Stat Trick: Pittsburgh 3, Isles 1

The Penguins moved into the top spot in the East while the Isles ensured themselves a top-11 seed in the draft lottery. On to the trick.

1. It was some night for Jarku Ruutu, who had the winning goal while shorthanded, and two assists. George Laraque had a goal, an assist, but missed the Gordie Howe hat trick by not being involved in one of the two fights.

2. Each team had five full power plays (10:00 of pp time) but neither team could score with the extra man.

3. The Penguins won the season series 5 games to 3 and 10 points to 6,

...a few more.

4. The Isles were out-shot 29-28, but it wasn't Sean Bergenheim's fault. He had seven shots by himself, and was +1.

5. The Isles had another good night on draws, winning 33 of 54. Jeremy Colliton won all five that he took and Richard Park won 12 of 18.

6. The Isles finish March with a 2-6 road record, including six losses in the final 7.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Top 11 seed

When the Islanders were eliminated from the playoffs last weekend, they guaranteed themselves a top-11 seed in the draft lottery.

With tonight's results, it's now a top 11 seed.

The Isles have 75 points and the most that they can finish with is 83.
They can't catch Washinton now or Nashville. While they can get even in points with Edmonton, the Oilers are guaranteed to finish with more wins.

Both of the teams behind the Isles in the East got points tonight as Atlanta won and Tampa lost in OT. The Thrashers now have 72 points and the Lightning 69. Remember, those teams have two games remaining with each other.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Stat Trick: Isles 4, Penguins 1

One team is heading for first place; the other is heading for the golf course -- but it certainly didn't look that way at the Coliseum tonight, did it? On to the trick:

1. Wade Dubielewicz wins his second straight start and is now 5-4 in his last 9 starts (dating back to Xmas). Dubie hasn't allowed more than three goals in any of these starts.

2. Richard Park finally got his 10th goal of the season, scoring for the first time since January. It was his 70th career goal. Last season, Park needed two goals in game 82 to reach double digits.

3. Kyle Okposo and Matthew Spiller each earned their first Coliseum points. It was Spiller's first NHL point since March 28, 2006, and his second (both assists) in 65 career NHL games. Jeff Tambellini also earned an assist tonight--giving him 4 points in 30 NHL games.

and a few more:

4. The Isles cut the Penguins lead in the season series to 4 games to 3 and 8 points to 6.

5. The Isles finish the season 3-2-0 in games televised nationally by Versus, all at home. (Wanna bet they don't air five games from Long Island next season :) )

6. Aided by thousands of tickets distributed in fundraisers, the Isles announced the game as the 11th home sellout. They are 7-3-1 when the Coliseum is soldout. One group won the trip to China by selling over 3900 tickets, including 800 by one family.

7. It was the Isles' first home win in over a month (February 21), ending an 0-5 streak.

8. The Isles pp improved to 7-76 since Valentines Day with a pp goal --the first of Sean Bergenheim's career. The Isles have scored exactly one pp goal in three straight games (First time since Dec 29-Jan 3, when they scored 6 pp goals in a three game span) and five times in the last seven games.

9. Pascal Dupuis' five-game point streak was ended--but by the birth of his third child, and not by the Isles.

10. The Isles won 35 of 55 face-offs; Josef Vasicek was dominant, winning 18 of 21, including one that led to the pp goal.

11. Hart Trophy candidate Evgeni Malkin had a rough night, going -3. Marian Hossa was also -3.

12. Despite the win, the Isles remain 26th (two point behind Columbus and three behind Phoenix). The Coyotes have 6 games to play, the Blue Jackets 7, and the Isles 5.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Stat Trick: School is Out! Flyers 4, Isles 1

As a 12-year old boy, I can vividly remember the Isles losing a playoff series to the Canadiens and hearing Tim Ryan punctuate the last game with the phrase "School is Out" as the Canadiens moved on to the Stanley Cup Finals. For the Isles, school was out on Sunday night as the loss eliminated the Isles from playoff contention. On to the trick:

1. Joey MacDonald made 26 saves in his Islander debut. It was his first NHL goal since losing to Atlanta (for Boston) on March 31, 2007. Remember, MacDonald has a one-way contract for next year; Dubie is not under contract. MacDonald is now 3-8-1 in his NHL career.

2. Miro Satan broke a long goal-less streak with the Islanders' only tally-- his 15th goal of the season came with 4:27 to play. It was Satan's first goal in 14 games -- the Isles went 3-10 in the ten games in between. Satan has scored 20 or more in 10 straight seasons -- he'll need 5 in the final 6 to keep that streak going.

3. The Flyers lead the season series 6 games to 1, and 12 points to 2. They have outscored the Isles 26-13. The Flyers are 13-31 on the pp vs the Isles while the Isles are 3-29 (and have allowed 2 SH goals, too!).

.... and more

4. Martin Biron raises his record to 6-0-0 against the Isles this season, while lowering his GAA to 1.50. He is now 14-4-1 in his career against the Isles.

5. Scott Hartnell's third period goal gives him 7 against the Isles this season (16 against the rest of the NHL).

6. It's the first time that the Flyers have ever won four home games against the Isles in a single season. Last season, the Isles were 4-0-0 in Philadelphia.

7. By being eliminated from the playoffs, the Isles clinch a top-14 draft pick (non-playoff teams pick first). The Isles currently hold the 5th seed entering the lottery, with one more point that St. Louis and three more points than Atlanta. The Isles will finish ahead of St. Louis if the teams tie in points because the Blues will have fewer wins. The Isles are only seven points ahead of Tampa/LA, who share last with 66 points. They are seven points behind Toronto/Chicago, who share 22nd with 80 points.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Time to Stave

According to Webster, "stave off" has been around for nearly four centuries. Funny, I didn't realize that there were playoffs then.

It seems like the only time I ever hear the word stave is when a sports team is one game away from elimination-- usually in the playoffs--which we know will not feature the Isles this season.

After what happened last season, it would be ironic if the Isles were eliminated on Easter Sunday. But that is what will happen with a regulation loss in Philadelphia on Sunday.

If the Isles lose in regulation, the Flyers will have 86 points while the most that the Isles could finish with is 85. Boston would have 84 points and still hold 8th, but the Isles would be eliminated.

Here's how:
Boston has 84 in 75 games
Buffalo has 81 in 75 games
Toronto has 80 in 76 games

...but Boston has two games left with both Buffalo and Toronto. If the Bruins lost all 4, it would be Bos 84, Buf 85, Tor 84....but Buffalo and Toronto also have a game to play against each other, which guarantees that at least one of the 3 teams would finish with at least 86.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Stat Trick: Isles 3, Devils 1

Two weeks from now, the Isles may remember tonight as a night that cost them draft position. Ten years from now, hopefully Islander fans will remember tonight as a night that a young hopeful scored his first NHL goal. On to the trick:

1. Kyle Okposo recorded his first point, an assist, on a first period goal by Blake Comeau. But with Travis Zajac sitting in the penalty box late in the third period, Okposo recorded his first goal, his first power play goal...and as it would turn out... his first game winner as well.

2. The win snaps a 6-game losing streak and a 4-game road losing streak. Each of the last 3 Islander wins have been on the road.

3. The Islanders had lost 10 of 12 coming in-- a streak that started with the only Devil win in the season series. The Isles win the series at the Rock 3 games to 1, and lead the overall series 6 games to 1 and 12 points to 3. The Devils scored only two goals in the three Isles wins combined in New Jersey

...and a few more

4. The Isles have 30 points since the lockout against New Jersey- more than any opponent (26 vs the Rangers is 2nd). All-time, the Isles have earned 238 points vs KC/Col/NJ -- far and away more than any other opponent (214 vs Rangers) It's the 2nd time in three years that the Isles have won 6 games against the Devils.

5. Guerin (playing his 1,100th NHL game), Spiller, and Vasicek were involved in three separate fights.

6. Dubielewicz is now 2-0 head-to-head against Martin Brodeur and 3-0 against the Devils.

7. The Isles were outshot 35-16; the Devils had 72 tries on goal to the Isles 30. The Isles blocked 24 of those 72 attempts, including 6 by Radek Martinek. Martinek also led the Isles with 25:40 of ice-time.

8. The Isles extended their lead in the Hummer Metro Challenge. The Isles now have 20 points to the Rangers 17 (the Devils were eliminated in January and have only 6 points). The Isles will play their final three games against the Rangers/Devils while the Rangers have 4 games to play against the Isles/Devils.

9. The Isles lost ground to Atlanta in the lottery. Atlanta blew a 3-1 lead in the third and lost to the Caps 5-3 tonight as Alex Ovechkin recorded #59-60.

9. The Devils are 1-7-4 vs the Isles and Rangers but are 41-18-3 against the rest of the NHL. The Devils' record against the Rangers/Isles is the only thing separating the team from the top spot in the Conference.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

AO

I shorted him 2 assists tonight.  He now has 102 points.
 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Draft watch

The Isles loss, coupled with St. Louis' shootout win in Montreal moves the Isles into the 4th seed for the draft.  Both teams have 71 points, but the Blues have played one fewer game.

 

The Isles loss, coupled with the Flyers win lowers the Isles tragic number for playoff elimination to 6.
 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Sad but true

Goals in March:

 

Islanders as a team:  13 in 9 games (A 14th goal is credited for a shootout win)
Alex Ovechkin: 10 in 9 games 

 

The Isles have scored at least 2 goals three times this month.... so has Ovechkin. AO recorded his league-leading 58th goal and 100th point of the season on an empty net goal tonight in Nashville.

 

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Tonight in Edmonton

Robert Nilsson recorded a goal and an assist as Edmonton beat Phoenix 8-4. Nilsson now has 10 goals and 27 assists on the season.

Only three Islanders have more points than Nilsson, and only two have more assists:

1Mike Comrie NYI C 74 21 28 49
2Bill Guerin NYI R 73 22 18 40
3Trent Hunter NYI R 74 10 28 38

By comparison Nilsson has played only 63 games in the NHL this season.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Stat Trick

1. Kyle Okposo's NHL debut means that all of the top 9 drafted players in the 2006 draft have played in the NHL.   He played 14:45 with 2 shots and 1 hit. Florida draft pick Michael Frolik (10th overall) is the only player in the top 13 who has not yet played in the NHL.

 

2.  Rob Davison scored the Isles' only goal, and it came from nearly 200 feet away.

 

3.  The Isles had led for only 55 seconds in their previous five games, all losses, so perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that they couldn't hold the lead in the third.  The Isles were one of only six teams that hadn't lost when leading after two periods in regulation this season -- they are now 20-1-1.  It's only the second time under Nolan (and first at home) that the Isles suffered a regulation loss after leading in the second intermission --the other loss was in Montreal 53 weeks ago -- the night DiPietro got hurt.  The Isles are 49-2-6 under Nolan when leading after two periods.

 

and a few more...

 

4.  Mike Comrie won 10 of 13 draws but was -2.  Alex Steen lost 12 of 14 but had two assists and was +2.

 

5.  Attendance was 13,134.

 

6.  The Isles have lost six straight and have been outscored 26-9 in that stretch.  They have lost five straight at home (all in regulation) and haven't won a game in regulation, home or away, since beaten Tampa 1-0 on February 21.  (2-10-0 with 1 win in OT and another in a shootout).

 

7.  Fort NeverLose has seen a series of streaks this season.  Since the turn of the calendar, the Isles have played 16 games at home -- losing the first 7 (including 2 in ot), won four straight, and then lost their last 5.
 

8.  Seventy-one apparently is an unlucky number.  The Isles have lost six straight since reaching 71 points.  Two years ago, the Isles also had a six-game losing streak after reaching 71 points.

 

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Stat Trick: Florida 4, Isles 2

1.  The Panthers sweep the season series, 4 games to 0 (and 8 points to 1).  The Panthers have won five straight against the Isles for the first time since sweeping the Isles in all five games in 1993-94.  The Isles have also lost three straight games against the Panthers in Florida for the first time ever.

2.  Blake Comeau tied the game on a power play goal.  It gave the Isles a power play goal in two straight games for the first time since February 14-16.

3. Jay Bouwmeester was +4 for Florida while Karlis Skrastins and Nathan Horton were both +3.  Trent Hunter was -3.  Horton finished 3-3-6 and +6 against the Isles this season.

4. Richard Park won 8 of 10 faceoffs and added an assist.

5. The Isles have lost four straight and are 2-8 (with one win in overtime and one in a shootout) since their six game win streak ended.

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Stat Trick : Tampa Bay 8, Isles 4

It was one for the history books...and not in a good way.  On to the trick:

1.  3 goals in 42 seconds allowed by Isles in the third period sets a new Islander club record (previous record 43 in 1988 by Washington).

2.  The Lightning had eight goals, after  never scoring more than 6 goals in a game against the Isles

3.  It's the first time in his career that DiPietro has allowed eight goals in a game.
:
and a few more:

4. Hilbert's consecutive game streak ended at 151  (he played the final 81 last season after being scratched on opening night)

5.  Despite having a hat trick, Vincent Lecavalier had an even +/- rating to go along with 9 shots.  Despite playing only 13:35, Jeff Tambellini was -4.

6. The Isles scored a power play goal in the third period --it was their first pp goal in the last five games.  Ben Walter scored the pp goal --his first NHL point (16 games with Boston and the Isles)

7. Tampa scored 2 pp goals in the first period -- at that point the Isles had allowed six pp goals in their last 9 chances short.

8.  DiPietro was credited with a late assist on Comrie's garbage time goal.  It's his 6th assist of the season, extending his club record.  Comrie's goal was the final of 4 goals (three by Tampa) in a 100 second span.

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Stat Trick : Flyers 4, Isles 1

At 2AM ET on Sunday, most of the US (except Arizona and Hawaii) will turn their clocks forward 1 hour. At about 9:40PM ET on Saturday, the Islanders may have turned their clocks forward to next season. On to the trick:

1. The Flyers scored 4 power play goals -- most against the Isles this season (and one shy of the Isles' club record).

2. The Isles went 0-5 on their own power play, and have been outscored 1-0 on their own power play in the last 4 games (15 chances). The Isles have also been outscored 4-2 on their own power play over the last 11 games (46 chances). The Isles are 0-17 on the power play on the road since scoring 4 pp goals in Toronto on February 14th.

3. The Islanders got out of the first period scoreless. They have scored only 36 first period goals this season, by far the fewest in the NHL (Phoenix has 44). The Isles have been outscored 50-36 in the opening frame. The Isles scored 67 first period goals last season.

...and a few more.

4. The Flyers clinched the season series, having won 5 of the first 6 (ten points to 2).

5. For the 22nd consecutive game, overtime was not played in a game between the two teams. The Isles are 9-13 in those games, which covers all of the teams' meetings since the lockout.

6. The Isles drop seven points behind the eighth-place Flyers, and fall below Florida (Nathan Horton overtime goal tonight) in the standings.

Bottom Up Standings (not including St.Louis -Vancouver)
30 Los Angeles Kings 70 27 38 5 59
29 Tampa Bay Lightning 68 26 34 8 60
28 Atlanta Thrashers 70 30 32 8 68
27 St Louis Blues 67 29 28 10 68
26 Edmonton Oilers 68 32 31 5 69
25 Toronto Maple Leafs 70 30 30 10 70
24 New York Islanders 70 32 31 7 71
23 Columbus Blue Jackets 69 30 28 11 71
22 Florida Panthers 71 32 31 8 72
21 Washington Capitals 69 32 29 8 72
20 Chicago Blackhawks 68 33 29 6 72
19 Phoenix Coyotes 69 34 30 5 73
18 Buffalo Sabres 69 32 27 10 74

7. Every Islander forward but Richard Park had at least one shot on goal. All eighteen players skated at least 10 minutes. The Isles used nine different players on face-offs (losing 33 of 61).

8. Another strong game for Sean Bergenheim: 3 hits and five shots.

9.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Dubie v MacDonald

If Ted Nolan "rides" Rick DiPietro to the finish line, Wade Dubielewicz' season may be over.

His career with the Islanders may be as well.

The reason is buried in a Boston Globe story from this past summer:

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/articles/2007/07/07/edwards_gets_all_calls_on_nesn/
<<MacDonald on Island

Former Bruins netminder Joey MacDonaldsigned a two-year deal with the New York Islanders. The 27-year-oldMacDonald, claimed off waivers by the Bruins from the Detroit Red WingsFeb. 24, will be on a two-way contract in 2007-08 worth $475,000 in theNHL and $100,000 in the AHL. In 2008-09, MacDonald will be on a one-waydeal worth $500,000.>>

As many of you know, Dubie earned a one-way contract this year with his heroic work last April. However, with MacDonald already under contract, you wonder what attempt (if any) the team will make to bring Dubielewicz back for another season. One thing is nearly certain: the Islanders aren't spending $500,000 on a goalie for the Sound Tigers.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Looking back to look ahead

EASTERN CONFERENCE Standings morning of March 5, 2007
W-L-OL-SL Pts
*Buffalo 44-16-2-3 93
*New Jersey 40-19-0-7 87
Ottawa 38-23-2-3 81
Pittsburgh 35-21-4-5 79
*Tampa Bay 37-26-3-1 78
Atlanta 34-23-7-3 78
NY Islanders 33-23-5-4 75
Carolina 33-28-3-4 73

Montreal 33-29-1-5 72
Toronto 31-26-3-6 71
Boston 32-28-2-3 69
NY Rangers 31-27-3-4 69
Florida 27-26-6-7 67
Washington 24-30-2-10 60
Philadelphia 17-37-5-6 45

That night at MSG, Ricky stood on his head, making 56 saves (many of them of the amazing variety) yet the Isles would eventually lose to the Rangers in a shootout. Three nights later (52 weeks ago tonight) they would beat the Isles 2-1 at the Coliseum in the Chris Simon game and close within three points of the Isles. The Rangers would ride those two games to eventually finish 42-30-5-5 (42-30-10) and make the playoffs comfortably while the Isles would Dubie their way in on Easter Sunday.

Tuesday night at MSG it was the Islanders prevailing in a shootout in a game that the Rangers jumped all over the Isles early but Dubie held the fort.

The standings heading in to Tuesday's game look quite similar but with the Isles and Rangers reversed:

STANDINGS - MORNING OF MARCH 4, 2008
W-L-OL-SL Pts
*Pittsburgh 37-23-4-3 81
*Montreal 36-22-4-5 81
*Carolina 34-29-3-2 73
New Jersey 37-23-3-3 80
Ottawa 37-24-2-4 80
Boston 35-24-3-3 76
NY Rangers 34-24-3-5 76
Philadelphia 33-25-3-5 74

Buffalo 31-26-1-8 71
Washington 31-28-4-4 70
NY Islanders 31-29-5-2 69
Toronto 29-28-7-3 68
Florida 29-31-3-5 66
Atlanta 29-31-1-6 65
Tampa Bay 26-32-6-1 59

Time will tell whether the similarities end there.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Ovechkin

Alexander Ovechkin had two more goals in Washington's 3-1 win in Buffalo tonight. He now has 54 goals on the season, with 14 games to play.

Ovechkin has 54 of the Capitals' 198 goals (27.3%) -- the standings will show 200 goals, but that includes 2 shootout wins.

He is on pace to finish the season with 65 goals.

How does Ovechkin's share of his team's goals compare with others? Consider this:

In 1981-82, Wayne Gretzky had 92 of Edmonton's 417 goals (22.1%)
In 1983-84, Gretzky had 87 of Edmonton's 446 goals (19.5%)
In 1978-79, Mike Bossy had 69 of the Islanders' 358 goals (19.3%)
In 1970-71, Phil Esposito had 76 of the Bruins' 399 goals (19.0%)
In 1944-45, Maurice Richard had 50 of the Canadiens' 228 goals (21.9%)

If Ovechkin doesn't score another goal this season, he likely would still have a higher percentage than any of them -- the Capitals would have to score 47 goals --with NONE from Ovechkin -- in their final 14 games for Ovechkin to finish with a lower percentage than Gretzky.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Have you met my friend?

(Those reading in digest form will not see me and a certain trophy. Hopefully others will.)

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Stat Trick: Islanders 4, Rangers 3 (SO)

When things are going bad...really bad...who better to come onto the Isles schedule than the Rangers.

1. Wade Dubielewicz is now 4-0 in career shootouts. It was his first shootout since poke-checking the Isles into the playoffs last season. Dubie has now beaten the Rangers twice in shootouts; he also has a shootout win over Pittsburgh in 2006 on his resume.

2. Since Ted Nolan became the Isles coach, the Islanders have met the Rangers in a game following a regulation loss four times. The Isles are now 4-0-0 in those games. The Isles under Nolan are 9-2-2 against the Rangers.

3. The Isles improve to 20-0-1 when leading after two periods. They've lost only once in regulation when leading after two periods in the Nolan era (the game Ricky got hurt in Montreal last season).

... a few more...

4. There were only 9 face-offs in the entire third period (including one to start the period, one after the Ranger goal and three after penalties).

5. The Isles improve to 4-2 this season in shootouts. The Rangers are 5-6.

6. The Isles have now allowed 14 shorthanded goals (two shy of the club record) and have been outscored 4-2 on their own power play in the last eight games.

7. Jeff Tambellini had the least amount of ice-time for the Isles (10:07) but recorded five hits and had a shot on goal before dethroning King Henrik

8. Colton Orr had eight hits for the Rangers, but the Isles out-hit the Rangers 41-30.

9. The Isles now lead the series 4 games to 1, and 8 points to 3. They'll look for only their third-ever sweep of a home and home against the Rangers on Thursday.

10. This is the Isles' 36th regular season win at MSG. They are 7-19-10 in games following a win in the Garden, although they did win last season in Boston after winning at MSG.

11. The Isles are 4-1 in their last five on the road (4-1-1 in their last 6). The last 3 road wins have come in either OT or SO.

.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Isles, Anderson make NHL history

Thanks, Elias.

<<
ANDERSON STOPS 53 SHOTS IN 1-0 VICTORY
Craig Anderson needed every one of his 53 saves in the Panthers' 1-0 victory over the Islanders. It was the most saves any goaltender has made in a shutout since the NHL started tracking shots on goal as an official statistic in the 1955-1956 season. The previous high was 52, by Jacques Plante of the Canadiens (Nov. 13, 1995 (sic), 2-0 win vs. Black Hawks) and Curtis Joseph of the Oilers (Dec. 10, 1996, 0-0 tie vs. Red Wings).

Anderson stopped 29 shots in the second period alone. The only goaltender to make that many saves in one period without allowing a goal-again, since the start of the 1955-1956 season-was Allan Bester of the Maple Leafs. He turned aside all 32 shots by the Hartford Whalers before allowing four goals in the third period in a 5-3 loss on March 15, 1984.>>

We knew about Jacques Plante's effort during the telecast yesterday (the year was 1955), but all we knew for certain before we went off the air was that the Isles had broken the club record, which as I noted online last night, was 42 (Theodore in 2002).

In the Stanley Cup playoffs, the record is 70 shots without allowing a goal. Dominic Hasek shut out the Devils on April 27, 1994 for 125:43 before Dave Hannan won the game for Buffalo in the 4th OT. The goal tied that series at 3; the Devils would win game 7 and advance to play the Rangers.

Some might be curious how does this get on the air at all? During the 2nd intermission, yours truly put in a request with the guys in our truck to contact Elias, who serves as the official statistical bureau of the NHL (and basically everybody else). Late in the third period we got the information on the potential team record (the Isles have been shutout a little more than 100 times in their history) but it took longer for the NHL record to be verified.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Chasing history

It's been a strange season, to say the least, at Fort NeverLose.

The Isles have only six home games left and so far in 2008 have had home streaks of 0-5-2, 4-0-0 and 0-3-0.

The Isles have scored only 78 goals at home this season (plus one more that they are credited for in their lone home shootout win of the season). That means that the club record for goals at home in a season (210 in 1981-82) appears safe :)

What may not be safe though is the Isles' club record for fewest goals in a home season is 94, set in 1999-2000. The Isles will have to rally to match the original Isles, who scored 100 goals at home.

Making the Isles' playoff chase a little harder: among the teams in the East, only Ottawa has as few games left at home.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Stat Trick: Panthers 1, Isles 0

3 for 137 -- that's the Islanders' shooting in the three home games since the trade deadline. On to the trick:

1. The Isles set a season high with 53 shots (one shy of the club record) and set club records for:
-- most shots in a period, 29 -- breaking the previous record of 28 set in 1978 vs Pittsburgh and matched in 2004 in Florida.
-- most shots in a shutout against -- breaking the previous record of 42 set on November 7, 2002 in Montreal (Jose Theodore).

Craig Anderson made a career high 53 saves.

2. The Isles have had 47 shots or more 4 times in their last 11 games.

3. It was the first time since November 15, 1997 that the Islanders had been blanked 1-0 at the Coliseum (Five 1-0 losses on the road in that stretch)

...and a pair more:

4. The Isles entered the game with an 8.2 shooting percentage, which is 29th in the NHL. The only team worse was the Rangers, who were at 8.0%.

5. While both games had crowds of over 15,000, neither game for "Core of the Four" weekend was a sellout.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.