"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 15
Rangers 4, Isles 2
Brad Richards scored the tie-breaking goal with 4:55 to play as the Rangers extended their winning streak to seven games with a 4-2 victory over the Isles before a sellout crowd of 16,234 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Isles are 1-7-3 in their last 11 games.
Behind to Start
For the sixth time in seven games, the Islanders allowed the opening goal as Sean Avery opened the scoring at 14:43. It was the 2nd straight game that Avery had scored first for the Rangers. Frans Nielsen evened the score 2:23 later with his 4th goal of the season. PA Parenteau was credited with his team-leading 11th assist. The Rangers outshot the Isles 14-5.
Eminger Gives the Rangers the Lead
The Isles dominated large stretches of the middle period, aided by three power plays but could not beat Henrik Lundqvist. Meanwhile, Steve Eminger's first goal in 30 games would give the Rangers a 2-1 lead with the only goal of the period. While the Isles' power play had good chances early in the session, it was their penalty killing late in the period that kept the Rangers' advantage to a single goal. The Isles killed a 1:31 5-on-3 and over a 4:42 span late in the second and early in the third, the Isles played shorthanded for all but 13 seconds yet held the Rangers at bay. The Isles dominated the shot clock in the middle period, 16-8.
Moulson Ties It…but Richards Wins It
Matt Moulson extended his point streak to three games when he converted a John Tavares pass for a power play goal at 6:58 of the third to tie the score, but Richards would respond with the winning goal off a Josh Bailey giveaway. Andrew MacDonald hit the post late in regulation and Ryan Callahan beat the final buzzer for an empty net goal to drop the Isles to 0-7-0 in games they trail after 40 minutes. 4-2 Final.
Home and Road
The Islanders are 4-8-3 overall and 4-4-1 at home. All three previous home losses had been by shutout.
The Rangers are 10-3-3 overall and 5-2-2 on the road. Their current seven-game winning streak, in which they have trailed for only 42 seconds in total, matches the club's longest since 1974-75, when they won eight straight.
In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov made 29 saves but falls to 1-5-0 on the season.
Henrik Lundqvist made 33 saves for the Rangers as he improved to 7-3-3 on the season. He is 22-11-5 in his career against the Isles. Of his 220 wins, 44 have come against either the Isles or Devils.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-5 on the power play while the Rangers were 0-4. The Isles are 9-50 on the power play and are 43-53 on the penalty kill this season. They are 2-17 in the last six games on the power play and 12-17 in the same stretch on the penalty kill.
They Said It
John Tavares: "It was a great game…We didn't get the result we wanted, but the effort is there."
They Tweeted It
@Schultz88 So with Montreal coming to Uniondale on Thursday, why isn't there a blizzard in the forecast yet?
Head of the Class
John Tavares assisted on Moulson's goal for his 136th career point, keeping him tied with Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks. No other player in that draft is anywhere close. Tavares has scored 8 of the Islanders' 31 goals this season (25.8%).
The Hit Leader
Matt Martin added 5 hits to extend his league lead over Minnesota's Cal Clutterbuck, who had two hits tonight. Martin has 69 hits while Clutterbuck has 64. The Isles have played two fewer games than the Wild.
The Pugilists
Mike Mottau fought Sean Avery for the 2nd time in his career in the second period. It was Mottau's 7th fight and Avery's 75th. Matt Martin fought Brandon Prust later in the session.
Leading Ice Men
Mark Streit led the Islanders with 25:42, including 9:49 in the first period. Dan Girardi led all players with 27:42.
Lots of Hits
The teams combined for 53 hits (29 for the Isles). Travis Hamonic and Martin each had 5 while Steve Staios and Nino Niederreiter each had four. Ryan Callahan led the Rangers with 5.
Lots of Empties
There has been an empty-net goal in eight of the first 15 games. The Isles have allowed six of them, which is the highest total in the NHL.
Third Periods
The Isles have been outscored 9-1 in the third period over the last four games (including three empty net goals against). The Isles have been outscored 20-8 overall in the third period (14-6 if you exclude empty nets).
95 to Go
The Isles have scored 9,905 goals in their history (excluding 39 shootout winners), leaving the club 95 shy of 10,000.
Chasing .500 (from the Wrong Side)
The loss drops the Islanders' all-time record to 1317-1316-424 in 3,057 games. The Isles' all-time record has been .500 or better since they were 178-178-83 on January 16, 1978. They also were as close as one game over .500 last season, when they were 5-18-5.
Still Searching
The Isles have two regular forwards (Blake Comeau and Jay Pandolfo) who have yet to record a point.
31 in 15
The Isles have scored 31 goals in the first 15 games (matching the 1972-73 squad); only Butch Goring's 1999-2000 club (29 goals in 15 games) scored fewer. The Isles have scored 16 goals in their four wins (4.00 per game) and 15 goals in their other 11 games (0-8-3; 1.36 per game).
Defense Scoring
The Isles have not had an even-strength goal from their defensemen this season, after getting 15 of them last season and 20 two seasons ago. Mark Streit and Andrew MacDonald each have one power play goal for the Isles.
In the Circle
The Islanders won 27 of 53 (51%) face-offs. Josh Bailey was the Isles' best, winning 6 of 8.
Welcome Back Nino
Nino Niederreiter returned from his two-week conditioning stint to play 11:17 in his first NHL game since last October 27th. Nino had four hits and one shot while playing 2:54 on the power play.
Missing Men
Mark Eaton, Kyle Okposo and Rick DiPietro were scratched. It was the first time in his career that Okposo has been a healthy scratch. The Isles have two players on injured reserve: Rhett Rakhshani and Mark Katic. The Isles have lost 57 man-games to injury so far this season.
Ironmen
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 179 games since joining the team. Travis Hamonic has now played 77 NHL games (all consecutive); he has the longest consecutive game streak on defense for the Isles.
Milestone Men
Brian Rolston appeared in his 1200th NHL game while Ryan Callahan played in his 300th game for the Rangers. Rolston is the 88th player in NHL history to play in 1200 NHL games; only four active players (Nicklas Lidstrom, Roman Hamrlik, Jaromir Jagr and Teemu Selanne) have played more games.
Season Series Stats
The Rangers win even the season series one game to one (two points to two). The teams will next meet twice in five days (12/22 and 12/26) at Madison Square Garden.
Happy Anniversary
5years ago tonight: November 15, 2006. Rick DiPietro made thirty-five saves as the Islanders beat the Dallas Stars 3-0. Mike York had the winning goal for the Isles, who recorded the only shutout in franchise history since Stars moved to Dallas.
Overall the Islanders are now 7-8-2 on this date.
On The Farm
Bridgeport is off until Friday, when they begin a 3-game in 3-day weekend in Hartford against the Connecticut Whale. The Sound Tigers are 8-6-1-0 and just one point out of first place in the North Division. David Ullstrom has scored in six straight games to take the team lead with 10. Justin DiBenedetto (9-4-13) continues to lead Bridgeport in points, while Casey Cizikas (3-8-11) and Tim Wallace (4-7-11) continue to contribute offensively; defenseman Dylan Reese also has seven assists. Anders Nilsson is off to a solid start in nets with a 5-2 record and a 2.86 GAA; his five wins rank 2nd among AHL rookies.
Up Next
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17TH MONTREAL AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders Game Night at 6:30pm), WRHU (88.7FM)]
[MSG+ (Islanders Game Night at 6:30pm), WRHU (88.7FM)]
The Islanders continue their home stand on Thursday against the Canadiens.
It's the first meeting of the season between the team; each team won twice last season, with Montreal sweeping a pair of games in October and the Isles winning the latter two.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment