"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 68
New Jersey 2, Isles 1
David Clarkson and Marek Zidlicky scored 14 seconds apart, late in the third period, as the New Jersey Devils spoiled a 33-save effort from Anders Nilsson and defeated the Islanders 2-1 before a sellout crowd of 16,250 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. It's the fourth one-goal game in five meetings between the teams this season.
The Scoring:
First Period - None
Second Period - None
Third Period
6:46 EV NYI 91 J.TAVARES(27) 15 P.PARENTEAU(45) 26 M.MOULSON(29)
18:21 EV N.J 23 D.CLARKSON(28) 16 J.JOSEFSON(6) 12 A.PONIKAROVSKY(15)
18:35 PP N.J 2 M.ZIDLICKY(1) 17 I.KOVALCHUK(39) 9 Z.PARISE(33)
The Skinny: Clarkson's goal was the first allowed by Nilsson in 118:21 against New Jersey this season. Tavares' goal was his first point in 5 games against New Jersey this season. It was the 6th home sellout of the season (and third straight, matching the longest consecutive streak since the Isles sold out the final five games of the 2002-03 season (March 8- April 5, 2003)). Matt Martin missed the game with the flu; he had played in 90 consecutive games. The Isles surpassed last season's attendance, with six home games to play.
Home and Road
The Islanders are 28-31-9 overall and are 15-15-5 at home.
The Devils are 39-24-5 overall and 21-12-2 on the road. The Devils now have 83 points, two more than they had all last season. They are 4-1-1 in their last six games and have allowed one goal or fewer in five straight games.
In the Nets
Anders Nilsson stopped the first 33 Devils shots before allowing the two goals and fall to 1-2-0 on the season. He had gone 136:15 without allowing an NHL goal since early in the third period in Pittsburgh back on November 21st.
Johan Hedberg made 23 saves for New Jersey to improve to 15-7-2 on the campaign. He has won both of his March starts, allowing just the goal to Tavares (after blanking Washington).
Leaning on #91
John Tavares has 64 points (27-37-64) on 152 Islander goals this season (42.1%). No Islander since Zigmund Palffy has recorded points on over 40% of the team's goals in a complete season.
Don't Forget PA
With 60 points, Parenteau has points on 39.5% of the Islanders' goals this season. He has 45 assists – most by any Islander since Travis Green had 45 in 1995-96.
As Seen on MSG+
Only two NHL goaltenders since expansion have won their first two games by shutout: Roman Cechmanek and Mathieu Garon.
Power Plays
The Islanders went 0-3 on the power play while New Jersey was 1-4. The Isles are 2-29 in their last ten games with the extra man and have killed only 22 of 32 in the same span.
They Said It
Johan Hedberg on Nilsson: "He's not only big, but he's agile too. He's playing with poise…I'm very impressed with him."
They Tweeted It
@Ledger_NJDevils Zach Parise on Anders Nilsson: "It took us 118 minutes to solve him but we finally did. You have to win games like that sometimes."
The Coach
"We had scoring chances after scoring chances…we had a physical edge to our game. Unfortunately we didn't even get a point out of this one."
Leading Ice Men
Mark Streit led the Isles with 25:40; Ilya Kovalchuk led New Jersey with 24:54.
In the Circle
The Islanders won 31 draws; New Jersey won 16. Marty Reasoner won 6 of 8 and John Tavares won 14 of 20 for the Isles; Jacob Josefson won 6 of 10 for New Jersey.
Heavy Hitters
The Islanders were out-hit 23-22. With NHL hit leader Matt Martin sidelined, three Islanders, including Micheal Haley each had a team-leading four hits. Martin has a club record 314 hits (hits have only been recorded since 2005-06) and leads the NHL in hits by a wide margin. The NHL record is 356, set by Cal Clutterbuck of Minnesota in 2008-09.
Lots of Blocks
The Isles were credited with 20 blocks. They lead the NHL with 1,164. Travis Hamonic had a game-high 4 blocks.
Goals by Period (Season)
Isles: 53-47-49-3 = 152
Opponents: 60-60-73-6 = 199
Third period goals include 8 empty net goals for the Islanders and an NHL-leading 13 empty-net goals against the Isles.
All-time Winners
The Islanders fall to 2 games over all-time NHL .500 (1341-1339-430 in 3,110 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 89 goals in their 28 wins (3.18 per game) and 64 goals in their other 40 games (0-31-9; 1.60 per game). In their 31 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 39 goals (1.26 per game).
Head of the Class
John Tavares has 185 career points; he is 37 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks. No other player in that draft is anywhere close.
Longest Point Streaks in NHL, Last 2 Seasons
· Sidney Crosby, 25 games (11/5/10-12/28/10)
· Eric Staal, 12 games (2/8/12-3/6/12)
· 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 28 goals this season; John Tavares has earned assists on 19 of them. He has now been on-ice for 52 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 35 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 (28); PA Parenteau leads the Isles in assists (45); John Tavares leads the Isles in points (64).
25-25-25, 30-30-30?
Matt Moulson is the first Islander since Ziggy Palffy to have at least three consecutive 25-goal seasons. He is two goals away from a third consecutive 30-goal season; Palffy was also the last Islander to accomplish that feat. Moulson has 89 goals as an Islander – the most by any Islander since the lockout. Moulson has opened the scoring ten times this season and the Isles are 9-1-0 when he does so. He is the first Islander with at least ten opening goals since Alexei Yashin had 12 in 2001-02.
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 232 games since joining the team. Moulson's streak is the longest for an Islander in the Post-Cup era. Billy Harris played in the first 576 games in Islander history; that figure still stands as the club record.
Three other forwards: PA Parenteau, Frans Nielsen and John Tavares have also played in every game this season while Mark Streit is the only Islander defender to do so. The Isles have not had as many as four players play in every game since 1986-87.
Longest Consecutive Game Streaks, Islander History
1. Billy Harris 576
2. Bob Nystrom 301
3. Denis Potvin 262
4. J.P. Parise 240
5. Matt Moulson 232
Missing Men
Milan Jurcina, Matt Martin (ill), and Casey Cizikas (ill) were scratched as was Al Montoya (upper body injury). Rick DiPietro is on injured reserve. The Isles have lost 318 man-games to injury so far this season. Evgeni Nabokov served as the back-up.
Career Years
· Matt Moulson: 28 assists and 56 points are new career highs. He has 28 goals, three shy of his career best.
· PA Parenteau: 45 assists and 60 points are new career highs. He has 15 goals, five shy of his career best.
· John Tavares is 27-37-64; he is two goals, one assist and three points shy of career highs, all set last season.
· Frans Nielsen has 13 goals, matching a career-high set last year.
· Kyle Okposo has 15 goals, four shy of his career-high set in 2009-10.
List Time
Career Wins, Active Goalies
Career Wins
21. Sean Burke 324
23. Miikka Kiprusoff 306
Most First Goals of Game (NHL This Season)
1
|
Matt Moulson
|
10
|
1
|
Ilya Kovalchuk
|
10
|
Career Goals as an Islander
31
|
Travis Green
|
92
| ||||||
32
|
Matt Moulson
|
89
| ||||||
33
|
Butch Goring
|
87
| ||||||
34
|
Tomas Jonsson
|
84
| ||||||
35
|
Wayne Merrick
|
81
| ||||||
35
|
Dave Scatchard
|
81
| ||||||
37
|
John Tavares
|
80
| ||||||
38
|
Marty McInnis
|
79
| ||||||
Career Assists as an Islander – active players
| ||||||||
1
|
Mark Streit
|
108
| ||||||
2
|
John Tavares
|
106
| ||||||
3
|
Frans Nielsen
|
103
| ||||||
4
|
Kyle Okposo
|
90
| ||||||
Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
56
|
Mikko Makela
|
307
| ||
57
|
Frans Nielsen
|
305
| ||
58
|
Gord Lane
|
304
| ||
59
|
Arron Asham
|
300
| ||
59
|
Roman Hamrlik
|
300
| ||
61
|
Gord Dineen
|
287
| ||
62
|
Jeff Norton
|
282
| ||
63
|
Josh Bailey
|
277
| ||
64
|
Steve Thomas
|
275
| ||
65
|
Blake Comeau
|
261
| ||
65
|
Andre St. Laurent
|
261
| ||
69
|
Kyle Okposo
|
257
| ||
70
|
Pierre Turgeon
|
255
| ||
71
|
Jude Drouin
|
250
| ||
81
|
Matt Moulson
|
232
| ||
82
|
Zdeno Chara
|
231
| ||
82
|
Billy MacMillian
|
231
| ||
84
|
John Tavares
|
229
| ||
85
|
Chris Campoli
|
228
| ||
86
|
Bryan Smolinski
|
227
| ||
87
|
Mark Streit
|
224
| ||
88
|
Michael Peca
|
222
| ||
Career Points as an Islander
38
|
Jeff Norton
|
188
|
39
|
John Tavares
|
185
|
40
|
Lorne Henning
|
184
|
47
|
Miro Satan
|
166
|
48
|
Matt Moulson
|
158
|
48
|
Oleg Kvasha
|
158
|
50
|
Alan Kerr
|
154
|
51
|
Roman Hamrlik
|
153
|
51
|
Frans Nielsen
|
153
|
53
|
Kyle Okposo
|
149
|
54
|
Michael Peca
|
142
|
Season Series Stats
The Devils lead the season series three games to two (and six points to 4). The teams will finish the season series on April 3rd at The Rock. Four of the five games in the season series have been decided by one goal.
Happy Anniversary
5 years ago tonight (3-10-07): Rick DiPietro played in his 200th NHL game and defeated the Washington Capitals 5-2.
All-time, the Isles are 8-8-4 on this date, with their loss tonight stopping a 4-0-2 streak in March 10th contests.
On The Farm
The first place Sound Tigers have played twice this weekend, losing both games in shootouts. Bridgeport is 32-19-3-5 overall, having earned points in 24 of their last 26 games. Bridgeport now has 72 points, two points ahead of Connecticut for the division lead. The Sound Tigers also hold a game in hand. The Sound Tigers host Norfolk at 3pm Sunday.
Up Next
SUNDAY, MARCH 11th ISLANDERS AT RANGERS 7:00PM
[MSG+2 (Islanders Game Night at 6:30pm), WRHU (88.7FM)]
[MSG+2 (Islanders Game Night at 6:30pm), WRHU (88.7FM)]
The Islanders and Rangers meet for the final time this season when they play Sunday at Madison Square Garden. The Eastern Conference –leading Rangers have lost three straight regulation games for the first time this season. The Isles took 2 of 3 from the Rangers on Long Island this season but the Rangers have won six straight games between the two teams in Manhattan.
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
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