Stat Trick: Rangers 4, Isles 2

Someday, perhaps this June 26th, Islander fans will feel better about losing 5 of 6 to the Rangers this season.  On to the trick.

On to the trick.

1. The Islanders dominated play at times, but it was some of the Rangers veterans who did the goal scoring: Nikolai Zherdev, Chris Drury, Scott Gomez and Markus Naslund had the goal for the Blueshirts, with goals #2 and #4 coming on the powerplay.

2. Blake Comeau and Jack HIllen had the Isle goals.  It was the first goal in 19 games for Comeau, and the first goal of his career for Hillen.  Comeau and Dean McAmmond each had two points for the Isles.

3. Hillen is the 6th Islander (and 2nd in two games) to score his first NHL goal this season.  The others:  Thompson, Bailey, Smith, McLean and Joensuu. 

...and a few more

4. The Rangers went 2-5 on the powerplay while the Isles were 0-2.  On the season series, the Rangers were 5-30 (allowing three shorthanded goals), while the Isles went 0-16.  The Isles have been held without a pp goal in 5 straight games, overall (18 attempts).

5. The Isles out-hit the Rangers 39-36.  Eleven Islanders had at least two hits, while every Ranger except Zherdev had at least 1.

6. With the loss, the Isles have 47 points, five fewer than Atlanta and seven fewer than Tampa Bay.  All three teams have 18 games to play.  Atlanta hosts Montreal while Tampa entertains St. Louis on Friday.

7. Sean Avery made his return to the NHL, playing 13:56.  He had three hits, was -1, and took a silly crosschecking penalty in front of the Islander goal in the third period.  The Isles were credited with 9 hits on Avery.

8. For the 3rd straight game, an Islander made his NHL debut : Joel Rechlicz made his NHL debut, recording three hits in 3:52 and wearing uniform #40. Rechlicz even added an assist, tying his career high for most points with a single team
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9. Competing cheers: "Kansas City" vs. "Sloppy Seconds".

10. The Rangers have beaten the Isles five straight on Long Island, their longest streak ever.

Up next: the Isles play their final game of the season in the Metro Ice Challenge as they host the Devils.  The Devils won the first four meetings of the season, before Yann Danis blanked New Jersey on February 21st.  It's a 2pm face-off at the Coliseum on Saturday.

 Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982.