1. Kyle Okposo scored for the 4th straight game --this time 26 seconds into overtime, to give the Isles the victory and a sweep of the two games in Montreal this season. Okposo finished with 7 shots and 4 hits in 23:30 of ice-time. The Isles outshot Montreal 3-0 in OT and 32-14 over the final 40:26. Carey Price finished with 36 saves for Montreal.
2. The win breaks a 7-game (0-6-1) road losing streak and was the Isles' first road win in 6 weeks (42 days). It's only the Isles 2nd win in their last 23 road games (2-19-2).
3. It's the first time since last March 29-April 1 that the Isles have played two consecutive overtime games and the first time since January 3-5, 2008 that two consecutive Isles games were decided by an OT goal.
.... a few more...
4. Mike Iggulden recorded a point in his 4th straight game by scoring his first NHL goal in his 5th NHL game. (He played one game for the Sharks last season -- it was against the Islanders.)
5. Frans Nielsen had the other Islander goal. Blake Comeau assisted on both of the regulation goals --he now has a point in 6 straight games.
6. Tomas Plekanec and Tom Kotsopolous had the goals for Montreal.
7. Yann Danis made 24 saves to improve to 4-1 in his last 5 starts and 5-2 in his last 7 starts. Danis has allowed 2 goals or less in 6 of the 7 games.
All-time Save Percentage Leaders (at least 10 NHL starts; entire career played since save % official stat)
1. Nicklas Backstrom 92.27%
2. Yann Danis 92.24%
3. Dominic Hasek 92.22%
4. Jonas Heller 92.20%
8. Joel Rechlicz recorded his first NHL fight (with Tom Kotsopoulos); Tim Jackman also had a fight.
9. When was the last time the Isles won 2 straight road games against Montreal? Glad you asked. On November 18/December 22, 1993. However, the first game was actually played in Hamilton (it was Montreal's home game). The last time the Isles won 2 straight road games IN Montreal was on March 13, 1989 and January 17, 1990. The last time the Isles won 2 straight road games in one season in Montreal -- well there is no last time. It had never happened before. In fact, the Isles had never won two road games in Montreal in one season before Thursday night. Really. The Isles now lead the season series 2 games to 1, with each team earning four points in the standings.
10. Kurtis MacLean was injured BEFORE THE GAME, warming up playing soccer with his teammate. The Isles dressed only 17 skaters for the third time this month -- they've won all three.
Up next: The Isles play back-to-back weekend matinees for the 2nd week in a row. On Saturday afternoon, the Isles return to Boston for the first time since an embarrassing 7-2 loss to the Bruins the day after Thanksgiving. Boston leads the season series 2-0, and has beaten the Isles 4 straight over two seasons. The Isles have been held to 2 goals or less in their last six games against Boston, losing five of them (1-5-0).
Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982.
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