Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Two things happened on Saturday night in Dallas that hadn’t happened all season. Mathew Barzal scoring a goal was the good; the team allowing three third-period goals was the bad. And just like that, the Islanders are losers of two in a row, with a level of uncertainty surrounding the soundness of their game heading into their matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
If you’re doubting the Islanders after the last two games, you were probably doubting them after the 2-4-0 start as well. For many of you, that concern subsided after they won nine of 11, but were we viewing them in a too favorable light? Were we a bit starry-eyed despite what the underlying stats told us and the come-from-behind wins cautioned? Possibly.
Two more games before that Thanksgiving snapshot of the NHL standings happens. Two matchups against high-powered offenses (@TOR vs. EDM) to sort out exactly how we’re supposed to feel about this team.
Coming up, Bailey was back in the lineup, and Barzal lit the lamp for the first (and second) time this season. Plus, some discouraging advanced stats, Palms plays in his 700th, and the 2019-20 team extend their record point streak.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: Veteran winger Josh Bailey was back in the lineup on Saturday night after being a healthy scratch the previous two games and played 14:48 TOI replacing Ross Johnston. Bailey has been scratched three times already this season and has just one point in his last six games.
◾️ STAY READY: “You’re accustomed to playing pretty much every other day,” said Bailey. “At this point in my career, I’ve been through these things before. You stay ready, and when you get back out there, you try to make the most of it.”
📝 In The Athletic, Kevin Kurz went in depth about Bailey’s situation and role, with perspective from his teammates on what the player is going through. Kurz also writes the lack of depth in the Isles’ forward group and that while there are some intriguing prospects up front, no one is on the verge of being an impact contributor at the NHL level at the moment.
◾️ A PERFECT BLEND: “I think we’ve got an excellent group there,” Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello said about Bridgeport’s team. “We’ve got a perfect blend of veterans who are quality and character people who teach younger players that we’ve got there. We’ve got half a dozen young players that will play in the league. At what point, I couldn’t say that, but we’re pleased from goaltending on out.”
🚨Speaking of Bridgeport, the Islanders (9-3-3-0) defeated Providence 3-2 in O.T. on Sunday on Aatu Raty’s game-winning breakaway goal at 2:59 of overtime. Jakub Skarek (3-2-2) set a new career high with 43 saves, while William Dufour and Erik Brown each scored a goal.
In his 19th game and after 19 assists without a goal, Mathew Barzal scored his first and second goals of the season with his dad in attendance during the second period on Saturday night. The first goal tied, and the second passed Ziggy Palffy on the club's all-time scoring list. Overall, Barzal leads the Isles in points with 21 and is on pace for career highs in assists (82) and points (91).
◾️ WASN’T BOTHERED: “It’s nice anytime you score,” Barzal said, “whether it’s your first or your 30th. I was never bothered by it. It didn’t matter to me at all. It’s just about making an impact.”
◾️ GREAT TO SEE: "When he attacks tonight like that and gets the middle and creates a shot for himself, he's going to get a lot of those opportunities," Anders Lee said of Barzal. "He's had them all year, and he just got them to go tonight and it's great to see, but we'll see a lot more of that too."
🎶 PLAYING THE HITS: Cal Clutterbuck has an NHL record in his sights and intends to hit his target. The veteran winger’s 3,626 hits are just six shy of Dustin Brown (3,632) for the most in NHL history since hits were recorded, starting with the 2005-06 season. His teammates and fellow fourth-liner and bash brother, Matt Martin, is third on that list with 3,471.
◾️ PART OF MY IDENTITY: "It just maybe shows that I've been able to be consistent with it for a long period of time," Clutterbuck said. "That's always been part of my identity as a player and it continues to be."
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders are in Toronto tonight to take on John Tavares, Auston Matthews, and the Maple Leafs. Toronto has a 9-5-3 record overall and a 7-2-2 record on its home ice. Puck drop is set for 7:30 PM ET.
📊 STANDINGS:
🔢 BEHIND THE NUMBERS: On Sunday, J Fresh Hockey released a couple of charts that go hand-in-hand with each other and lend credence to those who have been concerned that the come-from-behind wins and goaltending have been masking a number of underlying problems with the team.
Per the data from TopDownHockey, the Islanders are next-to-last in 5v5 Expected Goals against per 60. Over the final 23 games of last season, the Islanders were allowing 3.23 expected goals against per 60. Granted, that blue line consisted of two defensemen in Zdeno Chara and Andy Greene, that are retired, and Grant Hutton, who has played just six games in Bridgeport this season.
The fact the blueline doesn’t resemble last season would normally lead you to throw out those numbers, but as a comparison, what does it say if the healthy, young defense that has added Alexander Romanov and has seen better play from Sebastian Aho, is once again at the bottom of this category?
The saving grace has been their goaltending, which is third in the league in goals saved above expected, led by Ilya Sorokin, who has a 2.41 GAA and .925 SV %. The Isles tandem of Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov were third in the league at +12.3 in Goals saved Above Expected as of yesterday.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, Brock Nelson played in his 695th game, passing Brent Sutter for 10th on the all-time club list. Kyle Palmieri played his 700th NHL game. “It’s a little milestone,” Palmieri said. “It’s a lot of games. I’m proud of it, and I’m hoping there’s a lot more to come.” Meanwhile, Adam Pelech played his 400th game.
🗓 THIS DATE IN ISLANDERS HISTORY: On November 21, 2019, Brock Nelson scored his second goal of the game at 4:16 of the extra period, lifting the Islanders to a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins to extend their point streak to a franchise-record 16 games. "Good win by us, sticking with it. It was nice to get the win in overtime," said Nelson, who won the game in his 500th NHL game. "We've won a number of different ways now on this run."
🎧 Weird Islanders: The Podcast! - Wendel Clark (with guest Sean McIndoe) “Mike and Dan are joined by writer, podcaster and Leafs fan Sean McIndoe (aka @DownGoesBrown) to discuss Wendel Clark - his favorite player and a short-time Islander during a crazy era.”
🔗 Islanders' Kyle Palmieri plays his 700th NHL game by Andrew Gross, Newsday “Smithtown’s Kyle Palmieri is 31 and has played 12-plus seasons in the NHL. And he fully appreciated reaching his 700th game as the Islanders lost to the Stars, 5-2, on Saturday night at American Airlines Center.”
🔗 Clutterbuck Playing the Hits by Corey Wright, NewYorkIslanders.com “Considering Cal Clutterbuck has thrown 3,626 hits during his 16-year career, it's hard to recall specific collisions, but there's at least one that stands out to the Islanders veteran. It came during Clutterbuck's first season with the Isles in 2013-14, when he was finally able to knock over the man mountain that was 6'3, 245 lbs. defenseman Douglas Murray.”
And we leave you with this…Sunday was the one-year anniversary of the Islanders’ first game at UBS Arena - a facility that many of us never thought could get built. The @IslesMSGN Twitter account shared a fun and amusing video from that day.
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.....NOT happy with the last two games; HARD to say which method of collapse was MORE infuriating - they're finding new ways to lose - AGAIN and, as I noted in my Hockey Writers' posting Comment, defensemen - ESPECIALLY Noah, are struggling MIGHTILY to hold the opposition's blueline; falling apart at CRITICAL junctures.....