1. The Rangers scored three times in the first 8:30. Artem Ansimov and Gaborik scored even strength goals in the first six minutes. Michael Del Zotto made it 3-0 8:30 into play with a power play goal. The Rangers took 11 of 13 shots to start the game and outshot the Isles 15-10 in the first period.
2. Neither team scored in the second period, but the Rangers dominated play throughout most of the period, outshooting the Isles 14-1 to begin the period.
3. Gaborik's second goal just after the midway point of the third period gave the Rangers a 4-0 lead. It was his 39th goal of the season, and his first multi-goal game since January 31st; he now has three 3-point games in the last six. Dan Girardi scored on the powerplay with less than four minutes to play for the final margin.
... a few more...
4. Dwayne Roloson made 39 saves and was clearly the Isles' best player. Roloson has stopped 137 of 147 shots (93.2%) over his past four games. Roloson faced shots from 16 different Rangers as everyone but Wade Redden and Jody Shelley had at least one shot. The 44 Ranger shots were their most against the Islanders since April 3, 2008, when they had 51 shots in an Islander shootout win.
5. Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves as he blanked the Isles for the second time in his career. It's his 23rd shutout overall.
6. The Isles have now been shutout for 145:43, and have allowed nine straight goals in that span. It's the first time that the Isles have been shutout in consecutive games since December 27 (in Ottawa) and December 30 (vs. New Jersey), 2006, and ties the club record for consecutive shutout losses (2). It's also the first time that they have been shutout in consecutive games, both on the road, in over ten years: January 19 -21, 2000 (in Montreal and New Jersey).
7. Trevor Gillies had his first NHL fight (against Brandon Prust) and finished the evening with 19 penalty minutes (in only 3:03 of playing time).
8. The Rangers went 2-6 on the power play, while the Isles were 0-3. The Rangers are 5-20 in the season series while the Islanders are 1-17. In fact, the Isles are now 1-45 on the power play in the last fifteen games against the Rangers.
9. The Rangers improve to 15-10 in games decided by at least three goals, while the Isles are 8-16.
10. The Isles still lead the season series three games to two, and six points to five. The final meeting of the teams this season wil be on Tuesday at the Coliseum. With the win, the Rangers climb with five points of 8th place Boston. The Isles remain in 28th place overall, with four points more than Toronto. The Rangers have now shutout the Islanders 11 times, joining Montreal and New Jersey as opponents that have blanked the Isles 11 times. the Flyers have shutout the Isles 12 times.
Up next: The Calgary Flames, four points behind Detrroit for the final playoff spot in the West, visit Long Island for the first time since 2006 on Thursday night. It will be the first Coliseum appearance of Eric Nystrom, son of the Islander legend. The Isles defeated Calgary 3-2 on January 12, 2006 in Brad Shaw's debut as Islander coach. It is the only Islander win in the last seven trips by Calgary to the Coliseum (1-6-0). The Isles will need to score a goal by the early moments of the third period to avoid setting a new franchise record for the longest shutout streak- the record is 186:31, set in 2006-07. (They are 40:48 away from the record)
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
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