NEW YORK ISLANDERS NOTES:

LAST GAME
DATE NYI RESULT SCORE NYI SCORERS IN GOAL
Tues., Dec. 13, 2022 SO Loss BOS 4 vs. NYI 3 Bailey, Dobson,
Cizikas
Varlamov (30/33)
Josh Bailey scored his fifth goal of the season, and Casey Cizikas found the back of the net to even the score in the third frame, but the New York Islanders fell to the Boston Bruins, 4-3, as they collected a point in their first shootout of the season. Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves on 33 shots, and Brock Nelson tallied two assists in the first game of the Islanders’ season-long five-game road trip.

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
Tonight, the New York Islanders visit the Arizona Coyotes in the second and final matchup between the two clubs this season, and make their first ever visit to Mullett Arena tonight. They last visited the Coyotes over a year ago on October 23, 2021, when Brock Nelson recorded a goal and an assist, and Anthony Beauvillier and Cal Clutterbuck each scored in a 3-0 Islander win. The Islanders look to earn a split in their season series against Arizona tonight, and they enter tonight’s game with points in eight of their last ten road matchups against the Coyotes.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Dec. 15 Adam Pelech has been placed on IR (retroactive Dec. 6).
Dec. 4 Robin Salo has been recalled from Bridgeport (AHL).
Dec. 3 Cole Bardreau has been assigned to Bridgeport (AHL).
Dec. 1 Kyle Palmieri is being placed on IR (retroactive to 11/21/22), Cal Clutterbuck is day-to-day with an upper body injury, Cole Bardreau and Hudson Fasching have been recalled from loan (Bridgeport).
Nov. 29 Josh Bailey is day to day with an upper body injury.
Nov. 28 Robin Salo has been recalled from loan (Bridgeport).

INJURIES GAMES MISSED

3 Adam Pelech Dec. 9 –

12 Josh Bailey Nov. 29

15 Cal Clutterbuck Oct. 13, Nov. 8, Dec. 2- Dec. 6

18 Anthony Beauvillier Dec. 10 –

21 Kyle Palmieri Nov. 23 –

25 Sebastian Aho Oct. 13 – Oct. 20

26 Oliver Wahlstrom Oct. 13

Man Games Lost: 26

RECENT RESULTS
Tuesday, Dec. 13 at Boston L/SO (4-3)
Saturday, Dec. 10 vs. Carolina L (3-0)
Friday, Dec. 9 at New Jersey W (6-4)
Tuesday, Dec. 6 vs. St. Louis L (7-4)
Sunday, Dec. 4 vs. Chicago W (3-0)

UPCOMING GAMES
Dec. 17 at Vegas T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas, NV) 10:00pm
Dec. 19 at Colorado Ball Arena (Denver, CO) 9:00pm
Dec. 22 at NY Rangers Madison Sq. Garden (New York, NY) 7:00pm
Dec. 23 vs. Florida UBS Arena (Belmont Park, NY) 7:30pm
Dec. 27 vs. Pittsburgh UBS Arena (Belmont Park, NY) 7:30pm

SEASON SERIES
DATE LOCATION TIME RESULT
Nov. 10, 2022 UBS Arena (Belmont Park, NY) 7:30pm L, 2-0
Dec. 16, 2022 Mullett Arena (Tempe, AZ) 9:30pm

LAST FIVE MEETINGS VS. ARIZONA
Nov. 10, 2022 UBS Arena (Belmont Park, NY) Loss (2-0)
Jan. 21, 2022 UBS Arena (Belmont Park, NY) Win (4-0)
Oct. 23, 2021 Gila River Arena (Glendale, AZ) Win (3-0)
Feb. 17, 2020 Gila River Arena (Glendale, AZ) Loss (2-1)
Oct. 24, 2019 Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, NY) Win (4-2)

vs. THE COYOTES:
2022-23 0-1-0
Last 5 meetings 3-2-0
Franchise History 42-27-12-3
NYI Home 23-10-8-1
NYI Away 19-17-4-3

TEAM NOTES
VISITING THE COYOTES
The Islanders visit the Coyotes tonight, as they make their first ever visit to Mullett Arena. It is the final meeting between the two teams this season, who last met on November 10 at UBS Arena when the Islanders fell to the Coyotes, 2-0. The Islanders last visited the Coyotes at Gila River Arena last season on October 23, 2021. The Islanders earned a 3-0 victory in the first in a pair of consecutive shutout victories for netminder Ilya Sorokin. Tonight’s matchup will be forward Zach Parise’s 38th career matchup against the Coyotes. He leads the Islanders in all three scoring categories against Arizona, tallying 29 points (13 goals, 16 assists) against the Coyotes throughout his career. The last time the Islanders visited the Coyotes, Brock Nelson recorded a goal an assist. He has recorded multi-point games in two of his last three meetings with Arizona. The Islanders enter tonight’s game with points in eight of their last ten road matchups against the Coyotes (6-2-2).

ON THE ROAD
Tonight’s matchup is the second of a five-game road trip for the Islanders, the longest in their schedule this season. The Islanders look to improve upon their 8-6-1 record on the road and earn their fifth victory of the season against an Central Division opponent.

SHOOTOUT
The Islanders began their season-long road trip against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night, where they collected a point in a 4-3 shootout loss at TD Garden. It was their first shootout decision of the 2022-23 campaign. Josh Bailey, Noah Dobson, and Casey Cizikas each scored to help the Islanders collect the point. Following their matchup with Boston, the Islanders have a 9-7-1 record against Eastern Conference opponents this season.

MULTI-POINT GAMES
In the Islanders’ last matchup on December 13 vs. the Boston Bruins, three Islanders recorded multi-point games to help the team collect a point in the shootout loss: Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson recorded his ninth goal of the season and an assist, his second two-point contest in his last four games. Dobson’s nine goals this season are third-most amongst all NHL defensemen. It was Dobon’s sixth multi-point game of the year, and he is eight points shy of his career 100th. A native of Summerside, PEI, Dobson is tied with Anders Lee and Zach Parise for second on the Islanders in goals (9), and is tied with Ryan Pulock for the lead in assists amongst Islanders defensmen. He leads Islanders blueliners in points (20). Dobson is also one of three Islander defensemen in franchise history to record 26 goals before their 23rd birthday, joining Bryan Berard and Denis Potvin. Forward Josh Bailey also tallied a goal and assist, his first multi-point game of the season. They were his 565th and 566th career points, tying Pat LaFontaine for seventh-most in franchise history. Bailey enters tonight’s game with four points (one goal, three assists) in his last four games. Brock Nelson recorded two assists, his second multi-assist game of the season. They were his 29th and 30th points this season, tying Mathew Barzal for the team-lead. Nelson has recorded two multi-point games in his last three outings, and has been held off the scoresheet just twice in his last ten games. He has recorded ten points (five goals, five assists) since November 25. The Warroad, MN native recorded his third two-goal game of the season on Friday night in New Jersey, including his fifth game-winning goal of the season. He leads the team in game-winners and is tied with Kyle Connor, Sidney Crosby, and Brayden Point for second-most GWGs in the league. Five GWGs matches Nelson’s single-season career-high, which he first recorded during the 2019-20 season, and again in 2021-22.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight, the Islander begin their sixth back-to-back series of games this season, and their second this month. The Islanders enter tonight’s game with a 4-1-0 record in the front-end of back-to-backs this year.

FINDING THE SCORESHEET
Islanders forward Brock Nelson has not been held off the scoresheet for two consecutive games yet this season. He is one of 11 NHLers so far this season who have not been held pointless for two straight games.

TOI
Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov skated 25:15 TOI on Tuesday night against the Bruins, setting a new season-high amongst Islanders. Romanov surpassed Scott Mayfield’s 25:05 TOI, set just four nights prior on December 9 in New Jersey. Mayfield is the Islanders’ time on ice leader in the last month, averaging 21:15 TOI per game since November 15. Mayfield has also skated nearly 98 minutes (97:57) shorthanded this season. Only two other skaters in the Metropolitan Division have spent more time on the penalty kill: John Marino (New Jersey) and Vladislav Gavrikov (Columbus).

GOALTENDING
Islanders netminder Semyon Varlamov has a 3-0-1 record in his last four starts, and has a 9-8-2 career record against the Coyotes. Varlamov made 30 saves on 33 shots faced on Tuesday night to help the Islanders earn a point in Boston. December 9 in New Jersey, Varlamov turned away 25 of 29 shots faced to help the Islanders earn their 17th win of the season and their seventh against a Metropolitan Division opponent, including seven minutes and 36 seconds of an extra Devils attacker. Varlamov tallied his sixth win of the season, and his 12th shutout as an Islander, when he turned away all 21 shots he faced on December 4 vs. Chicago. It was the 37th of his NHL career. Varlamov’s 37 career shutouts are tenth-most amongst active NHL netminders. The 21-save showing earned the Islanders their third shutout of the 2022-23 campaign.
Ilya Sorokin has a 2-1-0 record vs. Arizona. Each of Sorokin’s wins against the Coyotes have been shutouts: he posted a 26-save shutout against the Coyotes when the Islanders last visited them on October 23, 2021, and a 17-save shutout when he faced them on January 21.

53

Islanders forward Casey Cizikas has recorded two goals in his last three games. He scored his first goal of the season in his 28th game of the year on Friday, to help the Islanders earn a 6-4 win over the New Jersey Devils. He scored again on Tuesday in Boston, tying the game in the third period to help the Islanders earn a point in the shootout. Cizikas enters tonight’s matchup seven goals away from his career 100th, and six games from his career 700th. He can become the fourth active Islander to play 700 games in an Islander sweater, and the 11th in club
history.

SCORING
All 17 of the Islanders’ victories this season have included at least three Islander goal, and their three goals on Tuesday helped them earn a point against Boston. There have been just three instances this year where the Islanders scored three times and did not come away with a win.

ASSISTS LEADER
Mathew Barzal leads the Islanders in assists, with 27 through 30 games this season. Entering tonight’s matchup, Barzal is tied with Josh Morrissey (Winnipeg) for fifth-most assists in the league. The 25-year-old is also tied with Brock Nelson for the team-lead in points, with 30. Amongst Metropolitan Division skaters, only Artemi Panarin (29) has tallied more assists than Barzal so far this season.

ARIZONA COYOTES NOTES:

3 HARD LAPS
• Arizona is 2-3-0 in its last five games and aim to establish a 3-game home win streak tonight
• Clayton Keller (10-17-27 in 27 GP), Shayne Gostisbehere (6-15-21 in 27 GP) and Matias Maccelli (2-18-20 in 25 GP) are the Yotes’ top-3 scorers. The last time ARI had three 20+ pt scorers after 27 games of a season was 2015-16 (Mikkel Boedker, Max Domi, Martin Hanzal)
• The Coyotes will play six of their next seven games at home starting tonight

LAST GAME
Sharks 3, Coyotes 2 – December 13, 2022 – SAP Center
ARI Goals: Crouse (13), Bjugstad (6)
SJ Goals: Hertl (10), Bonino (4), Sturm (8)
ARI Goalie: Vejmelka (L) – 30 svs on 33 shots
SJ Goalie: Reimer (W) – 20 svs on 22 shots
PP: 1-5 PK: 2-2
Notes: ARI got goals from Lawson Crouse and Nick Bjugstad…Crouse padded his team lead with his 13th tally of the season…Crouse’s goal came on the power play to tie his single-season high (3), which was also his third goal overall in his last 3 GP…Bjugstad (6-5-11) scored his sixth goal of the season and is one goal and two pts shy of matching last season’s production…Clayton Keller found the scoresheet with an assist to establish a 3-game point streak…The helper was Keller’s 20th road point of the campaign, making him one of 5 NHLers to be at that threshold (McDavid, Draisaitl, Aho, MacKinnon)…Matias Maccelli registered his 20th point of his rookie season (2-18-20 in 25 GP) with an assist and enters tonight with 10 pts (1-9-10) in his last 9 GP…Shayne Gostisbehere got back on the scoresheet with an assist to reach 15 helpers on the season…Patrik Nemeth earned his second assist of 2022-23 MAN GAMES LOST (Name/Roster Status/Injury Type/Games Missed/Last Game Played)
Total man games lost: 63 games
Jakob Chychrun (16), Nick Schmaltz (15), Zack Kassian (9), Connor Timmins (9), Andrew Ladd (6), Josh Brown (3),
Ben McCartney (3), Juuso Valimaki (1), Lawson Crouse (1)

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
12/15 – Assigned D Dysin Mayo to Tucson (AHL)
-12/8 – :Loaned F Dylan Guenther to Team Canada for the 2023 WJC

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
DATE TIME
(AZ)

OPPONENT VENUE TV RADIO
Sat, Dec 17 7pm vs BUF Mullett Arena Bally Sports Arizona
Extra
ESPN 620
Mon, Dec 19 8pm vs MTL Mullett Arena Bally Sports Arizona
Extra
ESPN 620
Wed, Dec 21 8pm at VGK T-Mobile Arena Bally Sports Arizona ESPN 620

YOTES & ISLES
-Tonight is the second and final meeting between the Yotes and Isles in 2022-23. Arizona captured the previous matchup 2-0 on 11/10 at UBS Arena behind a 24-sv shutout by Karel Vejmelka
-The 11/10 win snapped an 8-game road losing streak the Yotes had at NYI
-Travis Boyd netted the GWG 1 minute into the third period of the 11/10 contest and Clayton Keller finished that night with 2 assists
-The Coyotes are 6-3-1 in their last 10 home matchups with the Islanders dating back to 1/9/10
-Shayne Gostisbehere leads current Coyotes in career assists (11) and points (14) against NYI

-Coyotes franchise vs Islanders:
• All-Time: 30-41-12-1
• Home: 19-18-4-1
• Road: 11-23-8-0
• L10: 4-6-0
• STRK: W1

SCORING NOTABLES AGAINST THE ISLANDERS
Shayne Gostisbehere…3-11-14…27 career GP
Nick Bjugstad…6-4-10…17 career GP
Clayton Keller…1-4-5…9 career GP
Troy Stecher…1-2-3…8 career GP
Jack McBain…1-0-1…1 career GP
Career Leaders
Goals (Bjugstad, 6)… Assists (Gostisbehere, 11)…Points (Gostisbehere, 14)
Career Leaders Among Defensemen
Goals (Gostisbehere, 3)… Assists (Gostisbehere, 11)…Points (Gostisbehere, 14)

KELLER INSTINCT
-Clayton Keller enters tonight among Arizona leaders in goals (10, 2nd), assists (17, 2nd) and points (27, 1st) in 2022- 23
-He enters tonight with a 3-game point streak, his fourth 3+ game point streak on the campaign. He got an assist on Tuesday and tallied his first career hat trick on Sunday
-Keller notched his fifth career OT tally on Sunday to put him in sole possession of the fourth-most in Coyotes/Jets franchise history (Doan, 11; Ekman-Larsson, 7, MacLean, 6)
-It was also Keller’s 11th career overtime point, putting him in a tie for the third-most in franchise history (Doan, 21; Hawerchuk, 12; Ekman-Larsson, 11)
-Keller reached 10 goals on the season with his hat trick, marking his sixth consecutive season clearing double-digits. He’s the 10th player in Coyotes/Jets history to have 6+ consecutive seasons of double-digit goals with the franchise
-Keller’s 27 pts thru ARI’s first 27 GP are the most a Coyotes player has tallied in the team’s first 27 gms since Shane Doan (10-17-27 in 27 GP) and Ladislav Nagy (13-14-27 in 26 GP) in 2003-04

FEWEST GAMES BY A COYOTE TO 30 PTS (SINCE 1996-97)
NAME SEASON GP SCORING LINE DATES
Jeremy Roenick 1999-00 19 14-16-30 10/2/99 – 11/28/99
Jeremy Roenick 1998-99 25 10-20-30 10/11/98 – 12/16/98
Keith Tkachuk 1998-99 26 17-14-31 10/11/98 – 12/22/98
Ladislav Nagy 2005-06 27 11-20-31 10/8/05 – 12/5/05
Ladislav Nagy 2003-04 28 14-16-30 10/10/03 – 12/12/03
Shane Doan 2003-04 29 11-19-30 10/10/03 – 12/12/03
Keith Tkachuk 1997-98 30 17-14-31 10/1/97 – 12/10/97
-The winger has been clear of a point per game since 11/18/21, recording 35-49-84 in 78 GP since then. His 1.08 points per game in that span ranks 6th among RW (Min. 50 GP)

LAYING DOWN THE LAW
-Lawson Crouse registered a goal on Tuesday to give him three markers in his last 3 GP
-Crouse enters tonight with a season stat line of 13-3-16 in 26 GP. The 13 tallies are already the third-most he’s registered in a campaign (15, 2019-20; 20, 2021-22)
-He picked up his 13th goal of 2019-20 in his 51st game of that season. Last year it took him 48 games to reach 13 tallies
-Converting 13 of his 51 shots into goals this season, Crouse’s 25.5% shooting percentage leads the entire NHL (min. 5 goals)
-Crouse has 10 more goals than assists. That’s tied for the second-highest difference in the NHL, training only VAN’s Bo Horvat (21-9-30)
-The 13 goals on the campaign put Crouse on roughly a 41-goal pace for an 81-game season (the most games he can play this season)
-The last time a Coyote had 13+ goals within the Coyotes’ first 27 games of a season was Radim Vrbata (13-11-24) in 2011-12

EAT YOUR VEGGIES
-Karel Vejmelka enters tonight with an 8-8-3 record and a .913 SV%. He’s started each of the last 3 games for ARI
-Vejmelka ranks third in the NHL with 637 saves
-In even-strength situations, Vejmelka has posted a .925 SV% to rank 10th in the NHL (min. 15 GP)
-The netminder picked up his eighth win of the season on Sunday (19 GP). Last year he won his eighth game in his 32nd appearance
-Vejmelka is one of 12 NHL netminders with multiple shutouts in 2022-23

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Shayne Gostisbehere (6-15-21 in 27 GP) enters tonight ranking among NHL d-men leaders in goals (T-7th), points (T-15th) and even-strength points (13, T-13th) on the campaign
-The blueliner has compiled 7 pts (2-5-7) in his last six games, as well as 11 pts (2-9-11) in his last 10 GP (since 11/23)
-Since 11/23, Gostisbehere ranks T-4th among NHL d-men in both assists and points
-Gostisbehere reached 15 assists this season with a helper on Tuesday. Since the franchise relocated to Arizona, Keith Yandle (2x), Paul Mara (2x) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson are the only defensemen to record 15+ assists within the team’s first 27 games