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The Skinny: New Jersey 4, Isles 0

"The Skinny" By Eric Hornick Game 71 New Jersey 4, Isles 0 Timo Meier had a Gordie Howe hat trick, all in the second period, as th...

Sunday, March 24, 2024

The Skinny: New Jersey 4, Isles 0

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 71
New Jersey 4, Isles 0
Timo Meier had a Gordie Howe hat trick, all in the second period, as the New Jersey Devils scored three times in the middle session and defeated the Islanders 4-0 before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Ilya Sorokin dropped to 0-6-0 in his last six decisions; he has allowed three goals in a period in his last five starts. The Isles are 11-11-4 under Patrick Roy and 30-26-15 overall as they fall four points behind Washington in the Wild Card race and remained six points behind Philadelphia for third place in the Metropolitan.

The Isles have three days off before playing the Florida Panthers on Thursday in Sunrise. 

The Scoring:  
1st Period
None

2nd Period
Timo Meier (23) Jack Hughes (45), Luke Hughes (31) 00:38 NJD 1,NYI 0 PPG
Jack Hughes (24) Timo Meier (20), Jesper Bratt (46) 02:57 NJD 2,NYI 0
Alexander Holtz (16) Simon Nemec (16) 06:12 NJD 3,NYI 0

3rd Period 
Chris Tierney (3)EN Erik Haula (19), Kevin Bahl (10) 15:53 NJD 4,NYI 0

The Skinny     
The Isles are 10-9-3 since the All-Star Break … Since Christmas, the Isles are 7-7-4 at home and 7-11-2 on the road… The Isles' defense has 57 points under Patrick Roy (11-46-57) and have 47 points in the last 21 games (10-37-47)…The Isles have outscored their opponents 62-42 in the first period (fewest allowed in NHL), but have been outscored 99-73 in the second period (most allowed in NHL); the 57 goal difference would be the highest between any two period in club history (56 in 1984-85, 41 in 1995-96)… The Isles have been outscored 93-76 in the third period and overtime this season, but that reflects a 19-2 difference in empty-net goals…The Isles have been outscored 61-34 in the second period since the Christmas break and have allowed at least two goals in 20 of the 38 games; the goals allowed are the most in the NHL over that span …The Isles are 8-22-5 when they allow the first goal …Mathew Barzal is 22-51-73; he has tied career high in goals and his assist and point totals are the highest since his rookie season (22-63-85 in 2017-18)....Over the last fourteen games, the Isles outscored their opponents 36-14 in their last seven during their six-game winning streak but have been outscored 30-9 in the other seven (0-6-1) games… Kyle Palmieri's home goal streak ended at five games…The Isles are 0-8-3 in their last eleven back-ends, including 0-6-3 this season…Timo Meier has an NHL-leading twelve goals in March, giving him 23 on the season…Anders Lee was assessed his first career game misconduct… Jack and Luke Hughes assisted on the same goal for the sixth time this season… The Isles have been shut-out seven times this season, all in the last 52 games…Since scoring six times in the first 35:32 on Saturday, the Isles have been outscored 6-0 in the last 84:28…Jack Hughes played his 300th NHL game…Kaapo Kahkonen beat the Isles for the second time this season; he earned the win in December with San Jose.
 
First Times in a Long Time
Anders Lee is the first Islander to receive 20 penalty minutes in either a game or a period since Ross Johnston had 27 on March 16, 2018, vs. Washington (2nd period).
It is the first time since 2011-12 (ten times) that the Isles have been shut-out at least seven times. 
The Isles have allowed 99 goals in the second period; it is the most goals  they have allowed in any period since the second period in 2017-18 (108).
• The Devils shut out the Isles in New York for the first time since February 3, 2013.

Playoff Chase
Metro Division
3rd  Philadelphia 81 points in 72 games  (Thursday at Montreal)
4th  Washington  79 points in 70 games  (Tuesday vs. Detroit, Thursday at Toronto)
5th  Isles 75 points in 71 games  (Thursday at Florida)

Wild Card
1st WC Tampa Bay  83 points in 70 games  (Sunday LATE at Anaheim, Wednesday vs. Boston)
2nd WC  Washington 79 points in 70 games  (Tuesday vs. Detroit, Thursday at Toronto)
3rd Detroit        78 points in 71 games  (Tuesday at Washington, Thursday at Carolina)
4th         Isles           75 points in 71 games   (Thursday at Florida)
5th  New Jersey 74 points in 71 games  (Tuesday at Toronto, Friday at Buffalo)
6th Buffalo        71 points in 71 games  (Sunday LATE at Calgary, Wednesday vs. Ottawa, Friday vs. New Jersey)
7th Pittsburgh    70 points in 70 games  (Tuesday vs. Carolina, Thursday vs. Columbus)

Milestone Men  
Ilya Sorokin played his 188th game, passing Tommy Salo for 6th place in club goalie history.
Brock Nelson has 270 goals, two behind John Tavares for 7th in club history.
Brock Nelson is one goal away from his third consecutive 30-goal season, a feat last accomplished for the Islanders by Matt Moulson.
Mathew Barzal has tied his career high in goals (22)
Bo Horvat now has 499 career points.
Bo Horvat has tied his career high in assists (34)
Mike Reilly now has 99 career assists.
Cal Clutterbuck has 3,997 hits as he looks to become the first NHL player with 4,000 career hits.
You are reading the 998th consecutive edition of The Skinny.

Mr. Consistency
Mathew Barzal has had five separate point streaks of at least five games this season, including an 8-game and a 7-game streak.

Woah Noah
Noah Dobson is the first Islander defenseman with at least 65 points since 1984-85 when Denis Potvin had 68, and the first with at least 57 assists since 1983-84, when Potvin recorded 63.

Dobson has recorded only the fifth season in club history with at least 57 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 57 (2023-24)

Dobson is now tied-24th overall for assists in a 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 57 in 2023-24

Career Year?
Bo Horvat is 29-34-63 on the season. His 29 goals trail only 2022-23 (38) and 2021-22 (31) while his 63 points are his 2nd- highest total behind last season's 70. Horvat has tied his career-high of 34 assists which he set in 2018-19.

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

Scoring Leaders Under Patrick Roy
1. Mathew Barzal 10-17-27
2. Brock Nelson 9-15-24
3. Bo Horvat 11-10-21 (4 GWG)
4. Noah Dobson 2-18-20
5. Kyle Palmieri 12-5-17

Since the Break
The Isles are 10-9-3 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 30.8-28.6 (+2.2) since the break.

Overtime is Our Time
The Isles have played 23 overtime games, one behind Boston for the NHL lead. They are 7-11 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-4 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 6-7 in overtime and 1-3 in shootouts, while Semyon Varlamov is 1-4 in overtime and 0-1 in shootouts. 

The NHL record for overtime games is 30, played by Boston in 2003-04. The Isles are on pace to play 26 overtime games.

The Isles have won 18 of the last 46 games decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).

Most Islander OT/SO Losses 
15 (2023-24; CURRENT)
13 (2010-11)

Most OT/SO Losses in a Season (Isles Goalie)
1. Ilya Sorokin 11 (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 29 (CURRENT)
Rick DiPietro 28 

Empty Netters 
The Isles have scored 2 empty-net goals and allowed 19.

Most Empty-Net Goals Allowed (Isles):
1. 19  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 42 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.
The Isles have allowed 56 power play goals; they allowed 39 all last season. 

Under Patrick Roy, the Isles Power Play is 14-78 (17.9%) and the Penalty Kill is 20-66 (69.7%). 
 
Building on a Lead
The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 49 times this season:
Score the next goal: 14 times
Allowed the next goal: 31 times
Game ended with 2-goal difference: 4 times 

Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,997
2. Matt Martin 3,836

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  30-26-15 for 75 points in 71 games
2022-23  36-27-8 for 80 points in 71 games

Offense from Defense
Today:   0-0-0
Season: 28-116-144
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:
Ilya Sorokin 1,688
Juuse Saros 1,585
Alexandar Georgiev 1,582
Connor Hellebuyck 1,543
Jordan Binnington 1,542

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 ten times this season and 27 times in his career. 

Most Games, 40+ Shots in a Season vs Isles Goalie
1. Jaroslav Halak 11  2017-18
2. Gerry Desjardins 10 1972-73
Ilya Sorokin 10 2023-24

No other NHL goalie has faced 40+ shots more than six times this season.

Most games, 40+ Shots (Since 2021-22)
1. John Gibson 34
2. Ilya Sorokin 27
3. Darcy Kuemper 23
4. Sam Montembault 21
Karel Vejmelka 21

Most Games, 40+ Shots (Islander History)
1. Billy Smith 46    (674 games)
2. Kelly Hrudey 27 (241 games)
Ilya Sorokin 27 (187 games)

Sorokin has made at least 40 saves six times this season and a franchise-record 16 times in his career. 

Varly, Varly
Semyon Varlamov has 40 career shutouts and 280 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
50. Tiny Thompson 284
51. Semyon Varlamov 280
52. Brian Elliott 279

Home and Road
The Isles are 30-26-15 overall; they are 16-10-10 at home and 14-16-5 on the road.
New Jersey is 35-33-4 overall; they are 17-18-2 at home and 18-15-2 on the road.

East and West
The Isles are 18-14-9 against the East (8-7-5 vs. Metropolitan and 10-7-4 vs. Atlantic) and 12-12-6 against the West (6-6-2 vs. Central and 6-6-4 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 117 games at UBS Arena and recorded 84 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 1,435
3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack
Lou Lamoriello (1,435) and Patrick Roy (141) have combined for 1,576 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 22-4-10 when scoring first and are 8-22-5 when allowing the opening goal. Under Patrick Roy, the Isles are 9-1-1 when they score first and are 2-10-3 when they do not.

The Shots
Isles           13-10-13=36
New Jersey 6-17-7=30
The Isles are 12-10-6 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 17-15-9 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 26 saves; he is 22-19-11 on the season and 6-5-1 vs. New Jersey.
Kaapo Kahkonen made 36 saves; he is 7-22-3 on the season and 4-1-0 vs the Isles.

Special Teams
The Isles were 0-5 on the power play (8:16, including :02 on a 5-on-3); New Jersey was 1-4 on the power play (7:07), including failing on a :38 5-on-3 and then scoring after :43 of a second 5-on-3).

The Isles are 16-8-9 when they score at least one power play goal and 14-18-6 when they do not. The Isles are 11-17-10 when they allow at least one power play goal and 19-9-5 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 28-5-11 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-21-4 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 16-3-15 in games decided by a single goal including 8-3 in regulation. They are 7-11 in games decided in overtime and are 1-4 in shootouts. The Isles are 2-6 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 4-1-4 in the front end and 0-6-3 in the back end this season. The final back-to-back set will be on April 1st in Philadelphia and April 2nd vs. Chicago. 

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

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Noah Dobson (25:37); New Jersey: John Marino (22:42)
Brock Nelson led Islander forwards with 21:56 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (5-2-2), Noah Dobson (22-21-9), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-2), Matthew Barzal (0-1-1), Bo Horvat (1-0-0).

Face-offs
Isles 25, New Jersey 32 (44%)
Kyle MacLean won 6 of 10 for the Isles; Tomas Nosek won 8 of 11 for New Jersey.

Hit Count
Isles 20 (Cal Clutterbuck -5)
New Jersey 13 (Kevin Bahl -4)

Fights 
Anders Lee fought Timo Meier in the second period. Season total: 11 (Martin 4, Lee 3, Pelech 1, Mayfield 1, Horvat 1, MacLean 1)
 
Blocked Shots
Isles 24 (Alexander Romanov -6)
New Jersey 15 (Nick Desimone -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 71, New Jersey 65
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 47, New Jersey 45
 
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Simon Holmstrom +9
New Jersey: Luke Hughes +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 15, New Jersey 7
5-on-5: Isles 11, New Jersey 3

Scratches
(Scott Mayfield – LTIR), Sebastian Aho, Oliver Wahlstrom, Matt Martin, Samuel Bolduc
Games Lost to injury: 167

The Ironmen
Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 183 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (155), Kyle Palmieri (105), and Noah Dobson (101) are the only other Islanders to have played at least 100 consecutive games. Two other Islanders (Cal Clutterbuck, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau) 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
Barzal has a point on 20 of the 37 overtime goals that the Isles have scored since he became a regular in 2016-17.

National TV Games 
The Isles are 5-2-3 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners. The next nationally televised game will be on April 13 (ABC) at the Rangers.

Matinee Isles
The Isles are 1-4-1 in matinee games (all at home, including an OT loss at Met Life). The final matinee game is April 13th at NYR.
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 13-13-9 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: 3 successful, 2 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)

Quickies
The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute seven times this season (four times at home – CBJ 12/7 x2, WSH 12/29, NYR 2/18-MetLife and three time on road-@OTT 11/24, @ARI 1/4, @SJ 3/7)  and allowed two in the same span eight 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))

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 (7): 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)

OT Winners
For (7): 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
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 (4): Kailer Yamamoto (SEA) 11/16, Tyson Foerster (PHI) 11/25, David Pastrnak (BOS) 12/15, Tomas Tatar (SEA) 2/13
 
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 829 *** 7. Bob Bourne 814 *** 8. Matt Martin 812 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 804 *** 10. Mike Bossy 752 *** 11. Anders Lee 749 *** Patrick Flatley 712 *** 13. Cal Clutterbuck 707…
32. Rich Pilon and Mick Vukota 509 *** 34. Ed Westfall 493 *** 35. Mathew Barzal 490 *** 36. Adam Pelech 489 *** 37. Radek Martinek 479 **** 38. Gerry Hart 476 *** 39. Ryan Pulock 475 ***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. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 270 *** 9. Anders Lee 258 …
20. Kyle Okposo 139 ***21. Jason Blake and Mathew Barzal 127…
29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Benoit Hogue, Ed Westfall, and Casey Cizikas 105

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …
9. Brent Sutter 323 *** 10. Stefan Persson 317 *** 11. Mathew Barzal 308…
16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Brock Nelson 252…
21. Nick Leddy 198 *** 22. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 23. Anders Lee 190…
31. David Volek 154 *** 32. Mariusz Czerkawski 150 *** 33. Noah Dobson 147 *** 34. Travis Green 145 *** 35. Steve Thomas 140 *** 36. Mark Streit and Ryan Pulock 139

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
10. Bob Bourne 542 *** 11. Brock Nelson 522 *** 12. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 13. Derek King 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Anders Lee 448  *** 16. Billy Harris 443 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 435…
31. Nick Leddy 243 *** 32. Casey Cizikas 239

+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105  *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 ***  17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +73  *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54  

Defense Goals
1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57…
4. Stefan Persson 52 *** 5. Ryan Pulock 47 *** 6. Jean Potvin 46 *** 7. Nick Leddy 45 *** 8. Roman Hamrlik 43 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Noah Dobson 38

Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…
7. Jeff Norton 166 *** 8. Noah Dobson 148 *** 9. Mark Streit and Ryan Pulock 139…
12. Dave Lewis 117 *** 13. Adam Pelech 111… 
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. Jeff Norton 188 *** 8. Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock 186…
13. Dave Lewis 141 *** 14. Adam Pelech 137 *** 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 188 *** 7. Tommy Salo 187 *** 8. Jaroslav Halak 177 *** 9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 156

Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
5. Thomas Greiss 101 *** 6. Ilya Sorokin 92 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 67

Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 18 *** 
4. Rick DiPietro 16 *** 5. Semyon Varlamov 15

On the Farm   
Bridgeport is 22-33-6-1 on the season, heading into home games on Friday and Saturday vs. Charlotte.

Ruslan Iskhakov continues to lead the team in goals (17), assists (27) and points (44).
 
Season Series Stats
New Jersey leads the season series 3 games to 0 (and 6 points to 1). 

It is the first time since 2018 the Devils have won three consecutive games against the Isles. 

UP NEXT
THURSDAY, MARCH 28th –ISLANDERS AT FLORIDA– 7:00pm
[MSGSN (Pre-game at 6:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]
The Isles begin a three-game road trip as they face the Florida Panthers. Florida could be the number one team in the East by the time they host the Isles; the Panthers are currently tied with Boston for the Atlantic Division lead and trail the Rangers by just one point. 

Each of the first two meetings have ended in one-goal wins for the road team, with the Isles winning 4-3 in Sunrise on December 2nd and the Cats earning a 3-2 overtime win at UBS Arena on January 27th. The Isles are 3-3-0 in their last six trips to Sunrise and are 6-4-2 in their last 12 meetings with the Panthers.

AND FINALLY…
You are reading the 998th consecutive edition of The Skinny. I expect to publish the 1,000th consecutive edition after the game in Tampa Bay on Saturday.

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, March 23, 2024

The Skinny: Isles 6, Winnipeg 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 70
Isles 6, Winnipeg 3
Cal Clutterbuck scored twice in the opening period, while Mathew Barzal and Hudson Fasching each had a goal and added two assists in the second period as the Islanders built a 6-1 lead and defeated the Winnipeg Jets 6-3 before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Semyon Varlamov did not face many shots in the first half of the game but finished with 33 saves as the Isles snapped a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) as he earned his first win at UBS since mid-December. The Isles are 11-10-4 under Patrick Roy and 30-25-15 overall as they climbed within three points of Detroit in the Wild Card race and remained six points behind Philadelphia for third place in the Metropolitan.

The Isles look to sweep the back-to-back weekend when they host New Jersey on Sunday.

The Scoring:  
1st Period
Cal Clutterbuck (6) 05:22 WPG 0,NYI 1
Cal Clutterbuck (7) Matt Martin (4), Alexander Romanov (10) 08:50 WPG 0,NYI 2
Vladislav Namestnikov (10) Morgan Barron (6), Dylan DeMelo (23) 11:20 WPG 1,NYI 2
Kyle Palmieri (23) Brock Nelson (31), Bo Horvat (34) 15:47 WPG 1,NYI 3

2nd Period
Hudson Fasching (4) Mathew Barzal (50), Ryan Pulock (10) 01:51 WPG 1,NYI 4
Mathew Barzal (22) Hudson Fasching (6), Anders Lee (14) 09:11 WPG 1,NYI 5
Anders Lee (18) Mathew Barzal (51), Hudson Fasching (7) 15:32 WPG 1,NYI 6

3rd Period 
Mason Appleton (13) Nikolaj Ehlers (30), Josh Morrissey (50) 07:37 WPG 2,NYI 6
Cole Perfetti (15) 17:50 WPG 3,NYI 6

The Skinny     
The Isles are 10-8-3 since the All-Star Break … Since Christmas, the Isles are 7-6-4 at home and 7-11-2 on the road… The Isles' defense has 57 points under Patrick Roy (11-46-57) and have 47 points in the last 21 games (10-37-47)…The Isles have outscored their opponents 62-42 in the first period (fewest allowed in NHL), but have been outscored 96-73 in the second period (most allowed in NHL) and 92-76 in the third period and overtime this season…The Isles have been outscored 58-34 in the second period since the Christmas break and have allowed at least two goals in 19 of the 37 games; the goals allowed are the most in the NHL over that span …The Isles are 22-4-10 when they score first …Mathew Barzal is 22-51-73; he has tied career high in goals and his assist and point totals are the highest since his rookie season (22-63-85 in 2017-18)....The Isles outscored their opponents 30-11 during their six-game winning streak and then were outscored 26-9 in 0-5-1 stretch that preceded today's victory…The Isles had a season-high 21 shots on goal in the second period; it was the most shots that they had in any period since December 2, 2022, vs. Nashville…Hudson Fasching had his first career two assist game, and his first career three point game…Cal Clutterbuck had his ninth career multi-goal game…Josh Morrissey recorded his 50th assist, after having 60 assists last season; he is the only defender in Jets history to have 50 assists in a season…Anders Lee scored for the 17th time in 20 games against the Jets…It was the fifth time this season and 27th time in his career that Matthew Barzal had at least three points in a game…The Isles chased Connor Hellebuyck; it was the first time all season that the Jets had changed goalies in a game….The Isles scored six goals, all 5-on-5…Adam Lowry lost 13-of-14 faceoffs.
 
First Times in a Long Time
The Isles have four players with 60+ points for only the 2nd time in the last 30 years (also 2017-18)
Mathew Barzal is the first Islander to record fifty assists in multiple seasons since Pierre Turgeon (1992-93, 1993-94).
Kyle Palmieri scored for the 5th consecutive home game (7 goals); he is the first Islander to do so since John Tavares in 2011-12. No Islander has had a longer streak since Pierre Turgeon in 1994.

Playoff Chase
Metro Division
3rd  Philadelphia 81 points in 71 games  (Sunday vs. Florida, Thursday at Montreal)
4th  Washington  77 points in 69 games  (Sunday vs. Winnipeg, Tuesday vs. Detroit, Thursday at Toronto)
5th  Isles 75 points in 70 games  (Sunday vs. New Jersey, Thursday at Florida)

Wild Card
1st WC Tampa Bay  82 points in 69 games  (Saturday LATE at Los Angeles, Sunday at Anaheim, Wednesday vs. Boston)
2nd WC Detroit        78 points in 71 games  (Tuesday at Washington, Thursday at Carolina)
3rd  Washington 77 points in 69 games  (Sunday vs. Winnipeg, Tuesday vs. Detroit, Thursday at Toronto)
4th         Isles           75 points in 70 games   (Sunday vs. New Jersey, Thursday at Florida)
5th  New Jersey 72 points in 70 games  (Sunday at Isles, Tuesday at Toronto, Friday at Buffalo)
6th Buffalo        71 points in 71 games  (Sunday at Calgary, Wednesday vs. Ottawa, Friday vs. New Jersey)
7th Pittsburgh    69 points in 69 games  (Sunday at Colorado, Tuesday vs. Carolina, Thursday vs. Columbus)

Milestone Men  
Brock Nelson has 270 goals, two behind John Tavares for 7th in club history.
Brock Nelson is one goal away from his third consecutive 30-goal season, a feat last accomplished for the Islanders by Matt Moulson.
Mathew Barzal has tied his career high in goals (22)
Bo Horvat now has 499 career points.
Bo Horvat has tied his career high in assists (34)
Mike Reilly now has 99 career assists.
Ilya Sorokin has played in 187 games, tying Tommy Salo for 6th place in club goalie history.
Semyon Varlamov earned his 69th win as an Isle, break a tie with Glenn Healy for 7th place in club goalie history.

Mr. Consistency
Mathew Barzal has had five separate point streaks of at least five games this season, including an 8-game and a 7-game streak.

Woah Noah
Noah Dobson is the first Islander defenseman with at least 65 points since 1984-85 when Denis Potvin had 68, and the first with at least 57 assists since 1983-84, when Potvin recorded 63.

Dobson has recorded only the fifth season in club history with at least 57 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 57 (2023-24)

Dobson is now tied-24th overall for assists in a 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 57 in 2023-24

Career Year?
Bo Horvat is 29-34-63 on the season. His 29 goals trail only 2022-23 (38) and 2021-22 (31) while his 63 points are his 2nd- highest total behind last season's 70. Horvat has tied his career-high of 34 assists which he set in 2018-19.

Coach Roy
The Isles are 11-10-4 under Patrick Roy and have allowed only two goals or fewer in eight of their eleven wins. Ilya Sorokin is 9-7-2 under Roy while Semyon Varlamov is 2-3-2.

Scoring Leaders Under Patrick Roy
1. Mathew Barzal 10-17-27
2. Brock Nelson 9-15-24
3. Bo Horvat 11-10-21 (4 GWG)
4. Noah Dobson 2-18-20
5. Kyle Palmieri 12-5-17

Since the Break
The Isles are 10-8-3 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 30.5-28.5 (+2.0) since the break.

Overtime is Our Time
The Isles have played 23 overtime games, one behind Boston for the NHL lead. They are 7-11 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-4 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 6-7 in overtime and 1-3 in shootouts, while Semyon Varlamov is 1-4 in overtime and 0-1 in shootouts. 

The NHL record for overtime games is 30, played by Boston in 2003-04. The Isles are on pace to play 27 overtime games.

The Isles have won 18 of the last 46 games decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).

Most Islander OT/SO Losses 
15 (2023-24; CURRENT)
13 (2010-11)

Most OT/SO Losses in a Season (Isles Goalie)
1. Ilya Sorokin 11 (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 29 (CURRENT)
Rick DiPietro 28 

Empty Netters 
The Isles have scored 2 empty-net goals and allowed 18.

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 42 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.
The Isles have allowed 55 power play goals; they allowed 39 all last season. 

Under Patrick Roy, the Isles Power Play is 14-73 (19.2%) and the Penalty Kill is 19-62 (69.4%). 
 
Building on a Lead
The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 49 times this season:
Score the next goal: 14 times
Allowed the next goal: 31 times
Game ended with 2-goal difference: 4 times 

Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,992
2. Matt Martin 3,836

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  30-25-15 for 75 points in 70 games
2022-23  35-27-8 for 78 points in 70 games

Offense from Defense
Today:   0-2-2
Season: 28-116-144
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:
Ilya Sorokin 1,659
Juuse Saros 1,585
Alexandar Georgiev 1,548
Jordan Binnington 1,542
Connor Hellebuyck 1,524

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 ten times this season and 27 times in his career. 

Most Games, 40+ Shots in a Season vs Isles Goalie
1. Jaroslav Halak 11  2017-18
2. Gerry Desjardins 10 1972-73
    Ilya Sorokin 10 2023-24

No other NHL goalie has faced 40+ shots more than six times this season.

Most games, 40+ Shots (Since 2021-22)
1. John Gibson 34
2. Ilya Sorokin 27
3. Darcy Kuemper 23
4. Sam Montembault 21
    Karel Vejmelka 21

Most Games, 40+ Shots (Islander History)
1. Billy Smith 46    (674 games)
2. Kelly Hrudey 27 (241 games)
    Ilya Sorokin 27 (186 games)

Sorokin has made at least 40 saves six times this season and a franchise-record 16 times in his career. 

Varly, Varly
Semyon Varlamov has 40 career shutouts and 280 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
50. Tiny Thompson 284
51. Semyon Varlamov 280
52. Brian Elliott 279

Home and Road
The Isles are 30-25-15 overall; they are 16-9-10 at home and 14-16-5 on the road.
Winnipeg is 44-21-5 overall; they are 23-9-2 at home and 21-12-3 on the road.

East and West
The Isles are 18-13-9 against the East (8-6-5 vs. Metropolitan and 10-7-4 vs. Atlantic) and 12-12-6 against the West (6-6-2 vs. Central and 6-6-4 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 116 games at UBS Arena and recorded 83 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 1,435
3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack
Lou Lamoriello (1,435) and Patrick Roy (141) have combined for 1,576 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 22-4-10 when scoring first and are 8-21-5 when allowing the opening goal. Under Patrick Roy, the Isles are 9-1-1 when they score first and are 2-9-3 when they do not.

The Shots
Isles        15-21-3=39
Winnipeg 3-15-17=35
The Isles are 12-9-6 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 17-15-9 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets
Semyon Varlamov made 32 saves; he is 8-7-4 on the season and 18-10-2 vs. Winnipeg.
Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves before being replaced after the Isles' fifth goal; he is 32-16-3 on the season and 4-6-0 vs the Isles. Laurent Brossoit made twelve saves in relief.

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

The Isles are 16-8-9 when they score at least one power play goal and 14-17-6 when they do not. The Isles are 11-16-10 when they allow at least one power play goal and 19-9-5 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 28-5-11 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-20-4 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 16-3-15 in games decided by a single goal including 8-3 in regulation. They are 7-11 in games decided in overtime and are 1-4 in shootouts. The Isles are 2-6 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 4-1-4 in the front end and 0-5-3 in the back end this season. This is the only -back-to-back with both games at home as New Jersey visits on Sunday. The final back-to-back set will be on April 1st in Philadelphia and April 2nd vs. Chicago. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Ryan Pulock (23:38); Winnipeg: Josh Morrissey (21:47)
Brock Nelson led Islander forwards with 17:16 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (5-2-2), Noah Dobson (22-20-9), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-2), Matthew Barzal (0-1-1), Bo Horvat (1-0-0).

Face-offs
Isles 35, Winnipeg 24 (59%)
Casey Cizikas won 7 of 9 for the Isles; Sean Monahan won 12 of 15 for Winnipeg.

Hit Count
Isles 22 (Alexander Romanov -4)
Winnipeg 22 (Morgan Barron -4)

Fights 
Kyle MacLean fought Morgan Barron in the second period. Season total: 10 (Martin 4, Lee 2, Pelech 1, Mayfield 1, Horvat 1, MacLean 1)
 
Blocked Shots
Isles 17 (Six with 2)
Winnipeg 15 (Brendan Dillon -5)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 69, Winnipeg 79
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 67, Winnipeg 68
 
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Alexander Romanov +9
Winnipeg: Dylan Samberg +16

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 14, Winnipeg 19
5-on-5: Isles 14, Winnipeg 18

Scratches
(Scott Mayfield – LTIR), Sebastian Aho, Oliver Wahlstrom, Matt Martin, Samuel Bolduc
Games Lost to injury: 166

The Ironmen
Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 182 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (154), Kyle Palmieri (104), and Noah Dobson (100) are the only other Islanders to have played at least 100 consecutive games. Two other Islanders (Cal Clutterbuck, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau) 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
Barzal has a point on 20 of the 37 overtime goals that the Isles have scored since he became a regular in 2016-17.

National TV Games 
The Isles are 5-2-3 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners. The next nationally televised game will be on April 13 (ABC) at the Rangers.

Matinee Isles
The Isles are 1-4-1 in matinee games (all at home, including an OT loss at Met Life). The final matinee game is April 13th at NYR.
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 13-13-9 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: 3 successful, 2 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)

Quickies
The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute seven times this season (four times at home – CBJ 12/7 x2, WSH 12/29, NYR 2/18-MetLife and three time on road-@OTT 11/24, @ARI 1/4, @SJ 3/7)  and allowed two in the same span eight 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))

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 (7): 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)

OT Winners
For (7): 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
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 (4): Kailer Yamamoto (SEA) 11/16, Tyson Foerster (PHI) 11/25, David Pastrnak (BOS) 12/15, Tomas Tatar (SEA) 2/13
 
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 828 *** 7. Bob Bourne 814 *** 8. Matt Martin 812 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 803 *** 10. Mike Bossy 752 *** 11. Anders Lee 748 *** Patrick Flatley 712 *** 13. Cal Clutterbuck 706…
32. Rich Pilon and Mick Vukota 509 *** 34. Ed Westfall 493 *** 35. Mathew Barzal 489 *** 36. Adam Pelech 488 *** 37. Radek Martinek 479 **** 38. Gerry Hart 476 *** 39. Ryan Pulock 474 ***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. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 270 *** 9. Anders Lee 258 …
20. Kyle Okposo 139 ***21. Jason Blake and Mathew Barzal 127…
29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Benoit Hogue, Ed Westfall, and Casey Cizikas 105

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …
9. Brent Sutter 323 *** 10. Stefan Persson 317 *** 11. Mathew Barzal 308…
16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Brock Nelson 252…
21. Nick Leddy 198 *** 22. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 23. Anders Lee 190…
31. David Volek 154 *** 32. Mariusz Czerkawski 150 *** 33. Noah Dobson 147 *** 34. Travis Green 145 *** 35. Steve Thomas 140 *** 36. Mark Streit and Ryan Pulock 139

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
10. Bob Bourne 542 *** 11. Brock Nelson 522 *** 12. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 13. Derek King 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Anders Lee 448  *** 16. Billy Harris 443 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 435…
31. Nick Leddy 243 *** 32. Casey Cizikas 239

+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105  *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 ***  17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +73  *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54  

Defense Goals
1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57…
4. Stefan Persson 52 *** 5. Ryan Pulock 47 *** 6. Jean Potvin 46 *** 7. Nick Leddy 45 *** 8. Roman Hamrlik 43 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Noah Dobson 38

Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…
7. Jeff Norton 166 *** 8. Noah Dobson 148 *** 9. Mark Streit and Ryan Pulock 139…
12. Dave Lewis 117 *** 13. Adam Pelech 111… 
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. Jeff Norton 188 *** 8. Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock 186…
13. Dave Lewis 141 *** 14. Adam Pelech 137 *** 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. Tommy Salo and Ilya Sorokin 187 *** 8. Jaroslav Halak 177 *** 9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 156

Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
5. Thomas Greiss 101 *** 6. Ilya Sorokin 92 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Semyon Varlamov 67

Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 18 *** 
4. Rick DiPietro 16 *** 5. Semyon Varlamov 15

On the Farm   
Bridgeport beat Utica 2-1 in a shootout on Friday night and beat Lehigh Valley by the same score in regulation on Saturday to improve to 22-33-6-1 on the season.

Ruslan Iskhakov, who had the shootout winner on Friday, and the winning goal on Saturday, continues to lead the team in goals (17), assists (27) and points (44).

Bridgeport hosts Charlotte on Friday, March 29 and Saturday, March 30.

Season Series Stats
The teams split the season series 1 game to 1 (and 2 points to 2). 

The Isles are 8-1-0 in their last nine games with Winnipeg. 

UP NEXT
SUNDAY, MARCH 24th – NEW JERSEY AT ISLANDERS– 5:00pm
[MSGSN (Pre-game at 4:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].
The Isles look to climb within one point of Detroit as they welcome the New Jersey Devils to UBS Arena in the third meeting of the teams this season. 

New Jersey has won both of the previous meetings. On October 20th at UBS, Bo Horvat forced overtime with a sixth-attacker goal, but Jack Hughes scored in overtime, while on November 28th at Prudential Center Curtis Lazar scored with 23 seconds to play as the Devils rallied from a 4-2 deficit with 15 minutes to play to earn a 5-4 win.

The Devils will be looking for their third straight win over the Isles for the first time since 2018; since then, the Isles are 16-6-1 vs. New Jersey.

The Isles are 0-7-3 in their last ten back-ends and will look to sweep a back-to-back for the first time since February 6-7, 2023 (at Philadelphia, vs. Seattle).

AND FINALLY…
You are reading the 997th consecutive edition of The Skinny. I expect to publish the 1,000th consecutive edition after the game in Tampa Bay on March 30th.

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

Thursday, March 21, 2024

The Skinny: Detroit 6, Isles 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 69
Detroit 6,  Isles 3
Andrew Copp and Dylan Larkin each scored twice, and James Reimer made 33 saves as the Detroit Red Wings scored four straight goals to break open a 1-1 tie and defeat the Islanders, 6-3  before a crowd of 18,868 at Little Caesars Arena. 

The Isles did make it close midway through the third on goals by Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Mathew Barzal, but a Larkin empty-netter sealed the fate of the Islanders, who are now winless in six games (0-5-1). The Isles are 10-10-4 under Patrick Roy and 29-25-15 overall as they fell five points behind Detroit in the Wild Card race and six points behind Philadelphia for third place in the Metropolitan.

The Isles return to UBS Arena for a pair of games this weekend as they host Winnipeg on Saturday and New Jersey on Sunday.

The Scoring:  
1st Period
None

2nd Period
Christian Fischer (5) Michael Rasmussen (19), Moritz Seider (30) 11:15 NYI 0,DET 1
Mike Reilly (5) Kyle MacLean (3), Casey Cizikas (9) 13:25 NYI 1,DET 1
Andrew Copp (11) Christian Fischer (13), Ben Chiarot (14) 16:00 NYI 1,DET 2
Dylan Larkin (27) Alex DeBrincat (33) 18:08 NYI 1,DET 3

3rd Period
Andrew Copp (12) Christian Fischer (14), Michael Rasmussen (20) 05:12 NYI 1,DET 4
Patrick Kane (16) Alex DeBrincat (34), Shayne Gostisbehere (37) 06:22 NYI 1,DET 5
Jean-Gabriel Pageau (9) Ryan Pulock (9), Pierre Engvall (14) 09:34 NYI 2,DET 5 PPG
Mathew Barzal (21) Adam Pelech (12), Anders Lee (13) 11:20 NYI 3,DET 5
Dylan Larkin (28)EN Lucas Raymond (36) 16:15 NYI 3,DET 6

The Skinny     
The Isles are 9-8-3 since the All-Star Break … Since Christmas, the Isles are 6-6-4 at home and 7-11-2 on the road… The Isles' defense has 55 points under Patrick Roy (11-44-55) and have 45 points in the last 20 games (10-35-45)…The Isles have outscored their opponents 59-41 in the first period (fewest allowed in NHL), but have been outscored 96-70 in the second period (most allowed in NHL) and 90-76 in the third period and overtime this season…The Isles have been outscored 58-31 in the second period since the Christmas break and have allowed at least two goals in 19 of the 36 games; the goals allowed are the most in the NHL over that span …The Isles are 2-21-2 when trailing after two periods …Mathew Barzal is 21-49-70; they are his highest totals in each category since his rookie season (22-63-85 in 2017-18)....After outscoring their opponents 30-11 during their six-game winning streak, the Isles have been outscored 26-8 over the last six; all five of their regulation losses in this stretch have been by at least three goals…. Shayne Gostisbehere extended his point steak to seven games (1-6-7); he has an assist in six straight….Lucas Raymond and Patrick Kane now have six-game point streaks…Detroit got Dylan Larkin back in the lineup after missing eight games, while Robert Bortuzzo returned for the first time since January 2nd.

First Times in a Long Time
The Isles allowed three goals in the second period for the third straight road game; that last happened in October 1995.
The Isles have allowed three goals in a period in three straight games for the first time since April 2022.
 
Playoff Chase
Metro Division
3rd  Philadelphia 79 points in 70 games  (Saturday vs. Boston, Sunday vs. Florida)
4th  Washington  75 points in 68 games  (Friday vs. Carolina, Sunday vs. Winnipeg)
5th  Isles 73 points in 69 games  (Saturday vs. Winnipeg, Sunday vs. New Jersey)

Wild Card
1st WC Tampa Bay 80 points in 68 games  (Thursday LATE at San Jose, Saturday at Los Angeles, Sunday at Anaheim)
2nd WC Detroit   78 points in 70 games  (Saturday at Nashville)
3rd  Washington 75 points in 68 games  ( Friday vs. Carolina, Sunday vs. Winnipeg)
4th  Isles           73 points in 69 games   (Saturday vs. Winnipeg, Sunday vs. New Jersey)
5th  New Jersey 72 points in 70 games  (Saturday vs Ottawa, Sunday at Isles)
6th Buffalo        71 points in 71 games  (Sunday at Calgary)
7th Pittsburgh    69 points in 68 games  (Friday at Dallas, Sunday at Colorado)

Milestone Men  
Adam Pelech recorded his 111th assist, passing Radek Martinek for 13th place among Islander defensemen.
Brock Nelson has 270 goals, two behind John Tavares for 7th in club history.
Brock Nelson is one goal away from his third consecutive 30-goal season, a feat last accomplished for the Islanders by Matt Moulson.
Bo Horvat now has 498 career points.
Mike Reilly now has 99 career assists.
Ilya Sorokin played in his 187th game, tying Tommy Salo for 6th place in club goalie history.
Brock Nelson needs one point to give the Isles four players with 60+ points for only the 2nd time in the last 30 years (also 2017-18)

Mr. Consistency
Mathew Barzal has had five separate point streaks of at least five games this season, including an 8-game and a 7-game streak.

Woah Noah
Dobson is the first Islander defenseman with at least 65 points since 1984-85 when Denis Potvin had 68, and the first with at least 57 assists since 1983-84, when Potvin recorded 63.

Dobson is on pace for 68 assists; Denis Potvin holds the club record for assists by a defenseman (70 in 1978-79). Dobson is on pace for 78 points, which would trail only five seasons by Potvin.

Dobson has recorded only the fifth season in club history with at least 57 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 57 (2023-24)

Dobson is now tied-24th overall for assists in a season by an Islander.

Longest Home Point Streak by an  NHL defenseman (Last 30 years)
1. Mike Green WSH 20 10/12/2009 -1/19/2010
2. Noah Dobson NYI 12 1/11/2024 -3/16/2024 
3. Brent Burns SJS 12 11/25/2017 - 2/8/2018
4. Brian Leetch NYR 12 3/3/1995 -4/26/1995

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

Career Year?
Bo Horvat is 29-33-62 on the season. His 29 goals trail only 2022-23 (38) and 2021-22 (31) while his 62 points are his 2nd- highest total behind last season's 70. Horvat had a career-high 34 assists in 2018-19.

Coach Roy
The Isles are 10-10-4 under Patrick Roy and have allowed only two goals or fewer in eight of their ten wins. Ilya Sorokin is 9-7-2 under Roy while Semyon Varlamov is 1-3-2.

Scoring Leaders Under Patrick Roy
1. Mathew Barzal 9-15-24
2. Brock Nelson 9-14-23
3. Noah Dobson 2-18-20
4. Bo Horvat 11-9-20 (4 GWG)
5. Kyle Palmieri 11-5-16

Since the Break
The Isles are 9-8-3 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 30.1-28.2 (+1.9) since the break.

Overtime is Our Time
The Isles have played 23 overtime games, one behind Boston for the NHL lead. They are 7-11 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-4 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 6-7 in overtime and 1-3 in shootouts, while Semyon Varlamov is 1-4 in overtime and 0-1 in shootouts. 

The NHL record for overtime games is 30, played by Boston in 2003-04. The Isles are on pace to play 27 overtime games.

The Isles have won 18 of the last 46 games decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).

Most Islander OT/SO Losses 
15 (2023-24; CURRENT)
13 (2010-11)

Most OT/SO Losses in a Season (Isles Goalie)
1. Ilya Sorokin 11 (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 29 (CURRENT)
Rick DiPietro 28 

Empty Netters 
The Isles have scored 2 empty-net goals and allowed 18.

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 42 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.
The Isles have allowed 55 power play goals; they allowed 39 all last season. 

Under Patrick Roy, the Isles Power Play is 14-72 (19.4%) and the Penalty Kill is 19-61 (68.9%). 
 
Building on a Lead
The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 47 times this season:
Score the next goal: 13 times
Allowed the next goal: 30 times
Game ended with 2-goal difference: 4 times 

Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,991
2. Matt Martin 3,834

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  29-25-15 for 73 points in 69 games
2022-23  34-27-8 for 76 points in 69 games

Offense from Defense
Today:   1-2-3
Season: 287-114-142 
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:
Ilya Sorokin 1,659
Juuse Saros 1,563
Alexandar Georgiev 1,524
Jordan Binnington 1,508
Connor Hellebuyck 1,498

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 ten times this season and 27 times in his career. 

Most Games, 40+ Shots in a Season vs Isles Goalie
1. Jaroslav Halak 11  2017-18
2. Gerry Desjardins 10 1972-73
Ilya Sorokin 10 2023-24

No other NHL goalie has faced 40+ shots more than six times this season.

Most games, 40+ Shots (Since 2021-22)
1. John Gibson 34
2. Ilya Sorokin 27
3. Darcy Kuemper 23
4. Sam Montembault 21
Karel Vejmelka 21

Most Games, 40+ Shots (Islander History)
1. Billy Smith 46    (674 games)
2. Kelly Hrudey 27 (241 games)
Ilya Sorokin 27 (186 games)

Sorokin has made at least 40 saves six times this season and a franchise-record 16 times in his career. 

Varly, Varly
Semyon Varlamov has 40 career shutouts and 279 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
51. Brian Elliott 279
51. Semyon Varlamov 279
53. Marty Turco 275

Home and Road
The Isles are 29-25-15 overall; they are 15-9-10 at home and 14-16-5 on the road.
Detroit is 36-28-6 overall; they are 21-11-5 at home and 15-17-1 on the road.

East and West
The Isles are 18-13-9 against the East (8-6-5 vs. Metropolitan and 10-7-4 vs. Atlantic) and 11-12-6 against the West (5-6-2 vs. Central and 6-6-4 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 115 games at UBS Arena and recorded 80 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 1,434
3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack
Lou Lamoriello (1,434) and Patrick Roy (140) have combined for 1,574 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 21-4-10 when scoring first and are 8-21-5 when allowing the opening goal. Under Patrick Roy, the Isles are 8-1-1 when they score first and are 2-9-3 when they do not.

The Shots
Isles       9-9-18-36
Detroit   7-9-8=24
The Isles are 11-9-6 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 17-15-9 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 18 saves; he is 22-18-11 on the season and 4-2-2-vs Detroit.
James Reimer made 33 saves; he is 9-7-2 on the season and 9-3-2 vs the Isles. 

Special Teams
The Isles were 1-4 on the power play (7:34); Detroit was 0-2 on the power play (3:21) .

The Isles are 16-8-9 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-17-6 when they do not. The Isles are 11-16-10 when they allow at least one power play goal and 18-9-5 when they do not.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number
The Isles are 27-5-11 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-20-4 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 16-3-15 in games decided by a single goal including 8-3 in regulation. They are 7-11 in games decided in overtime and are 1-4 in shootouts. The Isles are 2-6 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     
The Isles are 3-1-4 in the front end and 0-5-3 in the back end this season. The next back-to-back set will be on Saturday vs. Winnipeg and Sunday vs. New Jersey; it is the only back-to-back set this season played entirely at home. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Noah Dobson (26:24); Detroit: Moritz Seider (20:42)
Mathew Barzal led Islander forwards with 20:53 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (4-2-2), Noah Dobson (22-20-9), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-2), Matthew Barzal (0-1-1), Bo Horvat (1-0-0).

Face-offs
Isles 39, Detroit 27 (50%)
Bo Horvat won 14 of 22 for the Isles; J.T. Compher won 9 of 17 for Detroit.

Hit Count
Isles 16 (Cal Clutterbuck -4)
Detroit 24 (Three with 4)

Fights 
None. Season total: 9 (Martin 4, Lee 2, Pelech 1, Mayfield 1, Horvat 1)
 
Blocked Shots
Isles 11 (3 with 2)
Detroit 22 (Two with 5)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 69, Detroit 42
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 42, Detroit 34
 
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Noah Dobson +15
Detroit: Patrick Kane +5

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 8, Detroit 5
5-on-5: Isles 4, Detroit 5

Scratches
(Scott Mayfield – LTIR), Sebastian Aho, Oliver Wahlstrom, Matt Martin, Samuel Bolduc
Games Lost to injury: 163

The Ironmen
Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 181 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (153) and Kyle Palmieri (103) are the only other Islanders to have played at least 100 consecutive games. Three other Islanders (Noah Dobson, Cal Clutterbuck, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau) 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
Barzal has a point on 20 of the 37 overtime goals that the Isles have scored since he became a regular in 2016-17.

National TV Games 
The Isles are 5-2-3 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners. The next nationally televised game will be on April 13 (ABC) at the Rangers.

Matinee Isles
The Isles are 0-4-1 in matinee games (all at home, including an OT loss at Met Life). The remaining matinee games are March 23rd vs WPG, and April 13th at NYR.
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 12-13-9 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: 3 successful, 2 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)

Quickies
The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute seven times this season (four times at home – CBJ 12/7 x2, WSH 12/29, NYR 2/18-MetLife and three time on road-@OTT 11/24, @ARI 1/4, @SJ 3/7)  and allowed two in the same span eight 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))

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 (7): 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)

OT Winners
For (7): 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
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 (4): Kailer Yamamoto (SEA) 11/16, Tyson Foerster (PHI) 11/25, David Pastrnak (BOS) 12/15, Tomas Tatar (SEA) 2/13
 
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 827 *** 7. Bob Bourne 814 *** 8. Matt Martin 811 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 802 *** 10. Mike Bossy 752 *** 11. Anders Lee 747 *** Patrick Flatley 712 *** 13. Cal Clutterbuck 705…
32. Rich Pion and Mick Vukota 509 *** 34. Ed Westfall 493 *** 35. Mathew Barzal 488 *** 36. Adam Pelech 487 *** 37. Radek Martinek 479 **** 38. Gerry Hart 476 *** 39. Ryan Pulock 473 ***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. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 270 *** 9. Anders Lee 257 …
20. Kyle Okposo 139 ***21. Jason Blake 127 *** 22. Mathew Barzal 126…
29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Benoit Hogue, Ed Westfall, and Casey Cizikas 105

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …
10. Stefan Persson 317 *** 11. Mathew Barzal 306…
16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Brock Nelson 251…
21. Nick Leddy 198 *** 22. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 23. Anders Lee 189…
31. David Volek 154 *** 32. Mariusz Czerkawski 150 *** 33. Noah Dobson 147 *** 34. Travis Green 145 *** 35. Steve Thomas 140 *** 36. Mark Streit 139 *** 37. Ryan Pulock 138

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
10. Bob Bourne 542 *** 11. Brock Nelson 521 *** 12. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 13. Derek King 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Anders Lee 446  *** 16. Billy Harris 443 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 432…
31. Nick Leddy 243 *** 32. Casey Cizikas 239

+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105  *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 ***  17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +72  *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54  

Defense Goals
1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57…
4. Stefan Persson 52 *** 5. Ryan Pulock 47 *** 6. Jean Potvin 46 *** 7. Nick Leddy 45 *** 8. Roman Hamrlik 43 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Noah Dobson 38

Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…
7. Jeff Norton 166 *** 8. Noah Dobson 148 *** 9. Mark Streit 139 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 138…
12. Dave Lewis 117 *** 13. Adam Pelech 111… 
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. Jeff Norton 188 *** 8. Noah Dobson 186 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 185
13. Dave Lewis 141 *** 14. Adam Pelech 137 *** 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. Tommy Salo and Ilya Sorokin 187 *** 8. Jaroslav Halak 177 *** 9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 155

Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
5. Thomas Greiss 101 *** 6. Ilya Sorokin 92 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Glenn Healy and Semyon Varlamov 66

Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 18 *** 
4. Rick DiPietro 16 *** 5. Semyon Varlamov 15

On the Farm   
Bridgeport is 20-33-6-1 on the season heading into Friday's game in Utica and Saturday's game in Lehigh Valley.

Ruslan Iskhakov continues to lead the team in goals (16), assists (26) and points (42).

Season Series Stats
Detroit wins the season series 2 games to 1 (and 4 points to 3). 

The Isles are 1-3-1 in their last five trips to the Motor City. 

UP NEXT
SATURDAY, MARCH 23rd – WINNIPEG AT ISLANDERS– 1:00pm
[MSGSN (Pre-game at 12:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].
The Isles look to break their six-game winless streak as they begin a back-to-back home set by facing Winnipeg.

The Jets have been towards the top of the Central Division standings all season long and own a 4-2 home-ice win over the Isles on January 16th, in Lane Lambert's penultimate game behind the bench.

That loss broke a seven-game Islander winning streak over the Jets, who have not beaten the Isles in New York since a 3-1 win in Brooklyn on December 4, 2018.

AND FINALLY…
You are reading the 996th consecutive edition of The Skinny. I expect to publish the 1,000th consecutive edition after the game in Tampa Bay on March 30th.

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, March 19, 2024

The Skinny: Carolina 4, Isles 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 68
Carolina 4, Isles 1
Seth Jarvis scored the game's first two goals, and Martin Necas scored a power play goal with just over one second remaining in the first period as the Carolina Hurricanes earned a 4-1 victory over the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

Kyle Palmieri scored a third period goal for the Islanders, who are now winless in five games (0-4-1). The Isles are 10-9-4 under Patrick Roy and 29-24-15 overall as they fell three points behind Detroit in the Wild Card race and five points behind Philadelphia for third place in the Metropolitan.

The Isles head to Detroit for a game on Thursday before returning to UBS Arena for a pair of games this weekend.

The Scoring:  
1st Period
Seth Jarvis (24) Brady Skjei (28), Jake Guentzel (35) 12:48 CAR 1,NYI 0
Seth Jarvis (25) Jake Guentzel (36), Jaccob Slavin (24) 14:53 CAR 2,NYI 0
Martin Necas (22) Evgeny Kuznetsov (14), Brady Skjei (29) 19:58 CAR 3,NYI 0 PPG

2nd Period
No Goals

3rd Period
Kyle Palmieri (22) Brock Nelson (30), Bo Horvat (33)  04:30 CAR 3,NYI 1
Jake Guentzel (24)EN Sebastian Aho (48) 16:22 CAR 4,NYI 1

The Skinny     
The Isles are 9-7-3 since the All-Star Break … Since Christmas, the Isles are 6-6-4 at home and 7-10-2 on the road… The Isles' defense has 52 points under Patrick Roy (10-42-52) and have 42 points in the last 198 games (9-33-42)…The Isles have outscored their opponents 59-41 in the first period (fewest allowed in NHL), but have been outscored 93-69 in the second period (2nd-most allowed in NHL) and 87-74 in the third period and overtime this season…The Isles have been outscored 55-30 in the second period since the Christmas break and have allowed at least two goals in 18 of the 35 games; the goals allowed are the most in the NHL over that span …The Isles are 2-20-2 when trailing after two periods …Mathew Barzal is 20-49-69; they are his highest totals in each category since his rookie season (22-63-85 in 2017-18)... Kyle Palmieri scored for the 7th time this month; only Timo Meier (10) and Kirill Kaprizov (9) have scored more often… Bo Horvat extended his point streak to three games (3-1-4); he is 6-6-12 in nine March games while Brock Nelson is 2-9-11… Nelson hit the 30 assist mark for only the 2nd time in his career; his 59 points match the 2021-22 season as his second-highest total behind the 75 points he had last season… Seth Jarvis has a goal in four straight games….The Canes have won six straight road games to tie their franchise record….Deadline acquisitions Jake Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov both extended point streaks to four games; Guentzel finished with three points, raising his totals to 11-21-32 in 30 games against the Isles….After outscoring their opponents 30-11 during their six-game winning streak, the Isles have been outscored 20-5 over the last five….Carolina is 26-7-2 since Christmas…Brent Burns played his 830th consecutive game at NYI on Tuesday, tying Andrew Cogliano (2007-2018) for the seventh-longest ironman streak in NHL history

First Time in a Long Time
The Isles allowed three first period goals for the second time this season (January 25th in Montreal). However, it was the first time since April 21, 2022, against the Rangers that the Isles had done that in a home game.

Streaks Busted
The Isles allowed (three) first period goals after not allowing a goal in ten straight games, breaking the club record of nine that was set December 26, 1978- January 12, 1979. It also ended a streak of 13 consecutive first period goals scored by the Isles (over nine games), matching the 4th-longest streak of consecutive first period goals for in club history:
o 17  12/26/1978 - 1/14/1979
o 15  2/15/1994 - 3/1/1994
o 15 10/21/1977 - 11/5/1977
o 13 2/26/2024 – 3/17/2024
o 13 1/10/2019 - 2/2/2019
o 13 3/8/1980 - 3/22/1980

The Isles did not allow a second period goal for the first time in fifteen games; it was the first time that they had allowed second period goals in fourteen straight games since 2001.

Noah Dobson's held home point streak ended at twelve games. This is the third-longest defense streak in club history (Denis Potvin - 15 in 1974-75 (and 16 over two seasons) and Tom Kurvers -14 in 1991-92). Only one other active defenseman has had a streak of at least 12 games (Brent Burns -12 in 2017-18)

March to the Playoffs
Metro Division
3rd  Philadelphia 78 points in 69 games  (Thursday at Carolina)
4th  Washington  75 points in 67 games  (Wednesday vs. Toronto, Friday vs. Carolina)
5th  Isles 73 points in 68 games  (Thursday at Detroit)

Wild Card
1st WC Tampa Bay  78 points in 67 games  (Tuesday LATE at Vegas, Thursday at San Jose)
2nd WC Detroit       76 points in 69 games  (Thursday vs. Isles)
3rd      Washington 75 points in 67 games  (Wednesday vs. Toronto, Friday vs. Carolina)
4th      Isles           73 points in 67 games  (Tuesday vs. Carolina, Thursday at Detroit)
5th      Buffalo        71 points in 69 games  (Tuesday LATE at Vancouver, Thursday at Edmonton)
6th      New Jersey  70 points in 69 games  (Thursday vs. Winnipeg)
7th      Pittsburgh    69 points in 68 games  (Friday at Dallas)

Milestone Men  
Brock Nelson had two assists, giving him 250 in the NHL. He is the 17th player to record 250 
Brock Nelson has 270 goals, two behind John Tavares for 7th in club history.
Brock Nelson is one goal away from his third consecutive 30-goal season, a feat last accomplished for the Islanders by Matt Moulson.
Bo Horvat now has 498 career points.
Mike Reilly now has 99 career assists.

Mr. Consistency
Mathew Barzal has had five point streaks of at least five games this season, including an 8-game and a 7-game streak.

Woah Noah
Dobson is the first Islander defenseman with at least 65 points since 1984-85 when Denis Potvin had 68, and the first with at least 57 assists since 1983-84, when Potvin recorded 63.

Dobson is on pace for 69 assists; Denis Potvin holds the club record for assists by a defenseman (70 in 1978-79). Dobson is on pace for 79 points, which would trail only five seasons by Potvin.

Dobson has recorded only the fifth season in club history with at least 57 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 57 (2023-24)

Dobson is now tied-24th overall for assists in a season by an Islander.

Longest Home Point Streak by an  NHL defenseman (Last 30 years)
1. Mike Green WSH 20 10/12/2009 -1/19/2010
2. Noah Dobson NYI 12 1/11/2024 -3/16/2024 
3. Brent Burns SJS 12 11/25/2017 - 2/8/2018
4. Brian Leetch NYR 12 3/3/1995 -4/26/1995

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

Career Year?
Bo Horvat is 29-33-62 on the season. His 29 goals trail only 2022-23 (38) and 2021-22 (31) while his 62 points are his 2nd- highest total behind last season's 70. Horvat had a career-high 34 assists in 2018-19.

Coach Roy
The Isles are 10-9-4 under Patrick Roy and have allowed only two goals or fewer in eight of their ten wins. Ilya Sorokin is 9-6-2 under Roy while Semyon Varlamov is 1-3-2.

Scoring Leaders Under Patrick Roy
1. Mathew Barzal 8-15-23
2. Brock Nelson 9-14-23
3. Noah Dobson 2-18-20
4. Bo Horvat 11-9-20 (4 GWG)
5. Kyle Palmieri 11-5-16

Since the Break
The Isles are 9-7-3 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 29.8-28.4 (+1.4) since the break.

Overtime is Our Time
The Isles have played 23 overtime games, one behind Boston for the NHL lea. They are 7-11 in games decided by an overtime goal, and they are 1-4 in shootouts. Ilya Sorokin is 6-7 in overtime and 1-3 in shootouts, while Semyon Varlamov is 1-4 in overtime and 0-1 in shootouts. 

The NHL record for overtime games is 30, played by Boston in 2003-04. The Isles are on pace to play 28 overtime games.

The Isles have won 18 of the last 46 games decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).

Most Islander OT/SO Losses 
15 (2023-24; CURRENT)
13 (2010-11)

Most OT/SO Losses in a Season (Isles Goalie)
1. Ilya Sorokin 11 (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 29 (CURRENT)
Rick DiPietro 28 

Empty Netters 
The Isles have scored 2 empty-net goals and allowed 17.

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 41 power play goals; they scored 35 all last season.
The Isles have allowed 55 power play goals; they allowed 39 all last season. 

Under Patrick Roy, the Isles Power Play is 13-68 (19.1%) and the Penalty Kill is 19-59 (67.8%). 
 
Building on a Lead
The Islanders have had a two-goal lead 47 times this season:
Score the next goal: 13 times
Allowed the next goal: 30 times
Game ended with 2-goal difference: 4 times 

Heavy Hitters
Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are 1-2 all-time in hits:
1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,987
2. Matt Martin 3,834

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  29-24-15 for 73 points in 68 games
2022-23  34-26-8 for 76 points in 68 games

Offense from Defense
Today:   0-0-0
Season: 27-112-139 
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:
Ilya Sorokin 1,636
Juuse Saros 1,563
Alexandar Georgiev 1,524
Jordan Binnington 1,508
Connor Hellebuyck 1,497

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 ten times this season and 27 times in his career. 

Most Games, 40+ Shots in a Season vs Isles Goalie
1. Jaroslav Halak 11  2017-18
2. Gerry Desjardins 10 1972-73
    Ilya Sorokin 10 2023-24

No other NHL goalie has faced 40+ shots more than six times this season.

Most games, 40+ Shots (Since 2021-22)
1. John Gibson 34
2. Ilya Sorokin 27
3. Darcy Kuemper 23
4. Sam Montembault 21
    Karel Vejmelka 21

Most Games, 40+ Shots (Islander History)
1. Billy Smith 46    (674 games)
2. Kelly Hrudey 27 (241 games)
    Ilya Sorokin 27 (185 games)

Sorokin has made at least 40 saves six times this season and a franchise-record 16 times in his career. 

Varly, Varly
Semyon Varlamov has 40 career shutouts and 279 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
51. Brian Elliott 279
51. Semyon Varlamov 279
53. Marty Turco 275

Home and Road
The Isles are 29-24-15 overall; they are 15-9-10 at home and 14-15-5 on the road.
Carolina is 42-20-6 overall; they are 22-9-4 at home and 21-11-2 on the road.

East and West
The Isles are 18-12-9 against the East (8-6-5 vs. Metropolitan and 10-6-4 vs. Atlantic) and 11-12-6 against the West (5-6-2 vs. Central and 6-6-4 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are
The Isles have played 115 games at UBS Arena and recorded 80 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 1,434
3. Glen Sather 1,319

Leaders of the Pack
Lou Lamoriello (1,434) and Patrick Roy (140) have combined for 1,574 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 21-4-10 when scoring first and are 8-20-5 when allowing the opening goal. Under Patrick Roy, the Isles are 8-1-1 when they score first and are 2-8-3 when they do not.

The Shots
Isles       8-11-12=31
Carolina 14-11-9=34
The Isles are 11-8-6 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-1-0 when the shots are even and 17-15-9 when the opposition has more shots.

In the Nets
Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves; he is 22-17-11 on the season and 3-5-1-vs Carolina.
Pyotr Kochetkov made 31 saves; he is 19-12-3 on the season and 3-1-1 vs the Isles. 

Special Teams
The Isles were 0-1 on the power play (2:00); Carolina was 1-1 on the power play (1:46) .

The Isles are 16-7-9 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-17-6 when they do not. The Isles are 11-16-10 when they allow at least one power play goal and 18-8-5 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 27-4-11 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-20-4 when they do not. 

One-Goal Games
The Isles are 16-3-15 in games decided by a single goal including 8-3 in regulation. They are 7-11 in games decided in overtime and are 1-4 in shootouts. The Isles are 2-6 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     
The Isles are 3-1-4 in the front end and 0-5-3 in the back end this season. The next back-to-back set will be on Saturday vs. Winnipeg and Sunday vs. New Jersey; it is the only back-to-back set this season played entirely at home. 

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Ryan Pulock (21:57); Carolina: Brady Skjei (22:10)
Mathew Barzal led Islander forwards with 18:42 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (4-2-2), Noah Dobson (22-19-9), Alex Romanov (2-2-0), Adam Pelech (0-0-2), Matthew Barzal (0-1-1), Bo Horvat (1-0-0).

Face-offs
Isles 17, Carolina 25 (40%)
Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 5 of 9 for the Isles; Jordan Staal won 12 of 14 for Carolina.

Hit Count
Isles 20 (Alexander Romanov -4)
Carolina 16 (Brendan Lemieux -3)

Fights 
Matt Martin fought Brendan Lemieux in the final minute of regulation. Season total: 9 (Martin 4, Lee 2, Pelech 1, Mayfield 1, Horvat 1)
 
Blocked Shots
Isles 14 (Matt Martin -3)
Carolina 13 (Jordan Martinook -3)

For the Analytics Crowd 
Corsi: All situations: Isles 51, Carolina 65
Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 49, Carolina 58
 
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles:  Anders Lee +6
Carolina: Sebastian Aho +17

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)
All situations: Isles 11, Carolina 10
5-on-5: Isles 10, Carolina 9

Scratches
(Scott Mayfield – LTIR), Robert Bortuzzo, Oliver Wahlstrom, Pierre Engvall, Samuel Bolduc
Games Lost to injury: 162

The Ironmen
Anders Lee is the Islanders' ironman, having played 180 consecutive games. Brock Nelson (152) and Kyle Palmieri (102) are the only other Islanders to have played at least 100 consecutive games. Three other Islanders (Noah Dobson, Cal Clutterbuck, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau) 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
Barzal has a point on 20 of the 37 overtime goals that the Isles have scored since he became a regular in 2016-17.

National TV Games 
The Isles are 5-2-3 in games that air on one of the NHL's US national broadcast partners. The next nationally televised game will be on April 13 (ABC) at the Rangers.

Matinee Isles
The Isles are 0-4-1 in matinee games (all at home, including an OT loss at Met Life). The remaining matinee games are March 23rd vs WPG, and April 13th at NYR.
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 12-13-9 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: 3 successful, 2 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)

Quickies
The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute seven times this season (four times at home – CBJ 12/7 x2, WSH 12/29, NYR 2/18-MetLife and three time on road-@OTT 11/24, @ARI 1/4, @SJ 3/7)  and allowed two in the same span eight 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))

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 (7): 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)

OT Winners
For (7): 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
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 (4): Kailer Yamamoto (SEA) 11/16, Tyson Foerster (PHI) 11/25, David Pastrnak (BOS) 12/15, Tomas Tatar (SEA) 2/13
 
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 826 *** 7. Bob Bourne 814 *** 8. Matt Martin 811 *** 9. Casey Cizikas 801 *** 10. Mike Bossy 752 *** 11. Anders Lee 746 *** Patrick Flatley 712 *** 13. Cal Clutterbuck 704…
32. Rich Pion and Mick Vukota 509 *** 34. Ed Westfall 493 *** 35. Mathew Barzal 487 *** 36. Adam Pelech 486 *** 37. Radek Martinek 479 **** 38. Gerry Hart 476 *** 39. Mariusz Czerkawski and Ryan Pulock 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. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Brock Nelson 270 *** 9. Anders Lee 257 …
20. Kyle Okposo 139 ***21. Jason Blake 127 *** 22. Mathew Barzal 125…
29. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 30. Benoit Hogue, Ed Westfall, and Casey Cizikas 105

Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 …
10. Stefan Persson 317 *** 11. Mathew Barzal 306…
16. Billy Harris 259 *** 17. Brock Nelson 251…
21. Nick Leddy 198 *** 22. Pierre Turgeon 193 *** 23. Anders Lee 188…
31. David Volek 154 *** 32. Mariusz Czerkawski 150 *** 33. Noah Dobson 147 *** 34. Travis Green 145 *** 35. Steve Thomas 140 *** 36. Mark Streit 139 *** 37. Ryan Pulock 137

Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…
10. Bob Bourne 542 *** 11. Brock Nelson 521 *** 12. Bob Nystrom 513 *** 13. Derek King 499 *** 14. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 15. Anders Lee 445  *** 16. Billy Harris 443 *** 17. Mathew Barzal 431…
31. Nick Leddy 243 *** 32. Ray Ferraro and Casey Cizikas 238

+/-
1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…
15. Bob Lorimer +105  *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 ***  17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +74  *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54  

Defense Goals
1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** 3. Kenny Jonsson 57…
4. Stefan Persson 52 *** 5. Ryan Pulock 47 *** 6. Jean Potvin 46 *** 7. Nick Leddy 45 *** 8. Roman Hamrlik 43 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Noah Dobson 38

Defense Assists
1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…
7. Jeff Norton 166 *** 8. Noah Dobson 148 *** 9. Mark Streit 139 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 137…
13. Roman Hamrlik 110 *** 14. Adam Pelech 110… 
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. Jeff Norton 188 *** 8. Noah Dobson 186 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 184
13. Dave Lewis 141 *** 14. Adam Pelech 136 *** 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. Tommy Salo 187 *** 7. Ilya Sorokin 186 *** 8. Jaroslav Halak 177 *** 9. Glenn Healy 176 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 155

Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…
5. Thomas Greiss 101 *** 6. Ilya Sorokin 92 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 88 *** 8. Roland Melanson 77 *** 9. Glenn Healy and Semyon Varlamov 66

Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Ilya Sorokin 18 *** 
4. Rick DiPietro 16 *** 5. Semyon Varlamov 15

On the Farm   
Bridgeport is 20-33-6-1 on the season heading into Friday's game in Utica. 

Ruslan Iskhakov continues to lead the team in goals (16), assists (26) and points (42).

Season Series Stats
The teams split the season series 2 games to 2 (and 5 points to 5). The road team won all five games.

The Isles are 0-5-2 in their last seven home games with the Canes, including 0-4-1 at UBS Arena.

UP NEXT
THURSDAY, MARCH 21st   ISLANDERS AT DETROIT– 7:00pm
[MSGSN2 (Pre-game at 6:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio].
The Isles look to break their five-game winless streak and climb within one point of the Red Wings as they visit Detroit for the second time in three weeks.

Each team owns a road win in the season series, with the Red Wings rallying for a 4-3 overtime win in October and the Isles earning a 5-3 win in Motown on February 29th. 

The Isles are 4-1-1 in their last six games against the Red Wings, but their win in Detroit was their first in four trips there (1-2-1).

AND FINALLY…
You are reading the 995th consecutive edition of The Skinny. I expect to publish the 1,000th consecutive edition will be published after the game in Tampa Bay on March 30th.

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