The Skinny: Blackhawks 3, Isles 2 (overtime)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 26

Hawks 3, Isles 2 (OT)

Patrick Sharp scored his second goal of the game for the overtime winner as the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Islanders 3-2 in front of 10,711 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.  With the overtime loss, the Islanders extended their point streak to six straight games (4-0-2) as they earned only their second point (0-10-2) when trailing after two periods.

1

11:42

PP

CHI

M.HOSSA(12)

P.KANE(23)

P.SHARP(15)

2

2:23

EV

CHI

P.SHARP(14)

M.HOSSA(16)

N.HJALMARSSON(4)

2

18:21

EV

NYI

T.HAMONIC(1)

P.PARENTEAU(18)

M.MOULSON(8)

3

10:52

EV

NYI

M.GRABNER (8)

S.STAIOS(5)

F.NIELSEN(8)

OT

1:34

EV

CHI

P.SHARP(15)

M.HOSSA(17)

3-2 Final

The Skinny:

An Islander defenseman scored for the third straight game; they had scored only three times in the first 23 games. Matt Moulson extended his point scoring streak to six straight games (8-3-11) but his goal scoring streak ended at 5 games. Marian Hossa's goal was the 400^th of his career; he is the 85^th player in league history to reach that mark.  Michael Grabner (playing his 101^st game as an Islander) returned from injury to tally his 8^th goal of the season on a deflection. Patrick Sharp is now 5-3-8 in his last five games; he is 8-2-10 in 11 career games against the Isles.  The Hawks killed a 1:56 5-on-3 late in the second period and early in the third.

The Shots

After each team had 10 shots in the first period, the Isles outshot the Hawks 15-9 in the 2^nd period and 8-7 in the third.  Chicago had the only two shots of overtime, as they dropped the Isles to 0-6 in extra time this season (0-4 on overtime goals, 0-2 in shootouts).

Falling Behind

The Isles are 2-10-3 when allowing the first goal.  They trailed after one period after having led in the first intermission in the previous five games.

Multi-Streak Stopped

Moulson and Thomas Tavares had their multi-point streak stopped at 3; they are the first Isles teammates since Jorgen Jonsson and Mariusz Czerkawski in 2000 to earn multiple points in the same three games.

As Seen on MSG+

Matt Moulson and Jonathan Toews each have scored 12 goals since November 7^th.  Entering play tonight, nobody else in the NHL had more than nine goals in that stretch.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 9-11-6 overall and 6-6-3 at home. The Isles are 1-0-1 on the homestand with one game to play.

The Hawks are 17-8-4 overall and 9-6-1 on the road.  Chicago has now won four straight on the road.

Streaking

The Isles have points in six straight games for the first time since last March, when they had a seven-game streak (4-0-3).  They have earned 10 points in six games for the first time since last March as well.

In the Nets

Al Montoya made 25 saves.  He is now 5-3-3 on the season with 2.14 goals against and a .930 save percentage.  Montoya has appeared in seven straight games, going 3-1-2 (1 "save") with a 1.87 goals against average and a .935 save percentage.

Ray Emory made 31 saves for Chicago for his 99^th career victory.  He is 6-0-1 in his career against the Isles.        

Power Plays

The Islanders were 0-6 on the power play while the Hawks were 1-3.  It was the first time in five games that the Isles were held without a power play goal (6-22 27.3%). It's only the second time all season that the Isles have had at least six power plays (8 vs. NYR on 10/15).  The Isles have killed 17-19 (89.5%) over the last six games. 

They Said It

PA Parenteau: "We've come a long way since three weeks ago. We're playing as a team. We're desperate out there. We battled back from a two-goal deficit against probably one of the best teams in the league."

They Tweeted It

@BComptonNHL "Sharp on #Isles: I remember coming in w/Philly years ago, and it's a much different team. They've got things going in the right direction."

The Coach

Jack Capuano: "Right now, our guys are resilient. I like the bench, I like the attitude. We're playing with an attitude, we're playing with an edge and we're playing with a little bit of a swagger and that's what we need to do."

The Hit Leader

Matt Martin, playing his 99^th NHL game, had four hits (to go along with five shots). He leads the NHL with 117 hits.  He will become the 162^nd Islander to appear in 100 games on Saturday.

Leading Ice Men

Mark Streit led the Isles with 27:08; Duncan/Keith played one second more for Chicago.  John Tavares played 24:11 for the Isles; it was the second highest total of his career (26:46 vs. Pittsburgh on April 11, 2010).

Third Periods

The Isles scored the only goal of the third period and have outscored the opposition 6-3 in the third period over the last six games.  The Isles have been outscored 29-14 overall in the third period (23-12 excluding empty nets).  In the first two periods, the Isles have been outscored 47-45.

67 to Go

The Isles have scored 9,933 goals in their history (excluding 39 shootout winners), leaving the club 67 shy of 10,000.

3 Over .500

The Islanders remain three games over all-time NHL .500 (1322-1319-427 in 3,068 games).  They have been below NHL .500 for only 1 day since they were 177-178-83 prior to their victory on January 16, 1978.

Overtime Not Our Time

The Isles fall to 0-6 in OT/SO this season; they are 125-126-194 all-time in overtime.  The Isles, Philadelphia and Calgary are the only teams in the NHL without a victory after 60 minutes.  It's the first time since the shootout was instituted that the Isles have gone 6 consecutive extra time games without a win (7 counting an OT loss in last year's home finale).  They had an 8 game streak (6 ties, 2 overtime losses) at the end of the 2003-04 season.

How the West Was Tied (at least for 60 minutes)

The Isles are now 2-1-4 against the Western Conference this season, with 11 games still to play.

Held to 2 for First Time in Six

The Isles have scored 21 goals the last six games (4-1-1) after scoring only 15 in the previous nine games (1-6-2).  The Isles have scored 35 goals in their nine wins (3.89 per game) and 24 goals in their other 17 games (0-11-6; 1.41 per game).  In their 11 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 8 goals (0.73 per game).

In the Circle

The Islanders won 32 of 56 (57%) face-offs.  Josh Bailey won 6 of 9 and Marty Reasoner won 5 of 7 for the Isles.

Missing Men

Nino Niederreiter (concussion symptoms), Micheal Haley (healthy) and Rick DiPietro (groin) were scratched. Andrew MacDonald, Jay Pandolfo, Marc Eaton, Evgeni Nabokov, and Mark Katic are on injured reserve.  The Isles have lost 107 man-games to injury so far this season.  Kevin Poulin dressed as the back-up goaltender for the second time this season.  Michael Grabner returned after missing one game due to a groin injury; he played 14:39 and assisted on the goal that sent the game to overtime.

Ironmen

Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 190 games since joining the team. Travis Hamonic has now played 88 NHL games (all consecutive); he has the longest consecutive game streak on defense for the Isles. 

Back in the Race

With ten points in six games, the Isles have climbed within six points of 8^th place in the Eastern Conference.  The Isles still hold games-in-hand over the eight teams immediately ahead of them in the standings.

Season Series Stats

The Hawks win the season series two games to none (four points to two).  The Hawks' win ends an Islander 3-game winning streak vs. Chicago on Coliseum ice.

Happy Anniversary

32 years ago tonight: December 8, 1979.   Six different Islanders score goals as the Isles behind Chico Resch bomb the Maple Leafs 6-1 in Toronto. It's the only regulation win on this date in Islander history.

Overall, the Isles are just 2-8-2 on this date.

On The Farm

The Sound Tigers are 11-9-3-1.  Bridgeport is off until Saturday, when they host Portland.

Up Next

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10th PITTSBURGH AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders Game Night at 6:30pm), WRHU (88.7FM)]

The Islanders and Penguins meet for the fourth time this season as Pittsburgh visits the Coliseum Saturday.  The Penguins will be without their captain Sidney Crosby who is being held out as a precaution following a collision with teammate Chris Kunitz on Monday. The Pens have won the first three meetings, twice by shutout and once in a shootout. Marc-Andre Fleury has been in goal for all three games for Pittsburgh; Al Montoya has yet to face the Pens this season.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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