Stat Trick: Canadiens 3, Islanders 1

Based on their play tonight, maybe the Isles should have played a sixth straight road game instead of returning to the Coliseum for the first time in 12 days. On to the stat trick:

1. Tomas Plekanec recorded his 6th two-goal game of the season, including the 9th shorthanded goal allowed by the Islanders this season. The 9 SHG's allowed tie the Isles for the League Lead in this category with the Wild. The Wild however, have scored 39 PP goals, the Isles only 31.

2. Montreal sweeps the Long Island portion of the season series, and wins consecutive games at the Coliseum for the first time since winning three straight at the Coliseum between February 1997 and January 1998.

3. Tonight's game concludes a five-game stretch against Canadian opponents - longest since a similar stretch in March 1998. Isles went 2-2-1 in this stretch (1-3-1 in 1998). The Isles have had four other five-game stretches against Canadian opponents as well as a six-game stretch in December 1980.

and a few more...

4. While a lot has been written about the first game back after a long road trip, the Isles won their first game back after their last three trips of at least five games:

11/22/06 vs Carolina (After 5 game trip)
3/21/06 vs Montreal (after 5 game trip)
3/19/04 vs Minnesota (after 5 game trip)

Tonight's loss was the first in a similar situation since dropping a 4-2 decision to New Jersey on March 22, 2003 following a six game trip.

5. The Islanders were held to one shot in the first period. It was the first time since February 13, 2007 in Toronto that the Isles were held to only one shot (regular season only -- Buffalo held the Isles to one shot in Game 1 of last year's playoffs). They finished with only 18 shots --their lowest total since having only 18 in Ottawa on 12/27/06.

6. While the Isles had only 18 shots on goal, the Canadiens blocked 25 others, including six by Andrei Markov.

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