"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 40
Isles 5, Red Wings 1
Matt Moulson scored twice and added an assist as the Islanders pounded the Detroit Red Wings 5-1 in front of 12,864 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Evgeni Nabokov made 23 saves for his 299th career victory. It's the Islanders' third straight win at home, matching a season high.
The Scoring:
1st Period
19:07NYI PPG - Matt Moulson (19) - ASST: P. Parenteau (27) AND M. Streit (18)
2nd Period
07:31NYI John Tavares (14) - ASST: K. Okposo (10)
11:10NYI Kyle Okposo (9) - ASST: J. Tavares (24) AND M. Moulson (16)
18:32NYI Michael Grabner (11) - ASST: M. Martin (5) AND M. Streit (19)
3rd Period
02:36DET Justin Abdelkader (5) - ASST: J. Kindl (8) AND T. Holmstrom (10)
13:57NYI Matt Moulson (20) - ASST: M. Streit (20) AND J. Tavares (25)
The Skinny:
John Tavares extended his point streak to a career-high six games. Tavares has three goals and nine assists in those six games (including four multi-point games). Tavares now has 10 multi-point games, tying PA Parenteau for the club lead, and also has a club-leading five three-point games. Mark Streit had three assists – it was his first three assist/three point game since April 11, 2010 vs. Pittsburgh and the first by any Islander defensemen since Dylan Reese on March 31, 2011 vs. the Rangers. Michael Grabner's goal was his first in nine games. Jay Pandolfo was credited with five of the Isles' 21 blocked shots. Matt Moulson is the 8th player in the NHL to record 20 goals this season; he is 9-9-18 vs. the West this season –only Steven Stamkos (10) plays for an Eastern team and has scored more goals against the West.
The Shots
The Islanders outshot the Red Wings 17-8 in the first period and 9-6 in the third period. Detroit outshot the Isles 10-4 in the middle period. For the game, the Isles outshot Detroit 30-24. The 17 shots marked a season high for the Isles in a first period this season.
Home and Road
The Islanders are 15-19-6 overall and are 9-9-3 at home. The Isles have won three straight on home ice after going 3-8-3 in their prior 14 at home.
The Red Wings are 26-15-1 overall and 11-13-0 on the road. It's the first time since November 17th that Detroit has allowed at least five goals.
In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov, making his ninth straight start, made 23 saves and improves to 6-10-0 on the season. Nabokov, the first Islander to start 9 straight games since Joey MacDonald started 17 straight in 2008-09, was named the game's second star.
Ty Conklin made 25 saves for Detroit, but only one in the second period – when the Isles scored on their final three shots.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-3 on the power play; the Red Wings were 0-3. The Isles, who entered the game 5th in the league with the extra man, are 9-23 on the power play over the last eight games after going just 1-22 in the previous seven games. The Isles are also 6-13 in the last five games on the power play.
The Isles have killed 18-18 over the last six games and 22-23 (95.7%) over the last 11 games.
Special, Special Teams
The Isles are now over 20% on the power play for the season (26-129 20.2%) and are 21-127 83.5% on the penalty kill.
The Isles have not had a 20% success rate on the power play since 1993-94. They have not been over 18% since 2006-07.
The penalty killers have not allowed a goal in seven games and have allowed only one goal in 11 games. It is the first time the Isles have not allowed a power play goal in seven straight games since they blanked the opponents in the final nine games of the 2003-04 season; it's also the first time they have allowed only one goal in 11 games since the final 11 games of that same season.
One To Go
Evgeni Nabokov has 299 career wins. He is just one win 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
Wings coach Mike Babcock, who remains stuck on 399 career wins: "I just didn't think we had any energy. We didn't skate. We didn't execute. We didn't do good things mentally. It just wasn't a good night for us.""
They (I) Tweeted It
@ehornick #isles outscored #Redwings 11-1 last 2 at home. +10 differential biggest vs 1 opp since 12/10/96 (8-2) and 12/6/97 (4-0) vs Phoenix
The Coach
"Nabby was there for us tonight when we needed him. He gave us a chance to win."
Leading Ice Men
Andrew MacDonald led the Isles with 22:49; Ian White led all players with 22:57. Detroit dressed seven defensemen, and one of them, Mike Commodore, did not play.
In the Circle
The Islanders won 31 draws; Detroit won 31. Frans Nielsen was the Isles' best, winning 12 of 18. Wings star Henrik Zetterberg lost 9 of 11 to the Isles.
Heavy Hitters
The Islanders out-hit Detroit 22-10 with Matt Martin and PA Parenteau each having four hits. Martin leads the NHL with 174 hits –19 more than anyone else in the NHL.
Third Periods
Each team scored once in the third period; the Isles have been outscored 47-25 overall in the third period (37-22 excluding empty nets); the 25 goals scored are the fewest of any team in the third period. In the first two periods, the Isles have been outscored 73-68.
Best v West
The Isles improve to 15-1-7 in their last 23 home games against the Western Conference (with their only regulation loss being on December 15th against Dallas). The Islanders are 4-1-2 in home games against the West this season, with games remaining against Nashville and Los Angeles. Overall, this season the Isles are 6-4-4 vs. the West and 9-15-2 against the East.
Quadruple Chili
The Isles have scored at least three regulation goals in each of their last four home games, earning fans Chili!
33 to Go
The Isles have scored 9,967 goals in their history (excluding 42 shootout winners), leaving the club 33 shy of 10,000.
Over .500
The Islanders go back over all-time NHL .500 (1328-1327-427 in 3,082 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.
Scoring
The Isles have scored 54 goals over the last 19 games (10-7-2) after scoring only 15 in the previous nine games (1-6-2). The Isles have scored 49 goals in their 14 wins (3.50 per game) and 40 goals in their other 25 games (0-19-6; 1.60 per game). In their 19 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 24 goals (1.26 per game).
Head of the Class
John Tavares had a goal and two assists, giving him 12 points over the last six games. He now has 160 career points; he is 14 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 in late December and is expected to miss the next month.)
Friends, Friends, Friends
Moulson has 20 goals this season; John Tavares has earned assists on 13 of them. He has now been on-ice for 44 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 29 of them, dating back to a Moulson goal on November 17, 2010 against Tampa. Moulson is now 10 goals away from a third consecutive 30-goal season; no Islander since Ziggy Palffy has accomplished that feat.
MOT-ley Crew?
Since being put together six games ago, Matt Moulson is 4-4-8, Kyle Okposo is 3-3-6, and John Tavares is 3-9-12. All three scored a goal in this game, completing the rare "linetrick". All three players were +3 in this game, as was Travis Hamonic.
Missing Men
Al Montoya (concussion), Marty Reasoner (broken thumb) and Dylan Reese (healthy) were scratched. Mike Mottau, David Ullstrom, Rick DiPietro, and Mark Katic are on injured reserve. The Isles have lost 199 man-games to injury so far this season. Kevin Poulin dressed as the back-up to Nabokov.
20-20-20
Moulson's two goals gives him 20 on the season. He is the first Islander since Jason Blake (4 seasons: 2002-03 to 2006-07) to have at least three consecutive 20-goal seasons.
A Better 20
This was the 40th game of the season. The Isles are 10-8-2 in the last 20 games after opening the season 5-11-4. The Isles scored 15 power plays in these 20 games and allowed only six while shorthanded (after scoring 10 and allowing 15 in the first 20 games).
Ironmen
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 204 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 102 NHL games (all consecutive); he has the longest consecutive game streak on defense for the Isles.
Century Club
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 102
Like Hamonic, McCabe and Morrow's streaks came at the start of their NHL careers. Niinimaa's streak included the only 136 games he played as an Islander.
List Time
Career Wins, Active Goalies
Career Goals, Active Players
Most First Goals of Game (NHL This Season)
| 1 | Matt Moulson | 7 |
| 1 | Evander Kane | 7 |
Most Games With at Least Three Points (NHL This Season)
| 1 | Claude Giroux | 6 |
| 1 | Stephen Weiss | 6 |
| 3 | John Tavares | 5 |
Career Goals as an Islander
| 32 | Butch Goring | 87 |
| 33 | Tomas Jonsson | 84 |
| 34 | Matt Moulson | 81 |
| 34 | Wayne Merrick | 81 |
| 34 | Dave Scatchard | 81 |
| 37 | Marty McInnis | 79 |
| 42 | Alan Kerr | 69 |
| 43 | Brad Isbister | 67 |
| 43 | John Tavares | 67 |
| 45 | Jude Drouin | 64 |
Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
| 61 | Jeff Norton | 282 |
| 62 | Frans Nielsen | 277 |
| 63 | Steve Thomas | 275 |
| 68 | Pierre Turgeon | 255 |
| 69 | Josh Bailey | 251 |
| 70 | Jude Drouin | 250 |
| 91 | Tom Fitzgerald | 205 |
| 92 | Matt Moulson | 204 |
| 93 | John Tavares | 201 |
| 94 | Billy Carroll | 200 |
| 95 | Ralph Stewart | 199 |
| 96 | Mark Streit | 196 |
| 97 | Tom Kurvers | 192 |
| 97 | Todd Bertuzzi | 192 |
Career Points as an Islander
| 46 | Miroslav Satan | 166 |
| 47 | John Tavares | 160 |
| 48 | Oleg Kvasha | 156 |
| 51 | Michael Peca | 142 |
| 52 | Dave Lewis | 141 |
| 53 | Robert Reichel | 140 |
| 53 | Frans Nielsen | 140 |
| 55 | Bryan Smolinski | 139 |
| 56 | Matt Moulson | 137 |
| 57 | Kyle Okposo | 135 |
Season Series Stats
The Islanders win the only meeting of the season between the teams. It's their fourth straight win over the Red Wings and extends their record to 5-0-1 in the last six games between the teams. It's the first time since 1985-1986 that the Isles have won four straight against Detroit. The Isles had scored ten consecutive goals at home against Detroit before Justin Abdelbaker scored Detroit's only goal.
Happy Anniversary
35 years ago tonight (1-10-77): In a nationally televised game, Bob Nystrom scores three goals against Hall-of-Famer Bernie Parent and Pat Price adds three assists as the Isles defeat Philadelphia 8-3 at the Coliseum.
Overall, the Isles are 7-9-3 on this date, but this was their first victory since a 3-1 win over Toronto in 1990.
On The Farm
Bridgeport is 16-17-3-1 on the season following a 4-0-0 start to 2012. Kevin Poulin broke Rick DiPietro's individual shutout record with a 221:54 streak and the team also set a new club record scoreless streak. The Sound Tigers are off until Friday when they visit Manchester.
Up Next
THURSDAY, JANUARY 10th PHILADELPHIA 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 four-game homestand as they entertain the Flyers for the second time this season. The Isles are 1-8-3 in their last 12 at home vs. Philadelphia.
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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