The Skinny: Islanders 5, Lightning 1

Game 29Isles 5, Tampa Bay 1
Ross Johnston and Josh Bailey scored goals 1:53 apart in the second period, and Semyon Varlamov made 31 saves as the Isles went into Tampa Bay and defeated the Lightning 5-1 before a sellout crowd of 19,092 at AMALIE Arena.
Brock Nelson added a pair of goals in the third period, sandwiching a successful Islander offside challenge while Anders Lee scored his first power play goal of the season late in the third period for the final margin of victory.
The Isles improve to 20-7-2; it's the first time in franchise history that they have won 20 of their first 29 games. The 42 points is one point off the pace set by the 1978-79 squad (18-4-7).

The Scoring: 1st Period
No Goals
2nd Period
Ross Johnston (2) Ryan Pulock 06:44 NYI 1,TBL 0
Josh Bailey (8) Casey Cizikas 08:37 NYI 2,TBL 0 SHG
Steven Stamkos (10) Kevin Shattenkirk, Anthony Cirelli 15:35 NYI 2,TBL 1
3rd Period
Brock Nelson (10) 07:31 NYI 3,TBL 1
Brock Nelson (11) Anders Lee, Jordan Eberle 14:41 NYI 4,TBL 1
Anders Lee (8) Josh Bailey, Mathew Barzal 16:05 NYI 5,TBL 1 PPG
The Skinny
The Isles are 4-4-1 in their last nine games as they reached 13 games over NHL-.500 for the fourth time this season… Brock Nelson played his 509th game, matching the career total of fan favorites Mick Vukota and Rich Pilon; he's one game behind Casey Cizikas, who played in game 510 tonight…The Isles improve to 9-1-0 against the Atlantic Division this season…Semyon Varlamov has stopped 125 of 129 shots since replacing Thomas Greiss last Saturday vs. Columbus….This was the Isles' most lopsided win in Tampa since November 21, 2002 (7-2)…The Isles stopped Victor Hedman's 5-game point streak…The Isles improve to 14-0-1 when leading after two periods….Josh Bailey recorded his sixth career shorthanded goal… Ross Johnston now has 6 goals in 57 career NHL games…Brock Nelson recorded his third multi-goal game of the season; the Isles have won all three games…Nick Leddy missed his 6th game of the season, allowing Noah Dobson (+2) to get into his 8th NHL game….Barry Trotz won his 830th game, 48 more than Isles legend Al Arbour. Arbour's widow Claire was in attendance….The Isles scored both a power play goal and a shorthanded goal in the same game for the first time since November 3, 2018 vs. New Jersey…It was the 214th consecutive sellout at AMALIE Arena.…The Isles and football Giants have not won on the same day since October 23, 2016.
It's Good to be Home(s)
The Isles are 8-2-0 on Coliseum ice, where they have won seven straight games. The Isles will play 28 of their 41 home games this season at the Coliseum. The Isles are 4-0-1 at Barclays Center this season and have not lost in Brooklyn (regular season) since January 12th (9-0-1); their next Brooklyn game is on January 11, 2020 vs. Boston.
Coach Trotz
Barry Trotz is second among active coaches, trailing only Joel Quenneville, in both wins and games. Trotz' NHL record is 830-602-60-143 in 1,635 games.
Most Coaching Wins
1. Scotty Bowman 1,244
2. Joel Quenneville 905
3. Ken Hitchcock 849
4. Barry Trotz 830
5. Al Arbour 782
Most Games Coached
1. Scotty Bowman 2,141
2. Joel Quenneville 1,665
3. Barry Trotz 1,635
4. Al Arbour 1,607
The Rotation
The Islanders are first team since the Sharks in 2006-07 to alternate starting goalies for each of the first 29 games of the season. (The Sharks used Vesa Toskala in the odd games and Evgeni Nabokov in the even games before Nabokov started games 36 and 37 around the Christmas break)
This is the longest streak in Isles history:
• 29 games (Varlamov/Greiss) in 2019-20; CURRENT
• 24 games (Hrudey/Smith) in 1985-86; Smith played games 24 and 25.
• 23 games (Smith/Melanson) in 1982-83; Smith played games 23 and 24.
The NHL record of 76 was set by the Rangers in 1990-91 (John Vanbiesbrouck/Mike Richter).

First Things First
The Isles are 11-2-1 when scoring first and are 9-5-1 when allowing the opening goal.
The Shots
Isles 8-8-8=24
Tampa Bay 9-12-11=32
The Isles are 6-1-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even and 14-5-1 when they are outshot.
Home and Road
The Islanders are 20-7-2 overall; 12-2-1 at home (8-2-0 on Long Island and 4-0-1 in Brooklyn) and 8-5-1 on the road.
Tampa Bay is 14-11-3 overall; 7-6-1 at home and 7-5-2 on the road.
By Division & Conference
The Isles are 6-2-1 in Division games and 14-5-1 in games versus other divisions. The Isles are 15-3-1 against the East and 5-4-1 against the West.
In the Nets
Semyon Varlamov made 31 saves and improves to 10-3-2 this season and 10-6-2 against Tampa Bay.
Curtis McElhinney made 19 saves but falls to 3-3-2 on the season and 4-3-1 in his (regular season) career against the Isles.
Power Plays
The Isles were 1-2 on the power play in 2:52 of power play time; Tampa Bay was 0-3 on the power play in 6:00 of PP time and allowed a shorthanded goal.
The Isles are 9-1-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 11-6-2 when they do not. The Isles are 7-4-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 13-3-2 when they do not.
The Isles are 3-2-1 when they have more power plays than the opposition, 2-1-0 when the power plays are even, and 15-4-1 when the opposition has more power plays.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 17-0-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-7-1 when they do not. Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 55-2-3 when scoring three or more.
One Goal Games
The Isles are 10-1-2 in games decided by a single goal including 3-1 in regulation. They are 5-2 in games decided in overtime and are 2-0 in shootouts. The Isles are 2-1 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.
Tired vs. Rested
• The Isles are 2-0-0 when both teams played the night before.
• The Isles are 5-0-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not.
• The Isles are 1-1-0 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.
• The Isles are 12-6-2 when both teams are rested.
Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Devon Toews (24:45); Tampa Bay: Victor Hedman (23:53)
Josh Bailey led Isles forwards with 19:20 of ice-time.
Isles record by ice-time leader: Adam Pelech (7-1-0), Ryan Pulock (8-1-2), Devon Toews (3-2-0), Scott Mayfield (1-1-0), Nick Leddy (0-2-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0).
Face-offs
Isles 20, Tampa Bay 28 (42%).
Casey Cizikas won 7 of 13 for the Isles; Anthony Cirelli won 7 of 9 for Tampa Bay.
Hit Count
Isles 22 (Matt Martin and Anders Lee -4)
Tampa Bay 22 (Two with 3)

Fights
There were no fights. Season total: 6 - Johnston-3 (vs. FLA, vs PHL, vs TB), Cizikas-2 (vs. OTT, vs SJ), Mayfield (vs ANA).

Blocked Shots
Isles 18 (Scott Mayfield and Johnny Boychuk --3)
Tampa Bay 11 (Ryan McDonagh -3)
For the Corsi Crowd
All situations: Isles 44, Tampa Bay 71
5-on-5 Isles 36, Tampa Bay 56
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Noah Dobson +2 (the only Isle to be a "+")
Tampa Bay: Kevin Shattenkirk +13
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 3-1-0 in the front-half and 3-1-0 in the back-half. The next back-to-back will be January 6th vs Colorado and January 7th in New Jersey. Under Barry Trotz, the Isles are 14-2-1 in back-ends.
Night and Day
The Isles are 18-7-2 in night games and 2-0-0 in matinees. The next matinee will be on December 14th vs. Buffalo.
Ironmen
Anders Lee 229, Brock Nelson 205, Mathew Barzal 193, Ryan Pulock 156, Josh Bailey 114, Anthony Beauvillier 104, and Devon Toews 77.
Iron D
Ryan Pulock is only the 5th defenseman in Islander history to play at least 156 consecutive regular season games:
1. Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979 262
2. Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220 (\) (\\)
3. Gerry Hart 3/1/1975-11/22/1977 198
4. Andrew MacDonald 12/19/2011- 3/2/2014 164 (\\)
5. Ryan Pulock 12/29/2017 - CURRENT 156
(\) Start of NHL career.
(\\) Entire career with Islanders
Scratches
(Tom Kuhnhackl-LTIR), (Nick Leddy -INJ), Leo Komarov.
Total games lost: 76
Late Heroes
The Isles have scored twice in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or take the lead:
10/14 vs. STL - Mathew Barzal scored at 19:33 and the Isles won in OT.
11/19 @ PIT - Ryan Pulock scored at 18:38 and the Isles won in OT.
Late Goals Allowed
The Isles have allowed one goal in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:
11/21 vs. STL - Patric Hornqvist scored at 19:30, but the Isles won in OT.
Challenges
Isles: 2 successful, 0 failures (offside-11/19 vs PIT), (offside-12/9 vs TBL)
Opponents: 1 successful, 2 failures (Nelson-kick 10/8 vs EDM), (Lee- no high stick 11/1 vs. TB), (Cizikas- no goalie interference 11/23 vs SJ)
All-time Islander Leader Boards:
Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1123 \\* 2. Denis Potvin 1060 \\* 3. Bob Nystrom 900 \\* 4. Clark Gillies 872 \\*
5. Josh Bailey 826…
23.\\* Pat LaFontaine 530 \\* 24. Kyle Okposo 529 \\* 25. Matt Martin 522 \\* 26. Dave Lewis 514 \\* 27. Casey Cizikas 510 \\* 28. Rich Pilon, Mick Vukota and Brock Nelson 509
Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 \\* 2. Bryan Trottier 500 \\* 3. Denis Potvin 310 …
14.Patrick Flatley and Anders Lee 160 \\* 16. Josh Bailey 148 \\* 17. Pierre Turgeon 147 \\\
18. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 \\\ 19. Kyle Okposo 139 \\* 20. Brock Nelson 135
Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 \\* 2. Denis Potvin 742 \\* 3. Mike Bossy 553…
9. Stefan Persson 317 \\* 10. Josh Bailey 306 …
25. Jeff Norton 166 \\* 26. Ziggy Palffy 163 \\* 27. Nick Leddy 160
Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1353 \\* 2. Mike Bossy 1126 \\* 3. Denis Potvin 1052…
12. Patrick Flatley 488 \\* 13. Josh Bailey 454…
24. Ed Westfall 286 \\* 25. Anders Lee 273 \\* 26. Brock Nelson 264
Games Played (Goalies)
1. Billy Smith 674 \\* 2. Rick DiPietro 318 \\* 3. Glenn Resch 282 \\* 4. Kelly Hrudey 241 \\*
5. Tommy Salo 187 \\* 6.Jaroslav Halak and Thomas Greiss 177
Wins (Goalie)
1. Billy Smith 304 \\* 2. Glenn Resch 157 \\* 3. Rick DiPietro 130\\* 4. Kelly Hrudey 108\\*
5. Thomas Greiss 95
Shutouts (Goalie)
1. Glenn Resch 25 \\\2. Billy Smith 22 \\\ 3. Rick DiPietro 16 \\* 4. Tommy Salo 14\\*
5. Jaroslav Halak 12 \\* 6. Thomas Greiss 10
Games Coached
1. Al Arbour 1,500 \\* 2. Jack Capuano 483 \\* 3. Mike Milbury 192 …
9. Steve Stirling 124 \\* 10. Doug Weight 122 \\* 11. Barry Trotz 111

Coaching Wins
1. Al Arbour 740 \\* 2. Jack Capuano 227 \\* 3. Terry Simpson 81 \\* 4. Peter Laviolette 77 \\*
5. Ted Nolan 74 \\* 6. Barry Trotz 68
Season Series Stats
The Isles lead the season series 2 games to 0 (and 4 points to 0). The teams will meet again in Tampa on February 8th.
The Isles are 3-0-1 in their last four games against Tampa Bay, outscoring the Lightning 15-4 in those four games. This, however, this was only their second win in their last six regular season trips to Tampa Bay.
On the Farm
The Utica Comets scored four third period goals to erase a 3-2 Sound Tiger lead and defeated Bridgeport 6-3 in a rare Monday night home game. Kieffer Bellows scored again for Bridgeport, giving him four goals in the last six games. It's his best goal scoring stretch since November 2018.
Bridgeport is 9-14-3-1 on the season and will head back to Utica on Friday.
Up NextTHURSDAY, DECEMBER 12th - ISLANDERS AT FLORIDA - 7:00 PM[MSG+-- Islanders pre-game at 6:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN 1050]
The Isles conclude their road trip in Sunrise, Florida against the Panthers.
It's the final meeting of the season between the teams, and the NHL's two winningest active coaches. The Isles defeated Florida 3-2 (shootout) at the Coliseum on October 12 and 2-1 in Brooklyn November 9th in the first and twelfth games of their franchise-record 17-game point streak.
The Isles will be looking to sweep the season series for the first time since 2013 (3-0-0). Overall the Isles have won three straight from the Cats, but all three have been decided by a single goal (including two in shootouts).
Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog www.nyiskinny.com.