Stat Trick: Islanders 5, Calgary 4 (shooutout)

1. Mike Sillinger had two goals for the Islanders in the first period -- the 23rd two-goal game of his career. He has never had a regular season hat trick although he did score one in the 2004 playoffs for St.Louis.

2..That Isles have scored at least 4 goals in a game against the Flames for the first time since a 6-2 win over Calgary on January 7, 1994 at the Coliseum. That game was filled with historical oddities:

Arbour serving suspension for first time in NHL career (Vukota had left bench during a fight)
Isles/NHL debuts for Jamie McLennan and Ziggy Palffy
This was the 16th game between the teams since then.

3. The Isles earn the win (via the shootout) in their first game in Calgary since January 15, 2002 and do so without Miro Satan (who missed a game due to injury for the first time as an Islander) and Brendan Witt (who played only 5:#7 before being injured in a collision with Jarome Iginla.

and a few more...

4. The Isles are 1-1-2 on this road trip with one game to play. They are 6-2-3 in their last 11 games, including 3 wins and 3 losses in ot/so games.

5. Freddy Meyer blocked six shots as he saw extra time due to the injury to Witt.

6. The Isles equaled their first period high by scoring three times (for the third time this season, all on the road).

7. Jarome Iginla led all players with 26:59 of ice-time and had nine shots on goal, and one more in the shootout, but fellow All-Star Rick DiPietro stopped them all.

8. Isles have kiiled 19 of 20 on this trip, including the critical double minor to Mike Sillinger with under five minutes to play.

9. The Isles now have 47 points in 43 games. Since 1988, only the 2001-02 squad has had more points(49) in their first 43 games.

10. Ruslan Fedotenko had a goal and two assists, matching his opening night performance in Buffalo.

11. Speaking of Buffalo, the Islanders do something that the Sabres and Rangers have failed to do in 2008: become the first New York based team to win a hockey game. Isles are 1-1-3 in 2008, Sabres are 0-2-3 and the Rangers are 0-4-1.

12. The win puts the Isles in sole possesion of 7th place and drops Boston to 8th. The 9th place Rangers are two points behind the Isles, but the Isles also hold a game in hand
Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick.