Stat Trick: Rangers 5, Isles 4

Another day, another Ricky injury. Hunter hurt during the game as well. Oh well... on to the trick.

1. Not a good sign when the Isles lose at MSG -- only their second regulation loss in the last 11 visits (8-2-1).

2. The Isles have now lost 10 straight road games (0-9-1). It's the first time since the 72-73 season that the Isles have lost 10 straight on the road; they lost 15 and 13 straight that season.

3. The Rangers scored 4 goals in the third to erase a 2-1 Isles advantage. The Isles drop to 8-4-1 when they lead after two periods; no other team has lost more than twice in regulation when leading after 2. (The Isles were 22-1-2 last season when leading after 2)

...and a few more

4. Mike Sillinger had the game's first goal, and the only one of the first period. The Isles dropped to a mind-boggling 2-5-1 when leading after 1 period. They are the only NHL team with a losing record when leading after 1; Tampa (6-4-3) is the only other team to have won fewer than 1/2 the games that they led after 20 minutes. (The Isles were 16-3-4 last season when leading after 1)

5. The Isles scored in the last minute of the 2nd period (Okposo) and 3rd (Comrie). Comrie's goal was the third in 2 games with the goalie on the bench. The Rangers got a goal from Gomez in the 2nd period with Lundqvist pulled for a 6th attacker; the Rangers had 45 seconds of delayed penalty time without the Isles gaining control of the puck.

6. Neither team scored on the pp. The Isles were 0-2 and the Rangers were 0-5.

7. There were 4 goals in a 2:47 span from late in the 2nd period to early in the 3rd. Each team scored twice in that stretch.

8. After only one fight (Thompson/Voros) in the first two games, there were two tonight (Fritz/Orr and Comrie/Dawes).

9. Josh Bailey played only 7:34 - only Orr and Fritz played less. If he's not playing here, wouldn't have he been better off playing for Canada in the World Jrs tonight? (Canada beat Germany 5-1).

10. Looking ahead: The Isles host Florida in a New Year's Eve matinee. Florida has owned the Isles of late, winning the last 6 games (one in overtime). The Isles will be looking to end the month with a 2nd win; with the exception of three October's, the Isles have won at least two games in every full month of their history, except for December 1972. The Isles were 1-12-2 that month. (They are 1-10-2 so far this December.) With Howie Rose enjoying some much deserved time off, Jiggs McDonald returns to the Isles booth to call this game and the four that follow it. It's the third straight season that Jiggs has filled in for Howie. Jiggs called Islander games for 15 seasons (1980-81 to 1994-95).

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.