The Skinny: Capitals 4, Islanders 1

Game 13

Boston 4, Isles 1

Alex Ovechkin scored the game’s first and last goal and Hunter Shepard made 36 saves in his second NHL start as the Washington Capitals defeated the Isles 4-1 before a crowd of 16,519 at UBS Arena.   

Alex Romanov scored his first goal since February 26^th to tie the game late in the first period, but Washington scored twice in the last seven minutes of the second period to take a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes.

The Isles fall to 5-5-3 on the season; they begin a four-game road trip in Edmonton on Monday night at 8:30 (New York Time).

The Scoring:

1st Period

Alex Ovechkin (3) Evgeny Kuznetsov (5) 09:18 WSH 1,NYI 0

Alexander Romanov (1) Bo Horvat (6) 19:17 WSH 1,NYI 1

2nd Period

Nic Dowd (1) Nicolas Aube-Kubel (2), John Carlson (7) 13:05 WSH 2,NYI 1

Aliaksei Protas (1) Matthew Phillips (3), Connor McMichael (3) 19:20 WSH 3,NYI 1

3rd Period

Alex Ovechkin (4)EN 19:55 WSH 4,NYI 1

The Skinny    

The Isles have outscored their opponents 13-6 in the first period (the six goals allowed remains the fewest in the NHL); they allowed the first goal for the third straight game…The Isles have now been outscored 11-3 in the third period over the last six games….The Isles have not led at any point in their last two games after having a lead at some point in ten of their first eleven games (10/21 in Buffalo) …

The Isles have allowed the first goal five times this season and have not earned a point in any of them (0-5-0)…Bo Horvat has seven points in his last seven games; he is the second Islander to reach ten points on the season….It is the second time that the Isles have fallen to NHL-.500 (2-2-1); they went 3-0-1 in the first games after hitting NHL-.500 the first time…The Caps were credited with 32 blocks; their most in any game since 2/4/2016 against the Isles – that 2016 game is also the game with the most blocks of Isles shots against any opponent; Noah Dobson had 13 attempts, including eight that were blocked by Washington.

The Great 8

Alex Ovechkin now had 44 goals in 69 career games against the Isles and 826 goals overall.  His first goal extended his NHL record for game-opening goals (151, 6 more than Jaromir Jagr); his second goal tied Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 56 empty-net goals.  It was this 168^th multi-goal game; only Gretzky has more (189).

First Time in a Long Time (Recorded History)

The Isles were credited with 98 shot attempts.  It is their most attempts in the Real-Time Era.

Milestone Man

Congratulation to Jesse Eisenberg; the Islanders’ Sr. Director, Team Services and Communications, celebrated his 1,000^th game with the team.

Shoot the Puck!

The Isles have been getting more rubber on goal during power plays than they did last season:

• 2023-24 Isles have 55 shots in 55:27 of PP   (.99 shots per minute)
• 2022-23 Isles had 336 shots in 379:43 of PP (0.88 shots per minute)

That’s an 13% increase in shots per minute spent on the power play.

Heavy Hitters

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

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,785
2. Matt Martin 3,730

Martin (7) and Clutterbuck (3) have combined for the 10-biggest hits seasons in Isles history in the Real-Time era, which began in 2005-06.

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2023-24 5-5-3 for 13 points in 13 games
• 2022-23 8-5-0 for 16 points in 13 games           

Offense from Defense

• Today: 1-0-1
• Season: 6-14-20
• Last Season (Final) 41-132-173

The Islander defense scored 41 goals last season, which was the most since they scored 42 in 2003-04.  The 173 points were their most since 1993-94, when they had 174 points in an 84-game season.

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 17 shutouts in 138 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.4% of his starts, which is the highest in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.3%
• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%
• Ken Dryden 11.8%
• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Varly, Varly

Semyon Varlamov has 40 career shutouts and 274 career wins.  Among active NHL goalies (and excluding Carey Price, who is technically still active), Varlamov is 6^th in wins (274) and third in shutouts (40).

Overtime Is (Not) Our Time

The Isles are 0-3 so far this season in overtime, allowing three goals on five shots; the three overtimes have taken only 4:58 to play.

Ilya Sorokin is 13-21 in his career in games that have gone beyond sixty minutes; he is 8-12 in games decided in overtime and 5-9 in games decided by a shootout.

The Isles have lost 20 of the last 31 games that were decided by an overtime goal (since January 11, 2020).

Home and Road

The Isles are 5-5-3 overall; they are 3-3-3 at home and 2-2-0 on the road.

Boston is 11-1-1 overall; they are 6-0-1 at home and 6-1-0 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 4-3-3 against the East (2-1-2 vs. Metropolitan and 2-2-1 vs. Atlantic) and 1-2-0 against the West (1-2-0 vs. Central and 0-0-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 91 games at UBS Arena and recorded 63 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 1,410
3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First        

The Isles are 5-0-3 when scoring first and are 0-5-0 when allowing the opening goal.

The Shots

Isles           12-9-16=37

Washington 7-15-6=28

The Isles are 1-1-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 1-0-0 when the shots are even and 3-4-2 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Semyon Varlamov made 33 saves; he is 3-3-3 on the season and 8-12-3 vs. Washington.   

Hunter Shepard made 36 saves; he is 2-0-0 on the season and 1-0-0 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

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

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

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 3-1-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-4-0 when they do not.  Under Lane Lambert the Isles are 38-7-7 when scoring at least three goals.

One-Goal Games

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

Back-to-Backs     

The Isles are 0-0-1 in the front end and 0-1-0 in the back end this season.  The next set of back-to-backs will be on November 15 in Vancouver and November 16 in Seattle. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Noah Dobson (24:39);  Washington: John Carlson (26:23)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 21:46 of ice-time.

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Ryan Pulock (2-0-2), Noah Dobson (3-4-1), Alex Romanov (0-1-0)

Face-offs

Isles 25, Washington 25 (50%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 8 of 12 for the Isles; Nic Dowd won 13 of 22 for Washington.

Hit Count

Isles 17 (Cal Clutterbuck -4)

Washington 17 (Alex Ovechkin -4)

Fights

None. Season total: 2 (Martin 1, Pelech 1)

Blocked Shots

Isles 11 (Sebastian Aho -3)

Washington 32 (Two with 5)

For the Analytics Crowd

Corsi: All situations: Isles 98, Washington 49

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 84, Washington 41

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Noah Dobson +7

Washington: Hampus Lindholm +4

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 12, Washington 12

5-on-5: Isles 12, Washington 10

Scratches

Julien Gauthier, Oliver Wahlstrom, (Adam Pelech)

Games Lost: 11

The Ironmen

Anders Lee played in his 125^th consecutive Islander game; it Is the longest active streak on the team.  (Ryan Pulock and Brock Nelson are the other current Islanders to appear in every game last season and this season.)

Challenges

Isles:1 successful, 0 failures – WSH goalie interference (11/2)

Opponents: 0 successful, 1 failures – BUF no offside  (10/21)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute no times this season (no times at home and none on road) and allowed two in the same span three times (COL 10/25 x2, MIN 11/8)

Multi-Goal 3^rd Period Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win no times this season and have allowed the opposition to do so once.

For (0):  

Vs (2): DET 10/30 (trailed 0-2, won 4-3 in OT); CAR 11/4 (trailed 1-3, won 4-3 in OT)

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored one goal and have allowed no goals in the final three minutes of the third period to tie or go-ahead:

For (1): Bo Horvat 10/20 vs NJ 18:49 (Isles lost in OT)

OT Winners

For (0): 

Vs (3):   Jack Hughes (NJ) 10/20, Lucas Raymond (DET) 10/30, Sebastian Aho (CAR) 11/4

Shootout Winners

For (0):  

Vs (0):   

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 * 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 3. Josh Bailey 1,057… 6. Bob Bourne 814 7. Matt Martin 779 8.Brock Nelson 771 9. Casey Cizikas 758… 12. Brent Sutter 694 13. Anders Lee 691 14. John Tavares 669 * 15. Cal Clutterbuck 649

Goals   

1. Mike Bossy 573 * 2. Bryan Trottier 500 3. Denis Potvin 310 … 7. John Tavares 272 8. Brock Nelson 247 9. Anders Lee 241 … 28 Ray Ferraro 116 ** 29 Mathew Barzal 107

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 * 2. Denis Potvin 742 3. Mike Bossy 553 … 13. Pat LaFontaine 279 14. Bob Nystrom 278 15. Mathew Barzal 264… 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 20. Brock Nelson 223… 23. Ed Westfall 181 * 24. Anders Lee 177

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 * 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 3. Denis Potvin 1,052… 13. Patrick Flatley 488 14. Brock Nelson 470 15. Billy Harris 443 16. Anders Lee 418 * 17. Mathew Barzal 371

+/-

1. Bryan Trottier +467 * 2. Denis Potvin +456 3. Mike Bossy +380… 15. Bob Lorimer +105 16. Adam Pelech +80 17. Tomas Jonsson +76 18. Garry Howatt +75 19. Pat Price +70 20. JP Parise +67 21. Jude Drouin +58 22. Patrick Flatley +57 * 23. Greg Gilbert +54

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 * 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 3. Kenny Jonsson 57… 5. Nick Leddy 45 7. Ryan Pulock 44 8. Roman Hamrlik 43 9. Mark Streit 40 10. Johnny Boychuk 35 ** 11. Noah Dobson 34

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 * 2. Stefan Persson 317 3. Tomas Jonsson 249… 8. Mark Streit 139 9. Ryan Pulock 131… 16. Bryan Berard and Adam Pelech 100 17. Noah Dobson 99… 22. Ken Morrow 88 23. Bert Marshall 87 *24. Scott Mayfield 86

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 * 2. Stefan Persson 369 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…8. Mark Streit 179 9. Ryan Pulock 175...13. Tom Kurvers 134 14. Noah Dobson 133… 17... Gerry Hart 128 * 18. Vladimir Malakhov and Adam Pelech 125 20. Thomas Hickey 117 21. Adrian Aucoin 113 * 22. Scott Mayfield 112

Goalie Games

1. Billy Smith 674 * 2. Rick DiPietro 318 3. Glenn Resch 282 … 8. Glenn Healy 176 9. Ilya Sorokin 144 ** 10. Semyon Varlamov 140

Wins

1. Billy Smith 304 * 2. Glenn Resch 157 3. Rick DiPietro 130… 7. Roland Melanson 77 8. Ilya Sorokin 73 9. Glenn Healy 66 10. Tommy Salo 62 * 11. Semyon Varlamov 61

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 * 2. Billy Smith 22 3. Ilya Sorokin 17 4. Rick DiPietro 16 * 5. Semyon Varlamov 15

On the Farm  

Bridgeport is 4-6-1-0 on the season after splitting a pair of home games this weekend.  The Baby Isles  lost 3-0 to Hartford on Friday but rebounded for a 2-1 overtime win over Springfield on Saturday. Ruslan Iskhakov scored both goals for Bridgeport; Samuel Asselin earned assists on both.

Bridgeport hosts Syracuse at 10:30 on Tuesday morning in a School Day matinee game.

Season Series Stats

The season series is even, 1 game to 1 (and 2 points to 2).  The teams will meet on December 20^th in Washington and December 29^th at UBS Arena to complete the season series.

The Isles are 0-4-1 in their last five games with Washington and are winless in their last seven regular season games there (0-5-2). 

UP NEXT

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13^th  —ISLANDERS AT EDMONTON– 8:30pm

[MSGSN (pre-game at 8:00], WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Isles begin their first multi-game road trip of the season as they face the Edmonton Oilers in Northern Alberta on Monday.

The Isles have won just once in Edmonton since 2003, going 1-7-3 there in their last 11 trips.

AND FINALLY…

I was honored to be featured on the latest edition of Talkin Isles with Greg Picker and Cory Wright.  Find it here: https://talkin-isles.simplecast.com/episodes/eric-hornick

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*