Stat Trick

It certainly didn't feel like Islanders-Rangers for most of the night, despite a pretty good game for two periods. On to the trick:

1. The Isles have allowed a goal in the first four minutes of the last 4 home games -- all losses. The 1-4 start is their worst at home since 1989-90. The Isles have not led at any point in any of those games.

2. Kyle Okposo had the first Isles goal and had 7 shots. He leads all NHL rookies with 23 shots on goal.

3. Mark Streit scored the Isles' third shorthanded goal of the season. Only Philadelphia and San Jose (each with 4) have more. The Isles scored 10 SH goals all last season. Streit has three goals on the season -- Mike Green is the only defensemen with more(4); all three of Streit's goals have been special teams goals.

and some more:

4. Yann Danis served as the back-up (and probably thought that he was close to getting in after MacDonald had his bell rung in the third.) Danis has appeared in 6 NHL, all for the Canadiens in October/November 2005.

5. Triple negative is still negative:
Isles are 0-5-0 when allowing the first goal, 0-4-0 when trailing after one period, and 0-6-0 when trailing after two periods.

6. Even more negative:
The Isles will play their final game of the month on Thursday in Philadelphia. If the Isles lose in regulation, they will equal the worst 9 game start in team history and have one fewer point through 9 games than the Original Islanders. They will also become the third Isles team to lose 7 games in October, previously done in 90-91 and 93-94.

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.