Stat Trick: Isles 3, Washington 2 (OT)

1. Richard Park's game winning goal was the first that the Isles had scored 4-on-4 all season. It's their third overtime win of the season, but the the other two (NJ and Tampa) were won on PP goals. It was Park's first OT goal as an Islander and his second winning goal of the season.

2. Miro Satan extended his point streak to six straight games. He now has 331 goals and 335 assists, giving him 666 career points. Pretty good for a Satan, huh? (I wish that I had thought of this one, but the credit goes to Hockey Night to Canada) BTW, check out this link to Miro's career stats:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey/nhl/players/666/

3. Bill Guerin's goal was his fourth against the Capitals this season and ninth overall. Guerin now has 373 career goals, which is one more than Eric Lindros and two fewer than Butch Goring.

and a few more for the holidays....

4. It's the Isles' first overtime win over the Capitals in over 13 years. Benoit Hogue had the winner for the Isles on April 5, 1994 in Landover. Ray Ferraro had two OT winners at the Coliseum against the Caps in the 1993 playoffs. To find a regular season OT win, you have to go back to November 5, 1988 when Pat LaFontaine ended the shortest OT game in Islander history (:10), just 18 1/2 months after ending the longest (68:47).

5. The Isles improve to 2-4-0 at home this month. They haven't lost five home games in any month since dropping six in March, 2001.

6. Trent Hunter didn't figure in the scoring but he had a strong game, with 7 shots, 4 hits, and three takeaways.

7. Washington had only 16 shots, giving them 28 in their two games at the Coliseum. They haven't had fewer than 23 shots in games in any locale other than Long Island.

8. Goals in last 2.5 seasons: Ovechkin 123, Heatley 122, Kovalchuk 122 (including tonight).

9. Strange but true: 10 of the last 11 Islander wins have been by one goal.

10. In winning consecutive games for the first time since winning at the Rock and the Garden in mid-November, the Isles won on consecutive nights for the second time this season. They are 6-2 on the back-half of back-2-backs and 6-0 if the set did not include a game with the Rangers.

11. The Isles have won their last game before X-mas in 4 of the last five seasons. Ho. Ho. Ho.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", to the left of Howie and Billy, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org