1. The Isles have won four straight for the first time since a six-game winning streak last February.
2. The Isles have won three straight at home for the first time since a four-game home winning streak last February.
3. The Isles have allowed 1 goal in each of the three wins; it's the first time they've held the opponent to one goal or fewer in three straight home games since Rick DiPietro recorded three consecutive home shutouts in December 2006.
and a few more...
4. The Isles went to the third period with a shutout for the third straight game. They are the only NHL team without a shutout this season, having gone 72 games (2/21/08) without one. No Islander other than Rick DiPietro has recorded a shutout since Garth Snow blanked Atlanta on December 13, 2003.
5. Announced attendance was 9,808-- the first 4 digit crowd in the NHL this season and the smallest NHL crowd in exactly 52 weeks. Last Feb 5, 9649 saw the Ducks blank the Isles at the Coliseum. Actual attendance was... let's just say it was so small that all fans were invited to move down late in the first period. Hope you didn't pay big bucks for the good seats!
6. The Isles scored all three goals in a 3:25 span in the 2nd period. Trent Hunter scored his 13th goal -- he finished each of the last two seasons with 12; Mark Streit added his 9th (before leaving the game injured -- re-examine on Wednesday); Radek Martinek scored for the first time in 102 games (Dec 6 2006 vs Florida). Nine different Isles had points, including Kyle Okposo, who extended his point streak to five straight games.
7. Martinek's goal chased Karri Ramo --the losing goalie in the Isles' last shutout win. Mike McKenna replaced him and made 11 saves in his NHL debut.
8. Yann Danis won his fourth straight (he had only three career wins prior to this streak). Danis is 4-0-1 in his last 5, with a 95.1% save percentage and a 1.79 GAA.
9. Vinny Lecavlier had the goal for Tampa in the final seconds of a 5-on-3-- he holds the Lightning record for career goals, points, and power play goals.
10. Strange stat of the night: It's the first time since November 2007 that the Isles have won their first game of a calendar month (0-7-2), It's not a record - -not even close. The Isles won the first game of November 1998 and November 2000, but were 0-8-5 in the first game of the 13 months in between. They also had a 10-game stretch in 1988 - 1989. (Ironically the Isles have won the last game of November-December-January; they haven't done that since 1999! The Isles also have earned a point in the final game of their last 7 months -- first time in history they've done that!)
Looking ahead: the Isles head to Florida on Thursday. The Isles won both Coliseum meetings this season, but have not won in Sunrise since a 4-1 win in November, 2006.
Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982.
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