Isles look to match club record tonight

The Islanders will be looking for their fifth straight win when they visit Buffalo tonight (MSG Plus 2).  While the Isles have won at least five straight games 26 previous times (including once over a two-season span), they are looking to do something tonight that they have done only 9 times in their history - win five games in an 8-day span.

While the Isles accomplished this feat seven times in their first 12 seasons (including once in the "Drive For Five" campaign in 1983-84), it has been done only twice since 1984:

January 10-17, 1990      (Games 4-8 of a 9-game win streak)
February 14-21, 2008    (Final 5 games of a 6-game win streak)

(The Isles have played 5 games in 7 days a number of times in their history, but have come close to winning all five only once -- the won 4 times in the final six days of 2003 before dropping a 1-0 decision in Ottawa on New Year's Day.)

On a more generic note, the Isles will be looking to win for only their second road winning streak under Scott Gordon. They defeated Buffalo and Montreal last November 22-24, with the latter being the famed Ryan O'Byrne game.
 Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick