12/16, PIT 12/27, @NAS 1/13, @PIT 2/20, @STL 2/22 (3 in :32), @ TB 3/30)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins
The Isles have come from at least two goals behind in the third period to win one time this season and have allowed the opposition to do so five times.
For (1): LA 12/9 (trailed 0-2, won 3-2 in OT)
Vs (5): DET 10/30 (trailed 0-2, won 4-3 in OT); CAR 11/4 (trailed 1-3, won 4-3 in OT) ; @ NJ 11/28 (trailed 2-4, won 5-4 in regulation); SJ 12/5 (trailed 1-4; won 5-3 in OT); NYR 2/18 (trailed 3-5, won 6-5 in OT)

Last Minute Heroes:
The Isles have scored four goals and have allowed six goals in the final three minutes of the third period to tie or go-ahead:
For (5): Bo Horvat 10/20 vs NJ 18:49 (Isles lost in OT); Simon Holmstrom 12/13 vs ANA 18:27 (GWG); Kyle Palmieri 1/27 vs FLA 18:31 (Isles lost in OT); Pierre Engvall 2/5 @ TOR 17:58 (GWG); Bo Horvat 3/16 vs OTT 19:22 (Isles lost in OT).
Vs (8): Curtis Lazar 11/28 @ NJ 19:37 (GWG); Sebastian Aho 11/30 @ CAR 19:57 (Isles won in OT); Tomas Hertl vs SJ 18:30 (SJ won in OT); Morgan Rielly 12/11 vs TOR 19:53 (Isles won in OT); Alexandre Carrier 1/13 @ NAS 19:52 (GWG); Sean Monahan 1/25 @ MTL 17:48 (GWG); Mika Zibanejad vs NYR – Met Life 18:31 (NYR won in OT); Morgan Frost 4/1 @ PHI 19:50 (Isles won in OT)

OT Winners
For (9): Mathew Barzal (vs CAR) 11/30, Jean Gabriel Pageau (vs LA) 12/9, Bo Horvat (vs TOR) 12/11, Mathew Barzal (vs TOR) 1/11, Bo Horvat (vs DAL) 1/21, Adam Pelech (vs PIT) 2/20, Bo Horvat (vs DAL) 2/26, Brock Nelson (@ PHI) 4/1; Kyle Palmieri (vs MTL) 4/11
Vs (11): Jack Hughes (NJ) 10/20, Lucas Raymond (DET) 10/30, Sebastian Aho (CAR) 11/4, Quinn Hughes (VAN) 11/15; William Eklund (SJ) 12/5; Dylan Strome (WAS) 12/20; Nathan MacKinnon (COL) 1/2; Seth Jones (CHI) 1/19, Oliver Ekman-Larsson (FLA) 1/27; Artemi Panarin (NYR) 2/18; Brady Tkachuk 3/16

Shootout Winners
For (1): Oliver Wahlstrom (Vs CGY) 11/18
Vs (5): Kailer Yamamoto (SEA) 11/16, Tyson Foerster (PHI) 11/25, David Pastrnak (BOS) 12/15, Tomas Tatar (SEA) 2/13, Artemi Panarin (NYR) 4/13.
 
All-time Islander Leader Boards:
Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,057…
5. Clark Gillies 872 *** 6. Brock Nelson 838 *** 7. Matt Martin 821 *** 8. Bob Bourne 814 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 813 *** 10. Anders Lee 758 *** 11. Mike Bossy 752 *** 12. Cal Clutterbuck 716…
32. Rich Pilon and Mick Vukota 509 *** 34. Mathew Barzal 499 *** 35. Adam Pelech 498  *** 36. Ed Westfall 493 *** 37. Ryan Pulock 483 *** 38. Radek Martinek 479 *** 39. Gerry Hart 476 *** 40. Mariusz Czerkawski 472 *** 41. Scott Mayfield 469 

Goals    
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. Brock Nelson 273 *** John Tavares 272 *** 9. Anders Lee 260 …
20. Kyle Okposo 139 ***21. Mathew Barzal 129…
29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Casey Cizikas 106

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …
9. Brent Sutter 323 *** 10. Stefan Persson 317 *** 11. Mathew Barzal 314…
16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Brock Nelson 254…
21. Nick Leddy 198 *** 22. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 23. Anders Lee 192…
31. David Volek 154 *** 32. Mariusz Czerkawski and Noah Dobson 150 *** 34. Travis Green 145 *** 35. Ryan Pulock 142

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
10. Bob Bourne 542 *** 11. Brock Nelson 527 *** 12. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 13. Derek King 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Anders Lee 451 *** 16. Billy Harris 443 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 442…
31. Nick Leddy and Casey Cizikas 243

+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105  *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Adam Pelech +75  ***17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67  

Defense Goals
1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57…
4. Stefan Persson 52 *** 5. Ryan Pulock 48 *** 6. Jean Potvin 46 *** 7. Nick Leddy 45 *** 8. Roman Hamrlik 43 *** 9. Mark Streit and Noah Dobson 40

Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…
7. Jeff Norton 166 *** 8. Noah Dobson 151 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 142…
12. Dave Lewis 117 *** 13. Adam Pelech 114… 
20. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 22. Scott Mayfield 91

Defense Points
1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…
6. Jean Potvin 213 *** 7. Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock 191…
13. Dave Lewis 141 *** 14. Adam Pelech 140 *** 15. Tom Kurvers 134 …
19. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 20. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 21. Scott Mayfield 116

Goalie Games
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 …
5. Thomas Greiss 193 *** 6. Ilya Sorokin 191 *** 7. Tommy Salo 187 *** 8. Jaroslav Halak 177 *** 9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 162

Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
5. Thomas Greiss 101 *** 6. Ilya Sorokin 94 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 72

Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 18 *** 
4. Rick DiPietro and Semyon Varlamov 16

On the Farm   
Bridgeport is 24-37-6-2 following a 5-2 loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday. They face Lehigh Valley on Sunday in their final road game of the season. 
Ruslan Iskhakov continues to lead the team in goals (18), assists (31) and points (49).

Season Series Stats
The Rangers win the season series 3 games to 1 (and 6 points to 4). 

The Isles are 0-2-1 in their last three games at MSG after winning the previous five meetings there. 

UP NEXT
MONDAY, APRIL 15th –ISLANDERS AT NEW JERSEY– 7:00pm
[MSGSN2 (Pre-game at 6:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].
The Isles play their final road game of the season and the penultimate game of the regular season as they face the Devils in New Jersey on Monday.

It is the final game of the season for the Devils, who will miss the playoffs and are completing the season with Jack Hughes.

The Isles are 0-2-1 against the Devils this season, losing 5-4 in overtime and 4-0 in a 36 save Kaapo Kahkonen shutout at home, and falling 5-4 in New Jersey on November 28th on a Curtis Lazar goal at 19:37 of the third period.

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