The Skinny: Dallas 3, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

 

Game 29

Stars 3, Isles 2

 

Brendan Morrow and Jamie Been scored third period goals as the Dallas Stars extended the Islanders winless streak to four games (0-3-1) with a 3-2 victory over the Islanders in front of 9,288 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Scoring:

First Period

8:36	EV	DAL	L.ERIKSSON(11)	J.BENN(18)	T.DALEY(6)
16:38	EV	NYI	M.GRABNER(9)	K.OKPOSO(7)	F.NIELSEN(9)
Second Period
18:24	EV	NYI	K.OKPOSO(5)	M.REASONER(5)	T.HAMONIC(5)
Third Period
1:07	PP	DAL	B.MORROW(5)	S.OTT(8)	M.RIBEIRO(18)
4:33	EV	DAL	J.BENN(8)	M.RYDER(9)	L.ERIKSSON(13)

 

The Skinny:

Kyle Okposo was named the game's second star.  He had a goal and an assist, was +1, and had three shots on goal.  Okposo has five goals in the last 11 games after not scoring in his first 15 appearances this season. It's the first time this season (7-1-3) that the Islanders lost a game in regulation when they led after two periods.

The Shots

Dallas outshot the Isles 9-5 in the first period and 11-8 in the second.  The Isles had a 14-9 advantage in the final period, including 7 shots in the final 2 ½ minutes, but couldn't find the tying goal.

Mottau Milestone

Mike Mottau played in his 300^th NHL game.

Cy Grab

Grabner now has 9 goals and five assists this season.  He is 48-29 (for 77 points) in his NHL career.

As Seen on MSG+

Since November 26^th (and entering play tonight) Matt Moulson had 9 goals (tops in NHL) while PA Parenteau had 9 assists (tied for NHL lead in that span).

Home and Road

The Islanders are 9-14-6 overall and are 6-8-3 at the Coliseum. The Isles are 3-7-3 in their last 13 at home.

Dallas is 18-11-1 overall and 9-7-0 on the road.  Despite scoring just 8 goals on their road trip, Dallas is 3-1-0 in their last four games.

In the Nets

Kevin Poulin made his first appearance for the Isles since being injured last February 8^th.  He finished with 26 saves.  It was the first that Al Montoya did not play in the last ten games.

Richard Bachman made 25 saves as he became the first Dallas goaltender to win his first three NHL starts.

Power Plays

The Islanders were 0-3 on the power play while the Stars were 1-6.  The Isles have scored on the power play in five of the last eight games (7-34 20.6%).  The Isles have killed 27-32 (84.4%) over the last eight games.

They Said It

Calvin deHaan: "It's definitely a little quicker. At every level, the game gets a little quicker."

They Tweeted It

@StapeNewsday  "The nightly phantom Travis Hamonic penalty call has arrived."

The Coach

 "A few mistakes in the third cost us the game."

Leading Ice Men

Milan led the Islanders with a season-high 26:10; Alex Gogligoski played 24:20 for Dallas.

Third Periods

The Isles were outscored 2-0 in the third period (7-2 over the last three games).  The Isles have been outscored 36-17 overall in the third period (29-15 excluding empty nets); the 17 goals for are the fewest of any team in the third period.  In the first two periods, the Isles have been outscored 54-50.

59 to Go

The Isles have scored 9,941 goals in their history (excluding 39 shootout winners), leaving the club 59 shy of 10,000.

Back to .500

The Islanders drop to all-time NHL .500 (1322-1322-427 in 3,071 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.

Scoring

The Isles were held to two goals for only the second time in the last seven games. The Isles have scored 29 over the last nine games (4-3-2) 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 32 goals in their other 20 games (0-14-6; 1.60 per game).  In their 14 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 16 goals (1.14 per game).

Rare One Goal Defeat

... at least in regulation.  The Isles are 5-2 in one-goal games decided in regulation (a 1-0 loss to New Jersey Thanksgiving weekend was the other defeat) but have settled for a single point in all six games that have gone beyond regulation.

In the Circle

The Islanders won 26 of 58 (45%) face-offs. Frans Nielsen won 10 of 18 for the Isles while Steve Ott won 13 of 18 and Vernon Fiddler won 11 of 15 for Dallas.

Multi-Point Men

Kyle Okposo had a goal and an assist for the Isles while Lou Eriksson and Jamie Benn each had a goal and an assist for Dallas.

First of Many

Calvin deHaan made his NHL debut.  deHaan had two shots, two hits and was +1 in his first NHL game.  The 21-year old is the 23^rd 2009 first round pick to debut in the NHL.

Rolston Hurt

Brian Rolston did not return to the ice for the second period.  The Isles announced that he had suffered a concussion. Unless Nino Niederreiter is ready to return, the Isles will need to recall a forward from Bridgeport.

Missing Men

Nino Niederreiter (concussion symptoms), Steve Staios (upper body injury) and Evgeny Nabakov (groin) were scratched.  Andrew MacDonald, Jay Pandolfo, Marc Eaton, Rick DiPietro, and Mark Katic are on injured reserve.  The Isles have lost 128 man-games to injury so far this season.  

Ironmen

Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 193 games since joining the team. Travis Hamonic has now played 91 NHL games (all consecutive); he has the longest consecutive game streak on defense for the Isles. 

Season Series Stats

The teams split the season series one game to one (two points to two). The Stars have won four straight games on Long Island (with the Isles going 0-2-2).

Happy Anniversary

19 years ago tonight: December 15, 1992.   In their first game ever in Dallas, the Isles defeat St. Louis in a neutral-site game, 4-3.  Derek King scored the overtime winner for the Islanders.

Overall, the Isles are 8-7-3 on this date but have lost four straight since a 3-2 win over Toronto in 2000.

On The Farm

Bridgeport has dropped three straight and is 11-11-3-1 on the season.  The Sound Tigers begin a three game in three days weekend on Friday in Hartford against the Connecticut Whale.

Up Next

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17th ISLANDERS AT MINNESOTA 8:00PM
[MSG+2 (Islanders Game Night at 7:30pm), WRHU (88.7FM)]

The Islanders look to sweep the season series with Minnesota as they travel to St. Paul to face the Wild on Saturday. The Isles edged Minnesota 2-1 at the Coliseum on Columbus Day. 

The Wild have an NHL-leading 44 points (20-8-4) and are one of the biggest surprises in the NHL this season.  The Isles have only one win in six previous trips to St. Paul (1-4-1).

And Finally…

Happy birthday, Joey Sena. This big Islander fan turned 10 today.

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