Stat Trick: Florida 5, Isles 4 (shootout)

How many two goal leads will the Islanders blow on this trip?  It's now three, as the Isles have given away a lead of at least two goals in each of the three games.  Saturday's blown lead results in the second shootout loss in three games.  On to the trick...

1.  Tim Jackman celebrated his 28th birthday by scoring 16 seconds into the game and Trent Hunter added a goal before the five minute mark to give the Isles a 2-0 lead.  That gave the Isles 11 goals in their last four games.  However, they couldn't get a third goal in the session -- the Isles have never scored three goals in four straight first periods.

2.  Florida took over the game in the second period as Cory Stillman and Stephen Weiss scored 31 seconds apart, before Rusty Olesz gave the Cats the lead in the final half-minute.  Michael Frolik scored three minutes into the third to give Florida a two-goal bulge.  Weiss was active in the face-off circle as well, taking 34 draws and winning 19 of them.

3.  However, the Panthers couldn't hold a two goal lead any better than the Isles as John Tavares and Kyle Okposo both scored on third period power plays to send the game into the overtime and the eventual shootout.  Frans Nielsen scored first in the shootout but Stephen Weiss scored in the third round and Sean Bergenheim did not, the Panthers had the shootout win.  It's the second time this season that the Isles have played three consecutive overtime games and the frst time since April 2-6, 1994 that the Isles had played three consecutive overtime games, all on the road.

...a  few more...

4..  The Isles have scored at least four goals in four straight games.  It's the first time that they've done that since doing it in four consecutive games in December 9-19, 2006.  (They haven't had a longer streak since scoring four straight in seven straight games in December, 1993)

5.  The Islanders have scored 2 power-play goals in consecutive games for first time since November 22-24, 2008. Both goals in Washington came in the first period; both goals in Florida came in the third period.

6. The Isles have now lost 6 straight in Sunrise, but earn a point in South Florida for the first time since beating the Panthers 4-1 on November 18, 2006.  The Panthers outshot the Isles 42-40; every Panther and all but three Islanders (Matt Moulson, Freddy Meyer, and Brendan Witt) had at least one.

7. John Tavares now has a 4-game point streak. (3-4-7).  He has back-to-back multi-point games for the first time in his career.  Kyle Okposo has goals in consecutive games for the 2nd time this season.

8.  The Isles have earned at least one point in ten of Roloson's eleven starts (5-1-5) and are 5-0-3 in his last eight starts.  Roloson's five "loser points" not surprisingly leads the NHL.

9.  Ten of the Isles' first 20 games have gone to overtime. Isles are 2-3 in games decided in overtime and 1-4 in games decided in shootouts.  Isles are 4-9 under Gordon in shootouts, having lost eight of the last ten.  Twelve of the first 20 have been decided by a single goal (3-2-7).

10.  Isles have earned points in 10 of the last 12 games (6-2-4) for the first time since going 7-2-3 from December 21, 2007 to January 13, 2008.

Up next:  Isles now head to Boston for a Monday meeting with the Bruins-- they've lost six straight in Boston (0-4-2) since winning in a shootout on January 11, 2007.  Isles have lost seven straight to Boston overall (0-6-1) since beating the B's 2-1 on November 24, 2007, including a 4-3 shootout loss on October 10 in a game in which the Isles blew a 3-0 lead. This is the middle game of a club record-tying seven game road trip.  Face-off is at 7:00 on MSG-Plus.

 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