"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 5
Tampa Bay 4, Isles 1
Ryan Malone must have heard all the stories about how the Islanders of the Dynasty Era beat up on his dad Greg's Pittsburgh Penguins. Malone did what he seems to always do against the Isles – score a goal (his 19th in 38 games) as the Lightning broke a 5-game winless streak (0-3-2) by building a 3-0 lead and then cruising to a 4-1 victory over the Islanders before 18,181 at the St. Pete Times Forum. The loss snapped the Isles' three-game winning streak.
Malone Scores First
Malone's goal, a power play tally with 3:28 left in the first period was the only goal of the session. It stopped a streak of 18 consecutive penalty kills by the Islanders and was the first 5-on-4 goal that the team had allowed this season.
Lightning Strikes Twice…and Thrice
The big boys then connected for Tampa's 2nd and 3rd goals of the game as Vinny Lecavalier scored at 15:14 of the second and Steven Stamkos scored at 5:25 of the third. It was Stamkos' 99th goal since the start of the 2009-10 season (most in NHL) and the third goal of the season for each player.
Maybe It Was Al?
Islander Legend Al Arbour was at the game and just seconds after he was shown on MSG+, Michael Grabner scored his 2nd goal of the season with 12:05 to play to break Mathieu Garon's shutout. The Isles killed a penalty later in the frame and then had a power play, but could not get any closer. Brett Clark's blue-line blister sealed matters. 4-1 Final.
Home and Road
The Islanders fall to 3-2-0 overall and 0-1-0 on the road. The Isles fall to 0-3-1 in their last four road openers and are 9-22-8 in their first road game of the season, having won just twice in their last 19 road openers (2-13-4).
The Lightning improve to 2-3-2 as they even their home record at 1-1-0.
In the Nets
Al Montoya made 26 saves but drops to 2-2-0 on the season.
Mathieu Garon finished with 16 saves and improved to 1-1-1 as he lowered his goals against average to 1.93. The Isles have never beaten Garon in regulation as he improves to 4-0-1 vs. the Isles.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-2 on the power play while the Lightning were 1-3. The Isles are now 3-20 on the power play and 20-22 on the penalty kill this season.
Can't Get Even
Jack Capuano's career mark falls to 29-31-10, including 26-22-8 since last December 15th.
Stopped
The Lightning held the Tavares line off the board, after Tavares had gone 5-3-8 in the last two games and PA Parenteau had gone 1-6-7 in the last three, managing at least two points in each of them. Tavares had recorded four points in each of the last two games. Mike Bossy (2/11-2/14/82) is the only Islander to ever record three consecutive 4-point games; no player has done it in the entire NHL since Steve Yzerman did so in March, 1993.
They (I) Tweeted It
@ehornick "Did @PAParenteau join Twit so that he could learn he has at least 2 pts in each of the last 3 gms or that he's 4-7-11 in 7 gms vs NYR?"
Leading Ice Men
Mark Streit led the Isles with 24:06; Victor Hedman led the Bolts with 21:44.
Countdown to 10K
The Isles scored one goal in this game and now have scored 9,925 goals in their history (including 39 shootout winners), leaving the club 75 shy of 10,000.
In the Circle
The Islanders won 26 of 57 (46%) face-offs. Marty Reasoner won 7 of 12 while Frans Nielsen won 6 of 11. The Isles have lost over 50% of the face-offs in all five games this season.
Missing Men
The Isles used the same lineup for the second straight game as they scratched Blake Comeau (healthy), Milan Jurcina and Rick DiPietro. The Isles have three players on injured reserve: Nino Niederreiter, Rhett Rakhshani and Mark Katic.
Ironmen
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 169 games since joining the team last season. Travis Hamonic has now played 67 NHL games (all consecutive); he has the longest consecutive game streak on defense for the Isles.
Season Series Stats
The season series is even at 1-1-0 (two points to two). The teams will next meet on December 6th at the Coliseum. The loss is the Islanders' first in Tampa since February 4, 2010 – the Isles swept both games in Tampa (one in overtime) last season.
Happy Anniversary
22 years ago tonight: October 20, 1989. In perhaps the most unlikely hat trick in Islander history, Mick Vukota scored three goals as the Islanders beat the Capitals 5-3 in Landover, MD. Vukota, who played 500 games for the Islanders, scored just 13 other goals.
Several Islander legends have had memorable moments on this date: Billy Smith recorded the first shutout in club history in 1974, Mike Bossy had a four-goal game vs LA in 1984, and Bryan Trottier had his jersey retired in 2001. Overall the Islanders are now 11-4-1 on this date, with their loss tonight being their first on this date since 1990 (6-0-1).
On The Farm
Bridgeport is 2-3-0-0 on the season as they travel to Newfoundland for a weekend pair of game with the St. John's Ice Caps. Justin DiBenedetto leads the team in scoring (5-0-5) while rookie Casey Cizikas has four assists.
On the Air
All remaining Islander games this month will air on the club's normal TV home: MSG+.
Up Next
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22TH ISLANDERS AT FLORIDA 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 7:00pm), WRHU(88.7FM)]
The Islanders will look to avenge an opening night defeat as they conclude the road trip in Sunrise against the Florida Panthers.
[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 7:00pm), WRHU(88.7FM)]
The Islanders will look to avenge an opening night defeat as they conclude the road trip in Sunrise against the Florida Panthers.
The Panthers won the opener 2-0 at the Coliseum behind 27 saves from Jose Theodore, who shut out the Isles for the sixth time in his career; only Martin Brodeur has blanked the Isles more frequently.
Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter.
Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick
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