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The Skinny: Isles 6, Toronto 3

"The Skinny"  By Eric Hornick Game 34 Isles 6, Toronto 3 The Isles jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 4:48 and the Maple Leafs ...

Saturday, January 07, 2012

The Skinny: Anaheim 4, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick
 
Game 38
Anaheim 4, Isles 2
 
Bobby Ryan scored two goals, including a shorthanded goal to tie the game midway through the third period and Ryan Getzlaf's first goal in 13 games proved to be the winner as the Anaheim Ducks rallied for a 4-2 win over the Islanders in front of 13,892 at Honda Center.  The loss ends the Islanders' three-game winning streak.

The Scoring:

1st Period
NONE
 
2nd Period
14:18 ANA Bobby Ryan (14) - ASST: J. Blake (1) AND S. Koivu (13)
16:0 4NYI Matt Martin (5) - ASST: M. Eaton (2) AND M. Grabner (7)
 
3rd Period
06:20 NYI Kyle Okposo (8) - ASST: J. Tavares (22) AND M. Moulson (15)
09:22 ANA SHG - Bobby Ryan (15) - ASST: C. Perry (16) AND T. Lydman (9)
12:25 ANA Ryan Getzlaf (7) - ASST: C. Perry (17) AND L. Sbisa (9)
17:06 ANA Teemu Selanne (12) - ASST: N. Hagman (7) AND C. Fowler (14)
 
The Skinny: 
John Tavares and Kyle Okposo each have four-game point streaks and Matt Moulson has a three-game streak after Tavares and Moulson set-up Okposo for a goal that temporarily gave the Isles the lead in the third period. Tavares has two goals and six assists in those four games (including three multi-point games).  Corey Perry assisted on the tying and winning goals; they were his 400th and 401st career points.  Selanne's goal was the 649th of his career; among active player only Jaromir Jagr (658) has more. Former Islander Jason Blake, playing just his second game after missing 34 games with tendon surgery, recorded his point of the season and 475th of his career.

The Shots
The Islanders outshot the Ducks 8-3 in the first period but the Ducks rebounded to outshoot the Islanders 9-8 in the second period and 8-5 in the third period.  For the game, the Isles outshot Anaheim 21-20.  It's the second time this season that each team has had 21 shots or fewer in an Islander game.

Home and Road
The Islanders are 14-18-6 overall and are 6-9-3 on the road.  They are 6-4-1 in their last 11 road games, after going 0-5-2 in their first seven away from home. 
The Ducks are 11-22-6 overall and 8-12-1 at home.  Anaheim is 4-9-2 under new head coach Bruce Boudreau.

In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov made 16 saves but sees his three game winning streak end. Nabakov, making his seventh straight start, is now 5-9-0 on the season.  Nabby is 26-18-3 in his career against Anaheim with his 26 wins representing his highest total against any opponent.
Jonas Hiller made 19 saves for Anaheim as he recorded his 99th NHL win.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-3 on the power play (allowing a shorthanded goal); the Ducks were 0-2.  The Isles are 7-18 on the power play over the last seven games after going just 1-22 in the previous seven games.
The Isles have killed 16-17 (94.1%) over the last nine games; it is the fewest times that they have been shorthanded in a 9-game stretch since at least the mid-1980's.
Anaheim's shorthanded goal was their first of the season.

2 to 300
Evgeni Nabokov has 298 career wins. He is just two wins shy of becoming the 26th goalie in NHL history with 300 career wins. Among current NHL goalies, only Martin Brodeur, Nikolai Khabibulin and Roberto Luongo have more career wins.

They Said It
Mark Eaton: "Any time you have the lead with 10 minutes left and give up a (shorthanded) goal it's a bit deflating, but it's no excuse."

They Tweeted It
@BrianCompton NHL: "Game over. #Ducks 4, #Isles 2. Hiller's save on Parenteau was the turning point."

The Coach
"Their best players were their best players…. Big turning point was the save that Hiller made (on Parenteau); instead of going up 3-1, it's 2-2."

Leading Ice Men
Andrew MacDonald led the Isles with 25:29, fourteen seconds more than Travis Hamonic; Francois Beachemin led Anaheim with 25:02.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 26 draws; Anaheim won 35. Josh Bailey was the Isles' best, winning nine of 15. Saku Koivu won 15 of 19 for Anaheim.

Heavy Hitters
The Islanders were out-hit 30-26.  Milan Jurcina had six hits for the Isles while Ryan Getzlaf had six for Anaheim.

Third Periods
The Isles were outscored 3-1 in the third period; they had outscored the opposition 4-1 in the previous three third periods. The Isles have been outscored 45-24 overall in the third period (35-21 excluding empty nets); the 24 goals scored are the fewest of any team in the third period.  In the first two periods, the Isles have been outscored 69-63. 

4 on 4
The winning goal was scored on a 4-on-4.  The Isles have been outscored 4-0 in 4-on-4's this season.

39 to Go
The Isles have scored 9,961 goals in their history (excluding 42 shootout winners), leaving the club 39 shy of 10,000.

One Over .500
The Islanders drop to one game over all-time NHL .500 (1327-1326-427 in 3,080 games).  The Isles have twice this season been one game below .500. Prior to this season, they had not been below NHL .500 since they were 177-178-83 prior to their victory on January 16, 1978.

Good Time to Get Going
This was the 4th game of a five-game stretch against teams currently not holding a playoff spot (and the Isles are 3-1-0).  The Isles concluded a stretch of three consecutive games against a team that is currently in last place in its division by going 2-1-0.

Scoring
The Isles have scored 49 goals over the last 18 games (9-7-2) after scoring only 15 in the previous nine games (1-6-2).  The Isles have scored 44 goals in their 13 wins (3.39 per game) and 39 goals in their other 24 games (0-18-6; 1.63 per game).  In their 18 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 23 goals (1.28 per game).

Head of the Class
John Tavares had an assist, giving him eight points over the last four games.  He now has 156 career points; he is ten points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks.  No other player in that draft is anywhere close. (Duchene suffered a knee injury last week and is expected to miss the next month.)

From the Geniuses at the Elias Sports Bureau
Tavares was not named the game's first star (all three stars were Ducks); it ended a streak of three straight games in which he was the first star.  No Islander has been the first star in three straight games since Mark Parrish in December 2003.

Friends, Friends, Friends
Moulson has 18 goals this season; John Tavares has earned assists on 12 of them.  He has now been on-ice for 42 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 28 of them, dating back to Moulson goal on November 17, 2010 against Tampa.  Moulson is now 12 goals away from a third consecutive 30-goal season; no Islander since Ziggy Palffy has accomplished that feat.

Reasoner Hurt
Jack Capuano on MSG+: "He (Marty) has a broken right thumb…I don't know how much time he will miss, but obviously it will be a while."

Missing Men
Al Montoya (concussion) and Dylan Reese (healthy) were scratched.  Mike Mottau, David Ullstrom, Jay Pandolfo, Rick DiPietro, and Mark Katic are on injured reserve.  The Isles have lost 186 man-games to injury so far this season.  Anders Nilsson dressed as the back-up to Nabokov for the seventh straight game.  Reese had been recalled on an "emergency basis" but the recall was changed to a regular recall with the Islanders having six other healthy defensemen.

Ironmen
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 202 games since joining the team. He is the 93rd skater in Islander history to appear in 200 games. Moulson's streak is the longest for an Islander since Richard Park played in 221 games from October 2006- February 2009.  Travis Hamonic has now played 100 NHL games (all consecutive); he has the longest consecutive game streak on defense for the Isles. 
The Ducks have a pair of ironmen as well.  Andrew Cogliano (367) and Corey Perry (242) are among the top seven on the current NHL list.

Century Club (as Seen on MSG+)
Hamonic is only the 8th defensemen in Islander history to play in 100 consecutive games and the first since Janne Niinimaa.
·         Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979  262
·         Bryan McCabe 10/7/95-2/4/98 220
·         Gerry Hart 3/1/75-11/22/77 198
·         Janne Niinimaa 3/13/2004-1/7/2006 136
·         Ken Morrow 3/1/1980-12/29/1981 134
·         Jean Potvin 10/23/75-1/2/77 110
·         Kenny Jonsson 12/26/96-2/4/98 104
·         Travis Hamonic 11/24/10 – CURRENT 100

Like Hamonic, McCabe and Morrow's streaks came at the start of his NHL career.  Niinimaa's streak included the only 136 games he played as an Islander.

Lucky 13.8?
The last three games (in three different arenas) has seen crowds of 13,807, and 13,828 and 13,892.

List Time
Career Wins, Active Goalies
4. Evgeni Nabokov  298
 
Career Goals, Active Players
13. Patrik Elias 348
15. Dany Heatley 337
 
Career Goals as an Islander
34
Wayne Merrick
81
34
Dave Scatchard
81
36
Marty McInnis
79
36
Matt Moulson
79
38
Miroslav Satan
78
 
42
Alan Kerr
69
43
Brad Isbister
67
44
John Tavares
66
45
Jude Drouin
64
 
Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
61
Jeff Norton
282
62
Steve Thomas
275
62
Frans Nielsen
275



68
Pierre Turgeon
255
69
Jude Drouin
250
70
Josh Bailey
249
71
Brendan Witt
247
71
Brad Isbister
247
73
Sean Bergenheim
246



91
Tom Fitzgerald
205
92
Matt Moulson
202
93
Billy Carroll
200
94
Ralph Stewart
199
94
John Tavares
199
96
Mark Streit
194
97
Tom Kurvers
192
97
Todd Bertuzzi
192
 
Career Points as an Islander
46
Miroslav Satan
166
47
Oleg Kvasha
156
47
John Tavares
156
49
Alan Kerr
154
50
Roman Hamrlik
153
51
Michael Peca
142
52
Dave Lewis
141
53
Robert Reichel
140
54
Frans Nielsen
139
54
Bryan Smolinski
139
 
Season Series Stats
The Ducks win the only meeting of the season between the teams. The Isles are 0-2-1 in their last three trips to Anaheim.

Happy Anniversary
31 years ago tonight (1-6-81): John Tonelli becomes the second Islander goalie to score five goals in a game and Mike Bossy adds a club record six assists as the Isles defeat the Maple Leafs 6-3 at the Coliseum.
Overall, the Isles are 8-9-0 on this date, having gone 2-8-0 in the last ten.

On The Farm
Kevin Poulin has had a perfect start to 2012, as he has recorded consecutive shutouts over Worcester and Manchester.  Bridgeport is 14-17-3-1 on the season.  Poulin is less than one period from the club scoreless streak record held by Rick DiPietro and he will be looking for the record as the Sound Tigers visit Portland on Saturday.

Up Next
SATURDAY, JANUARY 7th ISLANDERS AT PHOENIX 8:00PM
[MSG+2 (Islanders Game Night at 7:30pm), WRHU (88.7FM)]
The road trip concludes on Saturday as the Islanders visit Phoenix.
It's the only meeting of the season between the clubs, who did not meet at all in calendar year 2011.  Each of the last five meetings has been decided by a single goal; the Isles have gone 3-1-1 in the five games.  The teams split a pair of shootout games over the past two seasons, with each team winning on the road.

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 January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

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