"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 58
Isles 4, Carolina 3
John Tavares scored two goals and added an assist, while PA Parenteau and Mark Streit each added two assists as the Islanders completed a sweep of the season series with a 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in front of 11,818 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. With the win, the Isles regain NHL-.500 and climb within six points behind the 8th place Leafs.
The Scoring:
First Period
02:07 NYI Kyle Okposo (13) - ASST: M. Grabner (10) and M. Streit (27)
13:47 CAR Brandon Sutter (13) - ASST: P. Dwyer (5)
Second Period
00:15 CAR Jiri Tlusty (14) - ASST: J. Samson (1)
04:10 NYI John Tavares (23) - ASST: A. MacDonald (8) and P. Parenteau (40)
08:01 NYI PPG - Frans Nielsen (12) - ASST: J. Tavares (34) and P. Parenteau (41)
10:58 CAR Jaroslav Spacek (3) - ASST: E. Staal (30)
Third Period
00:38 NYI John Tavares (24) - ASST: M. Moulson (25) and M. Streit (28)
The Skinny: The Isles are 6-3-1 since the All-Star Break and 9-4-2 in their last 15 games. For the fourth time in seven games, the Islanders regain NHL .500. Parenteau now has 53 points, matching his career high—a late scoring change erased his third assist. Nielsen has scored in two straight games and in three of the last four games. John Tavares finished the season with six goals and six assists against Carolina. Isles improve to 10-2-1 when they are tied after 40 minutes. Tlusty extended his point streak to seven games; Sutter's goal was his 98th NHL point. The Isles are 10-5-0 against the Southeast, with five games still to play.
The Shots
Islanders: 8-13-10=31
Hurricanes: 9-15-12=36
Home and Road
The Islanders are 25-25-8 overall and are 13-13-5 at home. They are also at NHL -.500 on the road.
The Canes are 22-26-11 overall and 7-14-8 on the road.
In the Nets
Kevin Poulin made 33 saves to improve to 2-2-0 in the NHL this season. Both of Poulin's wins have come against Carolina. Poulin is now 6-4-1 in his NHL career; John Tavares has scored the winning goal in three of the victories.
Cam Ward stopped 18 shots in two periods but left with a lower body injury. Justin Peters allowed the winning goal before making nine saves in the third. Peters is 1-3-0 on the season.
Leaning on #91
John Tavares has 58 points (24-34-58) on 135 Islander goals this season (43.0%). No Islander since Zigmund Palffy has recorded points on over 40% of the team's goals in a complete season. It was Tavares' first multi-point game in February after having 22 points on 35 Islander goals in January.
Don't Forget PA
With 54 points, Parenteau has points on 40.0% of the Islanders' goals this season.
Power Plays
The Islanders went 1-2 on the power play while Carolina was 0-3. The Isles are 3-21 in their last nine games with the extra man.
The Isles rebounded after having allowed St. Louis two power play goals (first time they have allowed two in a game in over three months (11/10 in Colorado)) and have killed 55-62 (88.7%) over the last 28 games, dating back to December 16th.
They Said It
Kevin Poulin: "(Sound Tiger coach Brent Thompson) told me I needed to come to the rink; there was something he had to tell me. I was a little worried. But I got to the rink and he told me I was coming up, so it turned out fine." (Thanks Newsday.com)
They Tweeted It
@StapeNewsday: Line switch seems to have worked for Okposo... Great wrist shot off great feed from Grabner. 1-0 #Isles 2:07 in.
The Coach
"It was good to see us score some goals tonight. We hadn't scored four in a while"
Leading Ice Men
Andrew MacDonald led the Isles with 24:07; Justin Faulk led Carolina with 22:49. It's the 9th time in the last 12 games that MacDonald has led the Isles in ice-time.
In the Circle
The Islanders won 21 draws; Carolina won 30 – the Isles lost the majority of draws for the seventh straight game. Marty Reasoner won 4 of 7 for the Isles; Jussi Jokinen won 9 of 12 for Carolina.
Heavy Hitters
The Islanders out-hit Carolina 27-25. NHL hit leader Matt Martin led all players with seven hits, raising his total to 271. Martin, who had a club record 299 hits last season (hits have only been recorded since 2005-06) leads the NHL in hits by a wide margin. He is on a pace to have 383 hits, which would be the highest total of any NHL player since the lockout.
Lots of Blocks
The Isles were credited with 21 blocks. They lead the NHL with 1,001. Eleven different Islanders had at least one; Steve Staios led the way with 4.
Third Periods
The Isles outscored the Canes 1-0 in the third period. The Isles have been outscored 58-43 overall in the third period (47-35 excluding empty nets). In the first two periods, the Isles have been outscored 102-89.
All-time Winners
The Islanders are now 5 games over all-time NHL .500 (1338-1333-429 in 3,100 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 82 goals in their 25 wins (3.28 per game) and 53 goals in their other 33 games (0-25-8; 1.59 per game). In their 25 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 31 goals (1.24 per game).
Four Straight in Double Digits
The Isles have 11 points in February; it's their fourth straight month with at least 10 standings points. It's the first time that they have done that since October 2009-January 2010.
Head of the Class
John Tavares has 179 career points; he is 32 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 has not yet returned to action.)
Longest Point Streaks in NHL, Last 2 Seasons
· Sidney Crosby, 25 games (11/5/10-12/28/10)
· John Tavares, 12 games (12/29/11-1/21/12)
· Ilya Kovalchuk 12 games (2/1/11-2/25/11)
Friends, Friends, Friends
Moulson has 25 goals this season; John Tavares has earned assists on 17 of them. He has now been on-ice for 49 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 33 of them, dating back to a Moulson goal on November 17, 2010 against Tampa.
Three Different Leaders
Matt Moulson continues to lead the Isles in goals (25); PA Parenteau leads the Isles in assists (41); John Tavares leads the Isles in points (58). The Isles are the only NHL team with a different player leading each category.
25-25-25, 30-30-30?
Matt Moulson is the first Islander since Ziggy Palffy to have at least three consecutive 20-goal seasons. He is five goals away from a third consecutive 30-goal season; Palffy was the last Islander to accomplish that feat. Moulson has 86 goals as an Islander – the most by any Islander since the lockout.
20-20-20 x 2
Moulson and Tavares are the first Islander teammates to record at least twenty goals in three straight seasons since Mark Parrish and Jason Blake did so in 2002-03, 2003-04, and 2005-06. Tavares, by the way, is the fifth player to score at least 20 goals for the Islanders in each of his first three NHL seasons, joining:
· Billy Harris (first six seasons: 1972-73 through 1977-78),
· Clark Gillies (five: 1974-75 through 1978-79),
· Mike Bossy (all 10 seasons: 1977-78 through 1986-87).
Ironman
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 222 games since joining the team. Moulson's streak is the longest for an Islander in the Post-Cup era. Moulson is one of only five Islanders in the last thirty years to appear in 200 consecutive games:
· Matt Moulson 10/3/2009-CURRENT 222
· Richard Park 10/5/2006 – 2/18/2009 221
· Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220
· Bryan Trottier 3/7/1981- 1/12/1984 219
· Mariusz Czerkawski 12/23/1999 – 4/14/2002 215
Billy Harris played in the first 576 games in Islander history; that figure still stands as the club record.
Mark Streit is the only Islander defender to appear in every game this season.
Missing Men
Tim Wallace, Evgeni Nabokov (ill) and Ty Wishart were scratched. Travis Hamonic, Dylan Reese, Mike Mottau, Rick DiPietro, and Mark Katic are on injured reserve. The Isles have lost 282 man-games to injury so far this season. Al Montoya served as the back-up.
List Time
Career Wins, Active Goalies
Career Wins
21. Sean Burke 324
Most First Goals of Game (NHL This Season)
| 1 | Matt Moulson | 9 |
| 2 | Ilya Kovalchuk | 8 |
| 3 | Seven Players with | 7 |
Career Goals as an Islander
| 32 | Butch Goring | 87 | |
| 33 | Matt Moulson | 86 | |
| 34 | Tomas Jonsson | 84 | |
| 35 | Wayne Merrick | 81 | |
| 35 | Dave Scatchard | 81 | |
| 37 | Marty McInnis | 79 | |
| 38 | Miroslav Satan | 78 | |
| 39 | John Tavares | 77 | |
| 40 | Claude Lapointe | 76 | |
Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
| 58 | Arron Asham | 300 | ||
| 58 | Roman Hamrlik | 300 | ||
| 60 | Frans Nielsen | 295 | ||
| 61 | Gord Dineen | 287 | ||
| 62 | Jeff Norton | 282 | ||
| 63 | Steve Thomas | 275 | ||
| 64 | Josh Bailey | 269 | ||
| 65 | Blake Comeau | 261 | ||
| 65 | Andre St. Laurent | 261 | ||
| 71 | Brad Isbister | 247 | ||
| 71 | Brendan Witt | 247 | ||
| 71 | Kyle Okposo | 247 | ||
| 74 | Sean Bergenheim | 246 | ||
| 75 | Miro Satan | 243 | ||
| 85 | Michael Peca | 222 | ||
| 85 | Matt Moulson | 222 | ||
| 87 | Bob Lorimer | 220 | ||
| 87 | Bryan McCabe | 220 | ||
| 89 | John Tavares | 219 | ||
| 90 | Andy Hilbert | 218 | ||
| 91 | Mark Streit | 215 | ||
| 92 | Paul Boutilier | 211 | ||
Career Points as an Islander
| 39 | Lorne Henning | 184 |
| 40 | John Tavares | 179 |
| 41 | Randy Wood | 172 |
| 50 | Roman Hamrlik | 153 |
| 51 | Matt Moulson | 151 |
| 52 | Frans Nielsen | 148 |
| 53 | Kyle Okposo | 147 |
| 54 | Michael Peca | 142 |
Season Series Stats
The Islanders complete a sweep of the season series, winning all four games. The Isles earned eight points to Carolina's two. It's the first time the Isles have ever swept a season series from Hartford/Carolina, although they did go unbeaten three times back when the NHL awarded ties after either 60 or 65 minutes.
The Isles are also 4-0 against Carolina since Kirk Muller became the Hurricane coach.
Happy Anniversary
8 years ago today (2-18-04): Mariusz Czerkawski scored two power play goals and Kenny Jonsson tallied the winning goal, also on the power play, as the Islanders defeated Pittsburgh 4-3 at the Coliseum. Garth Snow earned the victory, making 18 saves.
All-time, the Isles are 9-8-3 on this date.
On The Farm
David Ullstrom scored two power play goals, and Anders Nilsson stopped 26 shots as the Sound Tigers defeated Adirondack 3-2 on Saturday night. Bridgeport is 14-1-0-1 in their last 16 games and trails the Whale by five points (with three games in hand). Bridgeport hosts Hershey on Sunday and Albany on Monday.
Up Next
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20th OTTAWA AT ISLANDERS 1:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders Game Night at 12:30pm), WRHU (88.7FM)]
[MSG+ (Islanders Game Night at 12:30pm), WRHU (88.7FM)]
The Islanders begin a key set of back-to-backs on President's Day as they entertain Ottawa. It's the Sens' first visit to Long Island this season; the Isles won in overtime in the Canadian Capital earlier in the month. The Isles are ten points behind the seventh place Sens, but hold two games in hand and have three games remaining, including Monday's, with Ottawa.
And Finally…
The Skinny's consecutive game streak ends tonight at 140. We'll start a new streak in about 10 days.
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 January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick
No comments:
Post a Comment