Fw: Sad but true

I mentioned after Tuesday's game that in a league where nearly everyone has as many points as games played (23/30 at the time), the Isles were in danger of having as many losses as points.

They're no longer in danger -- they hit that "milestone" with last night's defeat to Boston, giving them both 28 losses and (12-28-4 for) 28 points.

Obviously this can happen frequently early in an NHL season, but it hasn't happened in the second half of an Islander season since 1999-2000.  That season, the Isles were 13-33-6-1 for 33 points after a 4-3 loss to Carolina on February 8th.  (It had happened several times earlier that season as well)

It also happened for one game in 1998-99 (13-29-3 for 29 points), three times late in the 1995-96 season,and over a stretch of 4 games in early 1989.

In those seasons, the lowest that the Isles were was 11-28-2 for 24 points after a loss to Pittsburgh on January 10, 1989. At that point, they had four more losses than games played.  (Of course in those days, there were only two points available per game)

Those are the only times the Isles have had as many losses as points in the second half of the season since the very first season.  The Isles finished '72-73 with 60 losses and only 30 points.  At one point that season, they were 9-58-5 for 23 points, with the -35 differential being the worst in club history.  

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.