Stat Trick: Ottawa 3. Isles 2 (shooutout)

Jon Sim scored in the opening minute of the third period to force overtime, and eventually a shootout, but the Senators scored on all three of their shootout attmepts against Dwayne Roloson to defeat the Islanders 3-2 on New Year's Eve at Scotiabank Place.  On to the trick:

1. After a scoreless first period, Rob Schremp gave the Islanders the lead on a power play eight minutes into the second.  It was only the second Islander power play goal in the last ten games.  Schremp has scored two of the Isles' last three power play tallies.

2. Chris Kelly and Peter Regin scored for the Sens later in the second period.  Regin's goal, with 52 seconds to play, gave the Sens a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.

3. Sim's tying goal, his fifth of the season, was his second in three games, and earned the Islanders their sixth point (1-15-4) in 20 games where they have trailed after two periods.

... a few more...

4.  After only four goals in 65 minutes of hockey, there were five goals scored in the shootout.  Alexei Kovalev, Mike Fisher ans Ryan Shannon all scored for the Senators, but only Frans Nielsen and Rob Schremp could successsfully respond for the Isles.  John Tavares missed the net in an attempt to prolong the game and gave the Sens the extra point.  The loser point is the Islanders' 20th point on the road this season (7-10-6).  They had only 21 points on the road last season.

5. Shannon, who was credited with the game-deciding goal, had a three-game goal scoring streak stopped.  Shannon had scored four goals in the last three games after not scoring in his first 28 games of the season.

6. Dwayne Roloson made 34 saves to earn a point for his fourth straight game (3-0-1).  He has allowed only six goals on 143 shots in those four starts (1.41 GAA, 95.8 save percentage).  Pascal Leclaire finished with 25 saves for the Senators and is 3-0 this season in shoot-outs.

7.  The Isles shut down the Senators' power play, stopping all three attempts.  After allowing 18 goals in their previous 40 attempts, the Isles have now killed 13 straight opponents' power play attempts.

8. Tim Jackman left the game after the first period.  He was taken to the hospital after taking a couple of punches from Matt Carkner just after the first period buzzer.  Jackman ended up with some blood behind his eye, but was well enough to return to New York with the team after the game.

9.  The Isles are now 2-5 in shoot-outs and 7-8 in games that have gone into overtime.  The loss broke a four-game extra time winning streak for the Isles. As good as Roloson has been, he has struggled in shoot-outs, allowing 12 goals on 28 shots (57.1 save percentage).  The Isles are now 27-21 all-time, in shoot-outs.

10.  The Sens have swept the two games in Ottawa in this year's season series, and lead the season series four points to two.  The series continues on Valentine's Day on Long Island, which will be the final game before the Olympic break.  The Islanders finish the decade with a record of 304-342-41-58.  They were 167-157-18- 27 at home and 137-185 -23 -31 on the road.  After playing at NHL .500 in both October and November, the Isles finished December with a 6-8-1 record.  This was the Islanders' final road game of the season against a Northeast Division team; they finished 2-4-4 in the ten games. It's the Isles' first loss on New Year's Eve since 1998; the Islanders had played four times on New Year's Eve since, and won them all.

Up next:  The Isles play their first game of 2010 on Saturday when they entertain Atlanta at the Coliseum.. The Isles have won the first two games this season, each by three goals.  Matt Moulson recorded a hat trick in the last meeting, on December 4th, but has scored just one goal in fourteen games since then.

 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