Stat Trick: Atlanta 4, Isles 3

Even when the Isles were a terrific team, they had some terrible Novembers.

November 2008 is shaping up to be memorable, having blown three multi-goal leads (1-2-0) in the final 20 minutes this week.   On to the trick:

1.  The Isles are now 3-2-0 when they lead after two periods.  20 of the 30 teams have not lost in regulation when leading after two.  Carolina (5-2-1) is the only other team to have lost twice; they blew a 2-1 lead going to the third period tonight.  The Isles lost only once each of the last two seasons when leading after two periods:
22-1-2 in 2007-08
29-1-5 in 2006-07

2.  The Isles have been outscored 11-2 in the third period of the last four games.  They have allowed 20 third period goals -most in the NHL.

3.  The Isles have won 39 regular season games in their history at the Garden.  They are 7-22-10 in their next game, including an incomprehensible 2-18-4 in the last 24 games.  (BTW, five of the 39 games ended a regular season; the Isles are 0-4-1 in the first game of the following season -- including 2008-09!)

and a few more...

4. Trent Hunter, Frans Nielsen and Mark Streit each had two points in a 17-second span; Nielsen now has five points in 4 games this month, while Streit has 11 points (Filip Kuba leads all defensemen with 14).

5. Mitch Fritz had only one 41 second shift.  Perhaps coincidentally, the Islanders had only six hits in the entire game (Atlanta had 17).

6.  Face-offs remain a problem; Isles dropped 42 of 66 draws tonight.  Comrie lost 8 of 10 while Weight dropped 13 of 18.

7.  Four Thrashers: Little, White, Havelid, and Kozlov, were +3.

8.  With the regulation win, the Thrasher jump over the Isles, going to 10 points to the Isles' 9.  Florida also has 9 --the Panthers are playing in Los Angeles tonight.

 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.