Stat Trick: Isles 2, Vancouver 1 (SO)

Uh, oh.  Don't look now, but the Isles are closer to a playoff spot (2 points) than they are to the first pick in the draft (3 points).  Any they beat that Luongo kid too.  On to the trick:

1.  Many people could tell you that the Islanders have won three straight games for the first time since a six-game win streak last February. But only on the trick do you get these:

--The Isles have won three straight games against Canadian opponents for the first time since beating Montreal and Toronto twice each in a three-week period in February, 2007
-- The Isles have won three straight, all against Canadian opponents for the first time since beating Vancouver, Montreal and Winnipeg in a four-daystretch in January, 1990.  Those were the final three games of a 9-game win streak -- the Isles have not had a nine game iwnning streak since.

2.  The Isles have allowed only 4 goals in their current 3-game win streak.  The last time they did that was in the final three-games of their six-game win streak last February.

3.  Doug Weight padded his team scoring lead with his 4th goal and 16th point.  Weight, who has recorded a point in three straight games, now has 3 pp goals.  He has a point on 10 of the Isles 13 pp goals this season.

...and a few more

4.  The teams played a scoreless third period tonight.  The Isles have allowed 25 third period goals (most in the NHL) while Vancouver has allowed only eight (fewest in the NHL).

5.  The second period has been good to the Isles this season; they've now outscored thier combined opponents 16-13.

6.  The Isles won for the first time this season after trailing after 1 period (1-4-1) while the Canucks failed to win after leading after 1 period for the first time (7-0-1).

7.  The Isles improve to 3-1-0 against the West while the Canucks are now 1-3-1 against the East.

8.  The Isles are noe 23-12 all-time in shootouts, and are 12-4 at home.  The Isles have lost exactly once in a shootout at home in each season including this one.  Frans Nielsen had the only goal of the shootout; he's now 2-3 in shootouts.

9.  Andy Sutton appeared in his 500th NHL game.

10  Pavol Demitra continued his point-a-game pace against the Isles; he has 8 goals and 10 assists in 18 games vs the Isles.

 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.